Brandon (Anderson Billionaires #3) - Melody Anne Page 0,51

getting pretty tired. It really had been a longer-than-normal week.

He didn’t push her when she told him she was tired. And then their evening came to a close, and soon Brandon was driving her home. She was hoping he’d stay in the car and let her walk to her own door, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. They were, however, silent as they approached. The second they were on her porch, all she could think about was how amazing the night before had been from the second he’d pulled her into his arms.

She didn’t want to be presumptuous and think he was going to start kissing her again, but at the same time she wanted to make sure and stop him before he started, because she didn’t think she’d have the willpower to stop him two nights in a row.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” Brandon said, shocking her. She was afraid to even make eye contact with him. Her body was humming with desire, and she wanted nothing more than to fall into his arms.

“I appreciate you inviting me to join you when Jordan got sick,” she said, still not looking up. She was counting the dirt clumps she saw on her front porch. He gently grasped her chin, and she fought to not panic.

He looked into her eyes and slowly bent his head forward. He lightly brushed his lips against hers, causing her heart to thunder. Then, before she knew it, he let go and backed away. He smiled down at her, then turned and left her leaning against the door.

She stood looking at the empty path in front of her house, but she couldn’t seem to move. Her knees had turned to rubber, and her back felt as if it had no spine. Brandon had knocked her off of her feet with one gentle brush of his lips.

When she finally felt some confidence in her legs’ ability to hold her up, she turned around and went inside.

She tossed and turned in bed all night, dreaming about her and Brandon doing so much more than simply kissing. Maybe she was done fighting the man. Maybe she was willing to admit she wanted to start taking some risks that had nothing to do with work and that just might get a little messy.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Chloe was dead on her feet at the end of a very long day. Only a few more days until she’d get some time off. When you owned a restaurant, there weren’t a lot of days you could afford to leave the place—not in the beginning. She wanted it to run beautifully so she could truly make a name for herself.

She might have been slightly worried that Brandon hadn’t called her in two days or shown up unannounced. Maybe her stunt with Jordan had turned him off. Maybe he’d only shown up at the concert to prove a point that she did want him, and now that he knew that, he was gone for good.

This was the exact reason she hadn’t wanted to get involved with anybody. Instead of focusing on her work, she was obsessing about a man whom she’d continually pushed away for the past several months.

She was walking from the kitchen when she heard familiar laughter. She looked up to see Brandon . . . walking in with her mother on his arm. What in the world was going on? Was she seeing things?

Her mother laughed again. The sound was almost foreign to Chloe. Yes, she’d heard both of her parents laugh before, but not too often. Genevieve was laughing like a teenage girl, and Brandon was grinning. They both moved to her bar. She looked at the counter to make sure it was sparkling clean. She didn’t want to give her mother any excuses to criticize her.

“Hello, Chloe,” her mother said as she moved over and leaned in, giving Chloe a half hug and lightly kissing her on the cheek.

“Hello, Mother,” Chloe said, not able to hide the confusion in her voice.

“I was walking up to the restaurant when I found this beautiful woman out front with no one to open the door for her,” Brandon said as he held out a stool for her mother.

“Oh, Brandon, you are such a charmer,” Genevieve said with another girlish giggle that had Chloe completely baffled.

“Ah, I just never like to leave a lady waiting,” Brandon said with a slight bow. He waited for Genevieve to sit before he took the stool beside