[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean shook his head as Duke left the kitchen and walked out the front door, a sight that he was unfortunately used to any time he tried to give Duke advice. He turned his hand over as Esme picked it up, giving her hand a little squeeze as she confirmed that he had attempted to give her space. He looked up at her and matched her smile, but his own fell briefly when she mentioned that she might have had too much space. Dean wondered if this was her way of telling him that she felt like he was avoiding her, which was far from the case…or at least he thought so.

He narrowed his eyes and snapped from his thoughts when she spoke about Duke ‘trying to help her work through her emotions’. That sounded like a classic Duke move. Emotions were his favorite door into someone’s heart. He had a habit of making people fall in love with him…just by talking to them.

“I don’t want to hover…” Dean grumbled, as he softened his face, and scanned her face for her feelings toward the situation. He tried to read whether she wanted him to come out to the shooting range or not. He was trying to just get an idea of what was expected of him, something he wasn’t exactly good at reading with people, but was trying to learn. 

Her lips against his cheek made him smirk, and nod at her declaration of being okay. At least there was that. She was okay. Would it be so bad to let her hang out with Duke? If anything, Duke’s positivity might be good, after whatever had happened the night before…which he needed to press her on, himself.  He looked between her eyes as she stared into his, swallowing heavily at the honesty he saw there. As she leaned in to kiss his lips, he nodded softly, “Okay. I’ll probably be out there in a bit, after I get dressed. Just…don’t get too attached to Duke. He’s friendly, but he’s a bolter.”

He kissed her back, tempted to pull her onto his lap and keep her in the house somehow, but she seemed adamant about going out. He just had to give her a warning, a warning that Bobby would have slapped him for. Duke had broken Bobby’s heart a million times by running off with no calls or signs of where he was going…and yet…Bobby didn’t allow them to talk about it.