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“To be fair, you’ve pretty much been standing on it this whole time.”
TJ blinds me with another smile, and I allow my mouth to curve a little higher than before.
The few patrons inside the bar shout in unison. The guy whose arm was about to break manages to get out of his opponent’s grip and begins pummeling his face. The referee stops the fight. The underdog wins.
“That,” TJ says, leaning in closer, “takes skill.”
My heart rate kicks up a notch as he lingers inches from my face. He smells clean and cologned, though he looks as if he should smell like whiskey and bad decisions.
I lean away from him because I’m pretty sure my deodorant stopped working somewhere around the sixth hour of my drive. The Taco Bell sweating through my pores probably isn’t helping either.
“How come you’re not fighting on TV?” I ask.
“I’d rather help other fighters make their way.”
“Is that what you do?”
“I own a gym. I train people who need me.”
“You don’t want the fame and fortune?”
TJ sloshes the liquid around in his glass. “That life doesn’t interest me.”
“What interests you?”
“Lots of things.”
“Like?”
“Sexy travelers dressed like secretaries.”
My heart squeezes and I reprimand myself for it. “Like I said before: Save your energy for someone else.”
“I bet you’re a secretary.”
“I was before I got here.”
“Why’d you quit?”
The million dollar question. “I … I don’t know.”
“Was your boss an asshole?”
“Not at all.”
“Then what?” TJ’s head tilts, appraising me while he waits for my answer. When I don’t have one, he signals for the waitress. “Can I see a menu, love?”
The waitress blushes as she twirls her long ponytail around her manicured finger. “You always order the same thing. Why do you even bother with the menu?”
“I like to keep you on your toes. Maybe one day I’ll change it up and surprise you.”
She giggles. “Cheeseburger with fries, then?”
TJ nods. “You hungry, my not-a-friend?”
I hadn’t planned on staying for dinner, but a meal outside a drive-thru sounds enticing right about now. “I’ll have what he’s having. Well-done, please.”
TJ quirks a brow. “You like eating hockey pucks?”
