Chapter 8


    SPRING


    "I was wondering," Spring said after eating in silence for most of the meal. It was different-the silence-


    but it wasn''t an ufortable silence where she felt the need to fill it. When Dez nodded she


    continued, "Do you step up, ying the boyfriend for damsels in sticky situations often?"


    "Not habitually, no." He tilted his head as if thinking. A smile stretched out his full lips, allowing his


    sparkling teeth and sexy dimples to make an appearance. "I wouldn''t look the other way if a woman


    was being attacked, but usually I try to mind my own business."


    "But you didn''t tonight." Spring was curious to know why.


    He seemed to think about it before he answered. "I suppose there was something about you that made


    me want to be your...man."


    While Spring frowned at the answer, Dez lifted his ss to his lips and drank.


    "Do you have one?"


    "Have what?"


    "A man in your life?" Dez held her gaze, waiting for an answer.


    Spring''s frown deepened. Why would I go to a stranger''s loft, at night, and alone if I had a man? What


    did he take her for? She pressed her lips together and was about to ask exactly that but held her


    tongue. His question was probably not meant to offend.


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    Spring tilted her head and gave her best innocent pout. "Can we continue with the mystery? Keep our


    info, personal."


    Spring watched Dez closely for a reaction as she continued to eat. Would he get suspicious or freaked


    out? (Will he ask me to leave?) She was going to blow this. Great way to show your sister a bit of


    gratitude. Getting her fired.


    What Dez gave her was little to nothing. His face was a stoic nk te. He said nothing for a minute


    or so then he spoke. "Nothing personal tonight," he raised his finger in the air "but what we divulge, we


    answer honestly and I need to know one thing."


    "Alright," Spring agreed but tried to hide the fact that she was in full out panic mode, wondering what he


    needed to know.


    "Are you seeing someone and if you are, is it serious?"


    "Me having no one, that''s important to you," Spring said with relief. That could have gone a number of


    ways.


    "Yeah, it is," Dez said inly.


    (Must be those values he was raised with, and that wasn''t necessarily a bad thing.)


    "I''m not involved with anyone." Admitting that truth didn''t feel so bad or personal, so Spring went a step


    further. "I haven''t been in a rtionship for a few months."


    Dez smiled. "That''s great but...it also has me curious."


    "Nope." Spring shook her head then drank thest bit of wine in her ss. "Shut that curiosity down.


    Those are the rules." She ced her empty ss back on the table. When Dez attempted to refill it,


    she waved him off. "Light weight I''m afraid."


    "No shame in knowing your limits." He ced the wine bottle back in the center of the table and settled


    back into his seat. He nced at her nearly empty te. "How was your meal?"


    "Delicious. If I had known that the food was so good, I would have gone inside before tonight."


    "I''m d you enjoyed it. So, about these rules." Dez wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Would you care


    to share what they are with me?"


    Spring smiled. "I figure we can make them up as we go." Dez gave her the same nk look he had


    earlier. The one she was shit at reading. "What, you don''t like that?"


    "I''m not opposed to it, I just find it interesting."


    "You''re one of those types who likes to dissect everyone and everything." Did she manage to keep her


    disgust hidden or did it re just then?


    "Whoa," Dez said as he held his palms up, "That''s not me. I will admit that just about everything and


    everyone piques my curiosity in an, let''s say...educational way. But I judge nothing and no one,


    alright?"


    "Alright." She took a deep breath. "Ok, so can I use your bathroom?"


    Dez stood and moved to pull out her chair but Spring raised her hand to stop him as she backed away.


    She moved so fast that she almost knocked over the chair she was sitting in. Dez immediately backed


    away, giving her some space.


    "It''s behind that wall, the door to the right."


    Spring spun around. She hurried across the expanse of the open living space toward the ck brick


    wall. When she got close enough, she realized that the wall was just a separator from the rest of the


    loft, that you could enter his bedroom from either open side. She had to walk through his bedroom


    space to the far wall.