"Did you just tell off a raccoon?" Sierra asked.
"Yes. He's a smart bugger."
"He's rabid," she grumbled. "I can't believe you're still feeding him."
"He's a little guy. How badly could he hurt you?"
Sierra's eyes bugged out of her head. "That damn thing probably weighs thirty or forty pounds! Haven't you seen that video of the woman fighting off the raccoon in her backyard? I don't want that to be me!"
"It doesn't matter. Brody fed him so he'll move on to the next house on his route."
"He has a route?" Brody asked. "Like a paperboy?"
"More like a pub crawl. He gets fed at several houses in town. I mentioned that before, right?"
They were both staring at me and shaking their heads, as if they couldn't believe what a sucker I was.
I ignored both of them and headed toward the kitchen. Fortune wasn't in my favor because they followed me, snickering.
"Both of y'all can just zip it," I grumbled as I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.
Sierra was still smirking when she said, "I'm going to shower and go to bed. I'm not used to being on my feet all day. My fingers may be strong from typing but my legs are weak from being a paid couch potato."
Brody and I said goodnight to her and she disappeared down the hall to her room.
"Want something to drink?" I asked Brody.
"Water would be good."
I got a bottle for him and crossed the kitchen to hand it to him. He used his left hand to take the bottle but the fingers of his right hand wrapped around my wrist, keeping me from pulling away.
I didn't resist, but stepped closer. "What?"
Brody's fingers stroked the inside of my wrist, so light it was nearly a tickle. "Why'd you change your mind about tonight?"
"I missed you," I admitted.
"You didn't have to leave at all. Or I could have come here if you needed to be home to do stuff."
"I know."
"Then why did you insist on staying away for the night?" he asked. His green gaze was probing but patient.
I took a deep breath and let it out on a long sigh. "Because I didn't want to make the same mistakes with you that I've made in the past."
Brody cocked his head. "Meaning?"
"I haven't dated a lot, but I always just went with the flow. If I wanted to spend time with the guy, I did. If I wanted time to myself, I let him know."
"And what's wrong with that approach?" Brody asked.
"It got my heart broken a couple of times and broke another heart in the process. Things with you...are different. We have a past relationship and you're close with my entire family. I feel like I need to be careful."
"So you didn't want to leave?"
I shook my head but he just raised his eyebrows at me, his expression expectant. Ugh. I hated it when he did that. If he wanted a verbal response when we were kids, that was the exact expression he wore. I wondered if it drove Jacks as crazy as it drove me.
"I didn't want to leave," I said aloud. Then, I took it one step further and confessed something to him that might have him running away. "I'm not sure I'll ever want to leave."
