Gambling It All

Chapter Eighteen

"Whoa. Wait. What?" Dixie said, pulling away from him his chest so she could fully read the expression on his face.

Nicky flushed in the dim light, that she could see, and looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "You have to know that by now."

Dixie shook her head, still lying prone across his chest, his arms still tight around her, cocooning her. "No. I don't know that. Not even a little bit."

Nicky sighed, staring at the ceiling until she poked him in the center of his chest, getting his attention again. "You've been treating me a like a leper for weeks. No joking around, no talking, no nothing. And even before, when we did joke around and talk both here and on the road, I always thought it was because I annoyed you into talking to me, not because..."

"Not because I might actually like talking to you?" Nicky said hotly. "I'm such an ogre that I can't converse with anyone or anything? I can't like talking to you?"

Dixie could see she'd hurt his feelings and backpedaled, not wanting to diminish his feelings. "I didn't..." Dixie sighed, and then started again. "Let me try again. I didn't know... I didn't know you felt that way."

"Yeah, well... I wasn't sure about it either until..." Nicky said, trailing off.

"Until?" Dixie prodded gently.

"Until you started dating Señor Asshole and I realized how jealous I was that you were with him."

Dixie glanced down at his hand again and gave him a soft smile. "Did you punch that hauler for me?"

"Yes," Nicky said in a whisper after a long pause. "I was pissed. I was pissed off at what he did to you. I know you told Cade the reason I stormed out of the hauler was because I didn't care about you, but the opposite is true. I was mad at him for hurting you, and I punched a hauler. I admit, there isn't much of a correlation there, but it made sense at the time."

Dixie was silent for a moment, considering this before replying. "As stupid as that was for you to do, that's kind of sexy, though," Dixie said with a sly grin and Nicky laughed.

"God, you women are weird. You, most of all," Nicky said, though his tone was affectionate, rather than hurtful.

"Yeah. I know. Doesn't that suck for you?" Dixie shot back while batting her eyelashes playfully and Nicky pretended to growl, making Dixie giggle.

"Yeah," he replied after a beat. "Can I just say, you dating De Costa also kind of sucked."

"I know, but..." Dixie sat up now, leaving the warmth of his chest so she could face him more fully, and wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling them close to her chest, already missing the solidness of his form beneath her. "I thought he liked me. He acted like he liked me. He talked to me like he liked me. He made me feel..."

"Liked?" Nicky supplied, sounding only slightly sarcastic.

"Make fun, but it's true," Dixie said thoughtfully. "He made me feel liked, and somewhat attractive, which frankly, is pretty difficult to do."

"You know you're gorgeous, I don't know why all women insist on..."

"I'm not," Dixie interrupted. "If you knew all of me..."

"What do you mean, 'all of you'? You think I don't know you? I may be the silent type, sweetheart, but I like to think I'm pretty damn observant," Nicky shot back, stung at her words. He sat up now and facing her angrily across the bed, his fingers nervously picking at the quilt they had been laying on just a few minutes ago, finally on the same wavelength for once.

What the hell was happening?

He wanted to go back to five minutes ago, when they were lying in the dark together, heartbeats in synch, finally on the same page, and his arms around her, pulling her close.