They’d been watching all the pre-main event fights outside in the patio TV, but they were moving inside now for the big fight. Even though it would soon be starting, Alex knew between the introductions and all the opening formalities it’d be at least another hour before he and Valerie could start celebrating.
The way Romero was acting it was obvious he thought he’d be celebrating his winning bets soon enough. Romero clapped his hands then rubbed them together in anticipation. With a big grin, he glanced at Janks, who was sitting back in his recliner. He was as much a boxing aficionado as Romero and his uncles were. “You having fun, Janks?”
Janks turned to him with that ever-grumpy face and nodded.
“Then tell your face that.” Romero smirked. “What are you, constipated?” He turned to Max. “Someone get the guy a drink.”
“You know I can’t drink, asshole,” Janks shot back then hacked loudly.
“Easy there, Grandpa.” Romero laughed.
“All right, shut up,” Manny said, holding up the remote and turning the volume up as each of the fighters took his time making his way into the ring.
Max and Manny’s family room was so packed as was the usual whenever they all got together to watch a fight of this caliber. So Alex stood against the kitchen island that opened up to Romero’s uncles’ family room, and Valerie leaned up against him.
Normally, unlike Angel who’d never had qualms about showing his affection for Sarah regardless of who was around, Alex was more reserved with the sweetness. Things were different now. He could be open about how much Valerie meant to him because he didn’t have to worry that he might hear about someone seeing her hanging with another dude and having to play it off as if it were no big deal. Because it was a big deal. A very big fucking deal.
Always had been.
But in conversation he’d always played it off. Though he had to wonder if anyone ever bought it, since he wasn’t very good at hiding his utter annoyance about the thought of Valerie with anyone else. It felt good that now he could openly cuddle her—kiss her sweetly—and he did just that. With his arms wrapped snugly around her waist, he nuzzled the side of her face, and she brought her hand up to touch his cheek. “I’m crazy about you, Val,” he whispered even as Angel and Sarah stood just a foot away.
He felt her tense as he expected her too. In all the years they’d been going back and forth, he’d told her she made him crazy—couldn’t get enough of her—drove him insane. All expressions that could easily take on a sexual connotation if need be. But he’d never told her how crazy he was about her. Until now. She turned slowly, gazing up at him, and didn’t say anything at first as if she were waiting for the punch line.
Staring into that beautiful pair of big wistful eyes, Alex could hardly stand it. He kissed her softly then pulled away to look in her eyes again and nodded. “I’m fucking crazy about you,” he whispered again.
The sweet little crinkle between her eyes made an appearance. The one that was a telltale sign that she was feeling emotional, but she smiled. “I’m crazy about you too, Alex,” she whispered back. “But then I think you’ve always known that.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I know I drive you crazy.”
“That you do.” She laughed.
Romero started clapping and whistling as the bell rang to start the first round of the fight. The moment Alex and Valerie had been having was over. Alex was still too distracted taking in the scent of Valerie’s hair, as she made herself comfortable against him again facing the TV, to notice what was going on with the fight.
Then Romero started cussing as he usually did when the guy he was going for wasn’t doing well. Everyone in the room was suddenly loud and yelling at the TV, and it dawned on Alex this was just the first round. He looked up to see Sanchez getting rocked.
“What the fuck, man!” Romero yelled as Sanchez wobbled but got his footing back. “Get your shit together! You’re fighting a bum! I can take him!”
“Your pansy ass couldn’t take me,” Janks yelled out.
Alex laughed, about to nuzzle Valerie’s neck, when to everyone’s utter shock, Sanchez went down hard. Except for the crowd going wild on the television and the stunned commentators screaming that the champ was knocked out and not getting up, all the other noise in the room went silent. For what felt like several long seconds, they all waited to see if Sanchez was going to get up, but he wasn’t even moving.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Romero said, hands at his head, looking completely disheartened.
“First round.” Max stood up, pulling the money out of his pocket. “Who had the first round?”
“Wait!” Romero said, still staring at the television. “He might get up. No one’s called the medics yet.”
“Medics!” Janks laughed. He was sitting at the edge of his seat now, leaning one hand on his upright cane. “Someone call the coroner to scrape that bum off the canvas. What a gyp!”
As much as Alex would’ve liked to stick around and find out more, the ref was already calling the fight, and Grecco’s corner was lifting him in the air as he held the title belt. An upset like this would likely be on the news for weeks. He’d catch up with all of that later.
He pushed himself away from the counter and tugged on Valerie’s hand. Without having to explain, she followed him out as they waved at everyone, but no one really noticed them slip out the back.
Chapter 7
Yoshi?” Valerie stated the obvious with a big smile as they drove into the parking lot.
They hadn’t been back here since that very first time he brought her here. The day they took the walk on the beach and he kissed her for the first time. At least not together. She’d been back a few times with her girlfriends and even once with another guy, but they’d just never made it back here together since that day.
“I know we ate at the barbeque, but—”
“Oh, I can eat again,” she said, grinning. “We ate over an hour ago.”
Alex laughed. “I figured as much.”
