Page 10 of Tight End

I laughed and pretended like I was going to throw a balled up napkin at him. “I liked her for a totally different reason than you. I grew up with a traditional mom. She wanted me to do girly things. It’s kind of embarrassing, but she made me join the cheerleading squad when I was six.”

To his credit, Brody’s eyes stayed locked onto mine rather than drifting down to my body. “I’m sure you would’ve been a real good cheerleader, but you’re too smart for that. It would have been a huge waste.”

If only you knew what I did as a side-gig, I thought with a smile.

“I watched Jurassic Park when I was ten,” I went on. “My brother snuck the videotape upstairs and we watched it after my parents went to sleep. Seeing Ellie Sattler there, studying animals and doing science and stuff… It changed the way I thought about my future. It let me know I could be anything in life, even if it wasn’t girly. That’s how I got into dinosaurs.”

Brody nodded along approvingly. “The book was better, you know.”

“I agree! You’ve read Michael Crichton?” I asked.

He held out his hands. “Don’t get too excited, T-Foxy. It’s probably the only book I read voluntarily. That and the sequel, The Lost World.”

“Also better than the movie,” I said. “Although Crichton took some liberties with his fiction.”

“Like what?”

“The big one is his incorrect portrayal of velociraptors,” I said.

“Let me guess,” Brody cut in. “They weren’t really smart enough to open doors.”

“Possibly, but I was referring to their size. Velociraptors are actually quite small. They stand only two feet tall. If there was one here, it wouldn’t be able to see above this table.”

Brody’s sexy face grew serious. “Wait just a second. You’re telling me that my husky dog back home is bigger than a damn velociraptor?”

“That’s right.”

He leaned back and stared at me suspiciously. “You’re pulling my leg.”

“Look it up. The largest dromaeosaurids were actually utahraptors, which were discovered here in Utah! Hence the name. But velociraptor sounds more menacing, I guess.”

Brody paused to pull out his phone.

“Don’t believe me?”

“You said to look it up! So I’m looking it up!” His jaw hung open. “Well I’ll be damned.”

I reached across the table and patted his arm. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”

“Next you’re going to tell me there isn’t an island in Central America with a bunch of dinosaurs running around.”

I sucked in my breath. “Brody, I don’t know how to tell you this…”

He finished the beer and waved for another. “You just killed my inner child. I’m going to need to drink my sorrows away.”

We shared three more beers in our commemorative pint glass while talking about anything and everything: dinosaurs, movies, television shows. We talked about his husky, Luna, and how I was definitely a dog person too. Brody gave me the run-down on all the cool places in Salt Lake City, whether it was for a bite to eat or a club to go dancing at.

Before we knew it, it was eleven o’clock, and Brody was glancing at his watch. “I should probably head home and let my dog out. She gets awfully howly if she’s left alone too long, and it’s about time for her sixth walk of the day.”

“I need to close out my tab.” I twisted to look for the waitress.

“Already took care of it,” Brody said.

I glared at him. “When did you do that?”

“When I went to get our last victory beer. I can be real sneaky when I want to be.” He punctuated it with a wink.

When was the last time a guy winked at me? I couldn’t remember, but I liked it. At least, I liked when Brody winked at me. As long as he said it with his charming Texas drawl, I knew I would like whatever Brody did or said.

---