“Aw c’mon. You haven’t even complained once about the new diet. You come in every morning with one of your green drinks like you used to do with your pre workouts. I thought you were adjusting well to it.”
“I am. Don’t mean I want to sit across from you eating steak while I’m eating a damn mushroom.”
I laughed again because I couldn’t help myself. “You’ll survive.”
Something sparked in his eyes and they narrowed. “We’ll see.”
A shiver ran down my back. Not from the words alone, but the look in his eyes as he said them. It was as if there was a deeper meaning to the words. One I couldn’t easily discern, but my body registered efficiently.
The waitress appeared a minute later, delivering the roasted pepper and garlic hummus with pita chips. She quickly took our drink and food orders when Luke told her we were ready for both to be taken.
“They make everything right here in the restaurant. Fresh,” I informed him before taking my first bite of the hummus and chip in my hand. “Mmm,” I moaned at the first bite. “You know, I hated hummus growing up. It’s only been the last few years that I’ve come to appreciate it.”
“Is that right?”
Something about the way he asked the question had my gaze moving to his stare. My body instantly stiffened at the way his eyes intently followed the movement of my lips. He wasn’t even trying to be sly about it either. It was at that moment I knew that something between us had changed. Maybe not changed. Perhaps it had been there from the very beginning and was in the process of being exposed.
“What made you become a paramedic?” I blurted the question out, wanting to know so much more about this man who was such an enigma to me.
He continued to stare at me across the table. “You a cop or something?”
I frowned at the odd question. “Why would you ask me that?”
He paused before responding. “Just asking.”
He was so defensive. Obviously, asking about his background made him uncomfortable, but that wouldn’t perturb me from doing so.
“What made you become a ‘medic?”
“Life.”
“That’s not an answer, Luke.”
“It’s the one you’re gonna get, Syd,” he condescended, leaning against the table, staring me in the eyes.
It was a dare. A challenge to press him for more information at my own risk. What Luke didn’t know—or maybe he did know—was that I was never one to turn down a dare. It was one of my greatest strengths and my most detrimental weakness.
Placing my arms on the table, I leaned forward also. “Let me guess, you thought the training would look good on your college resumé? Needed the extra money for school? Considered going to medical school?”
With a lifted eyebrow, he leaned closer. “All of the above, except for the needing money part,” he answered before pulling back.
I weighed his answer over in my mind, searching for the next logical question that would lead me down the road to knowing more about this man. But he beat me to the punch.
“And you? What brought you from being a ‘medic to an MMA trainer?”
“Fighting’s in my blood,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He gave me an inquiring look.
Shit.
I’d gotten too comfortable. Revealed too much, too fast.
Luke’s gaze dropped to the silver pendant I always wore around my neck.
“My uncle was a boxer and mixed martial artist in his youth, and he convinced my mom to put me in some sort of self-defense and martial arts when I was still young. He said all girls and women should know how to fight.”
Luke slowly nodded his head, absorbing the information but not saying much in response. Then he asked, “So where did becoming a ‘medic and eventual business owner come in?”
