A Secret He Can't Keep: A Small Town Opposites Attract Romance (Brookview, Ohio Book 2)

by Autumn Marks

  Brandon sat up to see Emily facing toward him, her long, brown hair in waves across her face and pillow. She was still asleep, looking completely at ease in his bed—which was how he liked it.

  Not wanting to make Ollie wait any longer, Brandon slipped out of bed carefully, so as not to disturb Emily, and put on some shorts he pulled out of his dresser drawer. He tiptoed through the house and let Ollie out the back door, then took this time to use the bathroom for himself.

  When he heard Ollie scratching at the back door, he let him back in and then went back into the bedroom to join Emily. She was sitting up in the bed with her legs pulled up to her chest, the sheet covering her body. She looked every bit as delicious as she had the night before and Brandon couldn’t wait to get a second helping.

  “I was hoping I could sneak back into bed without you waking up,” he said.

  Emily grinned. “How long have you been up?”

  “Just a few minutes. I had to let Ollie out.”

  “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

  “Not at all. It’s—”

  “I know where it is,” Emily said with a smirk. “We had to walk by it to get here.”

  “Right.” Brandon stood at the end of the bed, waiting for her to get up. But she wasn’t moving.

  “Um…do you mind handing me my clothes?”

  “Oh, of course. I’m sorry. I should’ve offered.” He was feeling a bit rusty. It’d been a long time since he’d had an awkward morning-after encounter. He scooped up her clothes and brought them over to her.

  “Thanks. I only need my tank top and underwear.”

  So she wasn’t ready to spring from his house. That was a good sign. Brandon walked over to his side of the bed in an effort to give Emily some privacy while she got dressed. He’d seen her most intimate parts last night, but that had been in the darkness. She might be feeling different about things this morning. She’d made it clear she wasn’t comfortable walking around naked in his house since she’d asked for her clothes.

  “I’ll only be a few minutes,” Emily said, then left his bedroom.

  While Emily was using the bathroom, Brandon got back in bed in hopes she would want to join him when she was done. She’d felt so good last night. It was everything he’d expected—and more. But had she enjoyed herself? She’d told him she’d never had multiple orgasms before, so that had to count for something.

  Emily returned from the bathroom and curled up next to him, her back against his chest. He draped an arm around her and pulled her close.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked after a few moments.

  “Honest answer?”

  “Honest answer.”

  “At the risk of sounding like a shallow asshole, what’s going through my mind is when can I have you like that again,” he said. Emily laughed, earning her a nudge from him. “Oh, that’s funny to you? Why? What’s going through your mind?”

  “Something a bit deeper than that.”

  “What’s that?”

  Emily flipped over to face him. “Are you serious about me?”

  He stayed quiet, contemplating his answer. There was something special about Emily that went beyond physical attraction. She didn’t judge him or expect him to be someone he wasn’t. She’d seen beyond his exterior, the mask he wore for everyone else, and kept coming back for more. He’d certainly heaped his fair share of emotional baggage on her and yet, she was still here.

  Brandon tucked her hair behind her ear so he could look her in the eye. He brushed his hand along her cheek and lifted her chin up. He planted a kiss on her lips because words alone weren’t sufficient enough. He feared she wouldn’t believe his simple answer. He kissed her once again, harder this time, to show her how he felt.

  He couldn’t explain the connection he felt and didn’t want to. But one thing was certain…he was serious. Brandon pulled away and saw Emily’s gaze falter. The longer he made her wait, the less confident she seemed. “Yes,” he replied simply. And when her eyes were back on his, he said, “Yes, Emily, I’m serious about you.”

  Emily’s heartbeat finally slowed down. For those few, tense moments while he’d made her wait, she swore she could hear her heart beating in her eardrums.

