Chapter 2

There would be no gussying up, not to simply share a meal with a man that saved her life, even if he was gorgeous. A shower was a MUST, along with peroxide for the scraps on her hands, arms, and legs. "Thank you again for helping me, Jon." She reached up to touch the side of his face, feeling how soft his beard was against her fingers and pulled back. Those electric blues of his were dangerously hypnotic. "See you in a bit." Hopping in her car, Vallea drove off out of the desert and couldn't remember the last time she felt so exhilarated in her life.

If Jon didn't call her, she would be very disappointed, but then again, maybe the man simply wasn't interested.

After a shower and doctoring herself up, Vallea pulled on a pair of blue jean capri's and an orange tank top, brown sandals on her feet. It was too hot to wear anything else and she didn't put makeup on either. Again, too hot. When an hour and a half passed by, Vallea began to wonder if Jon had changed his mind about inviting her out for a meal.

At the 2 hour mark, he finally called and she answered on the third ring, hating how fast her heart pounded in her chest. "Hello?"

"Doll, where are we meeting?" Jon said by way of greeting, eyeing himself in his bathroom mirror thoughtfully.

He kind of missed the curls, but this shorter cut was way more low maintenance. That was nice. Jon figured he'd give her time to do whatever she needed to do and he had gotten distracted, which was something fairly common for him. He had showered, trimmed, and then pulled on a pair of men's leather sandals, blue jean shorts, and a white beater. He was a low-key kind of guy.

What was it about his voice that turned her on?

It was low, gritty and raspy all wrapped up in a beautiful husky package. Vallea glanced at the clock, seeing it was almost early dinner time and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Why do I have to decide? You invited me out, remember? I think you should be the one to choose the place and I'll meet you there, Jonny." She smirked, the nickname flowing off her tongue easily. When he gave her a destination, which wasn't far from where she lived, Vallea agreed to meet him there in a half hour and hung up to head out.

This day was turning out better and better.

Considering she had insisted she was paying, he figured he'd do her a solid and let her pick somewhere. The woman was weird as hell. Not that he was judging, he wasn't exactly flying normal either. Jonny…his nose wrinkled as he pulled into the parking lot of the small hole in the wall diner he preferred, a few blocks away from the main strip. Low-key, out of the way, and his ego wasn't big enough to let him think in Sin City he was anything special. However, the country fried steak was to die for.

"Well hello…" He rumbled, spotting Vallea already parked and waiting.

She smiled, waving three fingers at him while leaning against her Nissan Rogue, red, and pushed away from it to walk over to him. "Hi again. Shall we?"

Vallea looked refreshed compared to the sweaty mess she'd been earlier, her hair down and still somewhat damp from the shower she'd taken. They seated themselves and she looked around, not surprised by the dive he had chosen to eat at. It wasn't bad, at least it was clean and she enjoyed the low-key atmosphere.

"Remember what I said, order whatever you want." Vallea actually wanted to take him out for steak and lobster, but she was glad she hadn't offered.

Men could be intimidated by a successful, well-off financially, woman.

"Oh I remember…" He chuckled wickedly, not even bothering to pick up a menu. This was his go-to for breakfast. The place wasn't going to earn any five star awards or nothing, but as far as he was concerned, the portions were always right and he appreciated a homecooked meal he didn't have to actually cook himself. "Darla, baby cakes…" He greeted when the rather old broad of a waitress ambled over.

"How many times, son, do I need to ask you not to call me that?" She remarked without any bite, sounding both amused and exasperated.

"I see your legs, I bet you've been called…other…things." He smiled sweetly up at her before glancing at Vallea. "This is Val, she's buying me breakfast."

"Oh, you poor darling…" Darla said sympathetically.

It was obvious Jon had been here more than a few times if he knew a waitress by her first name. "It's almost dinner time, so technically, I'm buying you dinner." Vallea corrected with a smile and continued looking over the menu, trying to decide what to order.

"She's got you there, son." Darla liked this spunky woman. "What can I get for you, dear?"

Splurging a little after her workout wouldn't harm anything. "I think I'll have the enchiladas, but no jalapeno sauce on it, please." Vallea had noticed what all came on them and the only thing that turned her off was that sauce. "Extra sour cream."

"All right, and I already know what you want, boy." Darla smirked at his snapping teeth and rolled her eyes, writing down everything. "Drinks?"

"I'll take a beer." They both said simultaneously and Vallea laughed, needing one after her near-death experience. "Well, good to know we're both on the same page with that at least."

Darla chuckled along with them, walking away to put their order in.

"So, you seem to know this place quite well. Do you come here a lot?" Vallea figured striking up a conversation with her savior wouldn't be too hard and took a sip of her water.

"Not at all." He dead panned, pushing the complimentary glass of water away from him.

Usually, Jon was an easygoing man with simple tastes, but water…he had a thing. It stemmed from his childhood. He did not do tap water, ever, unless he was in a life or death situation. If he asked for bottled water, he always wanted it straight from an unopened bottle because, if anyone poured it, they usually added ice, which was generally made from tap water. He had a few quirks.

"Not as much as I used too," He answered honestly. "I had to go on a diet." This place wasn't conducive to that, way too much comfort cooking here.

A diet? He was joking, right? This man was ripped and jacked beyond belief! Maybe that was why he went on a diet. Maybe he used to be some fat slob that turned his life around or something. Whatever the case, Vallea was thankful because he was not hard on the eyes at all.

"I have one cheat day a week and the rest I try to eat as healthy as I can. It's kinda hard in my line of work, but I make do and keep myself fit. What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking, Jon?"

Just then, Darla arrived with the unopened longnecks, popping them open before being set on the table.

