“It was good. Real good.” Mel sighed. “And the resort was nice, too.”
Rylee’s laughter mixed with the others and it warmed her heart to know Abby’s brother had found someone completely in love with him. Carter was a sweet guy with a big heart that had been broken a few times. He deserved to be happy. And from what she’d observed and learned about Mel the past five weeks, the tattoo artist had suffered some horrible losses and deserved to be happy too.
“Since I’m trying to eat, I vote we don’t talk about Mel’s getaway with my brother,” Abby said, pointing to her burger platter.
“Okay.” Mel snickered and swiped a fry off Abby’s plate. “How about we talk about Rylee and Dex?”
Having just taken a bite of her pickle spear, Rylee choked down the kosher dill chunk and reached for her drink. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Oh, really?” Mel smiled at her from across the table. “Then why was Lex saying, “Oh, Dex, yes…kissy, kissy,” before making a kissing sound?”
Rylee felt her jaw drop and heat flood her face. “It’s not how it sounds. That didn’t happen, exactly.”
“Then what, exactly, did happen?” Mel stared expectantly at her from across the table.
She shrugged. “Lex just took some of our conversation and mixed it up. That’s all.”
“So you’re saying you and Dex didn’t kiss?” Stefanie asked, then nodded at the server who appeared with drinks for her and Mel.
Rylee waited for the man to leave before answering, “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Three narrow gazes stared at her.
“Come on, Abby.” She frowned at her friend. “Back me up here. You know Dex and I haven’t been on great speaking terms in years.”
In fact, she’d spoken to the guy more in the past twenty-four hours than she had in the past three years combined.
Her friend nodded, double dipping a fry into the puddle of ketchup on her plate. “It’s true. They haven’t. Not since Dex broke up Rylee’s engagement.”
Twin gasps echoed around her.
“Whoa.” Stefanie set a hand on Rylee’s arm. “Wait a minute. You were engaged?”
“And Dex broke it up?” Mel asked.
Dammit. She hadn’t wanted to get into all that just yet. Or ever. She sighed. “Yes and yes.”
“What happened? Why did he do it?”
She snorted. “Wish I knew. All I got from Evan was the ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ speech. And when I saw Dex and noticed his swollen knuckles that kind of matched Evan’s swollen face, all he said was, ‘You’re too good for him’ then walked away.”
“That’s it?” Mel blinked at her. “That’s all they said?”
All the aggravation and confusion from that time washed over her again and made her skin itch. She sat back in the booth and blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah. Crazy, right? I mean, there was so much they weren’t saying, and I had the right to know.”
Although, Rylee was fairly certain she knew what happened.
Abby sighed too. “I even asked Carter, but he’d never betray his friend’s confidence. All he told me was it was for the better.”
Stef snorted. “It’s a wonder how women ever survive without a man making decisions for us.”
“I know, right?” She rolled her eyes.
“So, what do you think happened?” Mel cocked her head. “Because Dex doesn’t rile easily.”
Stef nodded. “Yeah. He’s very grounded, so for him to have hit your ex-fiancé, there had to be a major reason.”
Rylee agreed wholeheartedly with them. “It’s my guess he caught Evan cheating on me.” She wasn’t stupid. It hadn’t taken her mind long to figure it out. “I just wish Dex had come to me with that knowledge and let me handle Evan’s cheating on my own.”
It hadn’t been his relationship to interfere in. It had been hers. She should’ve been the one to break it off with Evan, instead of the Dex going all Gabe on her and using her brother’s overprotective tactics to resolve the situation without her consent.
“Men.” Mel shook her head. “They think shielding us from the truth is better for us, when it often makes things worse.”
Sounded like the woman was speaking from personal experience. And she was dead on.
Rylee lifted her glass. “A-freakin’-men.” Then finished the last of her cola.
“Yes. Literally.” Abby grinned. “Men are freakin’ a-s at times.”
