He licked his lips as I poured my body off the table and into the seat. Neither of us said a word for the first few mouthfuls, studying each other intently. It’s so rare I found a man as tall as me, and in such amazing physical condition. It was a shame he had to die.
I might have been content to remain in my slow-chewing reverie if he hadn’t decided to make conversation once his plate was clear.
“I gotta say, I was annoyed when I first heard about you. I felt like N-Hance might have been brushing me aside to focus on some kid straight out of college. I didn’t care how pretty a smile she had.”
We’d been looking for Serah’s killer for years — since I was born, essentially — but four months ago, we concluded Van Priestley was our guy. Since his training team wouldn’t even consider hiring a woman as a sparring partner, we went to plan B: taking a job at N-Hance Fitness Studios.
“You know, I wasn’t even interviewing for an on-camera position,” I said, “but it was love at first sight — the producers and the dollar signs running through their heads when they saw me. They kept assuring me they had just found the future star for their workout videos. But it’s not like I’m competing with TUF. Different markets, different audiences.”
Between prize fights, Van Priestley filmed Training the Über Fighter, a series of videos on combat techniques. Why a demon would appear in movies for a third-rate DVD company was beyond me, but when Van Priestley finally returned from his latest bout in the Octagon yesterday, we hit it off immediately. After engaging in an impromptu sparring session after work, Kim invited him for dinner. I hadn’t been able to think about anything else since.
“That’s not what Frank and Tim told me,” he said, still admiring me. “They wanted me to use you as my gorgeous female sidekick.”
“Well, I do gorgeous,” I purred, flicking my hair. “But not sidekick.”
Especially since, after tonight, one of us would no longer be fit for employment.
He snorted. “Exactly. I told them your ego was bigger than your body of work, if you thought you could keep up with me. But that was before we met. You’ve definitely surprised me, Phoenix. I never thought a woman would ever put me down on the mat.”
“And I intend to see you go down a few more times tonight,” I said.