“Cheerleading, huh?” His gaze drifted past her.
She groaned. “Stop picturing me in a short skirt.”
“I can’t help the natural response to what you said.”
“At least don’t be obvious about it,” she told him, but her tone was teasing.
He shook his head. “Okay, I’m back with you. So cheerleading in high school. Then what?”
“Then I went to stunt school. My parents wanted me to go to college—my dad, so I’d get an education, but I think my mom was more interested in me making the cheer team. Who would have thought? But I disappointed them both. When I finished the program, my dad helped me get my first job. He made a fewcalls, and it turned out I was practically a twin for the spunky girlfriend in a big-budget movie.”
“Lucky break.” He studied her. “And you didn’t need your dad’s help after that first job.”
“No. I got the rest of the work on my own.”
“Do you like the actual day-to-day, or are you a danger junkie?”
An interesting question, she thought. “A year ago I would have told you I’m a danger junkie, but now I’m less sure. I’ve had a couple of accidents, but this one was the worst. I was doing everything right—it was the truck driver who screwed up. He should have handled the blown tire better, but we all make mistakes. Unfortunately I’m the one in the cast. I’m starting to wonder if I should rethink my career.”
She was also enjoying the screenwriting more and more but wasn’t willing to talk to him about that. The only person who knew what she was doing was her father. And possibly her mother because her dad told Ava everything.
They talked for another half hour while they finished lunch. When they were done, Victoria picked up her crutches.
“You ready to head into the bedroom?”
Javiar’s expression of surprise told her that hadn’t been on his mind.
“You’re offering sex?” he clarified.
“Sure. Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“No. I’m here so we could hang out and get to know each other.”
Really? “Why?” She set down the crutches and held up her hand. “I mean why would you go to all that trouble when you could have just asked if I wanted to have sex? I haven’t since I’ve got the cast on, so we might need to modify a few things, but I’m sure we could make it work.”
“I didn’t come here to hook up,” he told her.
She stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. “Okay, so you’re here because you hate to eat alone?”
He chuckled. “Why can’t you believe I want to get to know you?”
“Before we have sex?”
“In general. At some point sex would be nice, but not right away.”
“But sex is the purpose of all this.”
“Not for me.”
Oh. He was one ofthose. “I don’t do relationships. I don’t get involved. I’m not that girl.”
Nothing about his expression or body language changed. “You intrigue me.”
“When we met, I had the remnants of two black eyes. I’m still on crutches, I have emotional issues, and it’s very possible I became a stuntwoman to piss off my mother. Trust me when I say you don’t want any of this.”
“You’re wrong. Now that we’ve cleared that up, would you like to go to dinner sometime?”
She sighed. Men could be so dense. “What part ofI don’t do relationshipsis confusing?”
