Where: Zoo
When: March 30, 2012
What:: Heather repays the loan made on Friday night.
Heather can't get away from work for too long, but she manages to find a lunch break and texts Bruce asking him to meet her of all places at the zoo. When he arrives, she's sitting on a bench near the gate sipping from a cup of coffee.
He arrives just a few minutes after the time she arranged for a meeting, walking up towards the gate. Bruce's wearing a suit again, once more sans tie, the entire outfit showing custom tailoring and good taste without screaming I have too much money. Stopping to grab an iced latte from one of the stands near the gate he walks over towards her and flicks a smile at her. "Heather, good to see you again."
Heather's very obviously coming from her office, the navy blue pantsuit topped with a soft ivory blouse. Her dark hair is pinned into a twist at the back of her head. She looks up as he gets within her range and smiles a little. "Bruce," she greets quietly. "I appreciate you meeting me. I'm sorry the location is a little… unorthodox. I just don't get to sit out in the sunshine often."
Bruce waves away the apology with a gesture towards the zoo, "Then let's go walk for a bit in the sun, it's not going to be too much longer before it's too damned hot to." There's a low chuckle and a glance in her direction that despite his sunglasses obscuring his eyes makes it very clear that he's enjoying the view she presents, even in work attire. "No need to apologize, I'm not one to turn down a walk with such enjoyable company."
"A walk would be nice," she agrees easily. She stands and picks up a small pocketbook that rests just below her armpit when she slides it on her shoulder. Pulling a pair of sunglasses from it, she also pulls out a flat envelope, and then she's ready to move. Heather holds it out to him. "I wanted to say thank you, first… for the other night. I'm pretty embarrassed about it."
He glances at the envelope, moving to encourage her into walking with him before he even begins to take it from her. Bruce's voice is quiet and whe walks close but not overly so, "You're welcome, like I said, I'm not in any particular rush for a repayment. If you'd like some more time or anything, then hold on to that for now…as for embarrassement, don't be..happens to the best of us."
"No," Heather says immediately, still holding the envelope out to him. She starts to walk with him only as he takes it. "It's fine. I just didn't have enough on me that night. I'll be more careful in the future." She is insistant that this needs to be dealt with RightNow. It's only when it's in his hands that she finally seems to breathe easier.
Bruce takes it then, and tucks it away into an inside pocket of his jacket without any further comment in an obvious attempt to avoid causing any particular stress or scene. Glancing at her he smiles, "It's no big deal, Heather, and thanks for the quick response. " As they walk on towards the shadier section where there's some animals in open pens he sips at his coffee and says, "So…how about dinner tonight?"
Heather slants a look at him. "Really?" she asks drily. "You meet a woman in the casino who literally goes under the first time you lay eyes on her and you have to bail her out financially…. and you want to take her to dinner? I think you must be a little insane," she observes in amusement. "Or you like to live dangerously."
There's a low laugh and he pauses in the shade to turn and look at her, one hand moving to lift his sun glasses up atop his head and reveal the sparkling eyes beneath, "Really. I meet a rather stunning woman at a casino, we chat amiably, she has some bad luck I can help her out with. She repays my cover .. what a day or two later? If it's insane to want dinner…then I'm mad as a hatter…or an adrenaline junkie."
Shaking her head, Heather blushes faintly at the praise. "I wasn't fishing for compliments," she says, now a bit embarrassed. But she does smile, hiding the blush behind a sip of her coffee. "Adrenaline, huh? I'm thinking your version of it and mine may differ slightly." She pauses and then says, "Before I go out with you, I'm going to tell you up front that I work in the DA's office." She shrugs. "About half the time that scares people off." A theatrical roll of her eyes. "I don't know why, in this town." Tongue firmly in cheek.
Those eyes of his glimmer with a bit more mischeif, "Didn't think you were, Heather, you deserved them anyway." Bruce's gaze is obviously drawn to the blush but he doesn't stare, flicking back to meet her gaze directly a moment later. Eyebrows lift slightly and he shrugs, "So you can get me out of a parking ticket or two, hmm? I've got no concerns with the DA's office…I'm a fine and upstanding member of the community."
