Текст книги "The Billionaire Single Dad"
Автор книги: Mandy Baxter
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Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 8 страниц)
Three
Tess closed the lid on her laptop in a huff. It did her no good to try to work when her concentration was shot. Her run-in with her new neighbor yesterday still had her blood pumping and not just because he was the most stubborn, curt, infuriating man she’d ever met. It was also because he was the most drop-dead, stunningly gorgeous man she’d ever met. Men simply didn’t look like that in real life.
Totally unfair.
She’d marched up to his house in her yoga pants, hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, her T-shirt bearing the evidence of the Greek yogurt she’d had for breakfast—awesome—and he’d stepped out onto that patio every inch of him perfect as though he’d been whipped up in a lab. His light hazel eyes were nothing short of hypnotic and his shaggy dark brown hair made her fingers itch to smooth the locks away from his brow. The square of his jaw and sharp cheekbones looked as though they’d been cut from stone, so hard in comparison to his soft mouth that, despite his agitation, remained relaxed and pliable. Despite his intimidating nature, Tess couldn’t help but wonder if he had ever been truly enraged once in his entire life.
Besides, he’d been more annoyed than angry. Not to mention concerned for his daughters.
Tess had a feeling that there was a lot more to her gorgeous neighbor than met the eye. Despite their less than stellar introduction yesterday, she found herself wanting to know everything there was to know about him. So much for swearing off men.
A knock came at the back patio door and Tess craned her neck from the kitchen table fully expecting to see Jenny and Jane, their little faces pressed to the glass. Instead, the entire sliding glass window was taken up by the towering frame of their dad. Tess looked down at her standard yoga pants and T-shirt ensemble. She seriously needed to reconsider her choice in clothes.
Tess took a deep breath as she slid open the patio door. “Before you start in on me again—”
“I want to apologize.” He cupped the back of his neck and his cheeks flushed. Tess couldn’t be bothered to notice his chagrin for more than a second, though. Her eyes were drawn to the play of muscles that flexed in his powerful arm with the motion. Wow. “I was an ass yesterday. I’m Carter by the way. Carter Christensen.”
“Um…” Tess couldn’t form a coherent thought to save her life. She dragged her eyes from the curve of his bicep and met his intense hazel gaze. “You were worried about your kids and I didn’t help anything by acting like a know-it-all. You’re entitled to be a little grumpy.”
“An ass,” Carter corrected. A reluctant smile tugged at his lips, and Tess’s stomach did a backflip. “No need to sugarcoat it.”
“Okay, you’re entitled to be an ass.” Tess laughed and added the caveat, “When you’re worried about your kids.”
“I’ll make sure they stay off your property from now on.”
Carter turned to leave, and it was the last thing Tess wanted. “You don’t have to do that!” she blurted. Ugh. Way to play it smooth. “I was just worried that the barn wasn’t structurally sound, that’s all. I don’t mind them playing over here if you don’t mind. I was going to ask my dad to fly down and check out the barn, but maybe you could check it out? I was debating whether or not I should have it torn down for safety reasons. Or if you wanted to check out the fort the girls made you could do that, too. I mean, if you want to. Or not. Whatever. You totally don’t have to.”
Carter turned. His brows gathered as he watched her with an intensity that sent Tess’s blood rushing through her veins. She always talked too much when she was nervous, and Carter made her want to launch into a two-hour recitation of her entire life history so she wouldn’t have to acknowledge how awkward he made her feel. Awkward and shaky and sweaty and lightheaded. Holy crap. If she didn’t take a breath she was going to pass out.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Carter said. “Knowing those rug rats, they won’t stay away even if I tell them to.”
Tess pulled on her boots, regretting for the millionth time that she was wearing her yoga pants and not a cute pair of jeans or something that made her look like a marginally more productive member of society. She glanced down at Carter’s feet and swallowed down a groan as she got a glimpse at his pristine herringbone patterned Chuck Taylors. Seriously. Good looks and phenomenal taste in shoes?
“You probably don’t want to trudge across the swamp in those.” She nudged her chin toward his feet. “The ground hasn’t dried out yet.”
Carter laughed, and the sound traveled through Tess’s body in a pleasant ripple that softened her bones. “You did know there’s a flood irrigation system for the lawn, right? You can turn it off and get rid of the swamp.”
