Free Heartbreak's Reward (Double Dutch Ranch Series: Love at First Sight Book 2) by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Shoppe.”
    “Yeah, I am, Mr. Carlson. Nice to see you in town. I work here sometimes, too. Tell your little niece I might come out to ride. What can I get ya?”
    Jase turned to Brenna and she chose chocolate the same as him. Jase brought out his wallet, but this time Brenna beat him to it.
    “I insist or I won’t have anything.” She gave him her best evil eye.
    He lifted his hands in front of him. “If you insist.” He took a minute and introduced Brenna to Holly. After they ordered, he asked her, “What happened with you and Davy? You guys all done with each other?”
    Holly fixed the first ice cream cone, handed it to Brenna, and made Jase’s. “Yeah, I thought college might change things. I mean, I met someone else. He still work for your brother?”
    “He works for me sometimes too.” Jase took his cone. “You have a great night, now.” He took Brenna’s hand and shoved the door. “I brought my kids here a lot. They love ice cream. My little boy could almost eat more than me. My daughter wore more than she ate.” Jase smiled, but it ended just like that.
    “That’s so sweet. What’s their favorite?” Brenna licked her cone. “Tell me about them.” She peered at him as he looked off down the street. He didn’t say anything. Did he picture them in his mind? Was it too painful to talk about them?
    He pointed back toward the store. “Holly had it bad for my brother, she did.”
    Brenna admired the narrow sidewalk with lamp posts and the old-fashioned look of the town. “Really? How old is he?” Apparently, he wasn’t going to talk about his kids at the moment.
    “A year younger than I am, thirty-four.”
    “Whew, she likes older men.” The shops they passed had cute window displays with dim lighting instead of bright fluorescent and neon like in the city. “I can’t believe we spent so much time in the restaurant. Here it is already twilight.”
    “Are you afraid of the dark?” He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.
    Brenna faced him. “Sometimes. The demons come out in the dark.” She made a bold move and slid her hand around his waist, too. It was tremendous to hold him. His body was warm and he smelled better than he had earlier. Did his body really shudder under her touch… or just in her imagination? She lapped at her ice cream dripping down the side of the cone, and tilted her head to get it all. When she looked back up, he was staring at her, a slight quirk to his lips. “Are you about to laugh at me?”
    “Nope, making sure none of that good ice cream goes to waste.” He held out his cone. “Wanna lick mine?”
    His remark tickled her insides. She licked the top off her ice cream, wiping her mouth when it was a bigger bite than she expected. She stopped and reached for his cone. “It’s too good to waste.”
    Right in the middle of the sidewalk, Jase wrapped his other arm around her and stepped closer. He brought her against him and she held both ice cream cones out to the side. Lifting his hands higher, he asked, “Now what will you do with both of those in your hands? You realize yours are full and mine are free.”
    At that moment he slid his right hand over her hips and around, lingering against her behind. Slowly he eased his left hand over her back and behind her nape. He narrowed his eyes. “Seems like you’re in a predicament.”
    The warmth of his skin against her backside penetrated the denim and he splayed his fingers over one cheek. Heat surged over her body. “Well, I could drop yours to the ground and I’d have one free hand to stop your hand from caressing my ass.”
    “Are you sure you want to?” His chest swelled with a deep sigh, and his warm breath caressed her cheek.
    Brenna laughed. “Both of these are dripping all over my hands. I might make you lick it off if you don’t let me get napkins out of my pocket.”
    Jase pulled her even closer and wrapped both arms around her waist, moving his face lower to hers. “Don’t say