Page 21 of Spark

The look on hers, the note to her voice, it was too much. And the laugh that bubbled up inside him took him off guard. There was no holding it back. Soon he was laughing so hard he was giving his abs a workout. Brody thought Dex laughing was hilarious and joined in. Gracie didn’t seem to care and grinned up at him.

Milly appeared at the door, Connor’s hand in hers. “What’s going on?”

“Poo!” Brody said.

Milly’s gaze moved over Hattie, finding it instantly, and her hand flew to her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles. Connor started chanting “poo” with his younger brother.

Hattie grumbled, then grinned at them all and started laughing as well, and when she did, Dex’s heart did a weird somersault.

When they had all pulled themselves together, Hattie cleaned herself up, and Dex helped her put all the kids to bed. Milly was allowed her light on for twenty minutes to read, but the other three were out pretty much as soon as their little heads hit their pillows. They’d had a busy night.

Dex was in the living room when Hattie finally came back down after checking on Milly.

“She’s asleep,” she said and plonked down on the couch.

“Drink?”

She nodded.

Dex grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge—Hugh definitely owed them one after that—and handed one to Hattie. “You did good,” he said and took a seat beside her.

“I sucked,” she said and sipped her drink. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.” She turned more fully toward him. “Were you looking for Hugh?”

Dex shook his head. “You left again, Hattie.”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “I needed to get to work.”

He frowned.

“You were asleep. You looked peaceful and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You snuck off and vanished for two days.” Why was he making such a big deal out of this? It wasn’t like they’d said anything more would happen beyond that night. But he realized he wanted more than that one night. Who was he kidding? He’d known he wanted more than one night with this woman the moment he laid eyes on her.

“I didn’t vanish,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “I was here or I was home.”

Shay’s office was out the back of the house. She’d told him Hugh had built it for her once her business grew.

“You wanted me to come after you, Hattie?” he asked, because fucked if he knew. It wasn’t like he was an expert when it came to relationships. He’d been with Chloe for a couple of years, but a lot of that time he’d been deployed.

He wasn’t a big talker either, and when he was home, a lot of the time he’d felt lost and confused with her. She’d wanted things from him, but she wouldn’t just say what they were. She wanted him to figure it out. Thought he should just know. He was a black and white kind of guy. If someone wanted something from him, he needed them to say it.

“Yes, I suppose I did,” she said.

* * *

Hattie looked up at Dex and willed him to kiss her. She hadn’t realized it until he asked, but, yes, she had wanted him to come after her because she knew she shouldn’t go after him. How could she when she’d decided she needed to focus on work, on her new career, on proving her controlling parents wrong?

And after the upsetting call from her mother that morning, she was more determined than ever to make it on her own.

Fidgeting with the label on her beer, she forced herself to share, because Dex was a great guy and she didn’t want him to think she was playing games with him. “In my family, you don’t ask for what you want. You do what’s expected.” She glanced up at him, then back down. “Honestly, I’ve never gone after a guy. I’ve dated the men who asked me, men my parents chose for me, who they deemed acceptable. I’m used to playing their games, watching, waiting. The first thing I ever had the courage to go after was this, my life here, my job with Shay. So I’m sorry, if my behavior is…confusing. Doing things on my terms is all kind of new to me, but I’m working on it.”

Dex took her chin and tilted her head back, his gaze locking with hers. “Your family sounds as fucked as mine,” he said.

“Really?”

“My father was a gambler, left me and my mom when he owed too many people too much money. He fathered three other sons to three other women and fucked off and left them all as well. My mom worked long hours. I was alone a lot. That’s why I don’t talk much, I guess. After Mom died, I got to know one of my brothers. Let him get close and he fucked me over, so yeah, I get it. Family can be tough.”

That was the longest sentence Dex had ever said to her.