  Last night, in her post-sex haze, their relationship status hadn’t mattered much to her. But this morning, with a fresh perspective on things, she had to know. She wouldn’t be able to continue this—whatever they were calling it—if he didn’t feel a smidgen of the same way about her. Brandon was good looking and all, and good in bed, but she wasn’t in it for the fun and games.

  She was serious about him.

  And he’d said he was serious about her too. She believed him. Something about the way he’d looked at her, and had kissed her, let her know he was telling the truth.

  Emily stayed quiet and snuggled up closer to him.

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, sex with you is amazing, but that’s not what I’m after,” he said.

  “What are you after?”

  Brandon pointed to her head. “This,” he said. He pointed to her heart. “This.” Then he grabbed her butt, making her squeal. “This.”

  She swatted his hand away. “You’re crazy.”

  “Crazy for you.” He gave her a peck on the lips.

  She sighed with contentment. “Do you have plans today?”

  “Besides having you again? No. What about you?”

  “I have an open house this afternoon,” she said with a pout. “Two hours and I’m sure only a handful of people will show up, if that.”

  “Where’s it at?”

  “You know that big home on Walnut Street, the one everyone calls a mansion?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s where I’ll be from one to three.”

  Brandon looked over at the clock on his nightstand. “I guess I’m going to have to hurry up then, if you’ve got to be there by one. It’s after eight.”

  “Can we lie here a little while longer?” She was enjoying his warmth, and how comfortable she felt snuggled up next to him. She wasn’t ready to exert herself in that way yet.

  Brandon kissed her forehead. “Whatever you want. But if I fall asleep, don’t take it personally.”

  Two hours later, Emily, who’d been deep in slumber, was awoken by Ollie barking. At first she wasn’t sure what he was barking at. Then she heard it. She looked over at Brandon who was still fast asleep. “Brandon,” she whispered. And when he didn’t respond, she pushed him and said his name louder.

  “What?” he asked, his eyes still heavy lidded from sleep.

  “There’s someone knocking at your front door.”

  Brandon sat up and got out of bed, then went to his dresser to retrieve a shirt. “Sit tight. I’ll go take care of this and be right back.”

  After a few minutes, he was back with a panicked look on his face. He ran his hand over his head and paced the room. “Emily, I’m so sorry.”

  Emily bolted upright, shocked by the sudden change of demeanor. “What is it?”

  “My mom is here.”

  “What?” she said, even though she’d heard him the first time. But she had to make sure that was what he’d said.

  “My mom is here. She wants to take me out to breakfast.”

  “She just showed up? Just like that? With no warning?”

  “Oh, no. She warned me. When I went to my parents’ house yesterday, she told me she was going to stop by. She texted me a few times yesterday, and once this morning, but I was a bit…preoccupied. I didn’t bother to check my phone.” A wolfish grin spread across his face.

  She knew what he’d been preoccupied with. She remembered all too well their encounter last night. “I guess I’d better get dressed then.” Emily threw off the sheets and placed her feet on the floor. Before she stood up, Brandon kneeled down in front of her.

  “I’m so sorry. I had no idea she was planning this.”

  Emily cupped his face in both her hands and gave him a peck on the lips.
“I believe you.” She stood up and Brandon stepped aside to give her room. “Where is she now?”

  “In the living room with Ollie.”

  That meant she was going to have to either sneak out the back door, which was cowardly, or meet Brandon’s mom right on the heels of the best sexual experience of her life.

  Brandon couldn’t believe his mother’s timing. Out of all the people who could’ve shown up at his front door, why did it have to be her?

  Was he being punished for something? Because it sure felt like it to him. All he’d wanted this morning was to spend more time with Emily in whatever way that meant. But he should’ve known he couldn’t have too much of a good thing. This was fate’s way of evening the score a bit.

  While Emily got dressed, he went out into the living room to prepare his mom for her meeting with Emily. It wasn’t every day he had women spending the night at his house, especially not so soon after moving in.