They parked and got out then walked into the sushi bar hand in hand. The place was fairly empty considering it was a Saturday night, so they took a seat right at the sushi bar. She figured, like Romero’s uncles and Alex’s friend Chels, many were gathered in groups somewhere still buzzing over the fight. This was huge.
Valerie had been so distracted and still glowing over Alex’s admission that he was fucking crazy about her to give the fight much thought. One of the televisions in the bar area was showing highlights of the fight or rather single round that ended so unexpectedly.
Alex laughed, shaking his head. “I wonder how much money Romero lost.”
“He bet on Sanchez?” Valerie asked, suddenly chuckling herself.
“Yeah,” Alex said as the waitress approached to take their drink orders.
Before Valerie could say what she wanted, Alex ordered for them. Two large Japanese beers. The waitress asked for both their ID’s and inspected them.
“Remember?” he asked as they both put away their ID’s and the waitress walked away. “You said the tall chilled bottles of beer looked so good that first day. But we were both underage.”
She smiled but wouldn’t mention that she’d since satisfied her craving to try one. It was still sweet of him to remember. “Why, Mr. Moreno, I didn’t think your memory was that good.”
“Not really,” he admitted with a smile then kissed her hand. “But when we walked in and I saw someone drinking one, it reminded me.”
He leaned in and kissed her lips, and then they both studied the plastic menus they’d been handed with pictures and the description of the many sushi rolls that were offered.
“They all look so good,” she said, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip.
“Order whatever and as much,” he added with a smirk, “as your little heart desires.”
The waitress brought their beers, and they each put in their first order of the all-you-can-eat dinner. Valerie excused herself to the la
dies’ room. When she got back, Alex was gone. His keys and beer were still at the sushi bar where he’d been sitting, but he wasn’t there. She glanced around as she sat down assuming he must’ve gone to the men’s room.
“Valerie.”
She turned curiously to see who it was because she didn’t recognize the voice. As soon as she saw them, she smiled. “Oh, hey, Elijah.”
Elijah was a broker at her office whom she’d shadowed a few times, so, of course, she knew his name. He offered his hand, and she shook it, praying he’d give her a hint as to the name of the other guy standing with him and smiling just as big. His face was very familiar, and the way he was smiling at her she knew she was supposed to know him.
With no help from Elijah, she turned to the other guy in the suit. “Hey!” She reached for his hand too, over emphasizing her enthusiasm to make up for not knowing his name.
“We hear congrats are in order,” Nameless Guy said, and she was beginning to panic about not remembering his name—at all.
Then she remembered he wasn’t an agent or broker. He was a lender who came into the office often. “Yes, thank you. I just found out today. I’m very excited.” She smiled big. “So I’ll need your card to keep handy now.”
Immediately, he reached inside his suit jacket to the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out a card. She took it as Elijah asked about the test. Valerie glanced down at the name on the card. Trent Ewing . Trent. Trent. Trent. She repeated inwardly.
“So are you out celebrating?” Elijah asked, holding her gaze a little too long as he smiled and played with his pinky ring.
“I am actually.” She nodded, smiling again and looking away from Elijah.
Something about the way he was looking at her made her uncomfortable, so she turned to smile at Trent again. Just then Alex sat down next to her, laying what looked like at least a dozen perfect long-stemmed red roses on the table in front of her. They were wrapped at the stems with a red silk bow. Her mouth dropped open for a moment as she looked at the beautiful flowers then turned to Alex curiously.
“Flower shop next door.” He smiled then glanced up at Elijah and Trent as he picked up his bottle of beer.
Feeling her heart expand, she picked up the roses and smelled them. “Oh my God. Thank you,” she said, leaning in to touch his chin, and kissed his cheek. Then she shook her head suddenly and turned to Elijah and Trent, a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Where are my manners. Elijah, Trent, this is Alex.” She turned back to Alex. “Alex, these are co-workers of mine, Elijah and Trent.”
Alex shook Trent’s hand first then reached for Elijah’s. “It’s Eli,” Elijah said with a smile then turned and winked at Valerie. “We’ve talked about this, Val.”
“Yes.” She smiled, nodding. “I keep forgetting.”
Eli had a habit of playing with his pinky ring. It was something he did often even when they were working, but for some reason it unnerved her now. He was one of those good-looking older guys in his thirties who just looked like he had his act together. But there’d been times he showed a little too much interest in her, and that made her nervous now in front of Alex.
Too many times in her recent past she’d secretly used Elijah as a mental consolation to make herself feel better. There were times she’d been so down, feeling as if she were taken for granted by Alex—like maybe she didn’t deserve to be taken seriously. Having a man so put together like Elijah show interest in her felt good. Especially because he didn’t say inappropriate things to her like the younger guys she was used to. He’d made it clear even in the subtle way he said things that it wasn’t a meaningless fling he was in search of. Instead, he often talked about his future: Investing well for his later years. The home he was looking for once he settled down with a wife and kids. Another thing he made crystal clear was that he was very single and still hadn’t found that special woman.
