Page 51 of Striking Heat

“I would say pizza. I love a good pizza.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re a cheese pizza girl.”

Shaking her head adamantly, she says, “No, sir. I’m a sausage, black olives, and green pepper kinda girl.”

“I love it. That sounds like a really good pizza.”

“It is.”

“Do you have a favorite pizza place in Tampa? You can’t tell me you just go with a chain. Pizza is serious business.”

“I think Marcella’s over by my place is pretty good.”

“And let me guess, you walk there?” I tease her again, and she sticks her tongue out at me in return.

“I might. But what can I say? Maybe I’m supposed to be a city girl.” She shrugs it off, then her eyes light up big and wide when she sees Sal coming with her food. “Finally, I am so hungry.”

We dig into our food, both enjoying what we ordered. I don’t miss the way she moans low when she bites into her eggs.

“Good?” I ask her.

“Yes, this was a good choice,” she admits.

“See, better than your Tropical Smoothie option.” I pick up my club sandwich and take a bite.

We eat in silence for a few moments before she asks me, “When are you going to start asking me questions? I thought that was why you asked me to come here.”

“It is. I just thought I would talk with you and get some information for the story that way. For example, your cheat day meal is going in there.” I smile warmly at her. “But I’ll probably leave out the pizza place. We don’t want any trouble with any rival places.”

She laughs and shakes her head.

“Would you like to come to my house after this? We can have a picnic out by the pool later. Maybe see if you can go without a bikini in my backyard.”

“Uh, that’s an idea,” she replies, shifting uneasily in the booth.

“What?” I can tell there’s something on the tip of her tongue by the way she opens and closes her mouth, but the words never leave her lips. “Just tell me what you wanna say.”

“Are you going to interview me while I’m naked, or are you saving that for the pizza picnic?”

“I think we can knock out some of those questions here and then head on back to my place for pizza and swimming.” I take a bite of my sandwich, taking my time chewing it while she processes what I just said.

“What if someone sees us?”

“Back at my place? I don’t think anyone from the team knows where I live, so we should be safe.”

“Yeah, but they know I was with you today for the interview. If I don’t come home, they’re going to think something is going on with you and me.”

“Ah, yeah, and we wouldn’t want that,” I agree. “I guess I better get back to asking you some questions.”

She nods and keeps watching me intently. “Do you ever miss being a swimmer? Having all the scheduled practices, meets, and all that?”

“What makes you ask me that?” I take a fry.

“Just the way you and Lucas were talking today. You really seemed to enjoy talking to him about all that stuff.” She shrugs and goes back to eating.

“I did. I enjoyed it a lot. Lucas is a good guy.”

“That’s not what I asked.”