“Yeah…” Tess knew so little about her own house and property it was embarrassing. “I had no idea.”
Carter smiled. “Let’s take care of the irrigation first. Then the barn.”
“Your shoes?”
He shrugged. “They’re just shoes. That’s what washers are for, right?”
Jared would have freaked out at the prospect of getting his shoes dirty. Once when they’d gotten caught in a rainstorm, he’d insisted they duck into a restaurant and wait it out rather than allow his new leather loafers to suffer any water damage. It hadn’t mattered that they’d missed her cousin’s graduation in the process. The little, inconsequential things had always mattered most to Jared and not the important things like, say, fidelity.
As she followed Carter around to the west side of the house, Tess’s curiosity about him only intensified. “How do you know so much about this house?”
Carter didn’t turn to face her. “Steph’s grandparents owned the property that our house is on now. We used to come here all the time when we were in high school. Millie coerced me into doing chores for her whenever I was around.”
“Steph was your wife?” The words left Tess’s mouth in little more than a whisper.
Carter’s T-shirt stretched taut across his shoulders as his body tensed. He leaned over the irrigation valve and paused as though taking a much needed moment. “It’s funny,” he said as he closed the valve. “It’s been almost two years, and it’s hard for me to think of her in the past tense.”
Tess’s heart clenched. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t worry about it.” Carter straightened. When he turned to face her, the depth of sadness in his hazel eyes was so intense that Tess felt it in her gut. “Just turn the valve all the way to the right when you don’t want to flood the lawn.”
“At this point, I doubt I’ll need to water it for the rest of the summer.”
“Come August, you’re going to change your tune.” Carter canted his head as he studied her. “Where’re you from, anyway?”
Though Tess appreciated the change in topic, she still felt bad that she’d managed to sour it in the first place. “New York City,” she said.
A rueful grin spread across his full lips, and he gave a sad shake of his head. “City girl.”
She bucked up her chin a notch. Just because she was from the city, it didn’t make her some clueless idiot. “And where’re you from?”
This time Carter flashed a dazzling grin that blinded her. “Dallas.”
Tess’s mouth puckered. “Not so small town yourself. I’m getting the impression you like jerking people’s chains.”
Carter chuckled, and the sound warmed Tess from the inside out. “Come on…?” Carter’s mouth quirked in a half smile. “I don’t think I got your name.”
Oh good lord. Tess couldn’t help but prove she was socially defunct. “Tess Adams,” she said.
“Okay, Tess. Let’s go check out the barn.”
* * *
He was a total fucking downer, wasn’t he?
Steph was your wife? Tess’s words had speared him right through the chest. They’d been high school sweethearts. And they’d had their ups and downs—especially after Carter started playing pro ball—but he’d figured they’d gotten through the worst of it. What he hadn’t realized at the time was that the worst was yet to come.
But it wasn’t the reminder that Steph was gone that caused the sharp pang in Carter’s chest. Rather it was the guilt that stemmed from the fact that since yesterday, he hadn’t been able to get his new neighbor out of his mind. She was beautiful, feisty, obviously patient considering she hadn’t run Jenny and Jane off her property for good. But what most intrigued him was the inner strength she exuded without even trying. As though she could take on the world singlehandedly.
He’d come over to apologize to her because he really didn’t want to leave her with the impression that he was a raging dick. That and he’d wanted an excuse to see her again.
“So, what do you do in Dallas?” Tess asked as she slid open the heavy barn door. The structure leaned a little and the roof looked like it might need some work, but overall, it was pretty sound. “Wait, let me guess. You’re a contractor?”
Cater laughed. It was sort of refreshing to have someone not know who he was. The Christensen’s were oil magnate royalty in Dallas social circles. And though Carter and his brothers had never had anything to do with the family business until after their father had died six months ago, his name came with a notoriety that bugged the hell out of him. As for his career as a pro-baller, unless Tess was a football fanatic, she never would have heard of him. The anonymity was sort of refreshing.
“I’m not a contractor.”
She stopped and folded her arms across her chest as she studied him. Her blue eyes narrowed and her lips drew together in an adorable pucker. Tess looked him slowly over from head to toe and her cheeks flushed as though her thoughts had ventured somewhere inappropriate. Carter’s stomach knotted up as he felt the beginnings of a stirring that he almost didn’t recognize. Two years was a hell of a dry spell. He was surprised his body hadn’t gone into shock at the first hint of being turned on.
