Braydon

by Nicole Edwards

  Convenience. That’s what she’d chalked it up to. She was convenient, they were convenient. All in all, they were friends with benefits and it had worked for them.

  Too bad she had started to develop feelings along the way. On top of that, her feelings weren’t on an even keel when it came to Brendon and Braydon. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but somewhere along the way, she’d found herself falling for Braydon, something that she desperately tried to fight. Even considering they were physically identical—if it weren’t for their polar opposite personalities, Jessie wasn’t sure she’d be able to tell them apart even now—Jessie had been seduced by Braydon’s more sensitive side.

  “Is everyone ready?” Regina Carmichael asked, pulling Jessie from her wandering thoughts. “I think it’s time.”

  Everyone turned to look at V, who had gone a frightening shade of pale.

  “Oh, honey, you look beautiful,” Lorrie consoled her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

  Zoey, V’s lifelong friend, chimed in, “You’re gonna walk out there and take one look at Zane and all will be right in the world. Nothing else will matter as soon as you lay your eyes on him. You’ve been waiting for this. And just think, we’ll officially be sisters by the time the day is out.”

  “I know,” V whispered, choking on a sob.

  “Don’t you dare ruin your makeup,” Zoey said sternly, her voice wobbly despite the huge grin and tears in her eyes.

  V laughed, as did everyone else.

  Jessie found she had tears in her own eyes, and she quickly blinked them back, knowing that if one of them broke, they’d all be a mushy mess by the time they made their way out the door.

  And right now, they needed to get the show on the road.

  WHY ZANE HAD opted for a big wedding, Braydon would never know.

  Braydon’s idea of a perfect wedding consisted of a quick trip to Vegas, followed by a kick-ass honeymoon where he and his bride would spend the next seven to ten days in bed.

  Not that anyone had asked his opinion. Nor would his mother ever agree to one of her boys taking an impromptu trip to Sin City to tie the knot. But that wasn’t really the point.

  Zane clearly didn’t share the same outlook, and a big wedding was exactly what he got.

  With Beau as best man and Zoey as matron of honor, everything had gone off without a hitch, from the two practice runs—yes, that’s correct, two—to the official ceremony. The rest of the Walker brothers had all been groomsmen, at Zane’s request, which made for a huge wedding party. And now that the ceremony was over, Braydon was ready to shun the tux, but the festivities weren’t over yet.

  There was a reception to go to at Alluring Indulgence Resort, which meant he’d be trussed up for a few more hours at the least. Now he just had to make the trek to his truck, head over to the reception, kill a few hours, toss back a few beers, and life would finally be back to normal.

  “Braydon!”

  Braydon turned to see Cheyenne Montgomery walking his way. She was holding the lower part of her colorful glimmering gown and trying to maneuver through the mushy grass in heels, which was a sight in itself. He knew the confusion was clear on his face as she approached, but he was a little shocked that she was there in the first place. Yeah, he knew who she was, but up until Mother’s Day of last year, no one had even heard of her.

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true. They’d heard of her because her music topped Billboard’s country music charts and their mother was a huge fan. But no one had known that she was a friend of Travis’s. And since then, she’d been showing up to more and more family functions, which seemed . . . strange.

  “I knew I should’ve worn boots,” she said, straight-faced.

  Braydon tried to picture her in that dress and boots . . . Couldn’t do it.

  “Seriously, I wanted to let you know that Cooper’s looking for you. Something about seeing if you know of anyone who might want to fill in on his ranch for a little while. He’s been asking anyone who’ll listen. Looks like Dalton’s gonna be on the road for a few months.”

  Cooper was Braydon’s cousin Tessa’s husband. He was also a famous country music singer who’d moved to the small town of Devil’s Bend and opened up an equestrian center last year.

  “Thanks. I’ll catch up to him in a bit,” Braydon replied, turning slightly away. When he realized Cheyenne wasn’t leaving, he turned back. Trying not to be rude, although he had already developed a grudge against this woman for reasons that were completely unfair to her, Braydon said, “Was there something else?”

  “Yeah,” she began, squinting up at him as the midday sun bore down on them. “I just . . . wanted to apologize.”

  “For?”

  “For whatever I did to make you not like me.”

  Braydon wasn’t sure what the woman’s angle was, or if she even had one, but her apology caught him off guard. “I like you fine,” he told her.

  Cheyenne’s laugh was as sensual as the rest of her. Her voice was smooth and raspy, mixed with just the right amount of Texas drawl to catch people’s attention. He could completely see why Brendon was hung up on her; after all, she was pretty. Granted, it wasn’t the fact that Brendon had a thing for her that bothered Braydon the most. It was the fact that Brendon was holding on to Jessie in the meantime. Almost as though he didn’t want Braydon to have a chance with her. Then again, a solo relationship for either of them was unheard of. They shared their women. Always.

  Not that any of that mattered anymore, because Braydon had done what he’d never thought himself capable of. He’d called a halt to the threesomes with Jessie.

  As Braydon stared back at Cheyenne, realization dawned.