She laughed with the others and went back to eating as their server brought out Mel and Stef’s orders and another round of drinks. For the next few minutes, they ate in silence and Rylee used the time to push aside her unhappy thoughts and feelings from the past. It was time to live in the present.
“So, why do you think Dex broke Evan’s nose?” Abby asked, pushing her empty plate aside. “I have to admit, that shocked me. He’s really not easily provoked.”
Stef lifted a shoulder. “It’s actually quite telling.”
“I agree,” Mel said.
“Then will someone tell me, because I’m clueless.” Abby frowned at their friends.
Mel smiled. “I agree with that statement, too.”
“Hey.” Abby shoulder bumped the grinning redhead.
“It’s actually very simple,” Stef said, turning to face Rylee. “Dex lost his cool because he cares about you and he wasn’t going to sit back and let your jackass ex-fiancé get away unpunished.”
Rylee sat there blinking at her friend as if she’d spoken in a different language because that didn’t make sense. “Not the Dex I know. He was just stepping into Gabe’s shoes while my brother was deployed.”
A smile spread across Stef’s lips before she returned her attention to her food. “You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Mischief glinted in the redhead’s gray eyes. “He just walked in with your brother, Mac, and Carter.”
Chapter Four
Rylee’s pulse hiccupped for some stupid reason she wasn’t about to dissect. “Nah. I’d rather leave the past in the past and move on.” Fate must’ve been on her side because the band finished their break and began another set, starting off with one of her and Abby’s favorite songs.
“Come on, Ry,” Abby said. “Let’s dance.”
Happy for the chance to put that conversation to rest, she joined her friend on the dance floor and it wasn’t long before several good-looking cowboys kicked up their boots beside them. It’d been a long time, too long, since Rylee shared dance space with a guy. It’d been a long time since she’d shared anything with a guy. Family and coworkers didn’t count.
The last time she’d gone out on a date was six months ago. She knew this because it was a double date with Abby, who’d been getting ready to move to Texas. And just like then, they weren’t looking for anything serious from these cowboys. Heck, they didn’t even need the cowboys. They just wanted to dance. Fast dance, not slow.
So when the tempo changed and one of the cowboys asked her to dance, it was on the tip of her tongue to politely refuse but she changed her mind when she caught the disapproving look of her brother, and an unreadable one from Dex.
Both men, and their buddies, were watching her and Abby, as well as the cowboys. Same old thing. Including her rebellion. Neither was very smart. Now this cowboy was no doubt reading more into her acceptance than she meant.
He was cute and polite, but she wasn’t interested. So when the band slipped into another slow song, she stepped out of his arms, thanked him, then walked back to her table, not at all surprised to find her friends smirking at her.
“Done so soon?” Stef asked, sliding in to give her room to sit.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“That’s a shame. He was cute,” Mel said.
She shrugged. “Yeah, but not my type.”
He was too tall. Her neck was kind of sore from trying to look him in the eyes. Her gaze drifted across the pub to a tall, but not too tall,
former Delta soldier, whose dark gaze was still unreadable—and on her. His hair was slightly longer than he usually wore it, but still just barely touching his collar, and she found it odd that she’d never noticed it was so black there was a blue hue when the light caught it a certain way.
Her neck hadn’t hurt when she’d stood toe to toe with him in front of Mel’s cottage yesterday.
“Apparently, she’s like us, Mel,” Stef said. “Her type is former Delta Force.”
What?
She snapped her gaze to Stef. “No. Definitely not.”
“Maybe it should be.” The woman grinned. “Trust me, they’re very thorough. And strong.”
“And have incredible stamina,” Mel said, her voice a little dreamy.
Rylee’s mind jumped back to yesterday morning, with Dex working under her sink, his shirt riding up giving her a glimpse of some sexy ridges. If they were anything to go by, then he was loaded with lean muscles.