A wide grin curved her lush mouth. “Personal trainer?”
Her intense scrutiny flushed Carter with heat. He turned away, toward the ladder that led up to the loft and climbed. “You’re getting warmer.”
The rungs beneath him creaked with Tess’s added weight. So far, the barn was proving sturdier than it looked. “You own a chain of gyms?”
Carter snorted. “No.”
His wide shoulders barely fit through the square that opened up into the loft. Carter hoisted himself up to sit on the floor, and a moment later Tess’s head popped through the opening. Her brows knitted as she held his gaze. “Are you an athlete?”
“Why would you think that?”
She looked away. “You’re not exactly built like a guy who spends all day at a desk.”
A flash of heat licked up his spine. Her voice had gone low and husky with the words. Carter’s throat went suddenly dry and his tongue tried to stick to the roof of his mouth.
“I’m not a fan of desks,” he said with a nervous laugh. Lord, it had been so long since he’d tried to be even marginally charming. He hadn’t dated, flirted, even looked at another woman since he was seventeen years old. This was definitely virgin territory. “You really don’t know what I do for a living?”
Tess hoisted herself up to sit opposite him on the floor. “Should I?”
Carter cupped the back of his neck and tried to rub out some of the nervous tension that settled there. “I guess not.”
“Oh my god,” Tess’s tone shifted from playful to mortified. “You’re not a Cowboys fan. You’re a player, aren’t you?”
Carter gave her a questioning look.
“The flag,” Tess said. “On your patio. I thought you were a big football fan, but you play for the Cowboys, don’t you?”
He’d forgotten all about the flag. After he’d signed with the team, he’d let Travis use the house for the weekend and his brother had put up the Cowboy’s flag as a sort of congratulations. Carter had planned to take it down and replace it with a Dallas Stars flag in support of Travis’s team making it to the playoffs, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
“Quarterback,” he said.
Tess rocked backward, her grimace of embarrassment coaxing a grin to Carter’s lips. “You must think I’m such an idiot. I bet people recognize you everywhere you go.”
She gave him way too much credit in the fame department. “Not really. Unless you follow football, or the team specifically.” Carter decided to omit the bit about being born into Dallas high society. It was a fact he and his brothers tried to avoid at all costs.
“If I’d ever seen you play—even once—I wouldn’t have forgotten who you are.”
Her gaze leveled on him and once again Carter felt the stirrings of something so unfamiliar it might as well be alien. “I doubt I’m that memorable.”
“Are you kidding?” Tess’s eyes widened. “Do you not own any mirrors? Believe me, Carter, you’re that memorable.”
His heart pounded in his chest as her voice once again took on that husky, flirty quality. It’s not as though women hadn’t tried to flirt with him over the past year and half. He’d been hit on here and there. But he’d been so wrapped up in his own grief that he’d never had the presence of mind to truly notice. He noticed now, though. Something about Tess sparked his interest. She seemed so fearless, and the one thing Carter found sexier than anything was confidence. Tess had that in spades.
A stretch of silence passed between them. Right now, Carter was feeling anything but confident. He looked around at the elaborate fort the girls had erected in Tess’s barn. Damn, they’d been busy.
“There’s no way they did this in a week,” he mused.
Tess dragged her gaze away from him and looked around. When she tuned back to face him, her smile nearly stole his breath. “I have a feeling this is a work in progress. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with them playing out here, but I was worried that the place might collapse.”
“I’ll call a contractor to come check it out,” Carter said. “Honestly, if you ever wanted to turn it into a guesthouse, you could probably do a fairly cheap remodel.”
“Don’t bother with the contractor,” Tess said. She looked away and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “My remodel budget doesn’t go beyond paint at this point.”
“It’s on me,” Carter said. “The inspection. Especially if the girls are going be sneaking over here.”
“Okay,” Tess aid slowly. “But you have to let me cook you guys dinner.”
For the first time since they’d pulled into the driveway, Carter didn’t feel the weight of grief and loneliness pressing on his chest. “Deal.”
