He turned. A lanky guy with shaggy blond hair held a Texas Longhorns baseball cap and a black Sharpie out to him. “Do you mind signing my cap? I want to give it to my dad. He’s been a fan since that seventy-yard TD you ran against Kansas State your freshman year.”
Jamar dialed up his obligatory smile for fans. “Tell your dad I appreciate the years of support,” he said as he scribbled his signature on the ball cap’s stiff bill.
“Thanks a lot, man. He’s going to love this.” The guy walked away, clutching the cap as if it were a brick of solid gold.
When he turned back to Taylor, she was still staring in the direction of the retreating fan. She finally looked at him, hooking her thumb toward the guy. “Be honest, it’s hella awkward when stuff like that happens.”
Jamar scratched the back of his head. “It was cool the first thousand times it happened to me, but after five years of it? Yeah, it’s kinda awkward. Especially in grocery stores, which is why I avoid them.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Come on, let’s see if you can get through your assignment before another of your adoring fans interrupts us.”
Jamar pulled up short. “My assignment?”
“Okay, Twenty-Three, I know we’ve only been working together for a few days, but you should know by now that there are no easy days. Ever. You’ve got to put in some work.” She held out the green shopping basket she’d been carrying on her arm. “Your assignment is to pick out five types of vegetables that would be acceptable additions to your diet.”
He grudgingly grabbed the handbasket. “Am I being graded on this?”
“Absolutely.”
“If only I’d known what I was signing up for,” Jamar mumbled as he ventured over to the potato bins. “So what started this obsessive love affair you have with produce?”
“I am not obsessed.”
His brow arched. “You didn’t see the way your eyes lit up when you looked at those tomatoes.”
Her modest grin was reluctant, but Jamar still counted it as a win.
“Well, what do you expect to happen when I walk into a store and see all these heirloom tomatoes?” One corner of her mouth twisted upward. “Okay, fine,” she said, her cheeks flushing a faint crimson with her admission. “I may be alittleobsessed. It probably started back when I lived in Germany.”
Her unexpected answer snatched his attention away from that alluring blush that had crept across her face.
“When did you live in Germany?”
“Much of my junior high and high school years. My dad is career Army, so I’ve spent most of my life living on different military bases all across Europe.”
Jamar nodded, suddenly fascinated by this peek into her background. Her boot camp workouts made even more sense now.
“I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a military kid, living in all those foreign countries. Except for the one year I had with the Bears, I’ve spent my entire life in Texas.”
“Texas isn’t so bad,” she said. “I wasn’t completely sold on it when I first moved here, but it’s grown on me.”
“Let’s get one thing straight: there is no place better than Texas. None.”
“Texans,” she said with exasperation.
“But did I tell a lie?” His brows arched, daring her to refute his words. “After a single winter in Chicago, I realized that I never have to live anywhere but the great state of Texas.”
“Then you definitely wouldn’t have liked winter in Stuttgart, Germany,” she said. Her expression softened. “But I loved it. I especially loved that we were able to get the Food Network when we were stationed there. This was back when they actually taught you how to cook on the channel and didn’t have a bunch of silly competition shows. I became addicted to watchingBarefoot Contessaand Emeril Lagasse. I’d walk around the house yellingbam!at everything.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what Emeril would say when he cooked.” Her eyes grew wide. “Don’t tell me you have never watched his show?”
He shook his head.
She threw her head back and sighed. “You have so much to learn, young grasshopper. Okay, I’m adding this to the dating playbook. We’re going to spend an entire afternoon watching old episodes ofEssence of Emeril.”
The image of kicking back on the couch with Taylor while they watched television held way more appeal than it should for someone who was onlypretendingto be romantically interested in her. But he couldn’t deny the way his pulse thumped at the thought.
