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“Why not? You guys are all one for all and all for one, aren’t you?”
I blinked and then laughed. “You think we’re The Three Musketeers?”
“A modern version of them, but yeah, pretty dang close. Am I wrong?” She blinked innocently but the way her lips trembled told me she was messing with me. “Your skillet is smokin’ again.”
She was right and I reluctantly tore my gaze from her appetizing cleavage to pour a few glugs of beer into the skillet. It smoked and sizzled, which was the perfect time to pop it in the oven and set the timer. “Now, you have my full attention Brenna.”
“Lucky me. First flowers and now dinner, not exactly things friends do for one another.”
“We are friends, Brenna.”
“I know. If we weren’t friends, wearing this for dinner would be weird. Or maybe it would send the wrong signals.”
“No, it’s sending all the right signals. The hard peaks of your nipples pressing up against the silky fabric tells me we’re on the same page. Even if one of us isn’t ready to admit it yet.”
“There’s nothing to admit, is there? I’ve made no secret of my attraction to you.”
“That’s just physical, Brenna.”
“It is,” she agreed with a nod. “But isn’t physical what you’re after?”
I nodded. “It’s not all I’m after,” I assured her and walked around the counter, beer in my hand. I stopped right in front of her, gaze eating her up in that little piece of blue silk. “I’ll happily lay you across the table and bring you orgasm after orgasm, with my hands and my mouth, but I’m not having sex with you tonight Brenna.” The words shocked me too, but as soon as I said them, I knew it was the right way.
“Why not?”
“Because the time isn’t right. When it is, you’ll know.”
“You sure?” She sat a little taller, the move bringing her cleavage closer to my face. My mouth.
I shook my head side to side, regret bubbling my gut. “Hell no.”
She laughed. “Good to know.”
I pressed a soft kiss to her lips and I as badly as I wanted to slick my tongue across her lips before slipping inside her mouth, I took a step back. “Tell me about your day, Brenna.”
She blinked, surprised but thrilled at my request. “What do you want to know?”
“That’s easy. Tell me everything.” I took a seat on the stool beside her, my gaze never leaving hers while I listened to her tell me about cutting and dyeing hair, listening to town gossip and making the women of Pilgrim prettier than ever.
It was the strangest date I’d had in recent memory and I wouldn’t change a damn thing about it. Not even the blue gown meant to drive me out of my mind, which it did successfully.
When I kissed her good night at the door, it took all the power I could muster to step outside and walk away.
For tonight, anyway.
Tomorrow was another matter altogether.
Brenna
“I’m not going back to that school and you can’t make me.” Mariana stood in the salon doorway with her arms folded across her little body, a dark scowl on her face lessened in impact by the lopsided pigtails she wore. “Not ever again.”
I looked up at the angry little girl and leaned on the mop I’d been using on the salon floor, and shrugged. “I have no power to make you go to school, Mariana. But you can have a seat and tell me why you’re upset.” I remember what it was like switching schools during the schoolyear when cliques had already been form and friendships bonded. It was no fun at all.
She tossed her backpack on one chair and scrambled up on another, her gaze watery as it settled back on me. “The school is doing a mommy-daughter fundraiser and I don’t have a mama. I really miss my mama, Brenna.”
“I know you do, honey, and that’s okay. You’re allowed to miss her and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, you send them to me and I’ll get them sorted out.” My heart ached for the little girl, trying to process a grief so strong it broke most adults.
“I can’t do the fundraiser without Mama.” Tears fell down her cheeks in one impressive stream and I went to the little girl and gathered her in my arms.
“Your dad can do it with you. Just ask him, I happen to know that he has a hard time saying no to you.”
“It’s for mothers and daughters, Brenna.”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but what about little girls like you with just a daddy or how about little girls who have two dads? They can’t help the school out?”
She thought about it, long and hard, before she came up with an uncertain shrug. “I’ll ask my Dad. Could you do it with me, Brenna?”
“I can and I will if you need me, but your dad’s feelings might be hurt if you don’t ask him first.” Grant was trying his best and the last thing I wanted was to step on his toes.
