Page 29 of Her Devoted HERO

“I’m not used to being tackled on a linoleum floor. Austin and I used to play pig pile, but it was always on a rug. So yeah, just a short nap, and I’ll be good.”

His brown eyes warmed at her answer. “I imagine that wrestling on the floor with Austin was a long time ago, judging by the size of him.”

“It seems like just yesterday, and forever ago.”

He nodded like he understood. “Come on, let’s get you your nap.”

He led her down a short hall to a nicely furnished guest room. “The bathroom is right here,” he said opening the door directly across from the room. “Now that I earned a free morning, I’ve got a couple of things that need my attention. I’ll be communing with my computer in my study when you wake up. It’s the room right off the living room.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “If you can’t find me, just holler.”

She watched as he shut the door behind him, and she sank down on the bed.

Dexter Anthony Evans. Thirty-two. Never been married. Lived in San Diego his entire life. Buddy had said he could probably get a copy of his medical file if she wanted. But she didn’t need that to know he was in phenomenal shape. If it weren’t for the fact that she had caught him looking at her twice like he wanted to eat her up with a spoon, she would slink away in mortification at the idea of them together. He was physical perfection.

Buddy had also confirmed that what he had stated on the dating profile were true. He volunteered at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego, the boy he had been mentoring was currently a sophomore at Cal State Fullerton, and Dex wasn’t rushing into starting a new relationship.

Dex had graduated from UNLV, with a double major in computer engineering and mathematics, but instead of going the Navy ROTC officer route, he graduated and the next day joined the Navy as an enlisted man. According to everything that Buddy ascertained, he wanted to end his career the same as his grandfather, a master chief petty officer.

Every damn thing that Buddy had found out about Mr. Evans screamed honor. Kenna wasn’t worried about her physical well-being while staying at his house for a nap, but she was worried about her mental well-being.

She was interested in the damned man. What in the hell was she thinking?! She shook her head in disgust and winced.

“Lie down and quit obsessing,” she admonished herself.

She toed off her Sketchers and slid under the duvet. It felt like heaven. Damn, she was more tired than she’d realized. Double damn, he even had comfy linens.

***

He’d missed a Skype call from Darryl. Dex tried to ring him back but was stuck leaving a message. After that, he settled into the project he’d been working on for the mentoring program. It was a real bitch of a project, and he was enjoying the hell out of it. First, the old system that they had used to keep track of their applicants in San Diego was developed twenty years ago. They’d just done facelifts to it, instead of revamping it.

One of his buddies from college had gotten a job at a start-up in San Francisco and had contributed state of the art hardware, and he’d tapped another friend to cough up some sweet software to go on top of it. Now it was up to Dex to migrate everything. There had been some unplanned hiccups that had pissed him off. Who would have thought that they would not have deleted access to their system to severed employees over the last four years? The second thing was when he found out that their backups had been going to discs that were out of storage space, and instead of being over-ridden, the backups just weren’t getting done. They’d been walking a tight-rope without a net for over eight months.

He was monitoring the systems while thinking about Kenna. Seeing her in person had been a revelation. Here she had been talking about how she couldn’t replicate her ‘look’ when all along she rang his bell wearing no make-up with her hazel eyes spitting fire and attitude. Okay, if he had to put a fine point on the matter, today with her hair down he was a happier man. But still, she was a knock-out. And she had no idea. She walked into the Starbucks with him and had no earthly idea that she was garnering a ton of male attention. How in the hell was that possible? If he had to guess it had something to do with that asshat of an ex-husband.

He was midway through a line of code when he heard the door to the guest room open. He looked at the computer clock and saw that it was a little after noon. Dex hoped that Kenna was hungry because he was starved.

“Can I take you to lunch?” Kenna asked as she walked into his office.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. But I’m ecstatic to have you ask me out on a date.” He grinned.

Dex watched as she blushed and scowled at the same time. The scowl won out. “You know I was just offering to pay for lunch to return your hospitality.”

“Are you sure? Maybe subconsciously you wanted to ask me out all along.”

Her eyes got wide. “My God, you’re full of yourself, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “You’re fun to tease.”

“Well stop it,” she grumbled. “Do you want lunch or not?”

“Yep. Do you like Mexican food?” He ushered her back towards the living room. “I have to insist on buying your lunch since you’re feeding me dinner.”

“Dutch treat. That way we’re not indebted to one another.”

“How’s your head feeling?” he asked changing the subject.

“It was feeling fine until you started teasing me. Seriously, we’re not dating. We’re just having lunch.”

“Go get your shoes and purse, and we’ll argue our status over lunch. Or should we argue about it after dinner? Two meals in one day seems kind of significant.”