She wrinkled her nose. “Funny. Well, my brother is probably going to have some questions too. Normally, he stays out of my business, and I stay out of his.”
“What’s that like? My brothers are always in my business. My sister is even more in my business.”
Jessie chuckled. “That’s nice, isn’t it?”
“It can be. But you know, we raised Cassidy, basically. Well, Carson and Austin more than me. But she came to live at the ranch when she was just nine, and Dad was already dead so … it was up to us. Three idiots and a little girl.”
She had never really given a lot of thought to that part of his life.He had been pretty young when his dad had died. And he would’ve been young when Cassidy came to live with them.
“That’s when we cleaned our act up a little bit,” he said. “For her.”
“That’s … that’s nice.”
“I guess so. We try, anyway.”
“Well, I guess that just leaves one question,” she said, looking down at her cinnamon roll, then gathering all her bravery to look up at him. “Do you want to go steady, Flynn Wilder?”
“I want nothing more,” he responded. And then he grinned. She thought she might die. She thought she was going to pass out. She had never been on the receiving end of his smile. Not like this. Full watt, less than a foot away from her.
No wonder women fell at his feet. No wonder they could scarcely handle themselves around him.
“Great,” she said.
And then she speared the remaining third of her cinnamon roll with her fork, taking a bite that was far too big and chewing it so long, it meant that she didn’t have to think of anything else to say.
“Better go,” she said, snagging her coffee. “I have to get back to the property. I didn’t tell West where I was going. Or that I was going to be gone all night.”
“I thought he’s not usually up in your business.”
She did not tell him that this time was different because she was never gone all night. Instead, she pivoted. “Sure. But we’re working on a new routine. So he’ll be expecting me.”
Her parents wouldn’t wonder. They’d just assume she was out having lots of fun. Good for her. West, though, he had more opinions.
Though the main thing was that she really needed a break from Flynn Wilder.
“You could just text him,” he pointed out.
“I could. But he never answers my texts. My brother’s phone is exclusively used for receiving texts from women who want to sleep with him.”
Flynn snorted. “He must be busy.”
“Waaaay busier than I would like to acknowledge.”
He stood up and took their dishes to the trash can, held the door open for her while she walked past him. “You don’t have to walk me back to my truck.”
“I do.”
“Really?”
“For God’s sake, what kind of men do you usually hook up with? You’ve got to walk a lady back to her vehicle.”
“Amazing. Now that I’ve pretend-slept with you, I’m a lady.”
“Yeah, I have that effect.”
She rolled her eyes, and was grateful when he didn’t grab her hand again.
When they got to the truck, her heart stalled out for a moment. She wondered if he was going to do something crazy, like kiss her.