  Linda sat on the couch, petting Ollie when Brandon walked in. She looked up and met his eyes. “Brandon, what’s going on? You’re acting strange this morning.”

  “Mom, I had someone over last night and she’s still here,” he said, with a knowing look. Surely she was capable of filling in the blanks on her own.

  In a flash, Linda’s expression went from one of confusion to understanding. “Oh…I get it,” she said, nodding along with her words.

  Brandon kept his eyes on his mom, but she couldn’t keep her eyes on him. She was holding back a smirk, trying her best not to burst out laughing. He hated that his mom was enjoying this so much. “It’s not that funny.”

  “I’m sorry, honey. It’s not funny and I’m sorry for interrupting your…what are you calling it?”

  Brandon rolled his eyes. “Just hush. She’ll be out here any minute.”

  Emily joined the two of them in the living room, looking as put together as she could manage in a few minutes. The mascara smudges were gone, her once-wild hair had been smoothed down, but her clothes were a bit wrinkled from spending all night on the floor. And his heart thumped a little faster when he saw her.

  “Emily, this is my mom, Linda. Mom, this is Emily,” Brandon kept his eyes trained on Emily when he said these next few words, “my girlfriend.” He’d wanted to see her reaction and it pleased him that her eyes lit up when he’d introduced her as his girlfriend. He didn’t need a title to know that he was serious about Emily, but it made what they had together easier to explain to others. They’d already told people they were boyfriend and girlfriend—but that was different. They no longer had to put on an act and pretend now. This time it was real.

  “Emily, it’s so nice to meet you,” his mother said. “I don’t know what you have planned today, but if you’d like to join us for breakfast, we’d love to have you come along.”

  Brandon hadn’t even agreed to go to breakfast yet. He’d been too busy trying to process how the hell he was going to explain this to Emily. Apparently, his mother had already made up his mind for him. He needed to remind her whose place this was.

  “That’s so sweet of you to invite me along. Thank you. I’m going to have to pass though. I have to work in a few hours and I need to go back to my house to get ready.”

  “Did you walk here? I didn’t see a car,” Linda said.

  “I live right next door.”

  “Oh! So you’re the neighbor whose yard Ollie kept destroying.”

  Emily smiled. “That’s me. I guess I should be thanking Ollie now, right?”

  “Don’t do that,” Brandon said. “His head is already big enough.”

  Emily scooped up her sandals from where she’d discarded them the night before. “Linda, it was nice meeting you. Have a good breakfast.”

  “It was nice to meet you too,” Linda replied.

  “I’ll see you out,” Brandon said. He walked with Emily out the front door and closed the door behind him. She turned to face him. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

  “Don’t worry about it. At least we weren’t in the middle of something when it happened,” she said with a smile.

  “I wouldn’t have answered the door.”

  Emily took Brandon’s hand and turned it over. She placed a piece of paper in his palm, then closed his hand around it. “I found a pencil and a piece of paper in your nightstand. I hope you don’t mind that I used them to write that down.”

  He tucked the paper in his pocket. “I don’t mind at all.”

  “I should get going,” Emily said, leaning down to put on her sandals. “Thanks for last night.”

  Brandon kissed her goodbye, slow and sensual, wishing like hell he could forget about the interruption and continue what he’d been planning for her this morning. But some other time. He’d make sure of it. “I’ll see you later.”

  Brandon went back inside where his mom was waiting for him on the couch, probably straining really hard to hear his conversation with Emily.

  “Neighbor?” Linda asked.

  He knew what she was getting at. All along he’d said he would never date another neighbor again. And here he was doing just that. “I know what I said. I think you know I never would’ve planned this.”

  “I’m really sorry for barging in. I sent you a few messages last night and this morning. I got concerned when you didn’t answer. I thought maybe you were upset about your visit with your dad yesterday.”

  “I’m fine,” he snapped. He didn’t want to think about that visit ever again.

  “Well, yeah, I see that now.” Linda grinned.

