17

Dallas had just enough time to see a gigantic television, similarly huge couch, and about eight miles of different wood finish in the living room before Taker grabbed her and pulled her against him. Dallas tilted her head up and his mouth found hers. Her lips parted and his tongue flicked out, teasing against hers.

He finally pulled back so they could catch their breath. "Ok. Are you hungry?" Taker asked, smiling at her.

Dallas laughed, a little breathless. "I could eat." She pressed closer to him.

"Well I got some steaks. Thought I'd grill 'em up." He brushed her hair back from her face.

"Hmm…" Dallas let her head rest against his chest. Taker held her for a few minutes, not talking. Just enjoying the feel of her arms around him.

"That wasn't an answer." Taker squeezed her and let her go. "And I wanna eat before we get distracted." He grinned and stepped away before she could say anything.

Dallas spent the next hour nursing a beer, wandering around the big house and looking at everything, and generally staying out of the way. She'd offered to help, once, and he'd given her his 'woman, please' look again. He had it down to an art form. So she'd left him to do whatever it was he was doing while she played nosy.

When she wandered out the sliding glass doors and onto the back deck, Taker was transferring the steaks from the grill to a plate. He glanced at her as he shut the grill down. "Find any incriminating evidence?"

Dallas grinned. "You must have an awesome hiding spot. I was really looking for your leather whips and chains."

Taker smirked. "You shoulda looked in the closet." He led the way back into the house. "You want another?" He looked at the bottle of beer in her hand. Dallas shrugged and let him take the empty and replace it with a full one.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked, taking a sip of the cold beer.

"I think we're past the point of me having to get you drunk." He said wryly, digging into the fridge for salad fixings. He'd made baked potatoes in the microwave.

"You know what's funny?" Dallas asked, sipping the beer.

"What?"

"You. Being all domestic. Is this an attempt to impress me?"

Taker snickered. "Is it working?"

"Nope."

"Then no. I just felt like grilling some steaks." He laughed at her snort of disbelief. "Stop looking for ulterior motives. If you want, I'll drive you on to San Antonio and you can order room service and sleep on a bed that has had a million people in it."

"Yeah. I fail to see the difference in that and staying here." Dallas said with a smile.

"Oh, you're hilarious." But he smiled when he said it. "Do you cook?" He asked, changing the subject.

"On occasion." There was a butcher's block in the kitchen, with high bar stools next to it. She sat down on the nearest one and watched as he put the salad together. "Why? Do I owe you a dinner to make up for this one?"

He smirked again. "I have a feelin' you'll be workin' this one off tonight."

"Ah. Finally, the real reason I'm here." Dallas sipped her beer. And fell silent as he got everything together and fixed a plate for both of them.

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Taker kept casting curious glances in her direction. Finally, he couldn't take the quiet. "What's wrong?"

Dallas raised an eyebrow. "Nothing is wrong. In fact, everything should be just about right."

"But it's not?" Taker asked, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

"I don't know." Dallas frowned thoughtfully down at her salad.

"You said I acted weird." Taker grumbled under his breath. Yes, he had some jealousy issues, and yes, he knew that in his mind he was too damned old to be satisfied with just a fling. But he had wanted to try. And she was even misreading his intentions now.

"I'm sorry. I just…" Dallas set aside her fork. She hadn't eaten much, as good as it all was. She found her stomach was twisting in knots of tension. "I thought before, when we used to just…mess around...that maybe screwing each other a couple of times would stop that from happening. Do you know what I mean? Like we both were intrigued because nothing ever happened. And then something finally does happen, and happens several times in fact. And it is pretty damned mind-blowing. And even though I keep saying that it is just going to be about sex, sex, and only sex, you keep trying to make it more."

"I'm not…" Taker sighed and attempted to keep his tone even when he spoke. "I just thought I'd like a night with you, off the road. That's it. I'm not askin' you to run off to Vegas and get married. Hell, I haven't even asked you if you were gonna fly out with me tomorrow afternoon. I don't know what your problem is. I try bein' nice, I try bein' an asshole, and you seem to take offense to both."

"You…try…to be an asshole?" Dallas asked with a smirk. "I just hate this shit, that's all. I don't want to like you."