But, she wasn’t interested in him because he’d already proven she couldn’t trust him to let her handle her own problems. He used to, but then something happened, and he’d turned into her brother. “Dex and I are barely friends.”
“Right.” Stef smiled.
“Yeah.” Mel nodded. “You keep telling yourself that. It doesn’t work. Trust us. We tried.”
Well, it would work for Rylee. It had to. Because she had no intention of it going anywhere else. “Besides, he’s not interested either.”
Stef’s brows rose. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah,” Mel said. “He hasn’t taken his gaze off you since you were out on that dance floor.”
She waved a dismissive hand at them. “That was just him supporting Gabe in his overprotective mode.”
“Gabe isn’t watching you now,” Stef said. “But Dex still is.”
Even though she ordered her gaze not to stray his way, it did, dammit. He was still watching her, his gaze still dark and unreadable. And her pulse did that hiccup thing again.
It was weird. Her body had never had these reactions to him before she’d moved to Texas.
She started to wonder what was in the water. And if there was a cure, because she did not want her friends to be right. She did not want Dex to be her type.
No. Not going to happen.
She transferred her gaze to Abby, still dancing it up with one of the cowboys. Rylee refused to get involved with anyone right now. She was so close to getting her dream job. That was where she needed to concentrate. On her career.
If only she could get her mind to stop showing her images of Dex’s sexy abs and that damn vee of his.
***
Wednesday morning, Dex rolled into work on his Harley and parked alongside Mac in the ESI garage, next to the SUV that was…still on the service ramps?
Damn.
He’d forgotten to remove them before he left yesterday. He’d ended up double-checking his work from the day before and still forgot to remove the ramps. That wasn’t like him. Shaking his head, he got off his bike and almost stepped in a tray of old oil.
Son-of-a-bitch.
He’d meant to clean this up yesterday, too.
“Something wrong with this vehicle?” Mac asked, getting off his bike.
Decision time. He could either lie to save his ass or tell the truth—minus the Rylee’s legs thing—and suffer through the eventual ribbing that was sure to follow. His boss wasn’t dumb. Mac would come to the Rylee conclusion on his own.
Not if he could help it.
“No. I lost track of time and had to get Lex home for his feeding,” he said, keeping it semi-truthful. That had been Monday night. Not last night. “I’ll finish cleaning it up now.”
Mac nodded. “How was it, waking up in your own bed this morning?”
“Quiet.” He smiled. “It was weird to hear just my alarm and not Lex’s “Wakey, wakey serenade afterward.”
“I bet.” Mac chuckled. “Carter’s privy to that now.”
And lucky. Dex glanced at the empty cage, already missing the crazy bird. With Mel back, once again, Lex would spend most of his days at the tattoo parlor. But he knew she didn’t plan to let the cage go to waste.
“Speaking of Carter,” Mac said. “Once he gets here, head to the conference room. I need to hold our morning meeting earlier today so I can get on the road to fetch Cooper from the airport.”
Dex gave his boss a two-finger salute. “Will do.”
It was going to be a little strange to have another ESI body around. But in a good way. It’d been just the three of them for so long, he was looking forward to an even number of bodies for their cases. Plus, Cooper wasn’t a slouch with a wrench. Dex would be happy to share the workload.
The former SEAL would never leave a vehicle on service ramps or a tray of old oil in the middle of the garage once he finished a tune-up. Swallowing a curse, Dex took care of his leftover mess and vowed never to screw up like that again.
“Is mumbling to yourself going to be the new norm?” Carter asked, walking into the garage with the grin of a satisfied man on his face. An expression the guy had worn ever since Mel took a chance on his buddy’s sorry ass. It’d been an interesting few weeks.
“Coming to work late going to be yours?” he countered.
Carter snorted. “Late, my ass. I’m two minutes early.”
Dex pointed to the clock on the wall above Mac’s workbench and lifted a brow. “Think you need to build yourself a new watch.”
