Page 45 of Loving Decker

“You first.” There, she said it, half joking and totally serious.

His suspicious side-eye almost made her laugh. The man was really out of his element here. And she knew it, but he was gonna have to figure this out.

“I’m not sure you’re ready for some of my thoughts.”

That caught her attention. “Try me.”

He stepped closer, his eyes daring, his hand squeezing hers.

But then three huge dogs came bounding over to them, followed by Grace shouting, “Grab them. They’re so naughty!”

Faith lunged for the first one and grabbed his collar. The huge golden retriever licked her hand and then jumped up into her face. She laughed and backed away, letting go of the collar. “Oh no! Sorry!” She chased after him, but now he saw the game in it and bounded around, just out of reach.

Decker watched, laughing.

“Help! What are you doing?”

He shook his head. “I never help with this game. Gracie has the worst behaved dogs I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing you can do until she gets here with the treats.”

Faith looked back, and Grace was running toward them. As soon as she was close enough, she held up a bag. “Want a treat?”

The dogs bounded toward her, and Faith nodded. “Ah yes.”

Grace held out leashes. Deck and Faith clipped each dog onto a leash, and then she gave them each a treat. “Thanks. Whew.” She winked at Faith. “Not sure what I would have done there without your help.” She turned toward the barn. “They’re starting an epic game ofJust Danceif you want to join. Mav is talking like he’ll win.”

“What!” Faith shook her head and tugged Deck toward the house. “We can’t have that.”

Their talk could wait. And for some reason, Faith felt relieved to have the break.

Chapter Sixteen

Decker was about as frustrated as he’d ever been.

And his family was partly to blame.

As soon as he got back from dropping off a very distant and overly happy-sounding Faith, he sought out Grace. They were still playingJust Dance. He approached her. “Did you even need the dogs?”

She laughed. “Of course.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Well, and you needed me to need help with the dogs. It was getting way too intense out there, and Faith was obviously uncomfortable. You needed a comedic relief.”

This surprised him. “You think she looked uncomfortable?”

“Yeah, she was giving off that vibe. You gotta give the woman time to adjust. You’ve been friend-zoning her over and over again from the sounds of things. This is gonna be a trust issue as much as anything.”

Decker looked around at the others. Was his little niece right? Dylan was watching them. “Dyl?”

“You wondering what I think about how to approach Faith?” He laughed. “I’m obviously not the one to pretend to know anything at all about this. You should talk to Kate.”

She called over her shoulder while dancing. “Talk to me about what?”

“Apparently I need to give Faith time?” Decker asked the back of Kate’s head. Did that mean no kissing her? He was going to need to give the woman a wide physical berth from now on if that was the case.

“Time? Hasn’t she had lots and lots of time when it comes to you?” Her voice sounded friendly, teasing even, but her words struck him with a particular itch right in his chest.

“But what does she need? For me to wait? To act? I’ve been moving forward. I thought tonight was going really well, but now…”

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