He tossed the dishtowel at my head.
“There’s something wrong with you. You know that, right?”
“I blame you. Mama said you bounced my head off a door frame when I was little. More than once, if I remember correctly.”
“Tell me about your Marine.”
“You weren’t wrong when you said I was being reckless. I met him at a club, and we went back to his place. It was supposed to be one and done.”
“But the next morning, I gave him my number.”
“That’s definitely not your M.O.”
“Right? But then he texted me.”
“I’m sure he’s not the first to try for more.”
“No, but he was the first I texted back. We were still texting a week later. So, when he asked me to go to Vegas with a few friends, I agreed.”
“How the fuck did you end up married?”
“That’s a little blurry.”
“It’s been my experience that finding the one will do that to you.”
I laughed.
“I’ll see what I can find out about your Marine. I gotta say, you sure fucked up.”
Rage burned through me like wildfire.
“The fuck you say?”
“Chill your tits, Deckie. I just meant that for someone who didn’t want the U.S. Government… how was it you put it?” he paused, then snapped his fingers and continued, “‘Giving you a prostate exam on the regular,’ you fucked up hitching your ride to a Marine.”
“Well, if you swung that way and saw him, you’d understand.”
He burst out laughing.
21
HAYDEN
We’d been together since Friday evening, except for when he met the new security guys at the hotel. And even then, he wasn’t gone all that long. So when Declan pulled the SUV to the curb outside my apartment, the guys spilled out, but I waited. I was at a loss. He wasn’t, though.
“I don’t want to go…”
His admission allowed me to make one of my own.
“I don’t want you to.”
His cheeks pinkened, and he ducked his head. I’d not seen him blush before. He was sexy enough as it was, but the shyness turned up the volume on the cute factor.
He cleared his throat.
“You’ve gotta go,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah. I do.”
