honest and no one keeps secrets.”
Kane didn’t say anything. Braden mumbled and Evan continued. “We’re going to destroy her if we don’t get it together and accept what’s going on here. I know Kane may have made the first move but it won’t be the last one. She cares about all of us.”
“She does.” It killed Kane to admit it.
Braden raised an eyebrow as if he wanted to hear more. “Didn’t stop you, did it?”
“Braden…”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses.” He stopped in front of her car, turned and walked back to Kane. “Did you fuck her?”
“Shit, Braden.” Evan stood closer to them. “Did you not see what I saw? The way she looks at him, even at us? Hell, yeah, he fucked her, and I would have too if I’d been in his shoes.”
Braden grabbed Kane’s shirt again and sneered. “Yeah, but Evan wouldn’t have done the things to her I’m willing to bet you did, now would he?”
“I don’t know, Braden. I’m not Evan.”
“Damn bastard.” Braden raised his fist and planned to hit him, no doubt. Kane decided rather quickly to let him have just one, but for some reason Braden decided not to throw the punch.
He looked like a man ready to regroup. Evan, on the other hand, finally managed to second guess what he’d missed. Kane understood how his brothers thought. Hell, while they were different in many ways, in many others, all three brothers were the exact same.
“I love her.”
“You what?” Braden roared out the question.
“Shit, you must have gone mad overnight.” Evan glared at Kane.
“You don’t?” He questioned them, both at one time.
“Kane, this is a bad idea,” Braden said, somehow gaining some sort of forced control, yet dangerously bridled.
“Might be, and if so, I don’t care. I love her.”
“I’m going to go get Peyton. She has company, and she can at least act like a happy hostess for one night.” Braden shook his head as he headed for the fields.
“She will,” Kane said.
Braden stopped when Kane spoke for her. He didn’t look back. “Just because she’s in your bed doesn’t mean she’s going to lose her focus, her goals and dreams.”
“I wouldn’t ask her to give up anything for me, Braden.”
“See that you don’t.”
Evan watched his brother take the easy pathway through the fields. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Nope.” Kane smirked.
He knew Evan wanted all sorts of details. Too bad.
“That good, huh?”
Kane chuckled. “Yep.”
“Damn.”
“How many girls are up there?”
“Too many,” Evan said.
“Great,” Kane groaned.
“Was she a virgin?” Evan had a thing for virgins.
“Yeah.”
“And you did the unthinkable, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah, I did.” Kane wasn’t proud of it, not exactly, but he was smug. He knew she wanted him, and she wanted him just as raw as she could get him.
“You’re not going to give me details?”
“Not today,” Kane smiled. Maybe never. “Right now, I’d say we have a few hungry girls to feed. I may run out for pizzas.”
“Yeah, pizza sounds good.” Evan headed for the passenger’s side of Peyton’s car, “And there’s a new candy shop next to the pizza place. Somebody said they have the best cotton candy in the world.”
Kane’s body went rigid, and he knew his face gave everything away.
“Oh hell,” Evan said. “She let you…”
“Cotton candy sounds like a plan.” Kane chuckled and stepped inside the car. He smacked his lips and looked over at his brother. “In fact, I can almost taste it now.”
Chapter 15
“I’m not a little girl,” she snapped when Braden approached her. She was hanging upside down from the split rail fence.
“Funny, right now, you look like one.”
“I’m not one.” She pulled her arms back above her head and continued to do sit-ups, her shirt flying up and down with her body.
He reached out to hold it for her as she continued to work on her abs but instead of gripping the shirt, he touched her stomach with his open palm. The sensation sent chills up and down her spine.
She continued to sit up and fall down, her hair flowing over her back as she taunted him. His hand caressed her stomach, his palm stayed on her abs as she pulled herself up and over the old rickety boards.
His cheeks stained blood red when she twisted her body over the plank and landed at his feet. He grunted.
“I like working out over here. No one bothers me.”
“Your friends are up at the house, waiting on you.”
“I don’t care. Vicky got them into some chick flick before I got home and they had another hour or so before it’s over. She covered for me and told them I had to do some chores before I could party with them. Besides, they’re like four hours early.”
Braden scratched his chin. “I wondered about that.”
She cracked a smile. “Sorry, I guess I should’ve sent them home and told them to come back.”
“It’s fine, Peyton.” He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and shocked them both when he leaned in and kissed her.
It wasn’t a kiss like any other she remembered. It was soft, tender, and so sweet, she almost cried when his lips touched hers. She didn’t latch her arms around his neck but instead, she let him lead. He didn’t take them far. It was a simple kiss, and it was only a kiss, she told herself. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t promise anything.
Only, it did.
“Did he hurt you, Peyton?” Braden asked as he pulled her into his arms. “Tell me the truth.”
Peyton wrapped her arms around his waist, and he stroked her head and back. “Did he?”
“No, Braden. He’d never hurt me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Braden, he wouldn’t hurt me.” She pressed her palms to his belly and looked up at him. “He just loved me.”
Braden swallowed tightly and then released her. He ran his hand through his wavy hair. “What do you mean by ‘loved’ you?”
“Exactly what I want you to think I mean.”
“Peyton just because he…” Braden shifted his weight and then tried again. “Peyton just because he…”
“Fucked me?”
“Oh hell.” He took a deep breath and then choked on it. Coughing, he doubled over from the impact of a soft blow she dealt with a man’s word and a woman’s delicate explanation.
“He did, Braden. I did, he did, and we did. I think it’s called consensual sex and it was like-”
