Page 29 of Defending her Heart

Darius stops his machine and hops off. “Another convincingsure.” He slaps my back between my shoulderblades. “Open communication is the key to any successful relationship. If she’s worth fighting for, talk to her. And grovel like hell for the stupidshit that came out of your mouth. Whatever it was and however bad you think it sounded? Trust me, it was worse. Women can spin the shit out of our words, but if you know you were an asshole, then you really owe some serious ass kissing.”

“I don’t even know how to do that.”

“Talk to her. Ask about her hobbies. Her passion. Not all ladies swoon over the wine and dine thing.”

“How did you win Mindy’s heart? Besides your magic sperm?”

“Donuts. Those early morning ones fresh from the oven. Can’t tell you how many hours of my life I spent in line to get those early morning donuts for my girl. But it was worth it.”

Something tells me it’s going to take a whole lot more than warm donuts to get Kendall to forgive me.

I wait for Buck at his truck after practice. His swagger can be spotted a mile away, even when the ladies aren’t around. He spots me and shoots me a smile.

“Hump. What’s going on?” He holds out his fist for a fist bump like a teenager. My lack of judgment has me tapping my knuckles against his.

“Do you have a second?”

Buck makes an exaggerated effort twisting around, looking over the vehicles in the parking lot, then looking back at me and pointing at his chest. “Me? Nash Humphries wants a second of Miles the fucking Buckingham stallion’s time?”

“You did not just call yourself that.”

“Don’t be jelly, Hump. You got a cool nickname too. All the ladies want tohumpyou too.”

“For fuck’s sake. Are we in middle school?”

“I wish. The girls were so much easier back then.”

“Christ.” I lift my baseball cap up and push back my hair before returning it again. “Tell me you didn’t fuck your way through middle school.” I hold up my hand to stop whateverasinine words are about to come out of his mouth. “Nevermind. I don’t want to know.”

“Ah, Humpy. Don’t tell me you’re shy.”

“Don’t call me that.” I shake my head in disgust.

“That’s right. You prefer Nash Potato.”

That’s as good a transition as I’m going to get. “I don’t like it when Kendall calls me that, and I like it even less coming out of your mouth.”

“From what I hear, you like all the thingscomingout of Kendall’s mouth.”

I close my eyes and moan. “Fuck, Miles. Do you ever stop with the sexual innuendos?”

“Fine. All seriousness, Mr. Nash Humphries. How can I be of service tonight?”

I dare open my eyes and wish I hadn’t. Buck is the worst actor ever and can’t keep a straight face for more than two seconds.

“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that, right?”

He smiles like it’s a compliment. “Someone’s gotta balance out all the old man grump you got going on.”

He’s not wrong. “Fine. I’ll lighten up on the grump if you lighten up on the STDs coming out of your mouth. I’m afraid I’m going to catch something just by standing this close to you.”

“I’m offended.” He smacks a giant hand over his chest. “My soldier is always suited up and ready to go.”

“I’m not here to talk about your dick.” Although, I kind of am.

“Did you want to talk about yours and the way it was rubbing up against Kendall on the dance floor the other night? Rumor has it, your tongue was so far down her throat it poked out of her vagina.”

I shake my head. At least he didn’t use more vulgar terms when talking about Kendall. Still, I don’t want him talking or even thinking about her vagina.

---