Something came up…
Damn it, he hated this feeling. Wanting to be with her but knowing he couldn’t. He’d gone so far as to think about what he could actually offer her. Assuming he tried to turn this into more than a training session.
Would she still want him? For more than just sex and the games they played?
He was starting to convince himself he was ready to find out. Maybe he could try for more. Actually date her. Claim her. And have her claim him.
Or he could be dreaming.
He parked his truck and walked into Chloe’s bar. East was sitting at the counter. The restaurant was his favorite place to hang out since one, his friend owned it, and two, it was an old historic mansion renovated into a bar and grill of sorts. Around the corner was a small cupcake shop in what could have been the old study when this was a house. It was unique and a staple of his small town, and he loved it.
“Hey, man, I thought the GPS calibrations were supposed to help you get found, not lost,” East said, looking Dex up and down. Yeah, he was a little dirty, but not bad.
“I’m here, so it works just fine.”
East nodded. Dex sat next to him at the bar and had a beer in hand within the minute.
“Your girl didn’t show up?” East asked.
“She’s not my girl yet, and no, she had something come up.”
“Did you just say ‘yet’?” East asked with a wide smile.
Christ, had he? He had. She’s not my girl yet.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Well look at you, going for the prom queen. It’s about time.”
Dex always did have a thing for the too popular, too pretty, too far out of reach woman, and that’s exactly what Michelle was. But for some reason, she felt within reach. Just enough to get his hopes up.
“About time?” Dex said. “I’ve only known the girl for a couple weeks.”
“Yeah, but you like her and have spent most of your time not doing much about it.”
East was supportive in his own way, but he also knew where Dex came from and how he grew up. He knew what women used him for, so it was weird he’d been on Michelle’s side from the beginning.
“She’s different,” Dex admitted. Yeah, she might be the type he should stay away from, but she was also his type. She was unique and herself and made him feel like he was more, or at least had the potential to be.
“Why don’t you tell her that yourself.” East nodded at something over Dex’s shoulder. He turned and saw Michelle getting up from a corner table across the way with two other people.
She was there. Having dinner with…he assumed that based on the clothes, age, and general wealth oozing from, they were her parents.
So that’s what had come up.
He stood and walked her way. When was only five feet away, her gaze met his from across the restaurant. She didn’t look happy to see him. She looked shocked.
“Dex?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to get a drink with East,” he said.
“Um…” She glanced between her dinner guests and him. “These are my parents, Cynthia and Wayland. Mom, Dad, this is Dex.”
“Hello.” Her mother nodded.
Dex bowed slightly. “Ma’am, it’s a pleasure.” He shook her hand, then Michelle’s father’s. “Sir, nice to meet you as well.”
Michelle gave him the slightest smile, but it was so short and fast he barely registered it as a smile. She was uptight and nervous, and it was freaking Dex out. He’d never seen her like this. Like the woman with passion and fire was nowhere to be seen, and in her place was a rigid, borderline frightened girl with sharp edges.
Her mother looked him over like she would a rodent, and he tried not to fidget and brush his jeans. Why hadn’t he gone home to change first?
“Is this the one you were telling us about?” her father asked her.
Dex’s heart soared. She was talking about him. To her parents.
“Yes, Daddy. Dex has trained me in—”
“Yes, yes, the wilderness and what not,” his father said, shaking her off.
Michelle went cold. Frozen. Silent. This wasn’t the woman he’d come to know. The woman he’d met, the woman he’d made love to, would never let someone interrupt her and wave her off like a simpering fool. She just stood. Silent.
Where was the Michelle he knew? The one with spunk and stubbornness and…flare.
“Michelle here is really great,” he said, feeling like an idiot but also feeling the need to say something. Anything to get a glimpse of the fire inside her. “She certainly knows how to survive in an array of environments.”
He smiled, but no one else did. Not even Michelle.
“Well then, I should thank you for keeping my daughter safe,” her father said. “But her time here is over. Have you paid the man for these classes or training for whatever it is?” he asked Michelle.