  Brandon narrowed his eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

  “You know I just want to see you happy.”

  As much as Brandon wanted to be annoyed, he couldn’t. He’d given her many reasons to be concerned over the years and once again, things were looking up for him. “Were we actually going to go to breakfast at some point this morning?”

  “Oh, right. Since it’s late, I thought we could go to The Neighborhood.”

  “Is this going to be a real breakfast this time? No surprises?”

  “No surprises.”

  “I need to let Ollie out and then I’ll go get changed.” Brandon let Ollie out the back door and then walked back to his bedroom. Before he changed out of his shorts, he retrieved the piece of paper Emily had given him. On it was her phone number. She had given him a way to contact her no matter the time or occasion. He grabbed his cell phone and typed up a message: Wish I was having you for breakfast. Less than a minute later came her reply: Me too.

  Chapter 23

  When Emily arrived for her open house later that afternoon, she attempted to rein in her giddiness. But as much as she tried, she couldn’t forget how Brandon had introduced her to his mother. Girlfriend—for real this time. No more act.

  She wanted to tell someone. But she couldn’t tell Stephanie and Audrey without telling them that she’d been lying the whole time about him. She thought about telling her dad, but she knew he would only approach it with the overprotectiveness that was his norm where she was concerned. It was times like these when she missed her departed family members the most. She wanted the chance to giggle and swoon without any fatherly advice or judgement. At some point she knew she was going to have to come clean. She and Jason were no longer dating and she had no desire to keep up the façade any longer than necessary.

  She placed her open house sign in the yard and walked up the steps to the stately Federalist-style brick home. At three stories high, the home was arguably the largest in Brookview’s town square. The Jensens, the wealthiest family in town, were selling this place, a home that had been in their family for generations. But historic homes require a lot of upkeep and a certain level of enthusiasm, which the younger generation of the Jensen family no longer had.

  Emily’s fellow agent in town had originally been tasked with this house, but she’d passed the buck on to Emily, knowing it would be on the market for a long time. At half a million, the Jensens’ asking price wasn’t something most in
Brookview could afford. Sure, it’d be a nice payday—if she could sell it.

  After unlocking the door, she walked through the home, flipping on lights and checking to make sure nothing was out of place, before going back downstairs to set out her promotional materials. The place was clean, aside from the few spiders that had made their home since the last time she’d been in. The furniture was nonexistent, but luckily a chair and table had been left behind for her.

  Emily sat…and waited…and waited. She checked her watch. An hour had passed by already and not a soul had stepped in. Normally during open houses, she was used to the neighbors popping in or gawkers wanting to take a look around. With this one, there was no one.

  Finally, the door opened and Emily had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

  “Hello, Mrs. Gordon. How are you?” Emily asked as cheerfully as she could manage. She was desperate for company, but she would’ve preferred someone who wasn’t always fishing for gossip.

  “I’m fine, Emily. Nice place the Jensens have here. It’s a shame they’re selling. I bet Myrtle Jensen would be rolling in her grave if she knew about this.”

  “I know it wasn’t an easy decision for them, but they don’t have the time to take care of this place like it should be. You know that no one has lived here ever since Myrtle passed away. Five years is too long for this good of a home to sit empty.”

  Mrs. Gordon narrowed her eyes. “You’re telling me they can’t pay people to take care of this home? They’ve got more money than they know what to do with.”

  Emily needed to tread lightly. She was representing the Jensens and she didn’t need to fuel Mrs. Gordon’s gossip train. “Their finances are none of my business—and you shouldn’t make it yours either. Now, would you like a tour of the house?” She didn’t normally give tours during open houses, but she wanted to move Mrs. Gordon along in case someone actually interested in buying stopped by.

  Emily proceeded to take Mrs. Gordon through the house and while she was down in the basement showing Mrs. Gordon the updated furnace, there was a soft thud thud thud on the wood floor above her head.