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without wanting to do something…”
    “I’m sorry, Jimmy.”
    He looked at Julie again, and she saw the
hurt look in his eyes. “Wouldn’t be so bad if her dad wasn’t the foreman at my
parents’ ranch. He lives not even a mile from the main house, so she could pop
in any time.”
    “That has to be hard.”
    “Not so much anymore.” He paused. “But we
started dating in seventh grade. I still can’t go home and remember the good
times we had there without getting pissed all over again. I can’t keep from
remembering, though, especially knowing she could breeze in any day, right onto
the Lazy B.”
    Julie wondered why Jimmy’s parents kept the
woman’s father on but figured it wasn’t her business. “In time the hurt will go
away. The first time I went back to New York for a photo shoot, I ran into
Lloyd and Rico on the street in midtown Manhattan. They looked happy as clams
while I was still an emotional wreck. I went to my hotel room and cried for
hours. After a couple of years I was able to run into them and feel nothing at
all.” Well, not really. There was that small twinge of regret that she’d been
so blind for so long, believing Lloyd was just busy the weeks at a time when he
ignored her between gorging them on BDSM sessions at the club. But she didn’t
need to tell Jimmy that.
    When he turned to her, he wore a determined
grin. “I’ll live, baby. But thanks for listening. We’ve been working off our
breakfast for a couple of hours now, and I’m getting hungry again. What say we
go check out the seafood at that famous restaurant up on Broad Street? Are you
up for some stair-climbing?”
    He didn’t have to tell her it was an
appetite-boosting climb from the cobblestone-paved River Street up to Bay
Street and a short walk from there to the restaurant, but the prospect of
eating the Southern-style fare while getting a breathtaking, panoramic view of
the river and historic sites made the trek worth the effort. “Sure. Can’t do
River Street without going to the Pirates’ House.”
    Good thing they both were in great shape.
Otherwise they’d have been huffing and puffing like the couple behind them in
line. They sipped their beers at the bar and waited for a table. “I wonder how
many of these customers hiked up from River Street?” she asked casually.
    “Most of them, I guess.” Jimmy drained his
glass and set it on the bar.
    The bartender grinned. “Most locals come in
from Bay Street. You must be tourists.”
    “Newcomers. At least Jimmy is. He plays for
the Rebels.”
    The bartender held out a hand. “Hey, I
recognize you. Jimmy Bronson. The sackmaster. How’s Savannah treatin’ you so
far?”
    Jimmy smiled. “Just fine. How long is it
gonna be before we get to eat?”
    Julie figured he must be hungry again. It
must take a lot of fuel to keep his huge body going. “I bet we could eat in
here if we get the buffet.”
    “That’s right,” the bartender said.
“Service isn’t as good, but I’ll see you get taken care of. Fried chicken’s the
main course, but there’s lots of other stuff—crab cakes and sweet potatoes and
turnip greens. You get bread and dessert, too.”
    Jimmy looked at Julie. “That okay with you,
baby?”
    She nodded. “I love Southern cooking. It
reminds me of home. I have to be careful, though, or I’ll eat myself right out
of a job.”
    “You look great. Hot as hell. Not bone thin
like some models I’ve run into.”
    Julie noticed the sincere expression on his
face as he looked down at her. “I used to be, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve
switched from high-fashion modeling to doing ad layouts where my face is more
important than how my body looks in clothes.”
    “It looks fine to me, baby. Come on, let’s
dig into the food. I love buffets.” He grinned. “Next week training camp
starts, and I’d better love them, because that’s what I’ll get every day. Today
I want to chow down. We’ll take the buffet, then, Sam.”
    The fact that