Fighting Dirty - Sidney Halston Page 0,6
She playfully shoved his shoulder. “Well, we’ve already kissed, and now you’ve seen me naked. You really are overdue for a date with me, wouldn’t you agree?” he commented.
“I said dinner. Not a date.”
“I knew you’d eventually break.”
“I didn’t break. I guess ‘sometimes affection is a shy flower that takes time to blossom.’ ”
“That’s from some obscure movie, isn’t it?”
“Not that obscure. It’s from Becoming Jane.”
“Never seen it.”
“Not surprised,” she said.
“You know, you’re like a fortune cookie.”
“Fortune cookie?” Her face crinkled in confusion.
“You’re always saying these things that are either full of wisdom, funny nothings, or completely absurd,” he explained. “You make me think of fortune cookies every time.”
“Aw…you think about me.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Damn. I totally killed the mystery, didn’t I?” he teased. “So, a date?”
“That’s a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes,” he replied. “Can I walk you to your car?”
She stepped back and eyed him up and down with a sassy smile. “In that robe?”
He winced when he looked down at himself. “I’ll just run and change real fast.” As he jogged to the corner to grab his bag, he heard her snort with laughter, and he looked over his shoulder.
“You might want to be careful bending over,” Jamie Lynn called out, then turned to the middle-aged woman who was standing next to her and adjusting her glasses with a big smile on her face. “Isn’t that right, Mrs. Davis?”
Enzo felt his face heat. He tugged down the back of the robe as he walked to the bathroom.
A few moments later he emerged dressed in gym shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers to find Jamie Lynn leaning against the wall. “Ready,” he told her. She pushed off the wall and followed him down the hall and out of the building.
“What made you change your mind about going out with me?” he asked as they crossed the parking lot. “Not that I’m complaining. But you’ve been saying no for almost a year.”
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“You always seem so predictable, but you doing this…” She shook her head. “I guess it made me see you in a different light.”
He held her car door open for her as she tucked the canvas facedown in the backseat and then got in the car. “I’m glad it took me completely humiliating myself to get you to go out with me. Maybe I won’t kill your brother for this ridiculous bet after all,” he said. “I’ll make reservations at the Tackle Box and pick you up at eight tomorrow.” When she looked at him for a moment too long, he said, “You don’t like the Tackle Box?”
“Do you work tomorrow?” she asked as she got back out of the car.
“Yes.”
“That was a dumb question. You’re always working. Let me rephrase the question. Can you take the day off tomorrow?”
Enzo quickly thought about all the teleconferences he had scheduled and all the reports he had to do. “I can.”
“Okay, so I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“Uh…I don’t understand.”
“Eight in the morning,” she clarified. “I asked you out, so I pick. That’s the deal, okay? It’s my treat. I pick where we go and what we do.”
“I don’t think—”
“You hate giving up control, don’t you?” she asked wryly, already knowing the answer. “Don’t worry so much. Just be ready. It’ll be fun—spontaneous. You’ll like it. I promise.”
He let out a breath. “Fun and spontaneous isn’t something I’m very comfortable with,” he admitted. But then he decided, What the hell? He’d already survived taking the biggest leap of faith of his life by moving from Brazil to Florida, something that was so completely out of character his parents thought he was still mourning the end of his marriage. So, going on a date with a beautiful woman and letting her take the lead…what could possibly go wrong?
“Okay, fine. I’ll text you my address,” he said as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. She folded herself into her crappy fifteen-year-old Honda Civic, which was mostly red, except for some patches where the paint had chipped off. The bumper was held together with a hot-pink bungee cord, and there were bumper stickers plastered everywhere. He couldn’t picture her with any other car but this one; somehow it suited her perfectly. But she was absolutely out of her mind if she thought he’d be going anywhere with her in that clunker tomorrow.
—
As she always did, JL drove around the building until she found the closest parking space that sat underneath a light pole. She walked to her apartment, unlocked the