Chapter 19
nineteen
. . .
Jensen
“What about dinner?”Brynn asks as I back her up to the wall. We are only a few doors down from the Italian restaurant I’d made the reservation for. It’s been three days of nothing more than quick phone calls or texts. Three long days of wanting to feel her and see her gorgeous eyes looking up at me.
“Just give me this,” I say before I press my lips to hers. The sweetness of her mouth invites me in as she drags her tongue along mine.
She may not say it, but I can sense by the way her body is responding to mine she needs this too.
“Stay with me tonight,” I say between kisses. “It’s nothing special, it”s small and nowhere near as homey as your place. But no one is there to hear us, so we can be as loud and dirty as we want to be.” I feel her smile against my lips. “I can do all the things I want to do to you and you can scream my name.”
“What if I want to hear you scream my name?”
It’s my turn to smile. “I am confident that it can be arranged.”
We remain where we are, lost in our kiss as people pass us by, hidden in the darkness of the awning covering the front entrance of the small shop that is already closed for the night.
“So, is that a yes?” I ask.
“I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
“Baby you don’t need any clothes.”
Someone hollers out making her jerk in surprise and I stay where I am, waiting for her to agree.
“Okay,” she finally gives me what I need and relief washes over me. She leans in to offer me another kiss and instead I grab her hand and start backing us out of our hideaway.
When I look back at her, her brows are furrowed. I can’t help but chuckle. “Later, baby.” I wink and lead her toward the front of the restaurant. As we step inside I position her in front of me, my hands resting on her hips and give the hostess my name.
“That was cruel,” Brynn whispers over her shoulder and I lean in biting her earlobe.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it later.”
Before she can respond the young man asks us to follow him as he leads us to our table. Pausing I pull out her chair and wait for her to sit before scooting her in.
“Jensen?” I turn around at the sound of my name to see my oldest sister, Naomi, moving toward me. “I thought that was you.” She leans in to offer me a hug and when she pulls back I notice her glance over my shoulder in the direction of Brynn. My stomach tightens, not because I don’t want her to know my family, but because Naomi out of all my siblings tends to be the most pushy.
“Hi.” Naomi reaches past me and takes Brynn’s hand in hers. “I don’t think we’ve meet, I’m this knucklehead”s sister.”
“Oh.” Brynn stands and Naomi pulls her in for a quick hug. “Hi,” she says with a humpf noise from the impact. “It”s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Na glances back at me. “And why has she not been over to Mom’s for our weekly dinner?”
“Probably because you all frighten me and setting you all loose on her seems kind of cruel.” Na reaches out to pinch my side. “I don’t want you all to scare her off.”
“Hey, man.” Her husband Paul joins us, tucking his wallet back into his pocket. “I’ll get this one moving so the two of you can enjoy your dinner.” I am instantly grateful he gets it. Paul is one of the good ones.
“Paul, husband to this one.” He points to Na’s shoulder, greeting Brynn.
“It’s good to meet you.” Brynn offers her a smile, the same one that rocks my foundation every time.
“Next week.” Naomi leans around her husband and speaks directly to Brynn. “Seven p.m. Tuesday, I’m inviting you to our family dinner. It’s loud and everyone is crazy, but we are harmless and we’d love to have you. This one,” she points to me, “never brings anyone.”
Brynn shifts her eyes in my direction. “Never had anyone worth bringing.” After the shit show with Chrissy, that hell still isn’t truly over, I told myself I’d never go through that again. Then I met Brynn and I found myself wishing I’d met her long before I’d made the mistakes I had. Mistakes I know that I will have to share with Brynnlee but for now I’m enjoying our getting to know one another phase. I don’t want to ruin what we are building by bringing up my past bad choices.
“Okay,” Naomi interrupts my thoughts. “I’ll see you,” she points between the two of us, “next Tuesday. I promise we won’t be too pushy and intrusive.” With a smile and a little wave she leaves but not before poking me in the side once more.
“Enjoy your evening.” Paul shakes his head, following behind my sister.
“Sorry about that.” I sit opposite Brynn just as the waitress brings our drinks. She gives us a little more time to look over the menu since we were interrupted.
“They seem nice.” Brynn offers me a smile.
