They regarded her with doubtful expressions but their smiles remained intact. “Maybe,” Jane said slowly. “But let’s go look at him before he hops away!”

The girls led the way through the house to the front yard as Tess and Carter followed, their fingers entwined. “They really like you, you know.”

Tess looked over to see a wide smile spread across Carter’s lips. Yeah, she’d be a fool to not at least try to make things work with him. Good men were few and far between it seemed. And somehow, Tess had managed to move next door to one of the best around. “I really like them, too,” she replied. “Their dad is okay, too. A little on the cranky side, but I think I can turn him around.”

Carter pulled Tess to a stop. His expression became serious, his heated gaze delved into hers and she shivered. “You already have,” he murmured. “I love you, Tess.”

She swallowed down the lump that rose to her throat. Carter might have been able to lay himself bare but Tess wasn’t quite to that point yet. He’d have to be patient with her. With them. “Come on,” she said as she urged him to keep walking. “Let’s go look at a frog.”

“You’re going to love me too, Tess,” he remarked as they headed out to the front yard. “I’m going to make sure of it.”

Of that, she had no doubt.

Fourteen

The whoosh of sharpened blades as they rushed over the ice filled Tess’s ears moments before the two hulking bodies crashed into the Plexiglas barrier that separated their seats from the rink. Jenny and Jane fed off the energy, the roar of the crowd, the excitement, and leaned forward to bang on the glass with the other hockey fans.

“Oh no you don’t.” Carter reached out and plucked the backs of the girls’ T-shirts, hauling them back to their seats as though they weighed nothing at all. They were a little put out that they couldn’t be as rowdy as the rest of the Stars fans, but as a consolation, Carter let them stand on their chairs. Placated, but far from calm, they continued to jump up and down on the seats as they cheered the team on to victory.

To think, at one time Tess had thought that they’d want to play with Barbie dolls.

Game seven of the playoffs had turned out to be a nail-biter. Whoever won the game was headed to the Stanley Cup finals. They’d been to all of the playoff games. Nate had made Christensen Petroleum’s jet available to fly the entire family to every single away game so they could support Travis. Nate, Chloe, and Noah had opted for the privacy of a skybox, but Carter and the girls had preferred to be in the thick of the action. Tess had to admit, she preferred the action and vendors’ food to the swanky, catered box.

“Having fun?”

She leaned forward and peered at Carter. The girls were sandwiched between them and he wore a wide smile that made her heart beat a wild rhythm in her chest. “Of course,” she called over the din of the crowd. They’d been seeing each other for three weeks now and Carter still felt as though he needed to make sure that Tess was comfortable, having fun, happy.… His concern for her was endearing but she knew that his real worry was that she’d yet to speak the words that he’d so easily offered to her the day he’d made his grand apology. I love you.

One of the Penguin’s forwards took a shot on goal and the puck whizzed through the air. Travis reached out with his glove and made the save. The crowd went wild around them. Jane’s enthusiastic jumping got out of control and she toppled forward. Tess caught her before she spilled end over top and settled her back on the seat.

“That was a close one!” Jane flashed a bright smile that rivaled her dad’s in its charm.

Tess had never dated anyone with kids before and there were definitely things she’d had to get used to. It was rarely just her and Carter. There were the rare occasions when the girls spent the night with Nate and Chloe, but otherwise, they were a foursome. All activities were family appropriate. Movie nights were usually G- or PG-rated and likewise, Tess had had to learn to curb her swearing, a feat that cost her a dollar for the mason jar in Carter’s kitchen every time she slipped.

Then there was the long-distance aspect of their relationship. Nacogdoches wasn’t far from Dallas—a couple of hours—but it made seeing Carter every day impossible. She spent weekends with him here or he came out to the lake. On a couple of occasions when Tess had clients to meet in the city, she got an extra day or two with him, but the preseason would start soon and she’d lose even more time with him when he went back to playing football full time. There were speed bumps in their relationship, ones that had taken Tess time to adjust to despite the fact she’d been so confident early on that she could handle Carter’s busy life.

He never missed an opportunity to tell her that he loved her. That he missed her. And he’d never once asked her to reciprocate. Carter was a man of infinite patience and love. He gave selflessly every single day of himself, his emotions, his time, even his money. And he didn’t do it for recognition or to get something in return. He was the most amazing man she’d ever met and Tess loved him more than she had words to describe it. It shouldn’t have been so hard to say the words to him, not when she felt them in every single fiber of her being.

He’d admitted to her that he was scared of what a new relationship might mean. How it would affect him and the girls. How it would hurt them if this didn’t work out. Tess was scared too. Of giving her heart completely not only to Carter, but to Jenny and Jane too. She loved them all so much that she thought her chest would explode from the excess of emotion. As he’d taken the leap with her and of the two of them, Carter had the most reason to guard his heart. It was time for Tess to go all in as well.

The sound of a loud buzzer preceded the roar of the crowd as the Stars scored. Jenny and Jane went wild, their little arms pumping above their heads as they screamed and cheered. Music blared from the loudspeaker and the girls hopped down from their seats to dance. Tess looked to her right to find Carter watching her. The wild celebration around them melted away until there was only the two of them. He leaned over the two seats that separated them and braced a hand on the armrest of Tess’s seat.

Their mouths met. A slow, sweet kiss with parted mouths and heated breaths. Public displays—especially when the girls were around—were usually G-rated, but Tess gave this one a PG-13. She reached up and cupped his cheek, her nails scraping over Carter’s stubble. The girls screamed and laughed before turning to shake them both by the shoulders.

“You’re on TV!”

“You’re kissing on TV!”

Carter pulled away with a wicked grin and Tess glanced up at the multiple giant screens that replayed their kiss for the entire rink. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and laughter bubbled in her chest.

“We’re caught.”

The crowd cheered loudly and Carter chuckled. “I think they want a repeat performance.”

Tess grabbed him by the collar as the crowd cheered them on. “In that case, we’d better not disappoint them.”

She pulled him in for a kiss that pushed the boundaries of their previous PG-13 rating. When they finally parted, Tess was dizzy and breathless, and so damned in love that she couldn’t see straight. She needed to tell him. He deserved to hear the words.

“Will you come out to the lake this weekend?” she asked.

Carter flashed a brilliant smile. “Absolutely.”

*   *   *

“Ready?”

Tess had ushered everyone out to the barn before they could even get their bags out of the truck. Steve’s crew had finished the remodel a couple of days ago and she couldn’t wait to show it off.

Carter couldn’t take his eyes off of Tess. It had only been four days since they’d been at the hockey game together, but that was four days too long. This long-distance arrangement was getting harder and harder for him to accept. He didn’t want to see Tess only on the weekends or when she had a meeting in Dallas. He wanted seven days a week with her. Especially now that the preseason was about to start and his free time would be virtually nonexistent.