Page 24 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)

B RAWLEY

“I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this, but it’s really hard to figure out what to wear when I have no idea where we’re going or what we’re doing,” Clancy complained the second she opened the door.

I smiled at her complaint, which she voiced every time I picked her up.

When we first started seeing each other three weeks ago, Clancy was much more reserved in the way she spoke.

I was glad to know that she was comfortable enough now to let me know how she was feeling rather than trying to ignore it just to keep the peace.

“Hello to you, too, gorgeous.” I let my eyes travel down from Clancy’s beautiful face over her fantastic chest that was covered with a v-neck T-shirt and across the expanse of her hips encased in tight faded denim before I saw she was wearing the same Converse sneakers she’d been wearing on our first date.

Once I was able to catch my breath after perusing such beauty, I looked back to her beautiful eyes and replied, “Just know that I’ll never take you anywhere that makes you feel less than comfortable in those jeans, because you look absolutely perfect right now. ”

Clancy rolled her eyes and said, “Spoken like a true man.”

“I’m absolutely serious,” I told her sincerely.

Clancy slowly turned so that her back was to me, then smiled over her shoulder and asked, “Are you sure these are okay?”

“‘Okay’ isn’t nearly the word I’d use, Clancy,” I said as I took a step closer to her and rested my hands on her hips. I propped my chin on her shoulder and whispered, “The only way they could ever look any better would be if they were laying on the floor of my bedroom.”

She laughed and shrugged my chin off before she spun around and poked me in the chest. “If you’re going to use cheesy lines, at least make them original.”

“How can I do that when the sight of you makes me lose the ability to form a coherent thought?”

Clancy blushed before she said, “That was much better.”

“I’ve got one stop we need to make.” I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before I added, “But as soon as we’re finished there, I’m going to take you to dinner so I can show the world how proud I am to have you on my arm.”

“Oh, he’s good,” I heard a woman say from somewhere to my right.

I turned and saw Clancy’s sisters watching us from the dining room, and I smiled at them in greeting. Over the last few weeks, I’d spent quite a bit of time with them when we’d hang out with friends or when Clancy and I joined them out or had them over for a quiet dinner.

“Your brother isn’t nearly as smooth with his compliments,” Tansy informed me. “The other night, I heard him tell his date that she looked great, and she did, but his words weren’t nearly as sweet as what you just said.”

“Sometimes I forget that you and Scout are brothers,” Darcy agreed. “When either of you does something awesome, I have to remind myself that you’re related to our new friend, but it’s hard.”

“That’s what she said,” I blurted without thinking.

Tansy frowned at Clancy before she said, “He’s quickly losing points. You should go before he becomes completely repulsive.”

“He’s Posie’s brother anyway,” Darcy muttered as she reached down and scooped up Clancy’s dog. She cheerfully announced, “I’m kidnapping the princess so my sister can’t make an excuse about why she needs to come home tonight.”

Tansy grinned before she bumped my shoulder as she walked past. “Hint hint, Officer D.”

My eyes grew huge as I looked at Clancy, and she sputtered, “You said I couldn’t tell your friends, not that I couldn’t tell my sisters!”

“That’s just wrong.”

“I guess she’ll see if it is or not,” Tansy teased as she followed Darcy outside. “You kids have fun. So much fun that we don’t hear from either of you for days .”

Once she closed the door behind her sister, Clancy said, “I can’t take those two anywhere!”

“They seem like a lot of fun. The more time I spend with them, the easier it is to understand why they get along so well with my sisters.”

“Has Posie or Lotus ever gotten onto a table in the middle of a country club and twerked while the other cheered her on?”

There were a few seconds of stunned silence before I replied, “I think that may be the one thing they haven’t done.”

“Mine have,” Clancy said as she grabbed her purse and then smiled at me. “I’m ready if you are.”

I thought about asking her if she wanted to pack a bag but thought better of it.

If she did decide to stay at my house, I’d like to see her in nothing but my T-shirt anyway, and that was only if she insisted on wearing clothes in the first place.

I tried to clear that image from my mind before I embarrassed myself and had to walk around with a hard-on, but the look on my face must have given away my concern.

“Are you okay?” Clancy asked.

“I’m good.”

Clancy gave me a quick kiss before she whispered, “Hopefully, I’ll find out later if that’s the case or not.”

She passed me as she walked out the door, and I reached down and adjusted myself to try and find a more comfortable fit in my jeans. I knew without a doubt that would be impossible since I was sporting a hard-on that rivaled any I’d ever had before.

“Any chance that we can turn later into right now?” I asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not. I’m hungry, and patience is a virtue,” Clancy sassed.

Telling myself that didn’t help my condition at all, but I turned around to join Clancy on the porch anyway. At this rate, it was going to be a long dinner, but if things went the way I hoped they would, it would all be worth it in the end.

◆◆◆

CLANCY

I looked down at my feet and wiggled my toes and then giggled when I realized you couldn’t even tell they were moving inside my new boots.

I turned my attention to Brawley and saw he had finished paying for our purchases and was just chatting with the salesman, so I meandered toward the front of the store and walked outside.

I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at my boots again, amazed that Brawley had purchased such a thoughtful gift.

It wasn’t a bouquet of flowers that would have to be thrown away after sitting in a vase for a few days or chocolates that would make me fret about calories.

These boots were more thoughtful than either of those gifts could ever be.

When we pulled up in front of the store, I assumed Brawley needed to pop in for something to do with his motorcycle.

But once we walked inside, Brawley took my hand and pulled me toward a wall of boots before he said, “If we’re going to be riding, I’d like for you to have some more appropriate footwear.

