Yep, she was affected by his nearness.
Who the hell knows what made him so bold all of a sudden. Not that it was a new development for him, but he was pretty astute at keeping his thoughts to himself most of the time. That wasn’t the case when he had informed Jessie that he would’ve fucked her right there in the cab of his truck. When her eyes had lit up, he knew he’d hit a hot button for her. Worse, the temptation had been so damn great, he had almost thrown all caution to the wind and done just that.
The way she’d looked at him, a potent mixture of lust and eagerness in her gaze . . . It had nearly been too much to ignore.
Before the night was out, he hoped to hit plenty more of her hot buttons.
And he wasn’t going to wait until they were back in the privacy of Jessie’s house, either. After her little remark about distracting him, Braydon was thinking of plenty of things he intended to do to her tonight. Especially in the shadowy movie theater.
“So, which is it going to be?” Jessie asked, her hand coming down firmly on his and halting his upward progress. He’d been teasing her, trying to see just how far she’d let him go.
Now he knew.
“Honestly, I don’t give a damn which one we see. I won’t be paying attention to anything other than the fact that you don’t have panties on.”
“How do you know I don’t?” she asked, and for a brief moment, he almost believed that she did. But he knew Jessie. She liked a challenge.
“Move your hand and I’ll find out for myself,” he told her.
“Not a chance,” she teased, her hand squeezing his tightly. “Where are we going anyway?”
“A theater in Austin,” he told her.
“Why so far?”
“This is one of those fancy ones. The kind where you can order food if you want.”
“So it’s dinner and a movie all in one?”
“Yep. The quintessential first date no-no. Since we’re past that particular milestone, I figured I’d pull out all the stops.” He kinda liked the idea. Seeing as they could get back home and get to the naked part of their evening sooner, he was all for consolidating.
The theater was a solid half hour from Coyote Ridge, mainly because it took so long just to get to the main highways. But once they hit the toll road, it was smooth sailing. Jessie questioned some of the landmarks as they passed, and Braydon did his best to give her the knowledge that he had. He’d grown up in the Austin area his entire life, but truth be told, he didn’t venture into the city all that often. He was a small-town boy to his soul, and he preferred his rural stomping grounds to Austin’s big-city heartbeat.
Braydon pulled the truck into the parking garage. Being that it was Sunday evening, the garage was fairly empty. The Domain was one of Austin’s newest shopping districts. Not only did it have the equivalent of an outdoor mall, it was also lined with condominiums and restaurants. Needless to say, due to the popularity of the area, he’d had to buy tickets for the movie online. Which meant he’d been joking when he told Jessie that she actually had a choice. He’d picked some new-release chick flick for her benefit because, just like he told her, he really didn’t care what they watched. He just wanted to be near her.
Braydon unbuckled his seat belt and turned to Jessie. “I hope you enjoy tonight,” he told her.
“Is this really considered our second date?” she asked, her eyebrow cocking up slightly.
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
“Good? Why good?”
“I’m kinda excited to get to the after-the-date part.” Jessie grinned mischievously. “You know, the part where you try to get to second base and I send you on your way.”
Second base, huh? Shit. He intended to get to third base in the movie theater.
Not that he told her as much.
Braydon grinned. “I’m bettin’ you won’t send me anywhere, unless it’s right to my knees between your sweet thighs,” he whispered as he leaned in close.
A shudder ran through her and Braydon knew he’d hit one of those buttons again.
“I’m just glad we aren’t starting over completely,” she admitted softly.
Braydon placed his hand on Jessie’s cheek. “I don’t want to start over, Jess. I want to move forward. We’ve made it this far. Let’s just ride this thing out.”
Jessie nodded, then leaned into his hand. Braydon couldn’t resist. He kissed her, one hand sliding from her cheek to her neck, the other firmly wrapped around her thigh. They were both breathless by the time they pulled apart.
“Are you sure you want to go to a movie?” she asked, looking up at him with more anticipation than he’d ever seen.