“You’re hot. I should have known she would be beautiful but just how beautiful she is took me by surprise. Like I said, I’ll work on that and try to get over it. But, in my defense, it’s my experience that not a lot of men say no to a woman like her and, even if it didn’t work out in the end, at one time you were one of them.”

“Tess—” he started but I talked over him.

“And, just to say, you were able to talk your brother back into the house and I know you have a full plate, but once some of this other stuff is sorted, you need to carve time out to have more words with him. Not about your dad or about me. He needs to sort himself out about your dad and I’ll win him over eventually. So, if you’re worried about that too, then you need to stop doing it. But about Lenore. She’s in love with him. She’s a good person. She’s sweet. And if he isn’t into her he needs to cut her loose. He also needs to get his head out of his ass because if he’s breaking hearts like that all through Denver, that isn’t cool.”

When I stopped talking, Brock remained silent and stared up at me.

When the silence stretched for a while, he asked, “Are you done?”

“Well,” I started, “yeah.”

Then he asked, “You think Olivia is better looking than you?”

My brows drew together and I repeated, “Well… yeah.”

He was silent again while staring at me.

“Brock—” I started but he cut me off.

“Jesus, you haven’t, have you?”

“I haven’t what?”

“Ever played games.”

I thought about it. Then I answered, “No.”

He shook his head while his lips tipped up and his hands slid up my sides, pulling me to him at the same time. I put my hands to his chest as I got closer and Brock wrapped his arms around me.

Then he spoke. When he did, he did it softly and I noticed the sweet hum in the room just as it hit me his eyes were amused.

“Okay, sweetness, it shits me to do it but I’m gonna have to educate you.”

Uh-oh.

I tipped my head to the side as I felt my body tense and I asked cautiously, “About what?”

“About the games a woman like Olivia plays. Specifically why she instigates a play.”

Oh, well. That didn’t sound too bad. It actually sounded interesting.

I relaxed against him and said, “Okay.”