She dropped the letter and gripped the front of his sweatshirt with both hands. “This is for good. This is it for me, Brandon. Do or die time. Do you get it?” Her breath huffed in and out and matched the heavy thumping of his own heart. “And why are we yelling?”
A laugh popped out of him because, if he didn’t laugh, he might drop to his knees and bury his face in her stomach. He lowered his forehead to hers. “Damn, Stella.”
She looped her arms around his neck. “I loved it, you know,” she whispered.
“Loved what?”
“The letter you wrote me. It was the greatest and worst thing I’d ever read,” she said.
Brandon’s brow pinched as he leaned away from her. “Worst?”
She played with the string from his hood. “Because it only solidified that I’d made the most awful decision of my life. And it was something I needed to fix right away.”
“Stella—”
“I never would have been happy there,” she butted in. “I need you to understand that I’ve done this for me.”
Brandon grinned despite the turmoil churning his stomach. “So this was a completely selfish move?”
“Totally,” she agreed. “I’m only thinking about my own happiness.”
His hands moved from her shoulders, down the sleek indentation of her spine so his palms could squeeze the perfect globes of her ass. “As long as we’re being selfish…I don’t want you going back.”
“I have no plans to go anywhere,” she assured him. Then she pressed her lips to his and grinned against him.
As much as it killed him, Brandon pulled away from her softness. “I’m serious, Stella. You know what I’ve been through. If there’s even a doubt in your mind, then this can’t go any further.”
“I know what you’ve been through,” she agreed. “I know you’ve been disappointed and hurt by people you were supposed to trust. And you also know what I’ve been through. I walked away from my dream before for a man, and I swore I wouldn’t compromise myself like that ever again. But this time I know it’s right. This time I know the guy’s worth it.”
A breath Brandon hadn’t realized he’d been holding slowly released. He held her tighter, pulled her closer as though still afraid she’d run away.
Stella leaned away from him. “You know this is for real, right? That you’re stuck with me?”
Brandon gave her another kiss and grinned against her mouth. “As long as you can handle my stinky dog and two men dirtying up the kitchen.”
“Just keep the bathroom clean.” She leaned farther away when he tried to kiss her again. “And I’m going to need you to buy some paper plates.”
He quickly stole a kiss. “Hell no. You keep your blasphemous paper plates out of my house.”
“What if it’s our house?” she questioned.
He pinched her rear end. “You know it’ll be your house too.”
She swatted his arm. “No, I mean we buy a place of our own.”
A place that was just his and Stella’s? Where they could start fresh and make new memories…sounded like heaven to him. “Okay, I’ll agree to that on one condition.”
One of her brows lifted. “Really? You’re going to start throwing conditions at me?”
“Just hear me out.”
She blew out a breath. “All right.”
“You let me put a big-screen TV with surround sound in the living room, and you can bring your damn paper plates.”
“A big-screen TV?” she asked as she ran her hands up and down his arms. “You mean like a place where we can snuggle up and watch old movies?”
Brandon blinked. “Actually, I was thinking of a place Matt and I can watch ball games.”
He waited for her to smack him, to tell him in his dreams. Instead she just grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck again. “You realize that I don’t actually need paper plates, right?”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that.”
“That you and your smelly dog and pretentious cooking skills are enough?”
“You think my cooking skills are pretentious?” he questioned.
Her mouth twitched. “I think you could mix in a TV dinner every once in a while.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what. We’ll buy a new place together, with a sports room, and I’ll let you eat a microwave dinner on the couch every once in a while.”
“Gee, you’ll let me?” she said around a grin. “Aren’t you the sweetest?”
“Aren’t I, though?”
She gave him a hot, openmouthed kiss. One with tongue and teeth and two months of separation and longing finally coming together. When they broke apart, they were both breathing hard and touching everywhere their hands could reach.
“I don’t need the damn TV dinners, Brandon,” she said as her hands found the flesh beneath his sweatshirt. “I just want you.”
He sucked in a breath and held himself back from yanking her sweater over her head. Instead, he picked her up and her legs found their way around his hips. “Now that we’ve got that straight.” He started walking with her hanging on to him. “Let’s go find a tree I can back you up against.”
Stella buried her face in his neck and giggled. Brandon tightened his arms around her and felt the cool breeze dancing around them. And for the first time in his life, he allowed himself to hope.
Two weeks later
“Hey, listen up,” Blake called from the front of his spacious living room that boasted vaulted ceilings and giant windows.
The murmur of the crowd died as the coach commanded the attention of his players and their families.
“I just have a few things I’d like to say before we eat,” Blake went on.
In late February, Blake had organized a team dinner at his house. Everyone and their sister was there because it had been a hell of a season of ups and downs, capped by a game no one ever thought they’d make it to.
Brandon scanned the crowd and spotted Cameron talking to a parent. He kept looking until his eyes landed on Stella. His heart turned over in his chest every time he looked at her, as though realizing for the first time that she was all his. He still couldn’t get used to the idea that she only had eyes for him. She laughed at something Annabelle said, then gave him a little finger wave. He answered with a wink, then grinned when her cheeks stained pink.
She was so into him.
Just as much as he was into her.
And of course it was his own son who brought her back. Matt had found that letter on his dresser and taken matters into his own hands by mailing it. His own son had seen what Brandon had failed to see. He’d been brave enough to take a leap of faith for both of them, and Brandon owed him for that.
Matt came up next to him while cramming a puff pastry thing in his mouth. “Have you tried one of these yet?” Matt asked with a mouthful of food. “So good.”
Brandon elbowed him, then jerked his head toward Blake. “You’re supposed to be listening.”
Matt shrugged. “I can listen and eat at the same time.”
“First I want to thank everyone for coming today,” Blake continued. “Especially to my gorgeous fiancée for providing all the food.” All heads turned toward Annabelle, who blew Blake a kiss, totally oblivious to everyone staring at her. “If it hadn’t been for her, you all would be eating Ritz crackers and slices of cheese.”