We were on the main road now and Joel pulled into an old-fashioned small diner. I noticed his rigid jaw on the unmarred side of his face. I got out of the truck before he could walk around and lift me out. If anyone was behind me I'm sure they got a glimpse of my panties, but I just didn't care at the moment. Joel held the door open for me and we walked inside. The place was clean and quaint. The aroma of fried bacon hung in the air.

"Big match today. Wondered when you'd be by to fill up those engines," an older waitress said while she grabbed two menus.

Joel gave her a brief hug before introducing us. "Maggs, this is Cami Avesque from a Cleveland newspaper doing some articles on The Slam."

Maggs didn't look twice at my dress. With a warm smile she shook my hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm glad you brought this man in for his meal. It's good luck for him to eat our half a pig, dozen egg special before a match."

I had to laugh. "I thought he was joking."

"Well it's a bit of an exaggeration, but I doubt you or I could get through a quarter of it. Joel cleans his plate every time. Have a seat anywhere you like. Do you both want coffee?"

"Yes, please," I replied.

"Same here, but only a cup and then it's water for me."

Maggs gave Joel the menus and he led me to a booth by the window. Several lone men and one couple all wished him luck at today's match. Everyone knew him and obviously respected him. We sat down and I couldn't help asking, "Does Van usually come with you on match days?"

His eyes flashed and the angry tightness to his lips returned. "Van, no. I doubt he's ever eaten here."

That pretty much said it all. The brothers were as different as night and day. I looked down at my menu, my eyes zeroing in on the specials first. Number one is the meal Joel and Maggs told me about. Six pieces of bacon, six eggs, six pieces of toast and hash browns. I looked up and said, "You're kidding, right. Your arteries haven't frozen in your veins yet."

His face softened and his lip tilted up. It was adorable. "I'm a big boy, and I need my protein and carbs before a match. I'll eat some veggies about two hours before the kickoff whistle, but it's too long until then and I play better if I get my energy going early."

Maggs placed our cups in front of us and poured the coffee. "Have you decided what you want, Cami?"

"I'll have the two eggs and toast. If I have any left over, I'll shovel it to Joel's side of the table."

Maggs winked at Joel. "She's a keeper," she said before walking off.

Heat traveled to my cheeks, but Joel ignored it and started prepping his coffee with sugar. I added cream to mine and a packet of sugar-free sweetener. It was surprisingly good and helped with the post-alcohol yucky feeling that had lingered since I woke up.

I gazed at Joel as soon as we had both enjoyed our first sips. "So- are there any more match-day habits that help you win?"

He took another sip. "Several. Will you use them in your article if I tell you?" he said with a clear twinkle in his eyes.

"Not if you don't want me to, but they better be good."

"Coming here for breakfast is the second game day ritual. The first is going on a date the night before a game. I took a lovely woman named Evelyn out last night."

Why did that make me sad? "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No," he said with a smile, "she's a friend of a friend. It was a blind date."

That made me chuckle. "I hate to ask how the blind date went."

For just a second, the same bad-boy expression that Van had flittered across Joel's face. "I wasn't going to tell you."

"Not fair at all. You saw how my date turned out."

He looked at me over his cup. "I hope mine ended without her crying, but it doesn't change that I won't kiss and tell."

"Ahhh, you kissed her."

He frowned. "Cami."

I put on my innocent face. "What?" I asked shyly, though for the first time around Joel, I didn't feel shy at all.

He gave me stern eyes. "I won't ask you what happened with my brother. You won't ask about Eileen."

"You know exactly what happened with your brother and I thought you said her name was Evelyn." I knew my grin was growing, but I couldn't help myself.

His cheeks tinged the slightest bit pink.

"You don't even remember her name," I said and bit my lip to keep from laughing aloud.

"We didn't have sex, just a few kisses. I probably don't remember the names of several of the women I've kissed." He huffed out, truly affronted.

"You're fun to tease."

It was priceless. He growleda low rumbling bear sound. I burst into laughter and he smiled at me.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" he asked with a quizzical look.

"For turning something really bad into something better."

"My brother was that bad?" he deadpanned.

It was my turn to growl. "We're not going there." Sadly my lady parts were feeling the lingering effects of not-quite-ready sex. Now that my mind wasn't as blurry because I had a cup of coffee, I was remembering last night's first encounter. Van was a jerk, but I was so lost in wild Cami that I was blind.

"Hey." Joel tapped my hand, which was resting on the table.

No sulking for me. "Are you going to tell me your other match day superstitions?"

"I prefer you call them rituals."

"Whatever," I said in my best juvenile voice. I was having fun and the memory of last night was fading quickly. For now.

"I wear orange laces on my shoes."

"Orange? Your team color is red."

"In college it was blue, but in youth league, we were red one year. My mom accidently bleached my red laces a nice orange before a match and it's all I had to wear. I wore them and played the best game in my young career. Now I buy orange laces as bright as I can get them. I believe today's pair glow in the dark."

That was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard, and I remembered Van saying Joel was a momma's boy. "I look forward to seeing you light up the field."

Our breakfast arrived. His came on a large platter with a side plate for his toast. I watched him attack his food. The man was huge and I'm sure he needed the fuel, though, in my entire life, I never saw anyone put away that much food. I will admit to cleaning my own plate. I expected grease, but got perfect eggs and toast with real butter. The meal was delicious.

Joel finally leaned back and groaned.

"I can't even imagine what your grocery bill is."

"Large. We need to go. I have a few things to do before the match."

Our time was over. Joel paid the bill and lifted me into his truck again. We didn't speak much on the way to my hotel.

"Don't move," he said when we pulled up to the lobby. He came around, opened my door, and swung me down. "Are you coming to the match?"

It seemed an odd question. "Of course. I need the score for my first article and also experience at watching an actual match live."

"I'm glad."

What he meant dawned on me and I needed to clear this up. "What happened between me and your brother won't keep me away. Awkward, yes, but I'm not running from my stupidity."

"I'm glad to hear that. Will you be at The Slam Tavern afterwards?"

I really didn't want to go if Van would be there, but I had to suck it up for my job. "Yes, I'll be there. So for a little inside scoop- is The Slam winning this afternoon's game?"

A fanatical light practically went off behind his eyes. "You bet your ass. We'll annihilate them."

He drove away as I entered the Inn's lobby wondering why I couldn't have fallen for Joel instead of Van.