Page 46 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“About six.”

I shook my head. “I can’t believe you did all this for me. You are the sweetest.”

“I’m actually not.” Brayden frowned. “I’m a pig.”

“Why are you a pig?”

He slanted his eyes to a pair of underwear I’d left on the bed. “Because while you were rummaging through that basket, I was trying to figure out if I could swipe those and take them home without you noticing.”

I covered my mouth and giggled. “Maybe we can’t control ourselves in here. Just give me a few and I’ll be ready to go.”

I went into the bathroom and finished drying my hair, then brushed my teeth. I was already dressed, but before I went back out, I decided to do a quick change.

Brayden was fiddling with his phone, sitting on the edge of the bed. He stood. “You all ready?”

“I am.”

He grabbed the basket. “There’s a park about a mile away. I thought we could go there. I have a blanket in my car.”

“Sounds good. But I have a gift for you first.” I walked over and used a finger to pull out the front pocket of his jeans and stuff what I’d hidden in my fist inside.

He looked down. “What was that?”

I pushed up on my toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “My underwear.”

He glanced to the bed and back. His brows drawn tight.

“Not those,” I whispered. “The ones I just took off, so they smell like me.”

***

Brayden tossed a grape into the air and caught it with his mouth. His head rested on my lap, legs spread out longer than the blanket, while I looked down and enjoyed the view.

“I have one. What did you think of me when we first met that night in the bar?”

We’d been playing a version of Truth or Dare for the last hour, except our version was Truth or Kiss. We took turns asking each other questions, and if you didn’t want to answer, you had to kiss the other person wherever they pointed. So far, I’d kissed Brayden’s cheek, neck, and mouth. It would’ve been a dangerous game if we weren’t in a public park with kids twenty feet away on the swings.

“I thought you were very handsome,” I said. “And funny. And clearly modest since you just dragged this compliment out of me.”

Brayden smiled and held up a grape. I leaned down and took it from his hand with my mouth. “What did you think of me?”

“I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.”

I started to laugh, assuming his corny answer was an exaggeration, but his face was dead serious.

“I’m not kidding,” he said.

“So you’re telling me you thought I was more beautiful than say…” I tapped my finger to my mouth as I chewed. “A supermodel? Like Gigi Hadid or Kaia Gerber?”

“Absolutely.”

“I think you need glasses.”

He shrugged. “Believe what you want. But I’m telling you, I’ve never been more attracted to a person in my life. My entire body felt it.”

I rolled my eyes, but I think I was more afraid to believe him than anything. There were plenty more-beautiful women than me. Yet I could’ve sworn Brayden was being honest, and that scared the crap out of me. I reached for my second mimosa and finished the last of it. “My turn. Have you ever been arrested?”

Brayden’s face fell. “Where do you want the kiss?”