“Well,” Elijah said with a smile first at Alex then her. “We’ll leave you be so you can continue celebrating. Nice to meet you, Alex,” he said, turning to smile at Alex. Then he turned to Valerie again. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” she asked, confused.
“You’re an agent now, Val,” he said with a big smile. “Sundays are your biggest open house days. I’m doing that big one tomorrow I told you about over in La Jolla Shores. Three multimillion-dollar homes in the same area. You’re more than welcome to take a shot at it if you’d like. I can’t be in all three homes at once.”
Valerie smiled, turning back to Alex, who didn’t crack so much as a smile. He even turned away to pay more attention to the television announcer giving updates on the Sanchez fight. “I don’t actually have my license yet,” she began to say, but Elijah was quick to interrupt her.
“Minor details.” He shook his head. “You know how this works, babe. Even if we get an offer tomorrow, it’d still be months before escrow could close. By then you’d have your license for sure.”
From the corner of her eye, she could see Elijah’s calling her babe had gotten Alex attention. So she shook her head quickly. “I’ll be celebrating all weekend. But thanks for the offer. I’ll see you Monday.”
Elijah and Trent excused themselves and went back to their table. Almost dreading it, Valerie turned to Alex, who, to her surprise, was staring at the television screen with what appeared to be a smirk on his face. He lifted a brow as he took another swig of his beer but said nothing.
“All right, just say it,” she said, lifting one of the roses to her nose to smell it again.
“Say what?” he asked, feigning complete ignorance.
“I know you have something to say, so let’s just get this out of the way now.”
“I have nothing to say.” He laughed, taking her hand in his and kissing it. “Actually . . .” he said, pausing as he glanced back in the area where Elijah and Trent were having dinner.
“I knew it,” she said with a smirk.
“No,” he assured her. “The old Alex would’ve had plenty to say.” She lifted an amused eyebrow as he continued. “Old Alex would’ve instantly hated that douche.”
The cook on the other side of the sushi bar handed them each their first roll. After moving the roses over and placing their plates in front of them, Alex went on. “The old Alex might’ve even wondered if he had anything to worry about. Maybe even reacted to hearing some other dude refer to his girl as babe right in front of his face. But not the new Alex.”
Valerie stared at him, completely impressed. Her hands were still on her lap where she’d left them after placing her napkin there.
“New Alex knows he has nothing to worry about.” He raised his brow again as he had earlier; only this time it wasn’t as playful. “Right?”
“Of course,” she said, reaching out for his hand.
“Well, there you go.” He smiled, though she knew him well enough to know it was a bit forced. “New Alex isn’t about to ruin our night of celebrating over this. But we will talk about that asshole later.”
Valerie laughed. She had a feeling New Alex was a bit too good to be true. She liked that he was trying to change—handle things more maturely. But she’d take the real Alex, temper-challenged and all, over Fake Alex any day.
He leaned over and kissed her gently. “Seriously,” he said, “I don’t know what it is, but it actually felt pretty good keeping it together and not reacting like I normally do. You know me.”
“Yes, I know you.” She laughed.
He smirked then chuckled. “We wouldn’t be laughing right now. I’ll tell you that much.”
“Well, I’m very proud of you,” she said, biting into a piece of her sushi roll as her insides warmed with excitement. “I’m gonna be honest and admit something to you, okay? I was a little skeptical about this whole change thing. It’s just been like this for so long, but I hadn’t even thought about this part of the change.” She squeezed his hard upper thigh, smiling as he stared at her. “Clearly, you really are making an effort.”
“I promised you I would.” He wiped his mouth, glancing back in Elijah’s direction and looking a little less smug than he had moments ago. “Make an effort that is. But you have to cut me some slack, okay? I may slip every now and again.”
She stopped chewing and stared at him. Like Alex, she was going to make an added effort as well to not jump to conclusions and give him the benefit of the doubt before snapping. So she’d assume by “slip every now and again” he meant he may not always be this patient and calm about things of this nature.
Nothing else.
Squeezing his upper thigh again, she smiled. “I know and I will. I appreciate the effort, baby. I really do.”
They spent the rest of their dinner discussing her new career and his getting to play in the following week’s game—something he was really relieved and excited about. It made her nervous, but she wouldn’t tell him that. She knew firsthand how painful it would be if he hurt his ankle again. She’d been there when he first broke it, and it hadn’t been pretty. Like most ankle injuries, it was extremely painful. The poor guy could barely stand. But Alex had broken his in such a way he’d required permanent screws to hold it back together. She remembered his hitting it against his coffee table once and his face had nearly gone white, it was so painful.
His doctor had warned him already that while she was signing off that he was okay to play again he should consider waiting a bit longer to get back on the field. Another injury this soon could not only end his football career, but it could cause some major irreparable damage. But Alex was adamant. He said he’d never had any illusions of playing pro ball. What he did want to assure was that he didn’t lose his scholarship. Any more time off the field could cost him just that.
When they were finished eating, Alex asked where she wanted to go next. Since this felt like a new beginning for them and this was the first place he’d ever taken her, she knew just the place.
When You Were Mine Page 9
