and they caught the scent of the salty ocean breeze. It really was a lovely restaurant.
Just then the waitress came back with their drinks.
“Not a fruity-drink kinda girl, I see.” He looked down at the amber liquid sitting in front of her. “Interesting.”
“Not a beer kinda guy, I see.” She looked at his similarly colored drink. “Interesting,” she added with a smirk.
“Glad you didn’t order Jack. I’d have felt emasculated.”
“Johnnie is just as strong as Jack.”
“Pfft!” He rolled his eyes and downed almost half his drink.
“Trust me, I’m a professional. Johnnie Walker is just as strong as that girly Jack Daniel’s crap you’re drinking.”
“Professional?” he teased.
“Hel-lo!” She waved a hand around. “Bartender. Remember?”
“That doesn’t make you a professional. Yeah, you can mix ’em. But can you drink ’em?”
“Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. I see the drunken results at the bar every day.”
“Well, in any case, don’t let Jack hear you say that.”
She laughed. “Jack? As in your friend Jack? Chrissy’s fiancé?” He nodded. “Is Jack Daniels really his name?”
“It sure is, and I wouldn’t poke fun at him about it. He hates it.”
“I don’t blame him.”
The waitress came to take their order. Slade ordered the lobster.
“And for you, miss?”
“Filet mignon, medium, with a baked potato, fully loaded, please.”
Slade leaned in, his eyebrows questioning yet amused. “I bring you to the Tackle Box. The best seafood in town. In fucking Florida. Maybe even in the entire Southeast. And you order a steak?”
“I don’t like seafood,” she said with a shrug.
He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. A moment later he burst out laughing.
“You’re really something else, Jessica. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “You didn’t ask. And anyway, maybe you wanted to eat seafood. I didn’t want to ruin your evening.”
“I’m out on a date with you. Trust me, nothing could possibly ruin tonight.”
She took a sip of her drink and said, “So, tell me how Mauricio’s doing.” Slade had mentioned that the owner of the Worth the Fight Academy, Mauricio Silva, had been in poor health and was actually thinking of moving back to Brazil.
“No good. Rumor has it he’s thinking of selling the Academy,” Slade said.
“Really? How do you feel about that?” Before he had a chance to say anything, she exclaimed, “Oh! You should totally buy it! You’d be great!”
He smiled his best smile and she lost her breath for a moment. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it. He may want to have his daughter run it, but if not, buying WtF would be ideal. I’ve trained there for years, I know it like the back of my hand, and since I can’t train anymore, it would be pretty cool to still be able to train others. It would be like I never stopped training, ya know?”
“Ideal? It would be like a dream come true.”
“Guys don’t say things like that. But yeah, kind of like that.”
“You can say ‘dream come true’ and no one will revoke your man card, Slade.” She reached forward and squeezed his hand. “You’re the manliest man I’ve ever met.”
“You’re real good for the ego.”
She laughed. “I don’t think you need an ego boost. What with the harem you got goin’, I think your ego’s well fed.”
“I don’t have a harem. I do, however, like this one girl, but she’s all kinds of trouble. She flirts with me all the time and—”
Jessica laughed. “I do not flirt with you!”
He leaned back on his chair, crossed his arms, and gave her a knowing look.
“Okay, fine. But you flirt with me too,” Jessica said.
“I never said I didn’t.” He smiled.
“So, back to the Academy. Is that really something you’re thinking about doing?”
“Honestly?” She nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. His long hair was tied back, making his blue eyes seem almost clear. “You know I can’t fight anymore. The doctor says that one more blow to the head and I could have permanent brain damage. Too many concussions. I know you’ve noticed the tremor in my hand. But I planned for this day. I saved and have been wanting to open a gym but haven’t done much other than think about it. If I could buy WtF, that would be perfect. It’s been like a home to me, and I’ve been picking up most of the slack for Mauricio for years. I trained Cain, Travis, and others. But now that it looks like it may be a real possibility, I’m—”
“Scared?” she finished.
“I was going to say nervous.” He