I held up the back cover of the novel I’d just been reading since there wasn’t a picture on it. “I like free stuff.”
Dex grinned wide again.
Holy crap. Those were rare.
“Babe, I can’t even remember the last time I read a book that wasn’t for school, much less the last time I went into a library without my ma forcin' me,” he admitted.
For some reason, the image of a Baby Dex with super blue eyes and crazy black hair pitching a fit as he was carried into the library by his mom, flashed through my head and it made me snort. That was probably the last time someone had forced him to do anything.
“Maybe you should go to the library then,” I told him. “They have all kinds ofstuffyou can check out.” Something nudged at me right then. It was the indulgent smile he gave me when I first told him about where I'd gotten the novel. Smart ass. I smiled slowly, feelingthat familiar verbal geyser of crap ready to sprout out of my mouth and unable to control it. “Likepicture books if the ones with words don’t work for you.”
Silence.
And then Dex tilted his head back and laughed so loud it made me smile even though I didn’t think he would appreciate it.To be honest, I was surprised that the tease came out of my mouth.Unintentional and all, but still, it was like tap dancing on ice with him. How thin was the ice? I’d never know.“All right, I probably deserved that, Ritz.”
Score one for Team Iris. If I couldhigh-fived myself without looking crazy, I would have.
But luckily for both Dex and I, he started speaking again. “Come up front. We’re pullin' straws.”
“For what?” I asked him carefully. The last thing I needed or wanted was to pull straws to see who had to clean a backed up toilet.
He waved me forward, waiting until I was off my chair and at his side before explaining. “I didn't tell you about the conventions we go to?”
Pssh. I couldhave pointed out that he didn't really tell me anything period but I kept the comment to myself. “Nope,” I replied.
Dex shrugged like the absence of information wasn’t a big deal. “We hit up tattoo expos a couple times a year, and the next one is two weeksawayin Houston.” He shot me a look as we walked down the hall toward the empty reception area. “We’re pullin’ straws to see who’s goin’ this time.”
That didn’t exactly sound like a bad thing. “But I just work the front desk,” I told him like he didn’t already know that.
Slim, who had wheeled his chair to sit in the middle of the shop like usual, was being nosey—also as usual—and listening in on our conversation. “Consider it a learning experience,” he claimed. “We always need help doing other stuff anyway.”
I thought about it for a second, and then shrugged. It’s not like I had anything else to do and if it was technically a part of my job, a job that I might not have for too much longer, then it'd be fine. “All right then.”
Dex took a handful of straws out of his pocket, covering them with his hand as he arranged, and then presented them to me. “Ladies first.”
I couldn’t help but glance up at his dark blue eyes for a split second before I pulled a straw right in the middle of the four. Dex went ahead and held out the collection to Blue next before letting Blake and Slim grab the last pieces.
“Wait a sec, you okay sharin’ a room?”
“Sharing a room with you guys?” I repeated the question right back to him, to make sure I understood correctly.
“Yeah, sharin’ a room. You okay with that?” he asked.
I looked over at thethreemen I worked with slowly. “No one’s going totattoo a peen on my forehead when I’m sleeping, right?”
They all looked at me straight for a minute before starting to laugh, even Blue, who only laughed at me when I said something exceptionally stupid.
“I’ll take that as a no,” I shot Slim a nasty look. “In that case, no, I don’t care.” Though I’d prefer it not be Dex, I wasn’t going to say that out loud. “As long as you don’t do gross stuff in the shower, I’m fine.”
Slim snorted. “Blake, that’s all you man.”
“I told you I didn’t doit,” he retorted, his face reddening as the words flew out of his mouth.
“Right. You didn’t do it when you were the only one who took a shower that morning—“
Dex cleared his throat, biting back a smile. “Okay, okay, let’s see who the hell is goin’ before we argue over who jacked off in Seattle.”
That was my cue to laugh. By myself. Awkward!
