The Billionaire Single Dad (12 page)

“Hello?”

“Someone's a cranky fucker,” Travis said.

Carter considered hanging up but he didn't feel like getting an in-person visit from his wild and charismatic twin. He could only imagine the way Travis would come on to Tess if he happened to see her. And at the end of the day, he loved his brother. He'd hate to have to kill him.

“I'm not cranky.” Those words had become a pretty standard response for him lately. “What's up?”

“Nate said you had him watch the girls last week so you could put the moves on the sexy new neighbor. I take it she turned you down? Either that or your own ridiculous conscience got in the way.” He let out a sad sigh. “You've got to hit the release valve, brother. Otherwise you're going to blow and it ain't gonna be pretty.”

“So honoring Steph's memory is ridiculous?” His temper flared, but Carter knew it wasn't anger with Travis. It was his own guilt that made him feel like punching something. “Besides, I don't have the luxury of being without responsibilities or caring about my reputation.” Travis snorted at the subtle jab but he didn't say anything.

“Steph died.” Travis's words cut Carter to his marrow. “It fucking sucked. It was one of the worst things I've ever been through since mom died, and I wasn't even married to her. I loved her too you know. But damn it, martyring yourself isn't going to bring her back. And she'd never want you and the girls to be unhappy. You're fucking miserable, Carter. You have been for two years. When are you going to stop torturing yourself and move on with your life?”

Travis was wild, unruly, and generally disrespectful. But he was also the most loyal, the most forthright, and the most caring brother a guy could have. He might have acted like a fool in his personal life, but when it came to family, Travis was as solid and dependable as they came. And he never pulled punches with Carter. Ever. He told it like it was.

“I don't know if I can.” Carter let out all of the pain he felt in his words. “I don't want the girls to fall in love with someone and then lose her.”

“Are you worried about the girls?” Travis asked. “Or yourself?”

Carter choked on the word. “Both.”

“You'll never be happy if you don't start taking some chances, man.”

“I'm not a chance taker. You know that.” It was part of what made him a good QB. He never let the ball leave his hand unless he was positive of where it would go and that the throw would have the outcome he'd planned for. Sure, passes were intercepted, sometimes the receiver was blocked. Sometimes Carter made mistakes. But he never took chances.

“Do you like her?”

He more than liked her. He hadn't felt this way about a woman since— “I like her,” Carter said.

“More than a one-night stand?”

The thought of leaving Nacogdoches next week killed him. Dallas was only two hours away, and it's not like he'd spoken a word to Tess in the past week, but at least she was close. At least if he wanted to, Carter could have walked across the yard and knocked at the patio door. If he was brave enough, he could apologize for hurting her and maybe she'd forgive him. Carter didn't want Tess for one night. He wanted her for all the rest of his nights.

I think … I think I could love you
.

“I love her, Travis.” He'd known right away with Steph. He'd known after less than a week that he'd marry her someday. He knew it with Tess, too.

“Do the girls?”

He didn't know if they loved Tess, but they definitely liked her. “Yeah.”

“Then why the fuck do you sound like such a broody son of a bitch?”

Carter scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Because I think I might've screwed it up with her.” Think? He
absolutely
screwed it up.

“You're not the sort of guy who doesn't go for what he wants. If you want her, do something about it.”

“Yeah.” Did he have it in him to move on with his life?

“Steph wanted you to be happy,” Travis said. “And she'd kick your ass if she could see the sorry state you've let yourself get to.” Travis was definitely right about that. “You still coming to the playoff game on Saturday?”

The Stars had made it to the semifinals thanks to a shutout that Travis took a lot of the credit for. “Yeah. We'll be there.”

“I'll get you four tickets instead of three,” he remarked. “In case you want to bring hot neighbor along.”

He doubted Tess would give him the time of day at this point, let alone go to a hockey game. “I won't ask if there's even a chance you'll call her that to her face.”

“You're no fun,” Travis said.

Carter glanced toward the living room where the girls watched their movie. “I've heard that a lot lately.”

“So snap the fuck out of it and get your shit together,” Travis said. “I'll see you Friday and you'd better bring a friend.”

Without another word, Travis ended the call.

Since they'd met, Carter had been so goddamned scared of feeling anything for anyone that he'd allowed his guilt to put distance between him and Tess. And when he'd finally given in to his own desires, their time together had been so amazing that it had shaken him. Again, that guilt ate at him until he thought he had no choice to but to turn his back on her and hurt her in order to put her at arms' length. But was it his guilt over betraying Steph's memory that had stood in his way or his own goddamned fear of being hurt again? Travis thought it was time for him to take some chances. Maybe for once, he needed to listen to his brother and throw caution to the wind.

*   *   *

Tess stared at the logo design project she'd been trying to work on for the past week. Her creativity was in the crapper and she couldn't focus to save her life. She hadn't so much as ventured outside her back door since the day Carter kissed her before telling her he'd lied to her and that there could never be anything between them. There was something seriously wrong with feeling like she had to sneak out undetected for groceries so she wouldn't have a run-in with the man who had won and broken her heart all in the same twenty-four-hour period. At least the awkwardness wouldn't last forever. In about a week, he'd be packing up and heading back to Dallas. And Tess would go back to her life before he'd shown up: quiet and lonely.

Yay
.

She closed her laptop and stared out the kitchen window toward the lake. The late afternoon sun glinted like gold on the ripples stirred by a gentle and unseasonably warm spring breeze. Yet, a chill danced over Tess's skin as she remembered running with abandon into the water with Carter. The shock of cold as it hit her skin and the soothing heat of his mouth as he latched his lips over her stiff and aching nipple.

“Oookay.” Tess abruptly scooted her chair out from the table and let out a gust of breath. “Snap out of it, Tess.”

