Page 21 of Puck You Very Much

She had to tell Leslie, didn’t she? So they could come up with a strategy just in case it did come out at some point. It would be her duty, her…her…

Dax’s thumb moved gently over her cheek and she forgot how the sentence was supposed to end. Why were his hands still on her face? She wished suddenly he would stop it, it…it irritated her.

“No one, Lucy,” he repeated urgently as if he’d read her mind.

She swallowed and peered into his eyes. His gaze had never been so intense. Never so…soft. So full of emotions. And only then did she notice how rough his fingers felt against her skin. How gentle his touch was yet how strong his hands were.

She blinked and inhaled shakily. Had his face been just inches from hers all along? She felt his breath on her lips. He smelled of warm forest soil and cold ice.

She abruptly took a step back and pulled his hands away from her cheeks. They didn’t touch each other. Ever. She was professional. Highly professional.

“Okay,” she said firmly, taking a deep breath. “Okay, okay. Give me a moment. Let me think. You are…brothers and no one knows. Except you two and now me.” She frowned. “No. Your sister probably knows too, not to mention your parents. But no one else should know because it would end badly. Journalists would want to know why you kept it secret. Because they…” She paused and blinked up at him. “Wait, why did you keep it a secret?”

Dax rubbed his eyes with his thumb and middle finger and took a deep breath. When he looked back up at her, his expression was wary but sincere. “Remember yesterday, when you told me you had a private matter to attend to? That it’s none of my business what it’s about?” he whispered.

She nodded.

“Good.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “Because this is between me and Jack so…please, keep it to yourself.”

Please.

The word echoed in her head. Had he ever said please to her? She couldn’t recall.

“Promise me,” he said his voice urgent, soft but with a note of warning. “My past is no one’s business, Lucy. Because I have to share everything with the fans and the press, I have little in this world that’s all mine. But my past is all mine.”

His eyes were darker than usual. Not desperate, but close to it. Lucy didn’t know what to make of the expression. She had been angry with this man every day for the past eleven months. But now, as he looked at her like that, with the wordpleaseon his lips…she couldn’t help but feel compassion for him. Because she understood what he meant. It was his life. And maybe she could make sure his actions didn’t harm the team, but she didn’t have the right to decide who he had to share his secrets with.

His past belonged to him and the present belonged to the world. His future with the organization. And his family was…private. His worries, his fears—those were his alone. Who knew that better than her?

“Okay,” she said quietly and looked down. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“Promise me,” he demanded tonelessly.

She laughed dryly and glanced up at him. “What’s the point of promising?” she wanted to know. “My promise isn’t worth anything to you, anyway.”

He furrowed his brows, visibly irritated. “Who says that?”

“Oh, come on, Dax.” She snorted. “You don’t like me.”

“And?” he asked impatiently. “What does that have to do with whether I trust you to keep your word?”

“It has everything to do with it,” she replied, stunned. “You think I’m a bad person and bad people don’t keep their word.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” His face was a mask of incomprehension. “I don’t think you’re a bad person. I think you’re an annoying person. That’s different. But that doesn’t mean I…” He paused for a moment, looking down at her skeptically. “Now don’t let it go to your head, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. I trust that you can distinguish right from wrong. If that weren’t the case, I’d probably be dead in a ditch already.” The words came out of his mouth hesitantly, as if he were afraid of regretting them later, but now he couldn’t take them back. They hung in the air between them, taking on weight by the second.

“No, you do not trust me,” she replied angrily, because what was he talking about? One of the reasons she was mad at him all the time was his lack of respect for her. “You’re merely saying that to make me like you.”

He laughed. Loudly. It was a genuine, deep laugh that startled her. “Oh, come on, I’m not an idiot. I know that ship has sailed. And, Lucy, if I wanted to suck up to you, I wouldn’t have just told you that I find you annoying! It’s the truth. It’s very, very hard not to respect you. You put up with my stupid comments, you’re brave, and you speak your mind. Not many people do that when they’re face-to-face with me.”

“But…” A tugging began in her center and she couldn’t decide whether it was a bitter tug or a sweet tug. She had spent the last eleven months trying to earn his respect—and now it turned out there was no need? That she had always had it?

She felt as if the information had shut down part of her brain. The fact that Dax Temple didn’t respect her had been one of the pillars on which she had based her hatred of him. And without that pillar, she didn’t know where she stood.

“But you never take me seriously,” she stated, finishing her sentence after what seemed like an eternity.

He peered down at her, puzzled. “I’m making fun of you,” he clarified. “I’m unsettling you so you’re less of a threat to my mental state. That doesn’t mean I don’t take you seriously.” He cocked his head, frowning. “If I’m honest, I’m actually a little afraid of you.”

She had to laugh. This situation was becoming more and more absurd. “Nobody is afraid of me. I’m too small to pose a serious threat.”

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