Winner Takes All (33 page)

“By the way, I never thanked you for attending Grammy Rose's funeral,” she told him as they sat back down. “It meant a lot to me that you were there.”

Brandon gazed at her from behind his dark sunglasses. “Rose was a good woman,” he replied. “She'll be missed. I'm sorry you had to go through all that alone.”

“I wasn't alone. I had Annabelle.”

“That's not what I mean.”

Their faces were inches apart, thanks to the close quarters, and Stella had to resist the urge to lay her head on his shoulder, just to see how solid he was. “Then what do you mean?”

He shifted on the bench, bringing his hip in contact with hers. Yeah, definitely solid. “I mean, someone you share things with.”

“You mean, like a man?”

“If that's what floats your boat,” he answered with a smirk.

You and I both know that's exactly what floats my boat.

The man practically drove her boat.

“I got through it just fine,” she hedged, not mentioning that she couldn't even think about Grammy without her throat closing up.

“Is that a fact?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You don't believe me?”

“Not entirely. Your eyes give you away.”

See? This was why she needed to keep distance from him. He saw way too much. Things he had no business seeing. Like how she carried around Grammy's death but plastered a smile on her face so people wouldn't notice.

“You can't even see my eyes,” she argued.

He brought his hand up next to her face, the heat from his palm melting into her skin and scorching her cheeks. She would have jerked back, but there was nowhere to go. Anyway, Stella wasn't entirely sure she wanted to move away. Her inner desire, which contradicted the sensible side of her brain, wanted to lean into him. To feel his large palm, with its work-roughened surface, cup her cheek and tell her she'd be okay. That she could go on without her sweet but sensible grandmother to light up her life.

But he didn't touch her. Instead he lifted her sunglasses, just enough to get a peek of her eyes. She squinted against the bright afternoon sun and forced herself not to look away.

“See?” He settled the glasses on top of her head and skimmed the tip of his index finger just underneath one eye. “It's right here.”

His finger went back and forth, beneath her left eye, just barely brushing her lower lashes and sending a zing to the pit of her stomach. Before she did something really stupid, like turn her face and press a kiss to the palm of his hand, she pulled back and replaced her sunglasses.

Brandon didn't protest. In fact, he didn't react at all other than dropping his hand. Was she the only one fazed by their attraction to each other?

Then it hit her. Like someone dropping an ice cube down the back of her shirt. Maybe Brandon wasn't attracted to her at all. Maybe all the stuff going on in her body was one sided and that's why he'd never asked her out again. Maybe she was the only one confused and hot at the same time.

Maybe she had no effect on him at all.

Heat burned her cheeks at the reality she didn't want to swallow.

“You could see that through my sunglasses?”

“What can I say?” he asked as he lifted one hip off the bench and withdrew his cell phone. “I have a gift.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Stella saw Brandon's long fingers flying over the keypad of his phone as he texted someone. She forced her attention to the game, because the guy had already distracted her enough.

The players broke from their huddle, and Matt jogged onto the field.

Stella nudged Brandon in the ribs. “Your kid's out there.”

“I see him,” he replied, never taking his gaze off his phone.

“How can you see him when you're doing that?”

He lifted his head and pinned her with his gaze. “I can do more than one thing at a time.”

Clearly.

They sat in silence for a moment when Brandon finally put his phone away. Was he texting a woman?

As the thought flitted through her mind, Stella realized that may have been the reason he'd never asked her out again. He had another woman in his life.

Oh, Lord, why hadn't she realized it before? Of course Brandon would have a woman, or girlfriend or whatever. A man like him wouldn't be single for long. Not that she cared. Hadn't she just told Annabelle she didn't want a relationship anyway? Because she was leaving in four months after accepting a job with her former ballet company choreographing their end-of-the-year production of
Rapunzel
. It had been an opportunity she'd been awaiting for years, and after already turning it down once, she wasn't about to let it slip away again.

Unfortunately, it meant being gone for several months, which wasn't exactly conducive to a new relationship.

“You should bring Matt to my studio,” she blurted out. What the hell?

“Why would I bring my football-playing son to a ballet studio?” Brandon asked without taking his attention off the field.

“Lots of football players take ballet lessons. It can help with balance and coordination.”

Brandon snorted. “No son of mine is taking ballet.”

“Why, because ballet is for girls?”

He slid her a look. “Ballet
is
for girls.”

“Says who?”

“Men.”

“Oh, I get it,” she concluded. “You think it'll like impede his masculinity or something. That I'll make him put on a pair of tights and dance on his toes.”

“Isn't that what ballet dancers do?”

“Well yeah, but—”

“Then forget it,” he finished. “He doesn't need ballet lessons.”

“Fine, be stubborn,” Stella fumed, wondering how she could go from wanting to jump a man's bones to wanting to strangle the guy.

  

WINNER TAKES ALL
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The first book in Erin Kern's brand-new Champion Valley series, perfect for fans of
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her
team. But what she doesn't count on is their intense attraction that turns every heated run-in into wildly erotic competition…

  

LAST KISS OF SUMMER
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Kennedy Sinclair, pie shop and orchard owner extraordinaire, is all that stands between Luke Callahan and the success of his hard cider business. But when the negotiations start heating up, will they lose their hearts? Or seal the deal? Fans of Rachel Gibson, Kristan Higgins, and Jill Shalvis will gobble up the latest sexy contemporary from Marina Adair.

  

MEANT TO BE MINE
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In the tradition of Jessica Lemmon and Marie Force, comes a contemporary romance about a former bad boy seeking redemption. After years apart, Sofia Mercer and Burke Wolf reunite in Cape Cod. Their wounds may be deep, but their sizzling attraction is as hot as ever.

  

RUN TO YOU
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The first book in Rachel Lacey's new contemporary romance series will appeal to fans of Kristan Higgins, Rachel Gibson, and Jill Shalvis! Ethan Hunter's grandmother, Haven, North Carolina's resident matchmaker, is convinced Gabby Winter and her grandson are meant to be together. Rather than break her heart, Ethan and Gabby fake a relationship, but if they continue, they won't just fool the town—they might fool themselves, too…

  

AN INDECENT PROPOSAL
By Katee Robert

New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Katee Robert continues her smoking-hot series about the O'Malleys—wealthy, powerful, and full of scandalous family secrets. Olivia Rashidi left behind her Russian mob family for the sake of her daughter. When she meets Cillian O'Malley, she recognizes his family name, but can't help falling for the smoldering, tortured man. Cillian knows that there is no escape from the life, but Olivia is worth trying—and dying—for…

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