  He recalled the conversation Brendon had with Cheyenne that first night they met her. Brendon had been working hard to get Cheyenne to go home with them. Braydon damn sure hadn’t been opposed to the idea at the time, but he’d tried to stay in the background. From the moment he’d been introduced to her, Braydon had known that Cheyenne wasn’t like most of the women either of them came on to, despite her age and her likely inexperience with men. Or maybe because of. He didn’t know. The only thing he knew for sure was that Cheyenne, although confident and sexy in her own right, wasn’t like the women who usually flocked to him and Brendon, whispering sweet nothings and looking for the next hookup. There was something very real, very innocent about Cheyenne. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Regardless, her refusal to go home with them had been expected, as was her reason. Cheyenne insisted that she would never be shared between two men. She was adamant about that fact, too. Since then, Brendon had been infatuated with her. But then they had met Jessie, and Braydon had thought that his twin had moved on. After all, Brendon had seemed genuinely interested in Jessie from the beginning. She was, quite frankly, everything they could ever want in a woman. Beautiful, smart, funny, incredibly sexy. And a spitfire in the bedroom.

  But no, Brendon didn’t seem to be satisfied completely. He also didn’t seem to be willing to let Jessie go.

  Because Braydon wanted her.

  Ah, damn. As he stared back at Cheyenne, everything became so fucking clear. How the hell had he not seen it before?

  Brendon still wanted this woman and she was clearly not interested. At least not where a threesome was concerned. And if Braydon was right, Brendon was biding his time with Jessie until he could convince Cheyenne otherwise. Or maybe there was a deeper reason that Braydon wasn’t considering, but it was so much easier to assume Brendon was just drawing things out, purposely keeping Braydon in the shadows.

  That still didn’t explain why Cheyenne seemed to be popping up all the damn time.

  “Well, I should get back,” Cheyenne said uncertainly, and Braydon realized he’d been staring at her like a dumbass.

  “I’ll walk you,” he told her.

  “You don’t have to do that, but thanks for the
offer.”

  Ignoring her protest, Braydon held out his elbow for her to take and escorted her back toward the church. It was slow going because the heels of her shoes continued to get stuck in the soft ground.

  “Is your car here?” he asked.

  “No. I rode with Jared. Lorrie and Curtis were kind enough to let me stay the night at their place last night. Have I ever mentioned that it is impossible to say no to your mother?”

  Braydon laughed. “I’ve heard that before.”

  “When I told her I had a hotel, she told me, ‘Nonsense, honey. We’ve got more than enough room upstairs.’ ” Cheyenne gave a fairly good impression of his mother’s voice.

  “How are you getting to the reception?”

  “I was hoping to catch a ride with Travis, Kylie, and Gage.”

  “They already left,” Braydon apprised her. “Kylie needed to get over there to make sure things were set up and ready for Zane and V.”

  “Well, hell,” Cheyenne said, glancing around. There were still a few guests lingering at the church, but even the limo that was taking Zane and V over to the resort had already left.

  “I’ll take you,” Braydon offered.

  “I’ll take her,” a gruff voice cut in.

  Braydon and Cheyenne both turned at the same time to see Brendon walking up behind them. Although he didn’t respond immediately, Braydon heard his brother loud and clear. It wasn’t just the words he said, but the way he said them that brought him up short.

  Cheyenne glanced up at Braydon, then over to Brendon. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t argue.

  “We’ll see you there,” Brendon told Braydon, pretty much dismissing him, which only pissed him off. But Braydon had become familiar with not causing a scene lately. Rather than argue, he nodded and headed back toward his truck.

  chapter TWO

  Stumbling upon Cheyenne and Braydon hadn’t been Brendon’s intention, but now that he had, something disturbingly possessive had ignited in his chest. Offering to take Cheyenne over to the reception had been the only thing he could think of when he heard his brother’s offer, his single goal to get Cheyenne alone for a few minutes.

  “You don’t have to take me,” Cheyenne informed him as they made their way toward the nearly empty parking lot of the small church.

  “I’m going there anyway, so it’s no big deal.” It was a huge fucking deal for him, but Brendon wasn’t going to tell her as much.

  “Thanks,” she said quietly as they approached his truck.

  At the risk of making her think he was trying to come on to her, Brendon made his way around to the passenger-side door and opened it for her. Based on his usual behavior when he was around her, his gesture had probably surprised her somewhat. Brendon wasn’t known to be a true gentleman when Cheyenne was around.

  For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why that was. There was an incredible amount of friction between the two of them, and Brendon knew that only a small part of that was due to physical attraction. It didn’t matter that Cheyenne had knocked down every advance he’d ever sent her way; Brendon knew she was attracted to him. He could see it in her smoldering green eyes. Not that she would ever admit it—probably not even to herself.

  Once in the truck, Brendon found his need to keep his mouth shut was overpowered by his need to talk to Cheyenne, to try to clear the air between them.

  “Why’re you here, Cheyenne?” he blurted, not especially proud of his defensiveness when he was around this woman.

  Brendon could feel Cheyenne’s eyes on him, feel the heat of her glare even though he was paying attention to the road.

  Finally, Cheyenne sighed heavily before answering. “Your mother invited me.”

  “My mother?”

  “Yes. She’s the reason I’ve been at all the family functions, Brendon.”