"Fine phrasing there," Heather returns. "The definition of fine, upstanding citizens in Vegas tends to be rather… flexible," she laughs. Her sunglasses still hide her own eyes, and she looks to her right. "The lions are just down there. Shall we?" she invites, perhaps feeling a little awkward that he's studying her so closely. "Dinner would be lovely," she concedes as they start to walk again. "So what is it that you do, Bruce?" she asks.
Bruce turns with her, dropping the sunglasses back into place on his nose, though he might be walking just a touch closer to her now as he takes another sip from his drink. "Flexible? Hmm..yeah, I do suppose that's rather a good word for it, isn't it? " His tone is one of amused agreement, his lips turning up in a pleased smile as she agrees to dinner, "I'll pick you up at eight then? Assuming you can trust a man who's between jobs at the moment to know where you live anyway."
"Between jobs?" she asks curiously. "What is it that you do, Bruce? I don't think I caught it, if you told me the other night," Heather tells him apologetically.
"Hmm..guess that wasn't the best answer. I just left a job in the UK, started up a private security firm there, and it's going well enough that it doesn't need my hands on and day to day supervision." Bruce says with a faint shrug, pausing as the lions come in to view and turning to look at them. "So now I'm back here, will start rooting around for whatever's next here in a coupla weeks I think."
"I see," Heather comments. She sips from her cup as they walk, and when she pauses at the lions' enclosure she seems a little wary. 'Private security' has all kinds of meanings in this town, and she's perhaps trying to sort through where he fits without having to ask him if he's a thug for hire.
Bruce moves to lean against the railing in front of the lion pen, elbows against it, cup of coffee held in both hands, the position outlining even through the suit that the man has the build of a predator: Broad shoulders and trim hips, powerful legs and strong hands all make it clear enough that he's at the very least in shape. "See, it's me scaring /you/ off now, " he says with a grin, "So generally I'm looking now to get more into something along the easier end of things, perhaps investments or even just some simple translation,I've a bit of a knack with languages."
The brunette slants him a grin at being read so easily. "Security has a lot of different meanings in Vegas," Heather points out easily. "Sounds like you're in a position to take your time and see what appeals to you, though. That's good."
"All sorts of them, doesn't it?" Bruce agrees with a grin, glancing over at her and then he nods, "I've been fairly lucky..did well in the nineties and have a good little thing going funds wise, so I should be able to take my time in deciding what's next. No particular reason to rush..nothing really is worse than working a job you hate, well..save for not having a job or the means to support yourself I guess."
Heather nods easily. "Definitely could be worse. I didn't mean to sound as though I was interrogating you on your financial security — I do apologize. Hazard of the job, you could call it." She grins a little, watching lion cubs climb over their mother and bite one another. "Do you know Vegas well enough to choose a place for dinner?" she asks casually. "There's all the obvious places, but there are some really great ones off the beaten path too."
Bruce takes a sip from his coffee, taking the top off so as to not make noise with the straw as he reaches the end of his drink. "No harm no foul, Heather..I've got nothin' to hide about my financials….just lemme know if I need to worry about a grand jury investigation." He flicks her a teasing grin, then ponders a moment, "It's been six, seven years since I've been here and things change, I'm game for somethin' off the strip if you've an idea on where you wanna go? "
She looks toward him, studying him for a moment. "You look like a meat and potatoes kind of guy to me," Heather says. "There's a steak place just west of the city limits that's really good," she offers.
"Steak's are something I rarely turn down." Bruce says with a grin, standing up and glancing around for a trash can. Locating one he puts the lid back on the cup and tosses it at the can, some fifteen feet away and …. scores. Looking back to her he grins, "But..I'm a fan of everything from Pad Thai, to burritos, to sushi as well…so think of someplace you really wanna go and haven't for whatever reason - we'll go there."
Heather observes the toss with both eyebrows to her hairline. "All right, then," she says. "I'll text you my address… and I'll see you at eight." She moves to push off the wall, taking her own drink with her. It's not quite gone. "I better get back. It's never slow." She smiles.
