Braydon Read Online Free Page A

probably a little strange for them all when Kylie, who’d married Travis when she was just eighteen, came waltzing into their lives unexpectedly years later, only to be pulled back into the fold when she and Travis reconciled. They had Gage to thank for that, although Gage probably didn’t think he’d done anything all that heroic, considering his blatantly underhanded way of handling the situation, but Jessie wasn’t one to judge. It had worked out in the end, and that’s all that mattered.
    Regardless, Zoey and V were the most down-to-earth women Jessie had probably ever met and the only women, aside from her sister, who she could truly call friends.
    “Please tell me you haven’t seen Zane yet today,” Kylie said to V.
    V and Zoey both laughed at that, and Zoey was quick to reply with, “I managed to keep him away.”
    “You did?” Jessie asked in disbelief. This was Zane Walker they were talking about. The man had come up with an entirely new definition of the word “persistent.”
    “Well, I orchestrated it, yes. I left it to his brothers to keep him as far from her as possible.”
    “This is Zane we’re talking about,” Kylie reminded them, giving voice to Jessie’s thoughts. “I’m sure they’ve had their hands full.”
    “I’ll say.” Zoey giggled. “Zane showed up at the door about an hour ago with Kaleb and Travis in tow. They were threatening to tie him up and gag him if he didn’t behave.”
    Jessie could picture that. For the last couple of weeks, Zane had been more obnoxious than usual. His excuse was that he was getting married. Considering the guy had waited patiently—as patiently as he was capable of—for V to agree to a wedding date, Jessie didn’t necessarily blame him. V had presented him with the wedding date at Christmas as her gift to him. Jessie remembered feeling a pang of jealousy at that time, too.
    It wasn’t that she wanted to get married, per se. She just wished she could fall in love with a man who she could envision being with forever. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. Jessie wished she could find a guy who was looking for the same thing she was. She hadn’t expected it to be a particularly difficult task because Jessie simply wanted to be loved in return. Funny how that never seemed to work out for her.
    A knock on the door behind them got their attention, and as the four of them turned to face the newcomer, Zoey and Kylie moved to stand in front of V as though they could possibly block her from anyone’s view. Jessie laughed at the sight. Considering V was noticeably taller than they were, they weren’t accomplishing their goal.
    “It’s just us,” Lorrie Walker said as she moved into the room.
    The woman looked elegant in her beautiful navy gown, her short dark hair hanging loosely to her shoulders. Simple. Understated. That was the best way to describe the Walker brothers’ mother. She was the sweetest, kindest woman Jessie had ever met.
    Even though Jessie was sure Lorrie knew that she had been involved with both Brendon and Braydon at the same time, she never felt any scrutiny from Lorrie. Even now, when it wasn’t exactly wine and roses between the three of them. At first, Jessie had been petrified that she’d be exiled from any family gatherings once the truth came out about her relationship with the twins. But surprisingly, everyone seemed to be all right with it. And by “all right,” she meant no one usually mentioned anything, although Jessie could see the concern in their eyes.
    At first, she’d been confused, but then Kylie had informed her that everyone was worried that the twins would hurt her. She’d laughed off the idea, advising her sister that she wasn’t looking for anything permanent. And she wasn’t. Well, in the beginning she hadn’t been. Now . . .
    Well, now she couldn’t seem to get Braydon off her mind.
    But these days, no one looked at her cross. Probably because she was slowly drifting away from the twins. It was