Four
Forward much, Tess? Just last week she’d sworn she didn’t care if she ever had another relationship or not and now she was in full flirt mode and inviting Carter over for dinner. Was it even appropriate to hit on a widower? Was that skeevy somehow? She had no idea what the etiquette was. Too late to worry about it now.
The weather was nice enough to eat outside, and she’d settled on hotdogs and macaroni salad for Jenny and Jane, and steaks, corn on the cob, and fresh fruit she’d gotten from the local farmers’ market that morning. The corn might not have been the best idea. She doubted she’d look very ladylike while eating it, but it was delicious grilled on the barbeque. Besides, Tess didn’t like to play games. She was who she was. Period. Anyone who wanted to spend time with her could either accept her or find someone else.
Obviously, Jared hadn’t wanted Tess for who she was. Otherwise he wouldn’t have taken her best friend to bed.
She really needed to stop dwelling on a relationship that was over and done with. Jared was her past and Tess only wanted to look ahead to her future. She couldn’t help but wonder if that future included Carter Christensen.
His contractor had shown up earlier in the morning to inspect the barn. It showed the sort of clout Carter carried that he could make a phone call and have someone drive down from Dallas the next morning. The barn was deemed sturdier than Tess had originally thought but until she could put a little money into shoring it up, the contractor suggested that it should stay off limits for the time being.
The girls had been upset when Tess gave them the news, but their dad promised to let them use the attic space in their house for a fort until he could build a treehouse in the large oak in the backyard. Before the contractor left, she spied Carter signing some paperwork on a clipboard. If she’d had to guess, the girls would have their treehouse before the end of summer.
“Are we too early?”
Tess turned and her stomach flipped at the sound of his deep, velvety voice.
The girls raced up onto the porch ahead of Carter, and her breath caught in her chest. How could anyone be so drop-dead gorgeous without even trying? He wore a pair of trendy jeans with his signature Chucks and a casual button-up with the sleeves rolled to show off the impressive definition of his muscular forearms. His hair was still damp from a shower and brushed his brow in a careless way that once again made Tess itch to reach out and touch.
“Not too early at all,” she said with a smile. She swallowed down the butterflies that threatened to fly right up her throat and turned to the girls. “Hope you guys like hotdogs and macaroni salad.”
“Hot dogs, hot dogs!” the chanted in unison. Jane added, “Can we have ice cream too?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Jenny bounced on the balls of her feet. “Ice cream!”
“You know you guys,” Carter said “not everyone has ice cream sitting around in their freezer.”
“That’s probably true,” Tess said with a wink. “But I’m not one of those people. Dinner first, and then ice cream. Or maybe s’mores. How does that sound?”
“You act as though they have a choice in the matter,” Carter said with a laugh. “Dinner first. Dessert later. Period.”
The girls frowned at their dad, but they didn’t seem shocked at the mandate.
“I got you guys a surprise,” Tess said.
Their little six-year-old eyes lit up and expectant smiles stretched across their faces. They were almost too cute for words, and for a minute Tess just stared. The sun itself shone in their expressions.
Tess went into the kitchen and retrieved a bag from the counter. She stepped back out on the patio and caught Carter’s gaze trained on her. She tried to ignore the intensity of his stare and the way it heated her body almost to the boiling point as she dug out two boxes with Barbies inside. She held them out to the girls. Their tiny brows drew in over their eyes and they looked at each other and then Tess as though they’d never seen a Barbie in their entire lives. She set them down on the picnic table with a nervous laugh. Good thing she had a backup plan.
“You can play with those later if you want. In the meantime, maybe you’d rather play with these?” She pulled two small soccer balls from the bag. They each snatched a ball from her waiting hands and ran out into the yard. In no time, they were kicking the balls around the back lawn like a couple of pros.
Carter continued to watch her, and Tess gave a nervous laugh. “Something told me they might not be Barbie girls.”
Carter cringed. “It’s sort of telling, isn’t it?”
“What?”
Carter’s expression saddened and the intensity of that emotion sliced through Tess like a blade. “That they’re a couple of wild tomboys and probably won’t ever have a girly bone in their bodies thanks to me.”
Tess narrowed her gaze. How could he possibly beat himself up over some antiquated notion of what girls were supposed to like? “Carter, you do realize how ridiculous you sound, right?”
