Austin Community College: Fall Credit Catalog
“There’s info in there about certificates and degrees and shit you can get from 'em,” Dex’s gruff voice explained. “Classes start next month. I’ll help you pay for ‘em if you want, you know. You could go early before we open.”
I didn't know whether to look at the catalog that sat right next to the bean salad I'd brought from Dex's house, or look at the man himself.
Dex's face won.
But I couldn't find my vocabulary anywhere, and it must have made him feel awkward because he kept going.
"I know you said you think you aren't good at anythin' but I'm sure you can figure somethin' out, babe. You're smart."
My mouth opened and closed at least twice before my throat decided to work. "You went and got this for me?"
He shrugged uneasily. Uneasily! Dex! "I got a prospect from the Club to go get it."
He could have asked Santa Claus to go get it and it wouldn't have mattered. What mattered, because in life there are so few things that really do, was that he'd listened to me. That he hadn't just heard the words "I'm not good at anything," but that he'd heard everything else I'd said afterward.
“Why you frownin’?”
“I’m not frowning.” Pouting, maybe.
“Looks like you’re frownin’.”
“I swear I’m not.” My eyes were stinging. “I’m happy right now.”
He narrowed those impossible blue eyes. “You got somethin’ in your eye?”
I sniffed. “Allergies.” Like I was going to tell him he was going to make me cry.
Out of all of the things Dex could have given me, that was the last thing I could have ever expected: a course catalog for the local community college and an offer to help me with my classes. Not that I would ask him to help me pay for them—I wouldn't. But it was the thought. The friggin' thought that was worth ten times its weight in gold.
How could I not like this man? This asshole, bossy man that listened to me?
“Dex.” His name came out of my mouth in the form of a sigh.
“What the hell, Ritz? Are you cryin’? I thought you’d be happy,” he said, quickly dropping to kneel right next to my chair. He pulled it out and toward him by the legs, making a horrible grating sound on the tile.
Without thinking twice, because I was so wrapped in his gesture, I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my nose to his throat. “Why aren’t you this nice all the time?” I asked, but it was so muffled I’m not sure he understood the question.
Two arms wrapped around me, pulling me flat against him. It's a testament to how unfocused I felt that I couldn't find it in me to appreciate the contact he was giving me. To let me even think about what a gesture like this coming from a man like Dex meant.
“Sounds borin’ to me.” That large palm cupped the back of my neck. “And nobody else gives me hugs like this but you.”
The urge to fall to the ground, rip my heart out of my chest and hold it out like a sacred offering was overwhelming. Take it! Take it all! I’d cry.
Instead, I just sat there with my arms around him, breathing in that smoky Dex scent. I squeezed him tighter to me, knowing that I should move.
But I couldn’t. Not right then when I had my face buried in the nicest smelling place ever. Not when I was confused by the man who defended me, slept with me, and brought me class catalogs. The same man who was the most good-looking male in both hemispheres.
“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.