His buddy was the resident gadget man. If they needed something modified or built from scratch, Carter got it done.
“Damn, you’re right.” Carter tapped on the face of his watch and frowned. “It stopped.”
He slapped a hand on his buddy’s back. “You can fix that one or build a new one later. Mac is waiting to start our morning meeting.”
“Now?” Carter asked as they headed for the hallway. “I’m not that late, am I?”
Dex smirked. “No. He wants to have it earlier because he has to pick up Cooper.”
“That’s right. He’s flying into Houston at noon today.”
He nodded as they stopped in the breakroom to pour themselves a cup of freshly brewed coffee, hoping it was Rylee who made it today. Usually the first person in the building made it, and when that person was Mac, they had to suffer through a cup so strong it made their teeth jittery.
“I smell bacon.” Carter’s eyes lit up, and with coffee in hand, he left the room with his nose in the air, as if following the scent. “It’s coming from down the hall.”
Dex followed his friend into the conference room, where Mac and Rylee were already seated, but it wasn’t the smell of bacon that made his heart beat a little faster. The light, flowery scent of perfume or maybe it was Rylee’s shampoo—whatever it was from—lingered in the air, and he caught himself inhaling a little deeper. Since that was pretty pathetic and unlike him, he deliberately sat on the other side of the table, leaving the empty chair next to her for Carter.
Tempting fate was not common practice for him. He prided himself on making smart choices. Practical ones. It had served to keep his ass alive during his years in the military. He wasn’t about to change that now. No matter how gorgeous fate looked, wearing a light green dress that matched her mesmerizing eyes.
“Sweet! Breakfast sandwiches,” Carter said, grabbing one from a stack on the table between them. “What’s the occasion?”
Rylee chuckled. “I was hungry, and since our meeting was moved up, I couldn’t, in good conscience, eat mine in front of all of you so I had Annie make enough for everyone.”
“Bless you and your good conscience,” Carter murmured between bites.
Dex nodded at her as he reached for a sandwich. “I think he means thank you.”
“Yes, that,” Carter said, reaching for a second helping.
Mac chuckled. “Okay, now that we have breakfast covered, let’s go over our upcoming assignments.”
By the time Mac finished briefing them on th
eir security job tomorrow and the two for next week, Dex had downed two sandwiches to Carter’s three, and managed to keep his attention on his boss, although he was acutely aware of every move Rylee made.
Crossing her left leg over her right. Smoothing out her dress. Sipping her coffee. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Is Cooper’s packet ready, Rylee?” Mac asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “He’s all set. So is his apartment. I’m going to head to the store after our meeting to get him a few things, so his cupboards aren’t bare.”
Mac cocked his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Have you met Cooper?” She smirked. “He gets pretty grumpy if he hasn’t had his daily dose of Doritos.”
Dex laughed with the others then sobered up when he wondered how she knew about the guy’s daily junk food routine.
“Hello? Mac?” a familiar feminine voice called out from in the hall.
His boss immediately jumped to his feet and headed for the door. “Aunt Leeann? I’m in here. Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you,” she said, stopping in the doorway, her eyes going wide. “Oh, hello, everyone. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
Mac shook his head. “We’re almost finished.”
Dex wasn’t sure if they should get up and leave the room or stay put. He glanced at Rylee and Carter and could tell they weren’t sure, either, so he started to rise.
“No. Don’t get up,” the smiling woman insisted. “I just dropped by to see if you could send someone to the community center to figure out who stole my friend’s identity.”
Mac frowned. “What made your friend think someone there stole it?”
“It’s the only place she’s ventured to since returning home from the Bob Wade Center for rehab on her hip,” his aunt said. “And she doesn’t shop online.”
Anger prickled Dex’s spine. It ticked him off that there were assholes out there who stole people’s credit card information to charge things, instead of going out and getting a damn job. But to target someone dealing with an injury was lower than low.
Dex (HC Heroes Book 3) Page 5