His gaze snapped up to meet hers. She guessed not a lot of people called him out on his shit. “What do you mean?”
Tess rolled her eyes and flashed a piteous grin. “It’s not because you’re a single dad that they don’t like Barbies. If I had to guess, Jenny and Jane have always been active girls who like outside play. Did you play with a G.I. Joe or sit on the couch playing video games when you were their age? Or were you outside throwing or kicking something?”
His gaze remained steady as he contemplated her words. “I was an outside kid,” he replied after a moment. “Always.”
Tess gave him a soft smile. “They were probably born with the sports gene.”
“Do you like games, Tess? Or you a sit-on-the-couch sort of woman?”
Tess swallowed down the wave of lust that rose hot in her throat. It was downright criminal to have such dirty thoughts about a single dad. “Depends on who I’m on the couch with.”
Carter’s gaze warmed. His full lips parted and Tess held her breath as she waited for his next words.
“Dad! Come play with us!”
“Yeah, daddy! Come on!”
The spell was broken as Jenny and Jane called out to their dad to join them. Carter flashed an apologetic smile as he hustled down the stairs toward the lawn. In a graceful maneuver that boggled the mind, he swept the ball away from Jane’s feet and juggled it between his feet as he raced toward Jenny at the far end of the yard. Tess released her breath in a whoosh of air.
Wow. What would it be like to be a part of Carter Christensen’s life?
* * *
Dinner was great but honestly, Tess could have served him a steaming cow pie and Carter would have thought it was amazing. She’d known Jenny and Jane for less than a week and already realized that they’d rather play with a soccer ball than a Barbie doll. The girls already loved her, and his own infatuation with his next-door neighbor was steadily growing. Tess was smart, beautiful, laid back. She could barbeque a steak like a pro and served up Blue Moon IPA complete with the orange slice. And instead of calling it a night after the sun had set, she’d started a fire in the fire pit down by the lake and broke out all of the stuff for the girls to make s’mores. She was almost too good to be true.
“So, what made you want to leave New York for a run-down house in tiny Nacogdoches?”
“A cheating son of a bitch ex-boyfriend,” Tess replied. She popped a marshmallow onto the end of a sharpened willow branch and lowered it to the glowing embers of the fire. “He thought it was okay to sleep with my best friend, and I wasn’t so much on board with that.”
Carter couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to cheat on a woman like Tess. Her ex was obviously an idiot.
“Dad, we’re out of graham crackers,” Jane said.
“There are more in the kitchen on the counter,” Tess replied. “Go ahead and grab the whole box.”
The girls took off toward the house and Carter studied the nearly empty glass of IPA in his hand. “How long ago was that?”
“It’ll be nine months in June,” Tess said. “I lived in New York for a couple of months after we broke up. Then my dad called and said that Aunt Millie had passed. She left the house to me.” Tess let out a soft laugh. “I’d never even been here. I guess she figured she’d leave the place to the only person in the family young enough to deal with fixing it up. A quiet, small town felt like a good place to start over, so I packed up my stuff and left.”
Carter couldn’t help but be glad Millie Adams had seen fit to leave the place to her niece. “Not many job opportunities here, though.” A lot of the newer homes around the lake were second residences. Nacogdoches wasn’t exactly a career hub. The economy was more tourist-based.
“I’m a graphic designer.” Tess examined her perfectly golden brown marshmallow before offering it up to Carter. A smile tugged at his lips as he eased the gooey lump from the end of the stick. Tess popped another marshmallow onto the tip and lowered it to the embers. “I can pretty much work anywhere. I get the convenience of a home office, plus I’m close enough to Dallas to make some business connections.”
He’d have to talk to his brother Nate and see if maybe Christensen Petroleum could throw a little business Tess’s way. The last thing he wanted was for her to have to move back to New York because she couldn’t find enough work. A companionable silence filled the space between them.
“Do you miss it?”
“New York?” Tess asked. “A little. I miss the food and the energy of the city.”
“No,” Carter said softly. “Being in a relationship.”
Tess looked up and their eyes met. Emotion swelled in Carter’s chest. She was so damned beautiful.
“I do,” she said. “I’ve never been a serial dater. I like the stability, the comfort of knowing there’s someone there to share my day with or watch TV with.” She averted her attention to the marshmallow she was roasting. “I miss having someone next to me in bed.”
