Working Men 1 Box Set

At Your Service-2

The waiter comes back a few minutes later, glaring at us as if he thought we were going to leave and he’s mad we didn’t. With a sigh, he sets out silverware. “I’ll be your waiter tonight. My name is—”

“Todd,” someone behind him says.

I look up to find another waiter pushing Evan aside. Now this one is cute, with wispy blonde curls and tan skin and dark eyes that light up the room when he smiles. And he’s smiling now, smiling at me, as he takes our napkins from Evan.

“Todd, at your service. I’ll be your waiter tonight.”

“This is my table,” Evan starts, but Todd kicks him in the shin and he bends down to rub his leg. “Ow! f**k, Todd.” When Jen giggles, he frowns at us. “You’re working the other side of the room, remember?”

Todd lowers his voice and turns away as if he doesn’t want us to overhear. “Take one of my tables.”

Evan’s still frowning like he thinks it’s a bad idea to switch.

Do it, I want to say, because Todd’s a cutie and he smiled at me. I want him to smile again. He’s so close, my menu brushes his wrist, and I watch the way the fine hairs on his arm stand up beneath the laminated paper when I move my hands.

In a heated whisper, Todd says, “Just this once, Evan. Please.”

“Fine.” Evan glares at us one last time like we’re to blame, then stalks away.

When Todd turns to us again, that smile is back, and I can’t help but grin at him. He’s got a sexy way about him, and me, I’m glad Evan is gone.

Rolling his eyes, Todd leans down over the table and says, “Sorry about that, folks. You two ready to order?”

Jen points at the Jack Daniels chicken. “Can I have this?”

“We’re out,” Todd deadpans.

Jen’s eyes widen and I think, Great. Out of chicken. There goes half the s**t on the menu.

Then, in the same voice, Todd tells her, “I’m just kidding.”

“What?”

I laugh at the confusion on her face and Todd smiles again. He waves the question away. “Nothing.” Still grinning, he winks my way. “You want the JD chicken?”

She nods and he turns to me. “What about you, handsome?”

My face heats at his words and I stare at the menu, unsure what it is I want. Him, I think, but he’s not on the menu. “You had me for a minute there about the chicken. That was a good one.”

“I can be better,” he says, coy.

Clearing my throat, I glance at Jen, who’s got this goofy grin on her face and I already know what she’s thinking. It’s her ‘I’m going to hook you two up’ grin, the one I hate to see. She means well, but God, I don’t need her to find me a boy. So I look at Todd and almost drown in his blue gaze.

“What do you recommend?” My voice is throaty and low—there’s something about him that makes me want to gawk. He probably thinks I’m an i***t, sitting here staring up at him. “I mean, what do you think I’d like?”

His grin says he knows exactly what I’d like and he thinks he’s got it, he wants to serve it up and see if it’s what I’m looking for, and part of me wants to taste whatever it is he wants to give me.

In that deadpan delivery of his, he asks, “My phone number?”

I feel my cheeks heat up and I bury my head in the menu. “Oh, is that on here?” I ask innocently, hoping he doesn’t see how flustered he’s making me.

Did I mention he was cute? And sexy, so damn sexy. I can almost imagine what he’d feel like in my arms, his body tight against mine, that striped shirt and those stupid suspenders he’s wearing on the floor and our flesh pressed together like the pages of a love letter, folded into each other between the sheets of my bed.

Stop it.

I know when I look at him again, he’ll see these thoughts in my eyes, he’ll know I’m not interested in the food anymore. Wasn’t I just saying I don’t need anyone?

I don’t. I don’t.

But I know I’m crushing and I can’t even stop myself. It’s his smile and his eyes and those curls… I want to just fist my hand in them and pull him down for a kiss. I already know those ruddy lips would be sweeter than any dessert they have on the menu, more intoxicating than any of the mixed drinks on the list.

I don’t know why he switched tables with Evan but I’m glad he did, though now I’ll be thinking about him all night.

Did I mention those curls?