Page 31 of Branded

“While that sounds riveting, I’d like to cash in date number two. What do you say?”

For the first time since I’ve seen her today, her eyes light up in happiness.

“I say that sounds perfect.”

“Can I come pick you up this time?”

“Are you going to kidnap me and hold me against my will in your car?” She smiles at her joke.

“That comes later. I can’t tell you all my secrets up front, can I?

Chapter 8

Sawyer

Ididn’ttechnicallylieto him, did I?

My brother’s birthday is coming and that agony truly comes out of nowhere sometimes, and the last thing I wanted to do was say I was thrown into a panic attack because I saw pictures of house fires.

Because that makes me seem crazy.

He didn’t tell me where we were going, he just told me to dress comfortably and casually, so I chose my dark wash jeans that make my thighs and ass look good and a white flowy tank, topped with a nude cardigan.

That must have been the right call because when he knocks on my door promptly at 7:30, he doesn’t even try to hide the fact he is staring at me.

“You look… wow.” He takes my hand and kisses the top, just as he did at the end of our first date. I never thought swooning was a real thing, but two dates with Isaac proves me wrong.

“Thank you. You look pretty wow yourself.”

And boy does he, in those jeans and black tee that hugs his muscles just right. It looks so good it should be illegal. No one has the right to be out in the world looking like that. It’s unfair.

“Shall we get going?” he asks.

“Absolutely.” I close the door behind me, making sure it’s locked, then turning back to face him. “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“Well, I will give you a hint.”

He takes my hand and walks with me stride for stride all the way down to the driveway to his waiting very large truck.

“Hit me with it. I’m great at guessing with hints.”

We pause on the passenger side and he opens the door for me to climb in.

“This date is a classic.”

I huff and roll my eyes. “That’s your hint? It’s so broad!”

“That’s the point.” He closes the door and comes around to the driver’s side.

“There are so many classic dates.”

“But this one brings out true colors. Are you very competitive?”

“I will fight you to win, regardless of what the competition is,” I say, mostly joking, but not really.

He tosses his head back and laughs. “Perfect.”

“I haven’t been bowling in years, literally. The last time I went, I think I was fifteen or sixteen, and it was because I was invited to a boy’s birthday party. I had a crush on him, so I wanted to impress him. I wore my favorite miniskirt and the cutest shoes.” I plop down on to the vinyl-covered, sofa-style bench at our reserved lane and hold up the rental shoes. “I didn’t remember we had to wear these monstrosities.” I toe my white Vans sneakers from my feet and pull the bowling shoes on. “There I was, trying to be cute, in a miniskirt with clown shoes on.”

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