Benjie brightened. “It is good.” He turned to Brooke. “Now you can come to my other house too, and we can play there.”
Brooke laughed as she reached out and hugged Benjie to her side. “I’ll have to see, buddy.” My son was an awesome kid; it was good to see Brooke had already noticed it. Her fondness for him was obvious.
What about me?
I was talking about friendship fondness though. Benjie started talking about a book he wanted to read since he’d heard it was good from a friend, and as I ate, I watched and listened to them. It was like she’d been around him more than a couple of times. Like they’d known each other longer. Benjie usually took a while to warm up to people, yet he hadn’t with Brooke. That said a lot about her.
Yeah, I wanted to get to know Brooke as well.
“How was work today?” I asked when the conversation broke away.
She glanced at me and then down to her pizza. “Good. Though, I had a student make an appointment to see me because she wanted to question me about Reagan and Carter.”
“Can I go play for a little bit?” Benjie asked.
“Go for it,” I told him with a wink.
I caught her tense when he bolted from the kitchen, but she picked up her slice and took a bite. “How long do you think it’ll take Carter and Reagan to get together?”
Her smile was soft. “Not long. Anyone with eyes can see they’re half in love already. Besides Reagan.”
“They’re good for each other.”
She nodded. “They are.” She wiped her hands on some paper towel she or Benjie must have gotten out. “You weren’t gone long before.”
Grunting, I shrugged. “I thought it would have been longer. Do your family and Reagan’s get along?”
Her gaze shifted behind me to the doorway. Was she thinking of running?
“My parents passed away a long time ago. I have some aunts and uncles elsewhere in the world, but it’s been Nana Bev and me for a while.”
“Sorry to hear about your parents. I don’t see much of mine since they’re in Texas.”
“So, you are a cowboy?” She smirked.
“Born and raised.”
“Where’s the accent gone?”
“It comes and goes, darlin’.”
Her lips parted when I put on the Texas tone. Since I’d lived out of the state for a damn long time, I’d lost a lot of it. It only showed when I drank.
Brooke cleared her throat. “Right. That’s, ah, cool.” She stood and picked up Benjie’s plate along with hers, moving over to the sink. I quickly stuffed the rest of my pizza in my mouth and walked around the counter, stopping at her side as she rinsed the plates. Her hand swept out for my plate. I gave it to her and rested my hip against the counter.
“Benjie loves hanging out with you.”
There was another soft smile for my son. When was I going to get one?
“He’s a great kid.”
“Sorry about Emily showing. I didn’t expect you’d meet my ex that soon.”
Her brows shot down. “But you expected us to meet?”
“Well, yeah. Unless you’re going to stop seeing Benjie.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that to him.”
“Good.”
She put the last plate in the dishwasher and faced me. “Emily seems really nice.”
Smiling, I nodded. “Yeah, everyone loves her. People were shocked we split up, but we got together young and drifted in different directions. The only thing keeping us together had been Benjie. Before it soured, we wanted to end it while we were still friends.”
Surprise was written on her face, in her eyes, brows, and mouth. “That’s… really amazing. There’s not many couples who do that.”
Shrugging, I smiled. “Yeah, I know. But it was the best for Benjie as well. This way we spend all the major holidays together. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter as well. When I’m not playing, that is.”
“Do you get annoyed with work dragging you away?”
She was asking me questions. Wanting to know me. This was damn good.
“Sometimes it pisses me off, but then I get on the field, and I’m lost in the game. It’s still a thrill. Do you like what you do?”
A laugh dropped from her plump lips.
Lips I had to stop looking at.
Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me? I was trying for friendship and yet everything she did had my attention. The way she shifted, when she brushed her hair behind her ear, her lips, eyes, body… fuck me.
Friends, jackass. I had to remember my mantra.
“I have my days. Today wasn’t one of them. What is it with boys and their junk?”
Sputtering out a chuckle, I asked, “What?”
“It’s like you can’t keep it in your pants. A teacher found a boy in the restroom with his dick in a handmade glory hole in the wall. He’d gotten stuck.”
That time I roared my laughter. “Oh shit, that poor kid.”
“Poor kid? Poor Tom. He’d come to me for advice. I told him the kid will need it to go down before being free. Tom went back and told this kid, and do you know what he did?”
“Ah shit, he didn’t?”
“I suggested to Tom to tell him to think of gross thoughts, but no, apparently this kid decided to finish so his dick went down before he escaped.”
“What did Tom do?”
“Ran from the room when the kid wouldn’t listen and waited for him to finish. The kid didn’t even care he’d done that around teachers.”
“Couldn’t Tom get in trouble if the kid says something?”
She snorted. “Who will he tell? He was scared a fellow student would find out, but he didn’t care about the teachers. Tom also filed a full incident report, called his father, and told him what was happening while the kid, ah, finished.”
“Jesus, I would never show my face again.”
“We’ll see if he comes—” I chuckled at her choice of words. Her cheeks pinked and she groaned. “Wrong choice of word there, but you know what I mean.”
“At least not all boys are like that,” I offered. “I had a friend who would have done the same if he’d thought of it. His sex drive was crazy. He’d jack off in the bathroom all the time. Me, I’d prefer to do it in the privacy of my bedroom.”
Brooke straightened. “I should get going.”
What did I say?
It was then I noticed before she cruised by me that the pink on her cheeks had deepened, and her eyes had heated.
Sweet Jesus, she was picturing me handling myself.
Why did that please me so much it sent a bolt of desire to my cock?
“Benjie, I’ve got to get going, sorry,” I heard before I followed her with a damn huge smile on my face. She caught it when I stopped beside her and glared.
“But, Miss Brooke, what about reading?”
“I’m sure your daddy would love to do it, and I promise next time I’ll stay to read.”
His hand shot up with his pinkie out. “Pinkie swear?”
Brooke grinned and hooked her pinkie around his. “Pinkie swear.” She bent to hug him, and I wondered if I could ask for one.
It was too soon probably.
“I’ll walk you to the door.”