A familiar knock sounded on the patio door, and Tess’s heart leapt up into her throat. She loved that they didn’t use each other’s front doors. As though skipping from one backyard to the other was their quirky thing.

She slid open the patio door and looked up into Carter’s face. A crease cut into his forehead above the bridge of his nose, and for a moment Tess thought he might be angry with her.

Carter pulled her hard against him and put his mouth to hers. The kiss was urgent, full of heat and longing that caused Tess’s heart to hammer in her chest. She came up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He was built like the oak in his backyard, tall, strong, unyielding. There wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t packed with muscle. His sheer size overwhelmed her as he reached up to cup her cheek in one large palm.

Carter slanted his mouth across hers. His tongue flicked out at the seam of her lips and Tess parted for him as he deepened the kiss. His other hand gripped her hip. The blunt tips of his fingers dug in as he pulled her tight against him.

His body vibrated with restraint and yet he held her gently, as though she might break with the slightest shift. Tess’s fingers found the silky hair at the nape of Carter’s neck, and when she raked her nails against his scalp, he groaned. A sound that was just as much pleasure as it was pain. Carter gave a shallow thrust of his hips, the length of erection pressed into Tess’s hip.

She pressed herself tighter against him. Heat swamped her and settled low in her abdomen. Her clit pulsed in time with her rushing pulse and a rush of wetness spread between her thighs.

Too soon, Carter pulled away. Their ragged breathing was the only sound in the quiet kitchen. “I thought you should know that I always follow through,” Carter said. “And I’ve wanted to do that all night.”

Tess’s body hummed. No man had ever affected her with such intensity. She wanted so much more than a kiss with him. And she thought her body might spontaneously combust if she didn’t get it.

“Follow-through is important,” she murmured.

“I need to get back to the girls.” And just like that, Tess’s bubble of hope burst. “Good night, Tess.” He kissed her once more, a light brush of his lips against hers before he turned and strode back across the lawn to his house.

She stepped out onto the porch to watch him go. His body rolled with athletic grace, each step executed as though carefully planned and yet effortless. A tremor passed through Tess’s body as she brought her fingertips up to her lips that still tingled from the contact. Carter’s life was complicated and Tess wasn’t sure how she’d fit into it. She wasn’t about to run away, though. She welcomed the challenge.

*   *   *

Carter placed one foot in front of the other, willing himself to head back to the house when what he really wanted to do was turn around and run for Tess. It had been so long since he’d felt this way, his desire was damned near foreign. His cock pulsed in his jeans, his erection so damned tight that he thought he might suffer long-term damage if he didn’t hit the release valve. The bastard was punishing him for his years of celibacy, it seemed. Nothing short of a tackle from a three-hundred-pound linebacker was going to distract him from the memory of how good it had felt to hold Tess in his arms. The softness of her body, the sweetness of her lips. Her passion and responsiveness as she’d kissed him back. The scrape of her nails against his scalp. Carter let out a gust of breath. Jesus. He wanted her so bad he hurt.

Football and the girls had been his life for the past two years. The thought of jumping back into the dating pool had filled him with dread, mostly because he wasn’t interested in dating. He wanted a relationship. He wanted what he’d had with Steph.

His life was so damned complicated. Was it even fair to want what he wanted with Tess? Insta-family, a schedule that had him away from home more often than not. The media attention, football groupies, late nights … god, the cliques. Not to mention the notoriety that simply came from being a Christensen and Texas oil royalty.

The past couple of years had been one sacrifice after another. Selflessness for the betterment of the girls, his career, his family. Wasn’t he entitled to want something for himself for a change? Couldn’t he be selfish just this once? He wanted Tess. Wanted her so badly that he ached.

He hopped the fence and turned when he made it to the patio. Tess stood out on her porch, watching him.

For a long moment they simply stared at one another. Even from across their lawns, Carter recognized the longing in her expression. She brought her hand up and waved. A knot formed in the pit of his gut as Carter waved back. They continued to stare, and Carter had to dig his heels into the bottoms of his shoes to keep from vaulting the fence and sprinting to her. Instead, he waved one last time and forced himself to go inside.

Carter glanced toward the staircase as he headed for the living room. Want warred with guilt, desire with responsibility, and it left him feeling so goddamned weak he wasn’t sure how he managed to put one foot in front of the other. He flopped down on the couch, his body every bit as heavy as it felt, and grabbed his phone from the end table. Carter opened the favorites tab and dialed Nate. Hopefully it wasn’t too late to call.

“Hey brother.” Nate’s voice didn’t sound too sleepy, so maybe Carter hadn’t woken him. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. No.” He let out a huff of breath. “Shit. I don’t know.”

Nate’s tone changed in a beat, spiked with concern. “Do you need me to drive down?”

“It’s not an emergency,” Carter replied. “We’re all fine. I have a new neighbor.”

A space of silence stretched between them. “And that’s a problem, why?”

“For starters, she’s—”

“Say no more,” Nate interrupted. “I know exactly what your problem is.”

Was it that bad? Did a few simple words give away everything he felt right now? “I don’t know if I can do this, Nate.” A kiss wouldn’t ruin him. But if Carter let things go farther with Tess, he had a feeling she’d be his undoing.

“Do what? You sound like you’re about to commit a felony.”

Hell, some of things he wanted to do her might still be classified as one in some counties. “I don’t know if I can do this to Steph.”

“Carter.” The pity in Nate’s tone gutted him. “You’re not cheating on her. It’s been two years, cut yourself some slack. It’s okay to move on. And I know for a fact it’s what Steph wanted.”

“I know that.” It had been the hardest conversation of his life. He’d told Steph there would never be another woman for him but her. She’d laughed and cupped his cheek before she called him a jackass. Love isn’t a one-way ticket. There’s someone else out there for you, Carter, and I want you to find her. “I feel guilty about it though.”

“Tell me about her,” Nate said. “The neighbor.”

She’s Millie’s niece,” Carter said. “Millie left the house to her. She used to live in New York but her boyfriend cheated on her so she moved out here.”

“No,” Nate said. “Don’t tell me her history. Tell me about her.”

“She’s…” Beautiful. Thoughtful. Feisty. And she kisses like she invented the act. “Amazing.”

“Then go for it,” Nate said. “Don’t let a chance at being happy slip through your fingers.”

“It’s not that easy,” Carter said. “I have the girls here with me.”

“Does she hate kids?”

“God, no.” Carter wouldn’t have anything to do with her if she had. “She seems to really like the girls and they like her.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Carter didn’t respond. He’d had to sneak out after they’d gone to bed just to kiss Tess. And he didn’t want the girls to see him be affectionate with another woman if it wasn’t going to go anywhere. He wouldn’t want them to get their hopes up.