The Billionaire Single Dad (3 page)

Damn, he hated to lose.

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.”