It was Dex’s turn to blink slowly. “There’s a difference between sayin’ it out loud and sayin’ it in your head?”
Damn it. He had a point.
But before we could go any further, someone in the front yelled Dex’s name loud enough that it was heard through the music playing. With a low grunt, he shifted so that his hip contact turned into the long length of his thigh pressing into my knee and shin. “I’ll try not to take my shit out on you again but if I do, say somethin’. I’m not gonna bite your head off for bein’ honest with me, all right?”
I gave him a dubious look because seriously? Did he really expect me to think he’d take me calling him an ugly name well? Oh please. But okay, whatever made him sleep better at night.
I was tired of being so angry. I could try to be a bigger person and wash my hands of this. It would be impossible to say that Dex wasn’t trying to fix this muck in his own brutal way. He deserved points for effort.
Okay, not really but still.Move past it.Forget it.
“Look, I’m gonna hope you forget what I said or forgive me sooner than later because I’m not a fan of this shit right now. I’m sorry and that’s the damn truth. But I want you to open that little mouth and say whatever’s botherin’ you from now on, all right?”
I didn’t say anything in response because I didn’t think he needed an answer.
He kept looking at me with those high intensity eyes until I realized he did want a confirmation. “Okay.”
Dex ducked his head in to catch my eyes more fully.
This guy. God. I raised my voice and repeated myself. “Fine, I’ll say something from now on.”
With a single pat to my knee, he was gone a moment later.
And I sat there wondering what the hell had just happened.
Chapter Nine
The days seemed to pass by in a blur of work, Sonny, his home, getting paid, and my new favorite place—the Austin Public Library branch right by the shop. Iregistered formy card before work one day, since I figured that with my starving bank account I wouldn’t be able to afford buying any books in the near future. And to be honest, once I got my card and settled into my routine, it was good—comfortable. I'd even applied for a couple of full-time jobs and that made me excited.
Hell, everything was pretty nice. Including the tension at work.
Dex had been in and out of the shop and when he was in, he was just kind of aloof unless he had to make deposits at the bank during the day.
Even though I’d pretty much—but not completely—gotten over our initial meeting disaster, I still didn’t feel completely comfortable around him. The tension between us had gone from strained to…weird after the incident with the drunk guy. The same drunk guy who came in sober and holding a daisy the day afterward, apologizing for calling me a bitch. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the The Dick had been behind the visit. With the exception of Dex’s bad moment, I usually didn’t hold grudges because they weren’t worth the effort and I let Rick off the hook.
Work was easy but it seemed even easier when Dex wasn’t within thirty feet. Imanagedto read my books in peace during my lunch break andgotto know my coworkers when there was downtime. I couldn't really ask for much more.
So it was completely unexpected on Friday afternoon to be sitting in the back during my break, reading the book I’d picked up the day before, and hear, “What are you readin’?” coming from the doorway.
I looked up to see Dex standing there, hands shoved into his pockets, black hair going in a million different directions without his ball cap on. My eyes went from the text below me and back to him a couple of times before I answered vaguely. “A book from the library.” It was a historical romance novel, so I’d rather tell him that in detail in oh, a million years.
Right then, in that moment, Dex The Dick grinned. Grinned. Andsweet mother of God, it was devastating. So completely catastrophic I just stood there and absorbed the nuclear bomb going off in front of me, defenseless.
His eyes glittered at the same time his eyebrows shot up. “The library?”
I liked the way he drew out the pronunciation, so I nodded.
“The public library?” he asked slowly.
“Yes,” I drew out the consonant.
His lips quirked on the corners. “They still have those?”
“They still have those,” I confirmed, glancing back down at my book, shutting it carefully after memorizing the page number.I swallowed hard and reminded myself to let my old resentment finish trickling away. Dex was obviously trying, so I could too.
“And you go to libraries?” he asked just as slow as he had a moment before.
Was he antagonizing me? I didn't think so. The up-tilt of his lips made it seem like he was moreentertainedand curious than just simply being a cruel jerk.
