Page 46 of Her Devoted HERO

Time to pivot.

“A lot of the guys the teams I work with take on outside projects. Hunter Diaz, who you’re going to meet at my place tomorrow, works with former gang members.” He looked at her again as he took a turn towards Pacific Coast Highway.

“If you don’t want to answer my question, just say so,” she said quietly.

He’d forgotten how smart she was. Nothing got by her.

“Taking on Darryl was, and still is, a commitment that means a great deal to me. I’ll tell you some other time why I decided to do it, okay?”

“Now was that so hard?” she asked with a genuine smile.

He blew out a breath. “No.” And it really wasn’t. She was easy to talk to. He asked her questions about Rosalie, and she answered them. Soon they were at the restaurant. He used the valet, so she wouldn’t have to walk far in her heels.

It was chilly as they walked in, but as soon as they got to the hostess stand, Dex offered to take Kenna’s coat. She gave him a demure smile, and he slipped it off. Seeing her long expanse of bare back that ended just above the swell of her ass had his mouth going dry. He walked behind her as they were led to their seats, but as he noticed all the heads turning, he moved closer, so that he was blocking the view. The show that Kenna was putting on was for him.

He’d asked for a table overlooking the ocean, and that’s what they got. She sucked in her breath when they were seated.

“This place is gorgeous.”

“I hear the food is good too,” Dex said.

“You’ve never been here?”

“Nope, but Aiden has brought Evie.”

She cocked her head, and he explained further. “Aiden is a teammate of mine. Evie’s his fiancée.”

“How many members are on your team?”

“Seven.”

“Can I ask what you do?”

He liked that, she didn’t just start peppering him with questions, she understood that some of what he did was classified.

“We all are multi-functional. But I specialize in communications and technology.”

“That would make sense with your background.”

“But the others are very adept.”

“Have you worked together long?” She glanced up as the waiter handed them menus. They listened to the specials and placed their orders. Before long he found himself telling her about his team. She was fascinated to learn that his friend Griff had been on the Amtrak train that had crashed not far from San Diego.

“You guys lead interesting lives, even when you’re not on assignment,” she said as she took a small sip of wine.

“What about you? You haven’t told me much more than what I’ve read in the profile. I take it your ex is out of the picture?”

Her hazel eyes darkened. “He was my high school boyfriend. I got pregnant when I was a senior. Both of our parents said we needed to get married. He had a partial scholarship in football, so he went to San Diego State. He blew it when he got caught cheating his sophomore year.”

She pushed back her plate and took another delicate sip of wine.

“Then what happened?” he asked.

“He ended up going to a community college, and I needed to work more hours. But they wouldn’t put me on full-time because they didn’t want to pay benefits because I wasn’t an accredited nurse’s assistant, so I had to start picking up shifts at another home as well.”

“Where was he working?”

“He wasn’t.”