Saved by the booze! Introducing himself to someone, who obviously had no idea what he did for a living, was always awkward. Even after all these years, he still got 'that isn't real' from the uninitiated and it was just as irritating as it was 10 years ago.

"I'm an athlete." He decided to give her a half-answer, examining his bottle before meeting her curious stare. "What is it you do?" Since she had said in her line of work it was hard to eat healthy, he knew how that went.

She took a pull from the longneck, wondering what kind of sport he worked in. With a body like that, it wasn't a surprise to discover his line of work. "I'm a traveling agent, of sorts. Basically, people call on me to set up their travel plans and some request a personal assistant for their trips. Lots of exotic places, which gets old after a while, but it's good money and I do enjoy traveling." Vallea shrugged, seeing the judgment in his pale blues and took another sip of her beer. "What kind of athlete are you? Or maybe I should ask what kind of sport do you play? Football player?" That was her first guess with his build and height.

A travel agent, yeah…and as a personal assistant, what kind of travel agent did that? He knew a lot of agents who simply booked the trips, hotels, and itineraries, but they rarely left their desks. With her rocking body and stellar good looks, maybe she was a bit more exotic then a traditional travel agent. Jon wouldn't lie, he was tempted to ask if he could book her.

"I wrestle." He said finally, throwing a wink at Darla when she passed by. Football had always seemed boring, not enough action. "Usually. I'm on a vacation right now." Sort of, more like a strategic retreat.

"He's so modest. He's a WWE Superstar. You've heard of them, right?"

Vallea looked completely confused, raising a slow brow and shook her head. "No."

Darla blanched, blinking down at the woman. "Have you lived under a rock your whole life, honey?"

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "No, I just travel frequently for my job and I've never really gotten into sports, of any kind." Besides rock climbing, obviously. "I think I've booked travel packages for people to go to a WWE event or something a time or two, but that's about it. I didn't know what WWE involved, just booked the events and moved along."

Yes, she had a rather…unique job and called it a traveling agent because it didn't raise questions nearly as much with new people. Hell, Vallea wasn't sure what to really call her job title because sometimes she was a personal assistant and other times she just booked people for their vacations. Traveling agent fit the bill in her eyes.

"So, do you like what you do for a living, Jon?"

Darla had walked away, after setting some wings on the table for them to share, which was part of Jon's order.

"Course I do, I get to beat people up for a living and I earn some decent money." Jon made a mental note to not tip Darla; she was a douchebag for spilling his beans without his permission. "You like being…okay, you're not really a travel agent, not the normal kind." That was going to bug him. He was reaching for the Tabasco to go on top of his already saturated wings. "Travel agents don't accompany people, usually. Not unless they're a guide."

He was very observant, she surmised, not reaching for the wings because it was obvious he was about to devour them all. "I didn't take you for one that nitpicked someone's occupation." She remarked with a smirk, taking another pull from her beer and crossed one leg over the other. "I'm not a guide." Vallea laughed, shaking her head. "I guess you can call it a personal assistant, but I don't stick to just one client. I work for an agency that does both, basically. Some are personal assistants that travel with their clients for a certain amount of time, depending on the contract and how long they need us. Then, there are clients that just need their vacations scheduled or business trips, whatever. I call it a traveling agent, it doesn't sound nearly as complicated as it is. I'm hoping one day to get away from the agency and do my own thing, though. For now, it's a job that pays my bills and keeps a roof over my head and food in my mouth."

"You want to be my traveling guide? Agent, assistant, whatever." Jon laughed, nudging the platter of wings towards her because there was no way he was going to be able to eat all of these, plus his food, and not feel like an asshole afterwards. He liked junk food, and for a while, it had started showing. "I'll pay you well." He grinned at her wickedly, knowing he probably shouldn't be teasing, or was it sexual harassment these days, but he couldn't help it. "And if you ever decide you want to play the damsel in distress again, I'll be right on hand to be your knight."

"Believe me, I don't play damsel in distress for anyone. That was a legit slip of the foot and near death experience that happened and you were there, thankfully."

Vallea didn't know this man from a hole in the ground and he wanted her to be his traveling guide? Maybe that was a better term to use than agent. The 'I'll pay you well' told her more than just work would transpire between them and Vallea did not mix business with pleasure. Ever. That was just a recipe for disaster.

"You know, Jon, I'd LOVE to take you up on that offer, but I have to decline." She leaned forward, swiping some sauce from the corner of his mouth and popped the digit in hers. "You see, if I were to start working for you, we'd have to be strictly professional."

"So don't work for me and let's be very unprofessional." He could be blunt and the look on her face was worth it. Considering she was licking her fingers after touching his face, he was going to bet she wasn't shy.

"Keep your pants on junior, food's here." Darla remarked dryly, appearing out of seemingly nowhere with an arm laden with a tray.

"Your timing sucks."

"Exactly my point."

His blunt nature was even more of a turn on for Vallea, if that was possible. She would definitely need a change of panties after this dinner was over with. Maybe even a masturbation session, unless Jon wanted to scratch the itch she had. Would he sleep with someone he just met not even 12 hours ago? She smiled up at Darla and began drenching the enchiladas in sour cream while Jon fixed up his country fried steak meal he'd ordered. They ate in companionable silence, each devouring their meals, both famished from the rock climbing experience. Vallea wasn't able to eat anything after getting home, but now that she was safe and clean, her appetite had kicked up a notch.

Jon watched her while he was eating, pleased and a bit surprised to see that she was packing it away. Neatly, of course, but the way she ate he would bet she could give him a run for his money. "Want some dessert?" He asked after a fairly companionable silence, wondering how she'd feel about maybe extending the meal to something else. She was different, and while it was cliché, it was also true.

Not many women out there, who went rock climbing in the wee hours, without safety equipment or a buddy.