“My sisters are insane.” I chuckle. “I love them fiercely but they are nosy, pushy, and loud.”
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Three.” I take a sip of my beer. “Naomi who is three years older than me, then there is Jenna at six years younger, and Myles my brother who’s nine years younger.”
“Any other cops or detectives in the family?”
“History teacher,” I hold up one finger, “nurse, and mortgage lender.” I check off the other two.
“Are you all close?”
Reaching out I link my finger with hers and hold her hand in the center of the table. “Outside of Connor all three of them are my best friends. We lost my dad more than ten years ago and he was a family man, to his core. We were raised to love and love hard, stand behind each other no matter what, and if one of us falls we better be there to pick each other up.”
“That sounds nice.”
“What about you and Sebastian, you seem close.”
“We clash,” she confesses but smiles when she does. “My mother says it’s because we are both extremely stubborn but in reality it’s because he thinks he is my father and doesn’t realize he doesn’t have a say in my life. It’s annoying, we fight and argue but at the end of the day we love each other. We always come out the other side, somehow smiling.”
“A brother always wants to protect his sister or sisters from the bad guys.” I know I’ve been pretty harsh over the years with Jenna and Naomi. I may have been younger but it never stopped me from trying to take control.
I’ve put both of their husbands through hell until they proved they were worthy.
“Your mom must love having all of you at her place each week.”
“She does,” I confess. “She refuses to downsize, still living in the same big house that she lived in with my father. It”s still filled with all of his things even after all this time, his favorite chair still in the living room, his flannels hanging in the closet.”
“That’s amazing,” Brynn says in awe.
“He was her one and only.”
“That’s what my dad says about my mother.” Her eyes shine with tears. “It’s incredible to witness that kind of love. Two people too enthralled by the other that they would rather live their lives alone than to ever replace them after they were gone.”
I look across the table at her, seeing her lost in her thoughts.
Now could be the time that I chose to tell her all the things lingering in the back of her mind. Things that could change the way she feels about me, but I can’t seem to form the right words. I’m not even sure how to start, or where. I will, I know I have to, but I need a little more time.
Our waitress reappears and after we place our orders we get lost in conversation of Marco and Taylor and how the three of them met. I share stories of Connor and his disastrous dating life which makes her laugh. “Okay so he doesn’t necessarily date, it”s more of a drive-by with him,” I offer and her eyes widen. “His antics are comical and I still find it hard to figure out how any woman can actually fall for the shit he pulls.”
We laugh to the point of tears and it”s the first time in a week that I feel completely at ease. Being in the company of Brynn is like coming up for air after being buried beneath the rubble. Years I’ve spent wondering where I’d gone wrong. But right now, being here with her, nothing has ever felt more right.
I could do this, with Brynn, every day forever and I still think it wouldn’t be enough. Hearing her laugh is like playing the perfect song, that one song that makes you feel so deep that you could play it on repeat and it never gets old.
When I pay our check and we stand, I place my palm against the small of her back and lead her through the restaurant toward the exit.
As we step outside I pull her off to the side and offer her the kiss I’d been waiting to give her since we set down to eat. For the last hour and a half I’d be aching to feel her lips on mine.
“So, about next week.” I lean back, but still manage to keep her body pressed tightly to mine. Lifting my hand, I tuck her hair back so I can see her beautiful face. “I’d love to have you meet the rest of my crazy family.”
She smiles.
“What do you say? Would you join me for a family dinner at my mother’s?”
“I’d love to meet them.” She lifts her body up flush with mine, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips pressing to mine she laughs when I nibble on her lower lip.
“You make me feel so many things,” I confess without an ounce of hesitation. “So many things,” I add, kissing her once more. I didn’t plan for her, never went looking but somehow I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and there she was.
With my hand linked with hers, we start to walk toward the sidewalk when I look up and feel like my heart lurches slamming forward and then falls to my feet.
There standing before me is Chrissy and a group of her friends.
It’s too late to escape, too late to hide Brynn from their venom as I notice the way her eyes light up when she sees us standing there before her.
“Hello, husband.” She offers me a smile before placing her hand on my arm, leaning in to press a kiss to my cheek. I feel like I am frozen in place. “Who’s your friend?”