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 f**king 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 f**k, 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 f**king 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 f**king 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.