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My heart beats a little faster. It’s not often that I have someone as good looking as River being so flirtatious and bold with me. I can usually fend off any advances that customers make… but what if I don’t want River to behave?
God, I really need to get laid.
I shoot River a quelling look and hurry to the kitchen window. Calling out the order is quick work. I can hear Gem firing up the grill as I dart around, blending a milkshake and perking up a new batch of coffee.
Throwing myself into my work is easy. I’ve been practicing this for years at this point. Keeping my hands busy and my feet moving is almost second nature.
In fact, it only barely keeps my mind from drifting back to River. When I add the ice cream and milk to the blender and turn it on, I look over at him. He flashes me a smirk as he says something to Brooks that I can’t hear over the noise of the machine.
River showed up unexpectedly at the GCUFOS meeting the other night. Where he kissed me, I might add. And now he’s here at my work, being all sexy and tempting. And he clearly thinks I’m hot, so–
“Pearl!” Gem yells from the kitchen. “You’re going to burn the blender’s motor out!”
Shaking myself out of it, I turn the blender off and go through the motions of serving up the shake. Gem starts putting up plates and ringing the bell for service.
I’m busy carrying plates to the tables for the next ten minutes and then running around getting the Billion Dollar Bennetts whatever condiments they need for the foreseeable future.
When I’m finished with that, I need a break. I check my watch. It’s now past eleven. Heading into the kitchen, I find Gem washing dishes. “Hey Gem? Do you mind if I take five?”
Gem nods and stops spraying dishes. “Go ahead. Take ten if you want.”
“You are awesome and the best boss of all time, ever.” I pull my apron off, and brush a few crumbs off of my antique-blue diner waitress’s uniform skirt. Grabbing a white cable-knit sweater, I head out the back door and walk ten feet to the aging picnic table.
When I get outside, I take a deep breath, inhaling the night air.
There’s nothing outside here but the long, silver back wall of the restaurant to my left and the gorgeous, moonlit beach much further off in the distance to my right. It’s cold out here. The moon and stars are impossibly brilliant against the black backdrop of the night sky. I sit down on the edge of the table and wrap my sweater tighter, looking up.
Before I can even begin to relax, I hear the crunch of footsteps on the gravel of the parking lot. I tense up. The restaurant’s boxy shape casts a deep shadow over the parking lot, obscuring the approaching figure. Who is coming to intrude on my quiet moment?
But I already know who, even before River’s shape coalesces out of the darkness. He has his hands shoved in the pockets of his impossibly snug jeans. And the look on his face is far hungrier than the flirtatious one he’d given me inside the diner.
When I see his blue eyes, a ripple of unnamed emotion runs through me. Maybe I’m just horny. Or perhaps lonely.
He walks over to me, eyeing me like a cat creeping up to a mouse. “It’s cold out here, Pearl.”
“I like it,” I say, just babbling as an excuse to fill the space between us.
My heart rate increases with each step he takes. He comes to a stop mere inches away from me. My tongue feels too big for my mouth.
River is so damn hot. He cocks one eyebrow, and his eyes glint a soft blue in the shadows. The way he is looking at me right now, like I’m a whole damn snack, makes my knees weak.
“Do you need more syrup or something?” I joke.
A dimple flashes in his cheek. “I need something, all right.”
Gulp.
I ball up my fists in my sweater and try to play it cool. This is not even close to the first time a customer has hit on me. But River is the man I’ve been obsessing about since his lips touched mine last night. The blossoming burst of butterflies in my belly is a novel experience.
Just like spending the night with River would be, a naughty little voice in the back of my head whispers.
He doesn’t beat around the bush with me at all. “I want to take you out on a date.”
Double gulp.
I give my head a gentle shake. “You’re drunk, River.”
He reaches out to me, making eye contact with me the whole while. Asking for my permission to touch me without saying a word. I swallow, and offer no resistance as he slides his hands around my waist and pulls me against his body. My hands land on the lapels on his motorcycle jacket. I bite my lip and look up at him.
