Free Hearts at Play (Love in Bloom: The Bradens, Book 6) Contemporary Romance by Melissa Foster Page A

out of the blue like she did?
    She silenced her ringer and texted Kat. You up?
    Yes. How was your date?
    She texted as quickly as she could. I fell asleep. I’m at his house! Awkward!
    Her phone vibrated again, and she read Kat’s response. Fell asleep after sex? That’s okay.
    Brianna shook her head. No! Fully clothed. Alone. My car broke down, and I fell asleep on the way to his house.
    The phone vibrated again, this time with a call from Kat. She pushed the green button and held it up to her ear.
    “Oh my God. Tell me,” Kat said.
    Brianna whispered. “We had coffee; then my car wouldn’t start. He was going to lend me a car. Oh my God, Kat. Who has extra cars just lying around? Anyway, on the way here, I fell asleep. He must have carried me inside. I woke up in his bed. Alone and fully dressed. He lives in this amazing house, and it smells like he cooked a gourmet breakfast.” She took a deep breath, trying to keep from hyperventilating.
    “Slow down. First things first. How was the date?”
    “Kat! Did you hear me? I feel like a fool. The date was great. Better than great. But now I’ve got to take the walk of shame and I didn’t even do anything.” She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair. “Oh my God. I look awful, too, and you saw him. He’s gorgeous. And sweet. And so…so… Ugh! What am I doing?”
    “Bree, breathe, honey. Just breathe. You’re not taking the walk of shame. You’re not in college anymore. This is real life. Adult life. People have sex.”
    Hugh’s voice came back to her. Bree, sweetie, take a deep breath. Brianna stopped pacing and said, “I didn’t have sex.”
    “Okay. I know. People fall asleep. So what? If he’s as nice as you say, then he won’t care. Besides, if he did care, he would have woken you up and taken you home, right?” Kat spoke confidently and in a soothing tone.
    Brianna took a deep breath. “What should I do? I can’t hang out in the bathroom all day.”
    Kat laughed. “Bree, you’re a twenty-eight-year-old mother. You’ve handled worse situations than this. Enjoy the morning. Act like yourself. Pretend you’re in a hotel and you’re going out to the lobby. Natural, easy.”
    Natural. Easy. Brianna rolled her eyes. “I’m fucked. I shouldn’t have gone out with him. The more time we spent together, the more I liked him.”
    “That’s a good thing. Your mom always tells you that you need a life. Hell, I tell you that. You’re getting no sympathy from me, honey.”
    “Thanks, Kat. That really helps, you brat.” She sighed and flattened the wrinkles from her sweater. “Okay. I can do this.” She sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi bathtub, contemplating telling Kat exactly who Hugh really was, but she worried that it would lead to one of two things—a lengthy discussion, which she definitely didn’t have time for, or possibly, Kat might see him differently, as he’d thought Brianna would. She tucked away the thought until she could tell her in person and weigh her response. “Tell me I can do this.”
    “Bree, you’ve got this, honey. No sweat.”
    “Thank you. If I show up at your house in need of tissues and chocolate, you’ll know why. And by the way, don’t ever convince me to go out with a guy again. Jesus, Kat. I fell asleep. I really do suck. I love ya. Thanks for not calling me a slut.”
    “Bree?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I am so looking forward to the time I can call you a slut. Please go have sex with that gorgeous creature!”
    “Goodbye, Kat.”
    She snagged her purse from the nightstand, and went in search of the kindest man she’d met in a very long time.
    The bedroom she’d slept in was bigger than her living room and kitchen combined. She followed the hardwood floor down a long hallway and into an enormous great room with a wall of French doors, a stone fireplace that crawled to the ceiling, two chocolate-colored couches that she was sure were like heaven to sit on, and a shiny glass coffee table.