Fragile Hearts (Poplar Falls #4) - Amber Kelly Page 0,50

the seat, and he starts to absentmindedly play with my hair. Twirling it around his fingers.

I moan and loll my head to the side to give him better access.

He looks over at me. “You like that?” he asks.

“Every girl likes having her hair played with,” I inform him.

He looks back at the road, but his hand entangles deeper in my hair, and he starts to massage my scalp.

I close my eyes and begin to drift off.

“Bells,” he calls.

“Hmm?”

“I enjoyed kissing you.”

I try to rally and respond, but all I manage is a weak smile and a muttered, “I liked kissing you too.”

He gently tugs my neck, and I let him pull me closer to him. I open one eye as I wrap an arm around his waist, lay my head on his shoulder, and snuggle in.

He continues to drive while I sleep.

When he pulls up to my house and turns off the ignition, it rouses me. I sit up and rub my eyes, and then I look at the clock on the dash. Hours. He drove around with me asleep, curled up to him, for hours.

My arm is still around him, and I bunch his shirt into my fist at his side as I try to stretch the sleep away.

“You’re home,” he whispers into my hair.

I drop my forehead to his chin. And his hand comes down and starts lazily rubbing up and down my back as he holds me.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had any kind of intimate touch,” he confesses into the dark cab.

That makes me press closer into him.

“I forgot how good it feels to share the same space with another person. To hold a woman as she sleeps,” he continues.

I lift my head and give him my eyes.

His bore into mine, and then they drop to my mouth.

He brings his hand back to my hair and wraps it in his fist.

Then, he guides my mouth to his.

This kiss is different than before. It’s slow and sweet, but I feel it all the way to my toes … an ache. I want to wrap myself around him.

I can tell he is close to losing control, too, as he tugs me as near to him as possible in the small space. My hand finds his thigh. I dig my nails into his muscle, and he groans.

That’s when the porch light blinks on.

I pull away and look over my shoulder at my daddy in his pajama pants, standing at the door like he did when I was a teenager.

I look back at Brandt’s wide eyes.

“My daddy just caught us making out in the driveway,” I whisper.

He presses his lips together, trying to hold back a laugh.

I sit up and reach for the door handle, and he grabs my hand and squeezes.

“I’ll get your door,” he says.

“That’s okay. I got it this time.”

“Sweet dreams, Bells.”

“Night, Doc.”

I hop down and shut the door. I walk backward to the house and watch as he backs out and heads up toward the gate.

Pop meets me at the steps.

“I think I’m in trouble, Pop,” I say without turning around.

His big hand lands on my shoulder. “I think maybe he’s the one in trouble, sweetheart,” he mutters.

Brandt

“Does this outlet have power?” Walker asks as he tries to start the floor sander he plugged into the extension cord across from the kitchen.

“They all should. The power company came out Friday morning to check the wiring and turn on the electricity.”

He tries again, and still, nothing.

“Brax, when did we use this thing last?”

Braxton is in the dining room, applying a coat of liquid paint thinner.

He removes his mask and answers, “We used it upstairs at your place last weekend. It should work fine.”

Walker goes and checks the connection again. “Dammit, I’m not getting anything. The thing is dead.”

Braxton props the handle to the roller against the wall and walks into the kitchen. He flips the switch under the old mounted telephone, and the sander hums to life. Then, he marches back to the dining room.

“You could have just told me what to do, jackass,” Walker calls.

Braxton extends his arm behind his back and gives him the finger.

They showed up at noon sharp this afternoon with a truck bed full of equipment. Equipment I would have had to pay for in order to get the job done.

When we had been sitting around the fire, eating our burgers last night, Myer had asked what my plans were for today, and I told them I was starting the