Just One Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

“You’re  lying, it’s impossible you were talking
about me.” It just didn’t seem possible that he would talk that much about her.
    “Nah, Brayden doesn’t lie. Ever,” Carlos tells me seriously,
shaking his head.
    “Why me?” I ask softly. I don’t really know if I’m ready for
the answer, but I have to ask anyway.
    “Why not?” Brayden asks.
    I glare at him. “What, you can’t think of any reasons?”
    He sighs and, instead of answering me, turns toward Carlos.
“Can you clock her out and hand me her jacket, please?” he asks.
    “No, he can’t! It’s only my second day working here and I
can’t leave yet!” I yell in protest as Carlos smiles and nods his head. He
walks to the back room and comes out with my jacket.
    “Call and tell me how it goes,” he says, pushing me toward
the lift in the counter so I can leave.
    “Knock it off! I’m not going anywhere!” I protest, blushing
as I stumble to get my jacket back. Brayden grabs my hand and takes me outside.
    “Where are we going?” I ask, freaking out a bit. What is he
going to do to me? It’s late enough that there will be no witnesses if he isn’t
the good guy Carlos claimed.
    “There’s a park around the corner. We’re going to talk.”
    “Brayden, stop! This isn’t the way to get me to listen to
you! Did you ever consider that kidnapping me from work might make me not want
to listen, no matter what you have to say?” I ask, panicking.
    He stops and turns toward me, passing me my jacket. I slip
it on and suppress a shiver. He sighs and nods, “I’m sorry Anna. You’re right.
I just hate how you feel about me. I shouldn’t have done that though. I’m
really sorry,” he says, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
    I bite my lip and look into his disappointed eyes. Disappointed
and maybe a little sad, but not mean like I expected. I take a deep breath.
    “I’ll go with you, but you can’t touch me, and I leave when
I want to,” I say quietly.
    “You’ll go?” he asks, surprised.
    I bite my lip again and nod, motioning for him to lead. The
rest of the walk is slow and we don’t talk. I see the park, lit by a few poorly
placed lights. It’s just a couple of benches set up by a play set. We move to
one near the sidewalk and sit down, turned slightly so we can face each other.
    “Okay, I’m just going to jump straight to the point. When I
said ‘why not?’ it wasn’t because I couldn’t think of any good reasons. It was
because I can’t pick just a few good reasons. I think you’re pretty and I just
want to get to know you. I don’t want to hurt you like you clearly expect me
to. I promise that if you give me a chance, even just as friends, you won’t be
disappointed. I mean, I might be disappointed to only be friends, but I’ll take
the chance to get to know you more.”
    He seemed so sincere. “I’m really not worth it,” I tell him
softly.
    He shakes his head and meets my eyes. “Of course you are.
Everybody is, especially you,” he says.
    I blush and duck my head a little. I don’t know what to
think of Brayden. How is it possible that people I’ve been around my entire
life don’t see me as anything but inconvenient, but this stranger sees
everything I try to hide?
    “Just friends?” I ask cautiously.
    His nod looks a little pained, but it’s a nod.
    “I’ll try,” I offer slowly. “But I make no promises for how
long it’ll last.”
    “Thank you,” he murmurs, smiling a little. I don’t know how
to describe how much I love his smile. It just brightens everything up.
    “No, thank you,” I tell him sincerely.

Chapter Five
    Meet the Parents
    For the next three days, Brayden made it a habit to have
coffee with me after work. He’d show up just before I clocked out and we’d
spend the next hour talking. Well, he did most of the talking but I wasn’t as
antisocial as I usually am. That’s progress. I don’t know how he got my
schedule, but someone leaked it and now he won’t