Human Hieroglyphix - Dex & Leila (12 page)

"Like my butterfly," I whispered.

"Like your butterfly, babe," he whispered back.  "Why the butterfly?"

"I, ah, I'm not…" I know I didn't make a bit of sense but I didn't know Dex enough to trust him with my secrets though I hoped I'd get a chance to.

"It's okay, babe," Dex said reaching for my hand.  "Think we're both a little too new to each other to play this game anymore."

I nodded gratefully.

It was kind of a quiet ride back to what I assumed was my place.  But Dex wasn't headed for the exit of the parking garage.  Instead he went up to the next level. 

"Thought I'd take you to get your car," Dex said when I happened to notice that we were not on course for my house.

"Oh, yeah," I replied after totally forgetting about my car.  Probably trying to forget last night, too.

"Had a great time tonight, Dex," I murmured as my hand moved to the door handle of the Jeep.

"Hold on," Dex said placing his hand on my arm that had a death grip on my purse.  I turned back towards him.

"C'mere, Leila." I heard him say softly.

I moved my hips back into the seat and glanced at him.  Even under the fluorescent lights of the parking garage, Dex still was gorgeous.  His overgrown hair was mussed every which way and his scruff of facial hair just seemed model-like perfect on him.  He leaned deeper towards me.

"No, honey, c'mere," he said, bringing his hand to the back of my neck and pulling me towards him.

I didn't even have time to think what he meant as my lips hit his.

Oh, dear God.

He was
kissing
me.

He had
wanted
a kiss from me.

From
me
.

After a bit of lip action, I felt his tongue lick along the seam of my mouth and without thinking about it, I felt my mouth open and his tongue invade as his head tilted further to the side, gaining more access. 

My body's reaction was instantaneous as his hot, wet tongue twirled slowly against mine. 

I couldn't help either my hip thrust or my moan as the sensations of our kiss caught up with my thought processes.  Dex's hands were holding my face as our kiss continued and I made a conscious choice not to think too much but to allow just the wonderful feelings to kick along all my nerve endings.

The kiss seemed to go on forever, but every good thing must come to an end as did the contact of our lips.  One minute we were deep in the mouth action and then we were exchanging soft, sweet kisses that still contained a lot of heat, then we were leaning against each other with the sides of our noses pressed together.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" Dex asked and he sounded a little breathless.

"Yes, please," and found that my voice had a certain breathiness to it as well.

"Same time?"

I nodded and reached for the door handle even though I was fully aware that my brain wasn't quite firing properly.

I turned back to him as I moved to shut the car door and caught Dex rearranging his pants.

"Bye, Dex and thanks," I said again carefully sliding my eyes away from his movements.

"See you later, gorgeous," I heard him say before the closing of the car door cut him off.

All the way home I was in a fog replaying the sight of my Dex straightening himself. 

Having to do that because of me. 

Because of what he felt when he was kissing me.

Sure I'd seen a guy doing that before.  But never, ever, had I recognized that I had caused it, not even with my ex-husband. 

In fact, on the few occasions that I had seen my ex-husband, Dan, do it, I knew that it wasn't anything that I had caused, anything that I had done or, even worse, had anything to do with me in the slightest.

I had just pulled into my garage and was watching it close behind me when I heard the muffled beeps of my phone signaling a text had been received. 

I quickly pulled my phone from the bowels of my bag sure that it was a text from one of the girls.  My screen, though, said 'Dex'.  I was confused.  We didn't exchange cell phone numbers so I wasn't sure how he had gotten mine or why my screen clearly had his name displayed.

'Let me know you made it home safe.' it said.

I found myself holding that little rectangle, that little piece of technology that had made its way into our lives, close to my heart as I made my way into the house trying to decide what I wanted to say in reply.

Chapter Thirteen

Dex watched as Leila made her way to her car, the only car left on that floor of the garage.  He waited until she began driving before he started his Jeep and followed her down the ramps to the street.

He had a great time with her tonight. 

If the truth were known, he had a great time with her last night, too, although she was passed out.

After getting her in the house and practically pouring her onto her sofa, he had planned to leave, had every intention of leaving.  But he heard her moan into the throw pillow he had lowered her head onto and thought it best if he stayed.  After having experience at being completely shit-faced more than a few times, he dug around in her kitchen for a large pot and put in on the floor at the end where her head was laying.

After placing the pot, he sat on her coffee table to better view her. 

She looked so familiar to him but he was unsure how he knew her.  It could be from the shop or from any of his normal haunts, but he didn't think so. 

All he knew for certain is that she was gorgeous, didn't get drunk often if she was shit-faced after only three drinks, and that she called him 'my Dex'. 

How could he be hers if he didn't even know her?

If she didn't get drunk often then she was going to experience a world of hurt when she woke up.  Dex put his hand on her forehead and smoothed back her hair before he stood.  He would stay the night and make sure she was okay in the morning. 

He checked the doors to make sure they were locked before making his way upstairs.

He really liked her house. 

It was an arts and crafts structure and Leila had furnished it with things of that period with the exception of the kitchen where she had modern appliances and granite countertops.  He nosed around upstairs, discovering that it was a three bedroom, two bath but that she used one bedroom for storage, another for her office and the largest room was her bedroom with its own bathroom.

