Page 58 of Home Field Advantage
I’m about to open my mouth to say something—anything—but Nan steps between us.
“Cheese!” she shouts. “Griffin, charcuter-daddy brought a cheese board! This is what I was saying you were missing. There’s nothin’ like a wooden slab filled with meat and cheese.”She takes the tray from his hands. “Extra points in my book for this, Dallas.”
“Oh, hell yeah,” Tucker rushes over to where Nan places the board down. “Extra points for me, too. Even though you were on the verge of being capped out with me.”
“You put a cap on your people points?” Nan asks.
“In my defense, Dallas hit max the day I recognized who he was. And then he hit infinite numbers as time progressed.” Tucker shrugs.
“The math isn’t mathin’ for me, but okay,” Nan says, popping a cubed cheese in her mouth.
“His math never adds up for me either,” Griffin says, shaking his head. “I often wonder how the books at Seven Stools are correct.”
“There’s girl math, and then there’s Tucker math. It doesn’t make sense, yet it makes all the sense,” Blair adds.
“Damn straight,” Tucker says with a mouthful of cheese.
Dallas laughs, and I can’t help but do the same. “Are you regretting coming to this dinner yet?” I ask him.
His laughter fades, yet he maintains his signature grin across his lips, focusing all his attention on me. Goose bumps ripple across my skin as he looks me up and down.
“I knew you would be here.”
I blush. “That’s not really an answer.”
He shrugs. “I knew you would be here, so I don’t think I could regret coming tonight. I’ve been waiting for another chance to see you again.” He leans in over my shoulder, just enough to keep his voice down, but not enough that anyone would catch on. “I came outside last night to see you, but you had already gone inside.”
I rear back to look him in the eyes and my lips part, knowing I was caught creeping on his private moment, bringing Sage inside. My cheeks flame even more than before.
He leans in again. “I like it when you watch me.”
I clear my throat, turning away from Dallas so he doesn’t see what he’s doing to me with every word out of his mouth.
What do I even say back to that?
The last thing I want to do is say the wrong thing and scare him away before this has a chance to be anything.
“Ready to eat?” Griffin announces.
Relief floods me that I didn’t need to come up with a reply. I jump from the stool and lose my footing. Dallas grips both of my arms to balance me. His warm palms hold me steady, and I look up at him. The room stops moving around us, or at least that’s what it feels like. Everyone who was just here is gone. It feels like it’s just the two of us now. Not my family, my friends, or Sage. I don’t move, I can’t move. With every stare, touch, and word out of his mouth, I sink deeper into my feelings. They fight to reach the surface and for more, while I fight to keep them stuffed.
“Are you good?” he asks.
I nod, looking anywhere but into those captivating brown eyes.
We all move effortlessly around the kitchen island to prepare our plates before bringing them to the oversized table Griffin has set up in his dining room. I feel Dallas’s eyes on me with everything I do.
And I like it.
Dammit. I reallylike it.
“Can I sit next to Miss Barlow, Daddy?” Sage asks while Dallas follows her with a plate of food for both of them in her hand.
“It’s up to her.”
“Of course you can,” I smile, taking my seat. She sits beside me with Dallas on the other side of her. “And hey, you can call me Poppy while we’re not in school. But only outside of school, okay?”
“Are you sure?”
