Dances with Monsters(103)

They were interrupted when Rex came barging into the small office, the door flying open. Drew tore her lips from him and jumped a foot in his arms. Heath remained where he was, only lifting his eyes to glare at Rex.

"Oh, sorry, man!" Rex exclaimed with a grin, sounding anything but.

"The next time you come in here without knocking first, you get demoted to human punching bag," Heath said. "What the hell do you want?"

Rex still had the little shit-eating grin on his face when he handed Heath a flat cardboard envelope. "Here," he said. "This was just couriered over for you." He handed off the envelope and stepped back, fixing Drew with a wider grin. "Nice Asian flush there, Carnevale," he commented.

"Rex, get the hell out of here," Heath said. Rex snickered and backed out of the office, making a show of shutting the door gently. Heath shook his head after him and glanced over at Drew. She looked at him from under her lashes and dimpled.

"Forgot where we were for a minute," she teased.

He smirked. "Me, too." He looked down at the large envelope in his hand and tore off the perforated strip, tossing it onto his desk. He reached inside and withdrew a few sheets of paper, looking them over.

Drew folded her arms and shifted her weight as she watched him quietly flip through the sheets of paper. He could practically feel impatience radiating off her and glanced up at her.

"You doin' all right over there?" he asked.

"What's that?" she asked.

He smiled at her nosiness. "None of your business," he teased. She narrowed her eyes playfully then shrugged.

"You're probably right," she replied. "I am horribly nosy."

"No, it's fine," he reassured her. He held up the sheets. "This is my notarized tournament contract, my fight itinerary and my schedule of events."

"Oh, so you're all set then," she commented.

"Sort of," he said. He folded his arms and glanced at her. "Just wondering if I'll have some company or not." His tone was teasing but his eyes slid over her in a way that made her tingly.

"About that," she said and he lifted his eyebrows at her. "Um. Well, I do want to go with you. I just had to think things through a little. For me, sometimes I can't just make a decision like a 'normal' person would. I have to think about everything—I mean, everything."

"I get it," he replied mildly. "And for the record, I don't look at you as abnormal."

She smiled. "Thanks," she said. "Anyway, here's the thing. My father will chain me to a chair in their apartment to keep me in Pittsburgh if he doesn't speak with you first." She rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. I'm twenty-seven. But you don't understand. I'm the baby of the family. My dad is Sicilian. He is extremely overprotective. I don't think that will ever change, even if I get married or something. He –"

Heath lifted a hand. "Drew, it's cool," he replied. "I was always intending to speak to your father anyway."

She was surprised. "You were?"

Heath lifted an eyebrow and nodded. "Yeah, of course. You think I'd take someone's daughter out of town without clearing it with them first? If I had a daughter, I would insist on the same thing. In fact, I probably wouldn't let her go anyway." He shrugged.

Drew was floored. "Wow. Well, okay." She beamed at him. "I guess that's settled then."

He looked at steadily. "Drew," he said in a tone that was almost stern. "Why do I get the feelin' that you're not bein' completely honest with me?"

"About what?" she asked, but she found herself unable to meet his eyes.

"About coming with me to Buffalo," he replied. "I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm really good at readin' people. And I can tell you're still not sure. Why don't you just talk to me about it and tell me what's on your mind?"

Drew thought about protesting, about telling him that no, she was fine, the trip sounded great, but she knew he would know she was not being honest and didn't want to seem like a liar. So, she let out a heavy sigh.

"Okay," she began. "Don't get me wrong. I do want to come and support you. I really do. It's just that I haven't been back to New York since I left, and I haven't traveled anywhere without my family. So I guess I'm just sort of scared of the idea that I'll be doing something all alone...without them. Which I know sounds really infantile."

"No," Heath replied quietly. "It doesn't. I mean, it might if you hadn't gone through what you've gone through. But I can completely see why you would be intimidated by that." He rose from the desk and stepped toward her. She was struck anew by how imposing he seemed; he was tall and heavy with muscle, brutality radiating from his every pore, and as he took her hand, she felt the familiar feeling of surprise that she always felt at his gentleness. She'd seen him in the ring countless times, had seen him in his violent element on TV and knew how scary he could be; yet he always went out of his way to be so gentle with her. That realization made another feeling of intrinsic trust for him surge through her.