He was surprised that Leila's bedroom was decorated in the arts and crafts style as well instead of cutesier or girly as some of the bedrooms of girls that he'd been with.  And her bedroom was just as clean and tidy as the rest of the house, which was another big plus. 

Maybe it was because of the cleanliness that all tattoo artists had to maintain, but Dex kept his house, his car and his shop as clean as possible.  If he 'got lucky' and went to the girl's place and found it was dirty, dusty or unclean, he made his excuses and left before the things really got started.

His mind roamed back to when she first woke up on the couch and smiled.  She had been in a lot of pain but she was a trooper, never complaining about how bad she felt and accepted his ministrations without fuss. 

She was damn cute when she had been calling 'Bullshit'. 

And, if memory served, her blushes and smile is how he had caught on to how he knew her.

Goose-bump, Blue Pansy girl.

The girl that he hadn't been able to get off his mind.

How could someone get to be her age and still remain so innocent, so unworldly?  Even when he was inking her, she had responded to his touch like no female ever had before. 

And tonight when they were dancing, he could see the goose-bumps come and go on her skin, the skin left bare by her sequined tank top.  When their eyes would catch, his heart did a double bump, just as it had in the shop when he had helped her off the chair. 

There was definitely something that arced between them and that, along with her no artifice honesty, made him want to get to know her better. 

The fact that she didn't open up easily , just like him, really peaked his interest.  He had already had his fill of women that told their whole life story in the first fifteen minutes.  He hated that, hated blatancy whether it was in the way someone dressed, spoke or acted. 

Not that he wanted complete mystery, but some would be nice.

And, that kiss. 

Christ
, that kiss. 

Dex couldn't remember the last time his cock was fully erect with just one kiss.  And he hadn't missed her moan and squirm, which had only made him want to drag her to the backseat and do all sorts of wonderfully nasty things to her, like they were in high school. 

Jesus, just remembering the way she felt under his hands, the way she tasted and then listening to her moan from just a kiss--
one kiss
, had him fully hard again.

Dex pulled his phone from his back pocket and sent her a text asking her to let him know she got home safely.  By the time he had made it to his front door, his phone beeped.  'Safe and sound. Looking forward to tomorrow.' 

Again, sweet honesty. 

He shook his head and made his way inside his house. 

He was looking forward to tomorrow, too.

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, after I got home from yoga, I decided that I needed to invest in some music.  It wasn't that I didn't like music but that all I had ever really paid attention to was Classical.  Although, growing up Mom always had the radio tuned to our local Country Western station and she would sing along to her favorites. 

But I'd heard so much music over the last few days that I really liked and I wanted to hear more.

I also had an idea of how to make it so I knew how to put outfits together, which shoes went with what, etc.  Not to mention I needed accessories and make up. 

So I set out to do more shopping

I pulled out my envelope of money from underneath my mattress and took another $500.00 out.  My stash of cash was dwindling but I couldn't deny that I was making great strides in changing, so I wasn't too worried about how much of my stash I had already used.

I had showered and used my new products on my hair and after blow drying it with the round brush and Frank-Kay's instructions on how to do it, it came out pretty good, if I say so myself.  Knowing that I was going back downtown, where I'd already spent more time in over the last couple of days than the whole time I'd been in Grantham, I chose to wear my yoga pants with button down shirt that had princess seams, which beat out my old boxy button downs by a mile.

My butterfly was also starting to itch, just like Dex had warned me, so I rubbed on some lotion and stuck a smaller tube of it in my purse, just in case. 

My purse. 

My purse which was actually a messenger bag.  I needed to invest in something that was actually a purse and not some kind of army green tote.

When I went into the Electronics store, I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed and wandered the aisles until I recognized Hamid from one of my classes.

"Hey, Hamid, how are you?  Enjoying your Spring Break?"

I watched as Hamid tilted his head.  "Do I know you?"

I was a little taken aback.  He had spent time with both me and Carla, my T.A. last semester since he had a little bit of trouble in my Shakespeare class.

"I'm Prof McCarthy, Hamid." I said softly and watched his face light up in recognition.

"Oh my God!  You look so hot..err…
different
!" Hamid said trying and failing to avoid a full body sweep.  "You look good, though."

"Thanks.  Can you help me out?  I'm trying to come into the 21st Century and need a music player."

"Sure thing, Dr. McCarthy," Hamid said, his ear to ear smile still in place.

I had even been ready to purchase a digital camera until Hamid showed me how to use the one on my phone.

I got the same reaction when I went to the cosmetic counter at Meer's.  Although, the department store didn't have just one counter, the cosmetic area took up probably a third of the first floor space and appeared to be arranged in two large connecting circles.  Swear to God, I never even
noticed
this part of the store before although I was sure that I had walked by it on more than one occasion.

I stopped at the counter marked 'Baroness Beauty' mainly because Patrice, one of my old students, was manning the section.  Her reaction was just like Hamid's, so I was thinking that just changing to contacts and having my hair styled were two of my best investments.

"So you need some make up?" Patrice asked after she had calmed down a bit.  Her reaction may have been similar to Hamid's but was a lot more enthusiastic.

I nodded looking at the large pallet in front of me that easily held thirty different little pots of colorful makeup.