“Is this our secret then?”
His chest puffed against mine. “Yeah, babe, it is.”
“Okay.” I leaned back and smiled at him. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Better not.”
I snorted right as this incredibly tender emotion flooded my chest. And it caused this urge… I had to close my eyes as I leaned forward and pecked a kiss on Dex’s stubbled cheek. “Fine.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
There were times when I wondered whether I'd lost most of my common sense the moment I got within the Austin city limits. Several times, in fact.
And one of those moments was right then.
Who in their right mind would turn down a date from a gorgeous guy that also happened to be really nice? The guy was one of Blake’s repeat customers. A computer programmer gradually getting a full-sleeve done. I’d met him my first week at the shop. But I mean, really, who would do that if they were sane?
Me, I hoped.
“Just one,” Trey, who was tall—almost as tall as Dex, the tallest person in my life— had the nicest shade of close cropped light brown hair. Did I mention he was super cute? One date, just to try it out, he’d said a minute before.
My answer was a blush and a goofy grin. When was the last time someone had asked me out and been serious about it? Four years ago?
“We’ll do whatever you want,” he kept going.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to go on dates with customers,” I told him honestly. While I hadn’t seen it written anywhere, it just seemed like normal etiquette in an employee handbook.
Someone from behind me, Blake, snickered loudly. All of these guys were unbelievably nosey. They had superhuman listening skills when they were busy, but when they weren’t busy and a walk-in came in asking for a generic type of tattoo—like a girl who had come in asking for the name of her current boyfriend to be crafted onto the back of her neck for the rest of her existence—they were all deaf. It was a miracle, I swear, that their hearing came back on an hourly basis.
“I think all of us but Blue have done it, Iris,” Blake called out from his station.
Trey smiled that nearly perfect like smile. “See? Tomorrow night then?” he asked me expectantly.
I wasn’t planning on saying yes no matter how cute and tall he was. I had no business dragging someone into the same stagnant pit I had VIP passes to. I didn't have my own place, I'd barely caught up on all of my bills, and I had no clue what I was doing with my life. Realistically what did I have to offer anyone?
Plus, I'd be lying if I said that the first thing that popped into my mind when he first asked wasn't Dex's face. Not that I knew or understood what the heck that meant but I'd leave that thought alone for another day. Or year, whatever.
I’d just been about to tell Trey I wasn't interested but in much simpler terms when two large hands slipped over my shoulders. Two sets of strong fingers spanned down my chest, the tips dangerously close to my nipples, er, boobs.
“Sorry, Trey. It’s against policy unless little Miss Iris wants to quit,” Dex's cool voice announced, his grip squeezing the tops of my breasts. “And that ain’t happenin’.”
What. The. Hell?
Trey's eyes darted from Dex to me, and then back again, before he smiled pleasantly and nodded. Why the hell he nodded, I have no clue. “I got’cha, man.”
What did he have exactly?
I tipped my head up to look at The Dick standing over me. His face was tight, his hold even tighter.
"Yeah," was the last thing that came out of his mouth.
Trey looked back at me and winked. "Maybe another time."
I had to be the only one who heard Dex mutter, "Over my dead body," under his breath.
What the heck was all that about? That standard annoyance I'd come to associate with being in Dex's company kissed the nape of my neck. Now it was me who was stiffening while The Dick relaxed.
The first chance I got after Trey was out of eavesdropping distance, I looked back up at my hot boss. "What are you doing?" I hissed at him. Well, maybe that wasn't the question I'd been preparing myself to ask, but it had just come out.
Those longer fingers dipped gently into the soft flesh underneath my shirt. "Nothin'."
Nothing? Threatening to fire me if I accepted a date was nothing? I started to shake my shoulders under his hold. "Why are you being like that?" It wasn't like I was planning on accepting the offer but still. I didn't want anyone else making my decisions for me. Especially not when it was something within my control. Something that only affected me. This wasn't a matter for either of my brothers or anybody else to get involved in, dang it.
Dark cobalt blue eyes gazed down at me. His expression switching from distant to pissed by the way he started grinding his teeth.
“Don't be dense," he snapped.
My jaw dropped. “You have no right—”
He snapped his fingers together. "You wanna talk about this? My office, right now."
The look on my face was organic what-the-fuck. In a month, I hadn’t had a man approach me at all. You couldn’t really count the men who’d come in that were natural born flirts because those kinds of guys flirted with anyone that could possibly have something shaped like a vagina between their legs. And I didn’t think Trip counted either. With experience, you learn to smile and shrug off the winks and the flirts. This was exactly what I’d done. What I’d been through in front of a wordless Dex many times. And now he was going to intervene?
Maybe it was a little immature, but I ground my teeth together and attempted not to stomp my way toward his office. I didn’t need to turn around to know that he was following after me. Unfortunately, I’d developed this sixth sense of being too aware of him. I kind of thought it was because of how often we rode on his bike together. Kind of like how some women start menstruating around the same time when they were around each other often. It wouldn’t surprise me if Charles Dexter Locke had been able to throw my hormones out of whack.
If anyone could, it would be him.
Dex who I’d quickly learn to gravitate around. The Dex who woke me up every day. The same one that every morning made our coffee and poured my orange juice while I made breakfast. Dex who sat at night with me, watching Firefly while we folded our laundry on the sofa. Dex Locke who wished me goodnight before we went to bed.
When exactly I’d started looking forward to spending time with him, I had no idea. When I started eating up those little smiles at Pins and those little secrets we shared… I have no idea either. But I had. I'd grown to accept the fact that I had a massive attraction to someone who might not be capable of liking me in return.
At that moment though, I forgot all about that. The Dick had just cockblocked me.
He closed his office door and leaned against it, palms flat on the wood behind him. Dex’s eyes were strangely tight above his flex jawed. He looked mad or annoyed, or maybe a little of both as he stared at me in silence.
“You didn't have to do that.” I told him after a minute, trying to ebb away my own annoyance with him for blocking something I would have done on my own in a classier and less embarrassing way.
He looked at the ceiling, discarding my question. His fingers started tapping on the door. "Do what?" he asked sharply.
"You know what." I rolled my eyes. "You told me to stay here and work for you, and then you're going to threaten my job in front of everyone just because some guy asked me out?"