  Cheyenne’s tone wasn’t quite defensive, but it wasn’t exactly friendly, either.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?” he snapped.

  “If you knew how to have a civil conversation, maybe I would have.”

  It was Brendon’s turn to sigh, his deep exhale one of exasperation. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he thought about all the times he’d questioned Cheyenne and how she had evaded answering him every damn time. His mother? His mother was the one responsible for Cheyenne showing up whenever there was a Walker family function?

  As much as he knew his mother liked to meddle in her sons’ business, he just couldn’t figure out how Cheyenne played into it. What was his mother’s angle?

  “So, what? She just calls you up and invites you?”

  “Pretty much,” Cheyenne said firmly. “Apparently she doesn’t realize just how much you hate me.”

  Shit.

  Brendon damn sure didn’t hate Cheyenne. In fact, he was quite fond of her. Too fond of her for his taste. She was an obstacle he hadn’t yet figured out how to steer clear of no matter how much he tried.

  “I don’t hate you, Chey,” he finally said.

  “Coulda fooled me.”

  Unfortunately, the trip from the church to the resort didn’t take long enough. And before he was ready for their conversation to be over, Brendon was pulling the truck up to the main doors, where a handful of valets were waiting to park the vehicles when the guests arrived.

  Before the valet made his way to Cheyenne’s door, Brendon turned to face her. “We need to talk.”

  “I thought that’s what we just did,” she stated, a little harshly. “If you’re gonna insist that I stay away, I’m not sure I can do that. I happen to like your mother. And Travis is a friend of mine. Just because you can’t stand to be in the same room with me doesn’t mean I’m just gonna go away.”

  “I don’t want you to go away,” he said, a little too quickly.

  The passenger door opened, a smiling young man greeting them both as he offered Cheyenne his hand. Brendon wanted to be the one helping her out of the truck, but he fought back the jealousy that raged down deep.

  He needed to find a way to distance himself from this woman. He was wasting his time on her. She obviously didn’t want the same thing he did, and since Brendon had no intention of changing at this point in his life, he knew it only made sense to move on.

  After all, he should’ve been trying to find a way to fix things with Jessie and Braydon.

  Too bad he didn’t know how to do that, either.

  A short while later, after parting ways with Cheyenne just inside the resort, Brendon found Jessie and Braydon lingering near the rows of long tables topped with fancy china and heavy white candles that had been set up in Zane’s club. Jessie and Braydon were talking to V and Zane, congratulating the lucky couple. In a move that had become so natural lately, Brendon stepped up behind Jessie, circling his arms around her waist and pressing up against her. She turned and smiled at him as she always did, a brief look of surprise flashed in her eyes, but then it was gone. The glare he received from Braydon wasn’t normal.

  He made a mental note to ask him about it when they got home.

  But for now, he just wanted to forget about the tense few minutes he’d spent with Cheyenne, and the feelings the woman stirred in him, and what better way to do that than to immerse himself in Jessie for a little while. She was warm and willing and he knew when he tempted her with sneaking off to a darkened room down the hall, she’d be a willing participant.

  He only hoped Braydon wouldn’t put the brakes on the way he had a while back. Since that night, they’d engaged in a couple of encounters together, but other than that, Braydon was keeping his distance.

  But tonight, Brendon needed this. It was a distraction he wouldn’t be able to resist.

  After another couple commandeered Zane and V, Brendon led Jessie off, keeping her close while Braydon stayed a few steps behind them. He was a little
surprised that his twin wasn’t much in the talkative mood, but he didn’t question that, either. He had a one-track mind at the moment, and it revolved around exorcising Cheyenne from his thoughts.

  “Have I told you how hot you make this dress look?”

  Jessie turned toward him, flashing him a hesitant smile. “Thank you. I think.”

  Leaning in close to her ear, Brendon added, “I’d give anything to slip it off you right here, right now.”

  “Right here?” she asked incredulously.

  “Well, maybe not right here. But yes, here. Now. Like, the three of us sneak off down the hall for a minute.”

  “A minute?” Jessie questioned with a mischievous smirk. “You romantic devil.”

  Brendon laughed. Although the sound was forced, it still did the trick.

  Jessie glanced over her shoulder at Braydon before turning back to look at him. Whatever was going on with these two wasn’t helping the strain emanating through Brendon after his encounter with Cheyenne. But he knew a surefire way to alleviate some of that unnecessary pressure. For all three of them.

  When Jessie didn’t balk at his suggestion, he placed his hand on the small of her back and made his way across the large open room. Zane had opted to transform the nightclub within the Alluring Indulgence Resort into his wedding reception, and the place looked nothing like it normally did, except for the amount of people crowding the space.

  Weaving their way through the tables and the guests, Brendon continued to direct Jessie toward one of the back exits that would lead to a small corridor, taking them into the main hotel. They had to talk to several people as they made their way, so progress was slow going, but they finally arrived at Brendon’s intended destination, the back exit door of the club. A quick examination of the room behind him and Brendon knew that no one was paying them any attention, so he ushered Jessie through the door and down the narrow hall, Braydon still keeping a steady pace alongside them.