She gazed longingly at the beach, but then she nodded. “I’m also starving, and hunger always wins. We’ll eat first.”
“Okay.” He really had missed sparring with her, though. She challenged him, and he enjoyed that. And she was so damn pretty, and she had a smart mouth, and hell, she smelled so fucking good. And then there were her perky breasts . . .
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He blinked. “What?”
“You’re ogling.”
“I was?” He was.
“Yes. And you should stop it.”
He should. But he probably wouldn’t. An employee of the team or not, she had a hot body, just the kind he liked. He couldn’t help noticing it. “So, do you like seafood and pasta?”
She gave him a dubious look. “I love pasta. The seafood I’ll pass on since you know I’m a vegetarian.”
He grinned. “I was just testing to see if you’d converted in the couple of days since I’ve seen you.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Should I change clothes?”
It gave him an opportunity to look her over again. “No, you’re fine for where we’re going.”
They got into his rental car, and he drove down the beach toward town. There was a restaurant on the pier that served the best seafood he’d ever eaten.
“This place isn’t fancy or anything,” he said after he parked in the lot across the street.
“I don’t need fancy. I just need food.”
It was after five now, and he was so hungry they wouldn’t be able to serve him fast enough. He hadn’t eaten lunch, and then there was the workout. He couldn’t go that long without food. He was a big guy.
They got a table near one of the windows, just in time to see the last of the day’s rays disappear.
As soon as the waitress showed up, they grabbed menus and scanned them. Alicia must have been as hungry as he was, because she ordered her food at the same time as her drink. So did he.
“Maybe they’ll bring the food faster,” she said as the waitress wandered off with their order.
“I’d be happy if they brought the salads. Or bread.”
She laughed. “I’m kind of embarrassed to be this hungry. My stomach is growling so loud you can probably hear it.”
“I can’t hear it over my own stomach. And I’m sorry. I should have thought about the food thing as soon as you arrived. We could have gone out to eat right away.”
“It’s okay. I’m a big girl, and I have a voice. I was too busy oohing and ahhing over the house and the beach to even think about food. That’s what usually happens to me.”
“What happens to you?”
“I get busy or distracted, then I forget to eat.”
“That must be how you stay so thin.”
She nodded. “That and my fast metabolism. And running around all the time. I also do yoga, which I love. Plus, my mom is still slender, so it must be a genetic thing. I’m very lucky.”
The waitress brought their salads—and bread—so they both dug in, which meant conversation stopped for the moment. Once he had salad and bread in him, he felt more human.
He sat back and watched Alicia. She enjoyed the whole salad and three pieces of bread.
“You really do burn it off.”
She swallowed then downed some water. “Wait till you see me handle the main course.”
He laughed. He preferred women who liked themselves. There was something about self-confidence that was sexy. Obviously, Alicia didn’t have any problems with her body, at least not that he’d seen.
And when her main course of pasta and vegetables arrived, she ate that with as much gusto as she’d devoured her salad, which meant he was free to dive into his lobster and crab.
Finally full, he sat back and wiped his mouth and hands, and took a drink of iced tea.
“Tell me about your family, Alicia.”
She eyed him warily. “Isn’t that venturing into the personal?”
“Come on. We’re not robots here. We’re spending every day together. Tell me about your family.”
“I have two amazing parents who’ve been married forever and have been very supportive of my career. My brother, Cole, plays football for the Traders, and my cousin Mick plays for San Francisco. He’s married, has a teenage son, and they just had a new baby boy. And you already know Gavin since he plays for your team.”
“So you have an entire family of athletes.”
“Yes.”
“That’s convenient. Did you practice your therapy moves on them?”
She quirked a smile. “As much as they’d let me, which wasn’t often. They much preferred I’d give them massages, which is what they thought the whole sports medicine thing was about.”
“That’s what I used to think it was about, too.”
“Yeah, well, until you’re involved in it, either on the giving or the receiving end, you don’t really know all that goes into it.”
“I guess not.” He took the bill from the waitress and tossed down some cash. They left the restaurant and drove back to the house.
“You ready for that walk now?” Garrett asked.