"What, you make a habit of sleepin' with guys you hate?" Taker asked, feeling angry all of a sudden.

"Don't be dense."

"Me?" Taker pushed his plate away. "I tried to tell you, I wanted somethin' more. You pretty much cut me off at the balls. Fine. I try to give you what you want, you wanna cut me off again. I don't understand what the fuck it is I've done wrong this time."

"I meant that I have liked you. But now it's more like than just…like." She emphasized it.

"So what is wrong with that?" He asked, exasperated. They had gotten along for a few days, he should have seen an argument coming. If there was one thing they did better than sex it was fight.

"I can't like you that way, all right?" Frustrated, Dallas got up and walked away. Taker watched her go through the door to the deck and just sat there for a minute, wondering what exactly had just happened.

He got up meaning to go after her but for once he listened to that inner voice that told him to give her time. She was struggling with maybe getting a little too attached, and he could understand that. He didn't understand the need to fight it. People got together all the time. Sometimes it ended, and sometimes it ended badly. But it wasn't possible to just turn it all off on a whim.

Instead of heading for the door, he gathered their dishes and started cleaning up. He stored the leftovers in the fridge, washed his hands, and finally went to the door. Dallas was standing on the deck, leaning on the rail and looking out over the pool in the back. And he didn't know whether he should go try to talk to her, or leave her alone to figure out what it was she wanted. Hell, he'd already agreed to do things her way and she was still upset.

He hesitated another minute and muttered a curse under his breath before opening the door. Taker stood next to her and braced his hands on the railing.

"It's nothing to get mad about." He finally spoke when she didn't say anything. She didn't even turn her head to look at him.

"Maybe not to you." Dallas finally sighed and shook her head. "And don't think I don't realize how nuts I probably sound."

"I don't think you're crazy. Much."

"Ha. Yeah, you're funny too." She stretched and shook her head. "I don't know how you're going to take this but…I don't know if I can sleep with you tonight. I'm just really, really confused right now."

Taker half-smiled and grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers. "Darlin', I've been confused since the first time we messed around." He brought her hand up and kissed the back of it. "And if time's what you need, then that's what we'll do."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Taker pulled her, and Dallas went along willingly. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her for a moment.

"I don't know. For being me?" Dallas rested her hands against his waist, her forehead on his chest, and closed her eyes. Taker just held onto her, rubbing his hand lightly along her back.

When they finally went inside, Dallas took her bag to the guest room. Taker had to stop himself from arguing with her over it. Hell, he was tempted to tell her he'd behave and she could just sleep in his bed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to control himself and she wouldn't believe him anyway. He paced up and down the hallway debating on what to do, to go talk to her – or attempt to – or to really give her time.

Eventually Dallas turned off the light. And that settled it for him. Taker went into his room and stretched out on his bed. He could not remember ever feeling so damn lonely in his life. Probably because he knew the reason was across the hall.

With a heavy sigh he got up and went into his bathroom to take a shower. He had a feeling sleep would be a long time coming. The hell of it was, she wanted space and they were stuck together for the next week. Of course she could get her own rooms, travel by herself, and keep her distance, but the fact remained they could not just walk away from each other.

Taker finally crawled into bed and closed his eyes. He wondered if Dallas were having the same kind of trouble he was. He absolutely hated this shit. Whether she liked it or not, sleeping with each other had put them in a sort of relationship limbo. If they hadn't given in, they'd probably still be stealing gropes in the locker rooms and hotel hallways. He wasn't sure they would have been better off. Maybe happier in denial. The thought caused an annoyed chuckle to come from him. No wonder Dallas was confused.

At least he could focus on the fact that she liked him. Really liked him, beyond just liking him enough to tolerate him. For a minute there, he'd been almost convinced she was going to admit to some deeper feelings of her own. He was getting pretty damn tired of hiding the fact that he was falling for her.

"Right. Hiding it." He said that out loud, although in a low voice. A smidge more obvious about it and he'd be declaring his feelings on the next Raw he had a promo for. And the thing was, for him it wasn't even just about the sex, although she was right about the mind-blowing part. He didn't want to go across the hall, get in the bed, and fuck her senseless. He wanted to go across the hall, get her out of bed, and work this thing between them out. And that was a new feeling for him. She didn't hold the market on being confused.