Game of Love (The Remingtons, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Twenty-Three, Game of Love

Chapter Twenty-Three

AT THREE O'CLOCK Dex began to wonder when Ellie was coming back. He, Regina, and Mitch often worked through the weekend afternoons and into the wee hours of the next morning, but now that Ellie was back in his life, he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. It was Saturday night, and he wanted to take Ellie on an actual date. He pulled out his cell and texted her.

Miss you. Back soon?

He turned back to the program he'd been working on. "Hey, where can I take Ellie on a date?"

"When?" Mitch's eyes never left the computer screen.

"Tonight."

"Why go out? You can have crazy wild animal sex here," Regina teased.

"Just because all you think about is sex doesn't mean Dex is the same way," Mitch said.

"Right. When's the last time you saw me go on a date? Sex is the last thing on my mind." Regina lowered her chin and stared at Mitch.

"I don't know what you do with your free time," Mitch said without looking at her.

"You two are my free time." She sighed. "That's sweet, Dex. You really like her, huh?"

Dex stood and stretched. "You might say that." He started to walk out of the room and hesitated in the doorway. "I'm getting a drink. You guys want anything?"

"Pizza?" Mitch asked.

"Veggie burger," Regina said.

"Why don't you guys call Jay's and have them deliver? I don't want anything." He left the room and pulled out his cell. He called Ellie. His call went directly to voicemail. He tried to quiet the panicked voice in his head that immediately jumped to her leaving town. He wouldn't allow his mind to go there, but hell if it wasn't a struggle.

The door opened a few minutes later and Ellie walked in. Her eyes jetted around the room in the old unsettled way that he hadn't seen over the last few nights.

"Hey." The fine line between loving and smothering was a tightrope walk, and Dex felt like a two-hundred-pound bull, wanting to ask why she looked so haunted and why she had her phone turned off. Instead, he stuck to the safer subject. "Did you find a bag?"

"Yeah, at a street vendor." She held up a backpack. "I figured it couldn't be stolen if it was on both arms." She set it on the table by the door.

He folded her in his arms and held her, reading her body language. He'd become a master of reading her silent signals. When she was scared, her body trembled. Uncertainty caused her muscles to tense. The need to escape made her leg bounce, and wandering eyes translated to her being stuck in the midst of it all. She put her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his chest. He'd expected her to be tense, to take the time she usually needed to accept his comfort. Why did this quiet, warm need scare him even more? He eased his hold on her, but she held on tight. Something had happened. His muscles tensed.

"Hey. You okay?" He stroked her back.

She nodded but tightened her grip around him.

Dex's mind spun in ten different directions, none of them good. Either something had happened when she was out, or she was battling some internal demon that had reared its ugly head. One would piss him off; the other would break his heart. He kept his silence and let her draw whatever comfort she needed from him. When she finally peeled herself away from him, he felt a rush of cold where she had been.

She looked at him and smiled, but it never came anywhere near her beautiful, haunted eyes. "God, I needed that."

"Glad I could help." Tell me what's wrong.