Brandon’s back teeth gnashed together even harder.
“Look.” Blake yanked his sunglasses off his face. “Matt’s a good kid. You’ve raised him right. But if you try to make decisions for him and control his life, you’ll only push him away.” Brandon opened his mouth to argue, but Blake forged on. “I know that I don’t know shit about raising kids, okay? You’ve got me on that one. But we were both teenagers once and nothing anyone could have said would have changed our minds about anything. And we both know that the cost of the school isn’t the real issue here. You could make UT work with scholarships and/or loans.”
Fine. Whatever. Blake could just take his opinions and shove them up his know-it-all ass.
Brandon turned and stalked across the field, heading toward the bleachers.
Automatically his gaze zeroed in on Stella, his groin tightening when she tossed her head back and laughed at something Annabelle said. Her neck was long and slender, perfect for dropping kisses and nuzzling his nose across. That thing inside his chest, some place close to his heart, shifted when her soft, throaty laugh floated on the breeze.
And look at him being all sappy, thinking about laughs and breezes and shit. Brandon blew out a breath and leaned his elbows on the top of the fence. He had some time before his first subcontractor meeting of the day and wanted to watch some more of practice before he left. Before he could get into the action on the field, the back of his neck prickled when a clean, flowery scent teased every nerve in his body.
“Did you get your date with Melanie set up?” Stella asked.
“As a matter of fact, I just got off the phone with her,” he lied.
Stella snorted and leaned against the fence next to him. “It won’t work, you know.”
He glanced at her. “What, this master game of seduction we have going on?”
Color flared her cheeks. “You trying to make me jealous.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. What would she do if he kissed her right now? “Don’t have to try very hard. Besides, you opened yourself up to that one.”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. Yeah, point one for Brandon. “You know, I actually came down here to thank you, not bicker. But for some reason, you bring out the worst in me.”
He flicked her nose. “It’s called foreplay, sweetheart.”
She swatted his hand away, then jabbed him in the chest. “See, right there. Why do you have to do that?”
“Do what?”
“Say things that make me want to smack you.”
He leaned forward so their faces were inches apart. The breeze picked up a wayward strand of her hair and blew it into his face. “That’s not what you want to do to me.”
She groaned and dropped her head back. “You know what? I rescind my thanks. There.” She jabbed him in the chest again. “So you can consider my thanks officially rescinded.” She took a step back from him. “Gone.” Another backward step. “As in not there anymore because you don’t deserve a thanks.”
He grinned at the pink staining her cheeks. Man, she was something else. A second ago he’d wanted to growl at his cousin to mind his own effing business, and now he couldn’t stop thinking about how sexy and adorable Stella Davenport was. “Technically you never offered the thanks, so your counter has no bearing on our conversation.”
She tossed her hands up in the air and groaned again. “You’re like that brainy guy at school who uses complex sentences to confuse people. That’s what you are.” She closed the distance between them again and poked that busy little finger of hers right in the middle of his chest. “You’re just a big, overbearing smart-ass who wears shirts that are too small for him and gets his shits and giggles by making women all hot and bothered.” She turned her finger to herself. “Except me. I’m not hot and bothered. Because I don’t even like you.” She waved her arm at their surroundings. “I’m talking about other women. Other women are hot and bothered. And on behalf of those poor females, I resent you.”
Both sides of his mouth kicked up. “Okay, Stella.”
She nodded and took two steps back. “So we understand each other?”
Not even a little. “Perfectly.”
“So we’re on the same page, then?”
When had they ever been on the same page? “Think we’ve established that.”
She nodded again and gnawed on her lower lip. Uncertain, much? “Great. So my work here is done.”
Oh, her work was done all right. She’d successfully made him all hot and bothered.
Twelve
A few hours later, Brandon drove Matt home from a trip to the batting cages, still turned on and frustrated and pissed. Pissed at Stella for digging her crafty little way into a place no woman had been allowed since Trish. And pissed at himself for letting her. Not only letting her, but also enjoying it.
She was his Achilles’ heel. Her sass, her brains, her sex appeal. Dangerous combination, all that.
Brandon cleared his throat and glanced at Matt, sure his child would see the turmoil, and borderline hard-on, from the passenger seat. But that would require Matt putting down his cell phone for more than five seconds. Heaven forbid the kid should go one minute without talking to his girlfriend.
“So, you did good at practice,” Brandon offered.
Matt lifted a shoulder and didn’t take his gaze off his phone. “Yeah.”
Brandon blew out a breath as he made his way through town. They drove past Stella’s studio, which was filled with kids in black leotards and pink tights. The brief glance inside was enough to see Stella in an off-the-shoulder shirt and another pair of those booty shorts that outlined her perfect, plump ass. One that begged him to cup his hands over so he could yank her against him hard enough for her to see what exactly she did to him.
Focus, asshole.
“Did you happen to notice who was there?” Matt queried.
How could he not notice? Then Brandon realized that Matt couldn’t have been talking about Stella, because Matt had no idea what had been going on between them. Or did he?
But yeah, he was probably talking about the recruiters.
“You mean, the recruiter from Boulder?” Brandon tossed out.
“Funny, Dad.”
“Colorado Springs?”
Matt sighed and tossed his phone down. “I’m talking about the guy from Texas. The Longhorns, Dad.”
Brandon nodded. “Oh him. Right.”
Matt narrowed his brown eyes that were so much like Brandon’s own. “Like you don’t know.”
He knew a whole lot more than Matt thought he did. “I’m sensing you want to have a conversation about this.”
“Only if you’ll listen.”
Brandon tossed his son a quick glance. “I always listen.”
“When it’s what you want to hear.”
He didn’t do that, did he? He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “All right. I’m listening.” He held up a hand before Matt started. “But you have to give me a reason other than your girlfriend.”
Matt blinked. “Okay. Texas has a better football team.”