She couldn't allow her thoughts to take her back to that night ever again. The resulting hurt that stabbed at her chest when she reminded herself of the things he'd said to her, nearly laid her low. Tess refused to ever again endure the crippling depression and self-doubt she'd felt after she and Jared had broken up. Carter Christensen didn't own her heart or her emotions. He didn't have the right to make her yearn for something that would never be.

She reached up and caressed the novelty penguin necklace the girls had bought for her during their trip to the zoo. Carter hadn't been the only one who'd managed to worm into her heart. Jenny and Jane had a little piece of her too.

“I need a drink.”

It was a sign of how long she'd been isolated that Tess was talking to herself. How could she have ever thought that she'd make it out here by herself? Maybe she should sell the place and move back to New York. She was down a boyfriend and a best friend, but she'd had other friends in the city. A hell of a lot more than she had here.

Tess had never considered herself a quitter. She was strong, independent. Self-sufficient. She made decent money and was good at her job. Dallas was proving to be a promising market for her business as she'd managed to line up a few new clients. When she'd left New York, she'd convinced herself that she was taking on a new challenge, not running away from her problems. If she left Nacogdoches now, wouldn't she be proving to herself that she wasn't strong at all? Wouldn't it prove that she'd been running all along?

A knock at her front door drew Tess's attention. She was surprised to see the contractor Carter had hired to assess the barn standing on her front porch, clipboard in hand. “Hi, um…” What in the
hell
was his name? “Steve!” He gave her a funny look at her
ah-ha!
moment. “Do I owe you for the barn assessment?” She'd thought Carter had paid for it but maybe he'd changed his mind. God, she hoped not. She was doing all right financially but she wasn't a bank.

“No.” Steve looked as confused as she sounded. “I'm here to get started on the remodel.”

Remodel? What the ever loving…? “I think there might be a miscommunication somewhere. I just wanted to make sure the structure was sound. I'm far from being able to do a remodel on it.”

Steve's glance slid to the side, in the direction of Carter's house. “I'm confused. Carter called yesterday and asked if I had time to work the barn into my schedule. I was hoping we could do the walkthrough today to see what you were thinking for the space. Carter suggested an office in the loft and maybe turning the ground level into a studio or second living space, but he said the final say was yours. Did something change between yesterday and today?”

Tess had absolutely no idea what was going on. “You talked to Carter yesterday?”

“Yeah. Yesterday afternoon. I've got a crew scheduled to start work next week.”

“Can you give me a few minutes? I need to straighten a few things out.” A few things? A whole hell of a lot of things.

“Sure. I need to make a couple of phone calls to my sub-contractors anyway. We'll need to do some minor foundation work before we do any actual building and I need to get some prices from my concrete guy. I'll be in my truck when you're ready.”

“Thanks.”

Tess left the front door wide open and trekked back through the house. She slipped through the back patio door and jogged across their two lawns until she stood on Carter's patio. Fist poised and ready to knock on the glass, Tess paused. She could tell Steve to leave. She didn't have to talk to Carter at all. She could go back to her house, sit her ass down, and get back to work. She could try to forget the time she'd spent with Carter, the things he'd said to her, the way his touch set her on fire. She could forget that he'd broken her heart with cold and hurtful words and get to back to her life. She could let him go back to Dallas and he'd be nothing but the neighbor she saw once or twice a year when he needed a break from the fast pace of his life.

Tess could do all of those things. She simply didn't know if she wanted to.

“You look like a woman on the verge of a serious decision.”

Tess whipped around to find Carter walking toward the patio from the lake. Behind him, the girls shuffled along, their leggings pulled up to their knees and their shoes clutched in their little hands. They looked up at their dad's words and bright smiles lit their faces as they exchanged a knowing glance. Their soft giggles made Tess's stomach draw into a tight knot.

“Hi Tess!”

“Hi Tess!”

They ran past her and into the house, their wide, secretive grins causing her suspicions to grow. The girls obviously knew something she didn't, and Tess didn't like not being in on the secret.

Tess opened her mouth to speak. Closed it. Started again and failed. Words refused to form on her lips as she took in the sight of Carter strolling with casual grace toward her. The memory of what it had felt like to have her naked skin against his, to feel the power of that magnificent body thrust over hers was still too fresh in her mind. Her breath stalled in her chest and a ball of emotion gathered in her throat. How could she ever think it would be so easy to banish Carter from her heart and mind?

“Did you hire
your
contractor to come out and do a remodel on
my
barn?” Instead of focus on her heartache, she let her anger take over. It was the only way to force any words past her lips.

Carter continued to stroll toward her in that calm, calculated way that made him look like a predator on the prowl. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and averted her gaze from him. It was like staring at the sun; his very presence blinded her.

When he was close enough to reach out and touch, Carter stopped. The space between them sizzled with electricity and Tess forced her eyes back to his face. “Did you?” she asked again.

“I suck at apologies.” The warmth in his deep voice cascaded over her in a pleasant rush. “And flowers seemed too cliché.”

“Carter.”

“Tess.” His gaze devoured her. “I'm so sorry.”

Thirteen

For over a week, Tess had been feet from him and yet, it had felt like
miles
. After Carter's conversation with Travis yesterday, he'd come to a decision. It was time to live his life. Steph had wanted him to live. For him, for her, and their girls. The guilt he felt wasn't fair to any of them. He'd loved Steph more than he thought he could ever love another woman. Loving Tess wasn't a betrayal of that love, it was a testament to what they'd had that he could open himself up to love for a second time.

Carter's own stubbornness had almost caused him to miss out on a chance at happiness. He wasn't going to let it pass him by again. He reached out and smoothed an errant strand of hair away from Tess's face. Her gaze softened, but the deep blue of her eyes still reflected the hurt he'd caused. He'd do whatever it took to make it up to her.