“Me too,” Carter said. He couldn’t admit to Tess that since Steph died, he’d slept with a pillow next to him in bed. “Steph and I got together in high school. I wasn’t interested in playing the field. My brother Travis, he’s the player. I always just wanted someone to share my life with.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Carter wondered if she intentionally steered the conversation away from Steph. He needed to quit keeping everything bottled up and learn to talk about her. “I have three brothers,” Carter said. “Nate’s the oldest. Travis and I are twins. And I have a younger brother, Noah.”
“Wow,” Tess said. “Your poor mother.”
Carter twirled his glass in his hand. “Our mom died when we were kids.”
Tess looked absolutely horrified. Now that he thought about it, his life did sort of come across as pretty damned bleak.
“Carter, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He gave a sad laugh. “It’s not like you had anything to do with it and it was a long time ago. I worry about the girls, you know? We were four rowdy boys—Nate was almost a teenager—and we still missed not having a mom around. I can only imagine what it’s like for Jenny and Jane. Did you see the way they turned their noses up at those Barbies?”
Tess’s lips curved into a soft smile. Carter wanted to reach out, feather his thumb across them to see if they were as soft as they looked. “We already covered that. They’d have a disdain of Barbies even if their mom was still here. They’re their father’s daughters.”
The endearment warmed his heart. They’d always been rough-and-tumble. Steph used to joke about how she’d been so happy to have daughters and so sad that they were daddy’s girls. “They are.”
“You could use a little help in the hair department though,” Tess joked. She offered him another marshmallow as he shook his head. “Your ponytails are pretty abysmal.”
“I know.” Carter chuckled. He sucked at hair. “I promised Steph I wouldn’t cut their hair. She wanted it long.”
“How long as she been gone?” She added quickly added, “You don’t have to answer that. Sometimes I’m too nosy.”
“No one wants to talk about it,” Carter said. “Least of all me. But I need to, you know? I have to, for the girls. I want them to remember their mama, and I’m not helping by making people feel like they can’t talk about her. It’s been almost two years.”
Tess picked at the marshmallow, taking the toasty shell off first. “Do they have any aunts?”
“One on Steph’s side of the family. But she lives in London. Nate settled down with a great girl about six months ago. Noah’s not looking for anything serious.”
“What about Travis?”
Carter rolled his eyes. “He’ll never settle down. He’s the goalie for the Dallas Stars. Damned good, too. Wild and horny as a spring turkey, though. He’s got a big heart. He just likes to share the love if you know what I mean.”
Tess laughed, and the sound rippled pleasantly over Carter’s skin. “Twins and both pro athletes,” she said ruefully. “It’s almost not fair to unleash that much male perfection on the world.”
Whoa. Carter leaned forward in his chair until his arm brushed Tess’s. She brought her gaze up to his, her lids hooded and her lips parted invitingly. God, he wanted to kiss her. The familiar pang tweaked his chest, and Carter forced it away. It was okay to move on, wasn’t it? It was okay to want to feel happy again. He leaned in closer and Tess mirrored the action. Another inch. Another. Her lips parted further as she let out a slow sigh. One more inch and their mouths would touch …
“Dad!” Jane’s indignant screech rent the night air. “Jenny won’t let me hold the box of graham crackers!”
“I want to do it!” Jenny hollered back.
The disagreement quickly escalated into screams, angry shouts, and finally crying. Carter let out a slow sigh. “I think it’s time for bed,” he said as he pulled away.
Tess’s expression fell but she quickly covered it with a smile. “It is pretty late.”
“Do you need help cleaning up?” What had been a perfect moment crashed and burned with the same intensity of his girls’ going at it in Tess’s kitchen.
“I’ve got it,” Tess reassured him. She stifled a giggle as another angry shriek rent the air. “I have a feeling if you don’t put them to bed, someone’s going to draw blood.”
Tess probably didn’t realize how close that was to the truth. “Girls!” Carter barked. “You’ve got ten seconds to get your little butts in line. Understand?” The screeching continued. So much for the big tough dad. “Thanks for dinner, Tess. It was really great.”
He pushed himself up from his chair and jogged for the house. Damn. What he really wanted to do was turn around and finish what he’d started with Tess. Maybe he was finally ready to move on.
