He was handsome even when he was frowning.“Hugging you and kissing you.”She shook her head.“Things we can’t do here.”She pointed at the school building behind them.
He stepped close, putting her between him and her car.“I don’t see a problem with it.”He bent his head and dropped a kiss against her forehead.Up close, the tenderness on his face and in his eyes was too much.“I hope you will think about JenniLynn’s job offer.Selfishly, I’d like you to stick around.”
He would?She shook her head, her throat too tight to speak.She was too focused on fighting against an emotion she wasn’t prepared to name.It was too much.Too big and real and heavy.There was no denying she enjoyed his company or that she was very definitely attracted to him.But falling for him?It was so fast.Some—most—would saytoofast.She couldn’t.It would be a huge mistake to rush this.But that didn’t stop her from wanting to.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you don’t seem happy about it.”His hand brushed her curls from her shoulder.“You okay?”
No.Yes.She shrugged.But his hands closed on her shoulders, and it helped.His touch steadied her—or drove her out of her mind with want.Either way, his touch affected her deeply.
“Delilah’s been asking to see you.”He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.“If you’re not too busy?”
“Cody got a dinosaur diorama for his birthday, and, nowthat he’s turned Delilah into a dino fan, he thought she’d want to see it.”
“I’m sure she would.”
Being a big brother is a big responsibility, Ma.She nibbled on her lower lip.She’d done this.If she and Braden hadn’t gone on that date, Cody wouldn’t be making huge assumptions about what the future would look like.
He was watching her.“Talk to me.”
Should she tell Braden?No.This was something she needed to sort out with her son.If she told him, he’d want to help and that wouldn’t helpherfight the whole falling in love thing.“I’m just…tired.”She wasn’t tired, she was panicking.
He was wearing that adorable concerned expression again.“You okay to go home?I can drive you.”His hand cradled her cheek, his blue eyes searching hers.
“I’m fine.”It was hard to get the words out.“Like I said, you don’t need to worry about me.”
“But I do and I am.”He smiled.“Get some rest, Maggie.Take good care of yourself.We can get together later on, when you’re up to it.”He opened the driver’s door of her SUV.“Text me when you get home?”
His words had her heart beating at an alarmingly fast rate.“I will.”She got into the car.
He closed the door and patted the roof of the car.
She tore her gaze from him and backed out of the parking spot.No matter how hard she tried not to, she glanced his way.
Braden touched the brim of his cowboy hat.
She shook her head.For years, she’d been content on her own.But now?Why did this handsome cowboy get to her like this?Was he even real?How could he be?He was too good to be true.Too sweet, too thoughtful and entirelytoo gorgeous.Just look at him.He being a single parent to a little girl wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for all women.He was the total package.Any woman would want him.But that crooked grin—the one he was wearing right then and there—was for her.And even though this was scary and new and uncertain, she was happy.Braden Parker made her happy.
* * *
Braden had never felt this way before.With Maggie, things were simple and…not.
He was slowly coming to terms with his new normal.It was the same with Delilah and Maggie: he didn’t have a choice about his feelings for either one of them.They just were.Unshakable and irrefutable.
When it came to Maggie, this was both maddening and satisfying.It was the little things that revealed how far gone he was.If she smiled, he was happy.If she was tired, he wanted to take care of her.If she kissed him, he wanted to love every inch of her—over and over.There was nothing he could do about it, either.Not that he wanted to.Truth be told, he liked feeling all those things.
Over the last few days when the four of them had gotten together to make pine cone bird feeders, he’d found a way to steal a kiss—or two.At the last football game, he’d held her hand under the blankets.After they’d discussed every inch and element of Cody’s diorama, he’d made sure to sit beside her to watch a movie—wedged tightly beside her.Whatever excuse he could find to see her, he’d use it.He thought he’d been sneaky but he’d been wrong.
It was his mother who told him it was time to take Maggie on another date—just the two of them.When Maggie said yes, his mother took it up a notch and offered to keep Delilah overnight.Miles and Hayes had given him somuch hell for that, too.While they were making jokes about whether or not he remembered how to have sex and to be sure he had plenty of condoms, he knew better.He and Maggie were in a good place.Sex changed things.And while there was no denying he wanted Maggie something fierce, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to change things between them.
When he knocked on her front door to pick her up, he hadn’t expected to be nervous.But he was.He was shifting from foot to foot when she pulled the door open.All Braden could do was stare.
“You look incredible.”Braden felt like someone had a hold of him by the throat—making it hard for him to speak or breathe.Maggie was always beautiful, but she’d never dressed up like this before.Her hair was loose and soft about her.The red sweater she wore matched her red lipstick.Her jean skirt hugged her hips and ended just above her knees.And her boots?Damn, but she looked good in cowboy boots.
“Thank you.”Her cheeks were a darker shade of pink when she pulled the door shut behind her.
“I was thinking we could go to The Library, in Bronco.”He wanted tonight to be about them.That meant going someplace where they weren’t likely to run into someone they knew or be interrupted.Bronco made sense.He took her hand, bent and dropped a quick kiss on her lips.
“You’re not worried about getting red lips?”She laughed.
