“I suppose so.” Her voice softened and though there was no smile on her lips, her eyes showed more happiness than irritation. “I’m going to clean up the kitchen a little more. You eat, and then we can read.”
Brady squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Dakota.”
Chapter Seventeen
Dakota gently yanked her fingers from Brady’s grasp. The tingles darting up her arm unnerved her. She turned to leave and bumped her shins into the coffee table, the soup sloshing over the edge of the bowl onto the tray. “Sorry,” she muttered.
She couldn’t tell if it was the way he spoke to her or the way he’d held onto her that made her suddenly feel off balance. The Brady she’d heard about was too shallow to admit to any wrongdoing. What was going on with him?
The kitchen was already clean. She’d only needed an excuse to escape. After spilling eggs down her front, she thought for sure she’d stay angry long enough to avoid spending extra time with Brady. Yet in a few minutes she’d be stuck on the couch reading to him from that romance novel.
Dumb.
Dakota stretched out her fingers into a fan and retracted them, hoping the movement would get rid of the numb tingles she still felt. She was being ridiculous. One lingering touch from the man and she was giving in to the one thing she told herself she never would—developing an interest in Brady.
Her hands reached for her braid over her shoulder and she pulled it into her lips—a bad habit from her teen years. In a few more days, she’d be free and she could get out of this fog she found herself in. Brady would not win her over if it was the last thing she fought for.
Grasping for any excuse to avoid being in the same room as him, Dakota brightened as it occurred to her the horses needed to be brought in.
She poked her head into the living room. “I need to get the horses back to the stable.”
Brady looked up, his steady caramel eyes meeting hers. “I’m sure they will be fine tonight. It looks like the storm is long gone. Let them sleep under the stars tonight.”
Dakota chewed the inside of her cheek. Shoot. He was right. The horses didn’t need to come in for the night. Brady patted the couch next to him. He’d rotated so his feet rested on the coffee table rather than taking up the whole couch.
“You’ve been doing so much. You deserve a break too. Come on, let’s read some more of that book.” He flashed her that smile he gave all the girls and a small part of her insides melted. No. She wasn’t going to give in to him. He was just feeding her lines earlier.
Dakota blew a stray strand of black hair out of her eyes. “Alright.” She entered the large entertaining room and snatched the book off the coffee table where she’d left it the night before. Flipping through the pages, she found where they’d left off and slumped down on the couch.
It wasn’t long before she was engulfed in the story and forgetting where she was. She curled up her legs beneath her and leaned against Brady’s warm body. It wasn’t until Brady plucked the book out of her hands and started reading that she became painfully aware of how close they’d become.
Moving away from him now would be more than awkward. Instead she focused on listening to his baritone voice as he continued reading aloud the narrative. Her lids grew heavy, fluttering closed. She’d rest her eyes for just a moment. “Finish this chapter and then we’ll call it a night,” she yawned, resting her head on his shoulder.
A woody scent mixed with spice filled her nostrils, pulling her out of sleep. She jerked to a sitting potion, her eyes scanning the room. It was dark now, the dim glow down the hall from the kitchen the only source of light.
She stiffened. Brady’s heavy breathing beside her drew her focus. He’d fallen asleep too. The book lay on his lap, his head laid back on the couch. Dakota rubbed her eyes, dragging her hands down her face and then stretching out her arms in front of her.
Dakota glanced at Brady’s sleeping form. She couldn’t deny how nice it had felt to be snuggled up with someone like him. From his brooding good looks to his charm, it was no wonder he had multiple successes with the women around here. Not even his reputation