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He may have not spelled it out in words, but obviously he knew it was dirty, and the fact that he reciprocated those thoughts got those damn lady parts roaring to life even more than when he first walked in.
My engine was revved up pretty damn high.
“I don’t know what you're talking about,” I tried to fib. I could tell he wasn’t buying it, but being the nice guy he’d always been, he let it go and moved on.
“I wanted to come by and see your place you have here. My sister has talked a lot about it and how proud of you she is. I figured I had given you enough space to recover, and honestly, I wanted to see you for myself how you were doing.”
“Why did you stay away?” I blurted out without thinking and quickly covered my mouth with my hand.Always doing stupid things and letting your mouth run off when you’re nervous Jurnee, great job. Either that or running for the bathroom!
Braxton took his big, strong, sexy hand and gently pulled my own away from my face. “Don’t be afraid to ask or say anything to me, okay? Like I said, I was trying to give you time to mend and be with the girls after everything that had happened. I was also busy trying to get my business and house setup, but that’s a sore excuse for staying away. Truth was, I still felt guilty for not preventing you from getting shot, and thought after some time, you may end up feeling the same way.
“I wanted to see you.” Man, I was on a roll. It’s like whenever I got near Braxton I immediately had diarrhea of the mouth. But he’d said to say anything, so I was going with it. “I never once blamed you, and I still don’t. You were with me at the hospital and it felt weird once I left not having you around at all.”
“Then that was my mistake and I’m sorry, Jurnee. Forgive me?” he asked, but kept talking without waiting for my answer. “It won’t happen again. Let me make it up to you. How about you show me around here and then let me take you to lunch? Then maybe if you aren’t busy this weekend we could get together for that do-over, and I get that dance we missed out on?”
Wow, lunch and a date over the weekend. That was an amazing offer, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to go out anywhere just yet. I was a little scared. So, with honesty being the best policy, I let him know how I was feeling.
“First, you’re already forgiven. Secondly, I would be happy to give you a tour of the place, and third, lunch sounds fabulous. But as for going out this weekend, I have to be honest, I’m not sure I’m ready for the bar scene quite yet. I”m frightened, but maybe soon?”
His shoulders tensed the slightest bit, but he smiled softly.
“I understand. It may take a while, but you will get there, and I’ll be right there when you do. What if we put the dancing on hold and you just let me take you out somewhere else? Wherever you want to go, how about that?”
“Okay.” I wanted to go with him, it was as simple as that. “I would love to go out with you this weekend, and I trust you to pick the place now that you know how I feel. Ready to take a look around?”
Extending his arm out to say lead the way, that’s exactly what I’d done. Although, I wouldn’t have minded if he walked ahead of me so I could have ogled his very fine ass. The way his butt looked in those jeans had to be illegal.
We’d been walking around the whole center and I explained what we did and about the kids who came here. At one point he’d asked me how I came up with the idea and why I’d wanted to open a place like this. I’d told him maybe I would explain that more another time. He nodded in understanding and let it go.Braxton is something else.
As we were heading back to the front, we turned at the sound of a little girl yelling my name. Running towards us was Embry. Arms opened wide, she’d hit me full force, wrapping her little limbs around my legs. “Hey you,” I said as I leaned over and entwined my own arms around her small frame. Embry was only four. She had a mass of blonde curls for her age, a cute little button nose, and an angelic face. And she was the sweetest thing. She got placed into the system due to her mom dying of an overdose and her dad not getting clean, it was amazing the loving spirit that poured from this girl after all she’d been through. The courts were working on terminating her father's parental rights so they could place her in a permanent home.
“Miss Jurnee, I wanted to see you. It’s been forever. I missed you.”
“I missed you too Angel.” I always called her that because that’s what she reminded me of. The two of us had a special bond and I’d often wished I could adopt her myself. I had even talked with the girls about it. They told me to do what’s in my heart, but I’d known the chances were slim because of my age and being single. As much as I’d wanted her to find her forever family, the thought of her possibly going away and not being here all the time made my heart hurt something fierce.
I squatted the rest of the way down so I was eye level with Embry and introduced the man towering over us. “Hey, this is my friend Braxton,” I told her. “He came to see the place. Braxton, this is Embry,” I said motioning to the little one still hanging on to me like a monkey, her arms now wrapped around my neck.
“Hi,” she said shyly to Braxton.
“Hey Embry,” he said softly, also kneeling down. What an amazing guy. You could tell he was trying to be considerate of his size and not scare her.
Embry just tucked her head in my neck, but then peeked out at him. She was curious, even if she’d been a bit scared. Giving the girl a hug, I told her to go back to her room and I would see her after lunch. She squeezed me and yelled bye, and off she went just as fast as she showed up.
“Adorable little thing,” Braxton said. “What’s her story?”
“How about I tell you over lunch, I’m starving.” My stomach chose that particular moment to growl very unladylike and I’d thought I was going to die. “Wait for me, I have to pee.”Oh shit, here we goagain. Off I’d ran, leaving Braxton standing there waiting and laughing at me once again. Someday, I wasn’t going to make a fool out of myself in front of him.
Someday, but obviously, that day isn’t today!
Chapter Eight
Braxton
A taco truck,that’s what Jurnee had picked for lunch. I shouldn’t have been surprised that this girl was so down to earth, that’s how she’d always been as a kid too, but I couldn’t help being blown away. She didn’t care that Alley didn’t have money or that Summer had a boatload of it growing up. What mattered was what was in their hearts. So when I’d told her we could go anywhere for lunch, she was happy to just head for the food truck and sit at the beat-up, wooden picnic table.
Tacos were her favorite, she had informed me. And she’d also said that if I didn’t like tacos, we couldn’t hang out anymore. Of course I liked tacos, and even if I didn’t, I would have said I did just to spend time with her. I’d known she was kidding, she had given a cute little giggle after she’d said it. Everything about Jurnee was adorable, and she could very well be close to perfect.
And I wanted the chance to find out.
