Delaney's POV:

My mind was reeling as I pulled my SUV out of the parking lot, pointing it towards my parents house. I knew I needed to go back and spend time with Chloe and Colton, but part of me wanted to share a few more stolen moments with Brantley. And who could blame me. I mean my God, the man could kiss the pants right off a girl if he wanted; almost had.

The chiming of my phone through the car's speakers pulled me from my thoughts of Brantley's lips and how I would have gladly shed my clothes if he so much as insinuated that he wanted me to do so. Again, who would blame me?

Glancing at the display, I smiled when I saw one of my best friend's name on the screen. I connected the call as I continued to drive through town. "Hey girl."

"How's it feel to officially be back in the great state of Georgia?" said Amanda, obvious joy in her tone. In the background, I could hear her kids playing, making me miss when my babies were as young as Gannon and Maisie. At three and four, they were your typical wide open, balls-to-the-wall kids. But that was probably because their dad, Chase, made a living driving in circles going nearly two-hundred miles an hour for part of the year. At least that's what Amanda liked to blame it on and not the fact that she herself was high-strung and suffered from undiagnosed ADHD. Not that either was a bad thing but she was definitely one of my wilder friends and her wildness balanced out when Chase was around since he knew how to mellow her out.

In fact, it had been during one of her wilder moments that she and I had even met.

The kids and I had joined Alex at Charlotte for the Coke 600 a few years back and it was a night that I would never forget. Amanda and Chase had been dating for a while, and were well on the way to becoming husband and wife. Because Chase was teammates with William, we spent the entire race hanging out. That's when she had spilled the secret that she was pregnant with Gannon, her four-year-old. She hadn't told Chase yet but had a plan for how she was going to do so. That plan involved the signage that marked his pit box being changed to the picture of an ultrasound with the words "go daddy" written on it, her standing on the pitwall holding the sign when he came in for the last scheduled pitstop of the day.

Of course, because NASCAR sometimes had a stick up their ass and hated for people to experience any kind of joy, Chase and the team had been fined because she was on the pitwall and not part of the pit crew. Amanda was very vocal about how it was hypocritical that they fined her man and his team for celebrating such a joyous moment when other teams had done much worse that particular day.

Long story short, she became known as the wife that had a smart mouth and wasn't afraid to challenge the sport when she felt it needed to be done. And by de facto, she became one of my best friends despite the age gap between us.

"Bet you never thought you would hear me say this but it feels amazing. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed this place."

"Glad to hear it." she said. "Even gladder that you are closer to me now. We need to plan a girls night. Chase can babysit."

"Chase agreed to that?" I asked, knowing that he hadn't. That man barely survived keeping his own kids on the one time she and I spent the day in Nashville on Broadway. Add in my two, and that man would pull his hair out.

"Hell no." she laughed. "But he will. All I have to do is–"

"Nope, I don't wanna know." I laughed, cutting her off. I knew enough about her sex life as it was. I didn't need her to add to it.

"Oh come on..." she teased.

"Nope. I already can't look at the man and not think about you telling me about the elephant thong he wears under his firesuit. Some things just need to be left unsaid."

"That man fills it out too, if you know what I mean." Amanda laughed hysterically then, making me laugh in turn, even if I was on the verge of gagging as he talked about his dick.

When she finally pulled herself together, she asked "How are things? And be honest. How are you holding up now that the house is for sale and the ink is dry in the divorce papers?"

"Surprisingly good." I said, pulling up to a stop light. "Mom and I had a talk last night that led to me crawling my ass into her lap and crying like a baby. But it made me feel like I was ready to really let things go and move on... whatever that might look like."

"I'm glad. You wasted enough time on that sack of shit." said Amanda. "Just means that it's time for you to get under another man. One that has more between his legs than that fucker does."

"Manda..." I groaned playfully.

"What? You thought I would forget about you drunkenly telling me that Alex had never given you an orgasm while inside you? Honey... Nooooo, Not gonna happen. I'm making it my life's mission to find you a man that is more than capable of–"

"I might have found one." I said, cutting her off as the light I was stopped at turned green. I hadnt meant to say the words but I had, and now she knew that I was interested in someone.

"OH MY GOD! TELL. ME. EVERYTHING!" she squealed. "Wait! I already have a guess. It's Brantley, ain't it?"

"Yes." I admitted, unable to keep the smile that spread across my face at the mention of his face at bay.

"Again, I want to know everything. How did you reconnect with him? Does he know that you are attracted to him? And if so, tell me how he knows."

Apparently, the same night that I had been drunk and told her about Alex's small package, I'd also admitted that when I was in high school that not only did I go to school with Brantley Gilbert, but that I had a crush on him; that I still did to this day even if I knew at the time that I would never act on it.

But now... Well that was an entirely different story!

"Well, the kids hit me with the 'we need a puppy' thing and Daddy heard it. So daddy called Brantley to ask if he still had puppies, but didnt tell me until we were literally in front of his house that he was who he'd called." I said as I made my way to the outskirts of town. In a matter of minutes, I would be back at my parents.

"He looked so good, Manda. Google images don't do him justice." I said, remembering the way his inked arms had looked as he pulled me tightly against him just before placing his lips over mine, the way that his green eyes danced with desire –yes, I knew desire when I saw it– as he had fought with himself about what his body wanted.

"That still doesn't tell me how he knows that you like him," said Amanda.

"Well, would the fact that he kissed me and I let him be sufficient enough?"

"Delaney Rose! How can you not lead with that?" she said loudly. "That's not something you slide into a conversation. That type of this is something that you should be answering my call with. Instead of saying 'hey' you should have said 'I kissed Brantley-freaking-Gilbert and it was amazing. Made my toes curl'."

"It did make my toes curl." I admitted just as I was pulling to the drive at my parents house.

"For the love of all that's holy, Laney, you better tell me that you have plans to see where things go with him. Things between you can't just end with a toe-curling kiss." Said Amanda. " I know that he's been through hell lately but he deserves to find happiness just as much as you do. But only if he's ready. Would hate to have to add him to my list of 'people-I-must-castrate-before-I-die."

"It was actually his idea to just kind of go with the flow, to see what happens." I said, switching off the engine of the car.

"Well, thank god for that." said amanda. "Anything else exciting happening? Not that the potential that you end up knocking boots with the hot bad boy you have been crushing on for forever, but..."

"I already found a job." I said, switching the call from the bluetooth in the car to the device itself. I climbed out of the car and was making my way to the house when I heard Chloe and Colton laughing from the backyard. I made my way in the direction of the sound while I gave Amanda the rundown on how Brantley had offered me one hell of a position at the school. I told her about what he wanted the place to be, why he was doing it, and explained the type of kids that would be enrolled.

"Gannon and Maisie will be enrolled as soon as I can get them in there." Amanda said. "I'm sure Layla and Ryan will enroll Rayna just as soon as they can too; even it is a while from now since that little sweetpea is only a few months old."

"I'm sure a lot of big names will have their kids enrolled once they find out the level of security that Brantley is promising. I know it won't be for everyone since he's made it clear that he wants it to be a faith-based place, and that's fine."

"As long as he aint planning on slipping the kids that Jim Jones kool-aid..."

"Absolutely not." I laughed. "Anyway, I just got back to my parents. Call you later?"

"You better!"