I want you to find a pair of boots, and then I’m going to get a flannel or two for you to wear on those cool nights. ”

As much as I loved flowers and chocolate, I loved this even more because it really showed how much Brawley was beginning to care for me and how he wanted me to be safe and protected.

I thought of the other ways he’d demonstrated his chivalry by opening doors and then resting his hand on the small of my back as he guided me in ahead of him or hurrying to pull out my chair so I could sit down.

Protecting me seemed to come naturally to him and was something he did without thinking - like when we were in a crowded place, he positioned himself at my back to make sure no one bumped into me.

Brawley had talked about his parents so much over the last few weeks that I felt like I had a pretty good insight into what had made him the caring man he was today.

He laughed about how exasperated his father got when his mother climbed a ladder or carried all of the groceries into the house by herself and laughed even more when he described how quiet his father was at times and how his mom made up outrageous things to say when he didn’t answer her out loud.

The obvious love Brawley felt for his parents was foreign to me.

I’d never experienced family relationships like that before.

Yes, my mother was caring and loving toward me and my sisters, but my father had always been distant and more like a stranger to us than a parent.

Our grandmother had shown us love in too many ways to count, but again, that was a woman’s love for us and not an example of how a man should treat us.

Brawley took care of me in so many ways with little things that could easily be overlooked by someone who had grown up among relationships like he and I were building together.

From the hair tie that he kept on his wrist in case I didn’t have one with me when we decided to ride to the package of lens cleaning wipes he kept in his backpack for me to use when my glasses got dirty, in the last few weeks, Brawley had shown me more caring and attention than my father had my entire life.

I felt my eyes fill with tears at the thought of how different my childhood and young adult life would have been if my father were half the man that Brawley was.

When I thought of how happy my mom and grandmother would be if they could see how well he treated me, my eyes overflowed, and the tears trailed down my face.

I tried to sniff back a fresh round of tears when I thought of how much I had changed in the last few weeks under Brawley’s attention and care, but the tears just kept coming - especially when I thought of how his attention had flowed over into taking care of my sisters too.

When Tansy called me in tears from the side of the road, stranded after her tire blew out, he sprang into action and went to change the tire himself instead of recommending someone she could call.

When Tansy hovered over his shoulder to watch his every move, he patiently explained what he was doing and why he was doing it so she could learn from his actions and maybe even take care of the problem herself in the future.

Then, when Darcy called in a panic because there was a “spider big enough to eat her whole face” when she got into the shower, Brawley didn’t even tease her when he went to her rescue.

Instead, he called Adam Forrester and asked him to have the house sprayed for pests and promised to come take care of any others she found.

“What’s wrong?” Brawley asked from beside me. I jumped and spun to face him. I hadn’t heard him walk up and sobbed when he pulled me into his arms. “Are you hurt? Did something happen to one of your sisters? What do you need, sweetheart? What can I do?”

I leaned back so I could look up at him and whispered, “You can just keep being you, Brawley.”

“What did I do that made you cry?”

“You bought me boots!” I wailed. “That’s the sweetest thing any man has ever done for me.”

“Obviously, the bar was set very low, babe. It shouldn’t be hard for me to top that regularly.”

“And you want to!” I exclaimed.

“Of course I want to. Now, as much as I love holding you in my arms, I’ve had enough experience dealing with my mom and sisters to understand this is something deeper than a pair of boots.

” When I didn’t say anything to give him an idea of why I was crying, he pulled me close again before he said, “I’m going to go through the list here, and you can tell me when I hit the right answer, okay?

” I nodded, bumping against his chin, and he said, “Are you hungry? Are you emotional because of the moon phase in relation to your body chemistry?”

I couldn’t help but sputter out a laugh at that question. I leaned back again to look up at him as I asked, “What?”

“Years ago, I learned never to mention hormones or a woman’s monthly cycle in relation to her emotions. That’s my dad’s way of nicely asking my mom or my sisters if their rage cleaning or unexplained waterworks might be due to PMS.”

I burst out laughing and let go of Brawley’s waist to wipe the tears off my face before I ran my hands over my jeans as I explained, “No, this isn’t a sad or hormonal cry, Brawley; this is a thankful cry.”

Brawley sighed. “That doesn’t make the reason any clearer, babe.”

“I’m emotional because it dawned on me that no one has ever treated me as wonderfully as you have. I’m thankful to have you in my life.”

“Oh. That’s sweet, but I’m not gonna cry about it.”

“I love you.”

Brawley sucked in a breath and then coughed as I scrambled to say something - anything - to lessen the blow those words had apparently caused. “Not in a weird way, but more of a . . . you know . . . like a sort of . . . ”

Brawley was smiling as he reached up to touch my cheek before he interrupted, “You’re so fucking adorable when you get flustered. I’m sorry I . . .”

I snapped my mouth closed and frowned at him, but Brawley just chuckled.

I still didn’t know what to say and was mortified that I’d blurted out how I felt about him, especially since I hadn’t even had time to think about how I was feeling or analyze .

. . No. Fuck it. I’d analyzed every move I’d made forever because I worried about how my father would react or what my stepmother might say or what other people might think.

I wasn’t going to do that anymore. If living in Rojo and meeting all the different people I had in the last month had taught me anything, it was that I had every right to speak my mind and doing that was expected, not just tolerated.

“I don’t care if you say it back or you’re not feeling it. You’re not going to diminish my emotions by telling me I’m cute.”

“I’m not diminishing anything, and I didn’t say you’re cute. I said you’re adorable, and if you’d let me finish without getting huffy, I would have said that you’re beautiful inside and out and I love you too.”

“Oh.”

“Now, can I take you to dinner, Clancy?”

“Yes, please, but only if you promise to take me back to your house and rip all my clothes off when we’re done.”

“Fuck it. We’ll order pizza.”