Page 6 of Dining for Love

“Him!Officer Reid!”

My heart thumps far too much inside my chest. Perfect. The painfully hot man himself, come to haunt me in my place of business. Fantastic.

Goldie harbors no such qualms like mine, and why should she? Like her name, she is the golden girl no one can resist, and her blue eyes are bright with excitement. She fluffs her ponytail and wiggles her fingers. “Wish me luck!”

I twist my lips. “You need no such thing.”

She giggles and does a miniature bow, then speeds away to flirt while I focus on the line of tickets in front of me.

“Burgers up,” Dad says.

I turn and grab the plates, garnish them, and hit the bell. “Order up!”

One of the other servers, Melanie, appears and takes the food. She’s replaced in seconds by Goldie, who’s smiling even wider now.

“Oh my gosh, he’s socute,” she sighs. “Have you seen him, Willa? The greenest eyes. His tan…and thosedimples! Oooh, I wonder if he has those mirrored sunglasses. Maybe he’ll stop me for speeding and say, ‘Do you know how fast you were going?’ inthis really deep voice before whipping them off and staring into my soul like a sexy beast.”

I ding the bell in her face. Twice. “Give me his order and get out of my window.”

She blinks, then laughs, completely unfazed by my aggressive bell-dinging. “Okay, yeah, you’ve seen him. Here’s the order.”

I take the ticket she slaps down and start reading it off like always. “Dash Burger, hold the fried egg and avocado, add lettuce, tomato, onion.” I stop, then read the ticket again. That’s a regular burger.

Behind me, Dad replies, “So, a regular burger?”

“Guess so.” I mutter, then yell through the window. “Hey, Goldie!”

My sister comes back. “What’s up?”

I wave the ticket. “It’s a regular burger. Just change the order.”

She shakes her head. “Nope. I asked him the same thing. He wants the Dash Burger, hold the fried egg and avocado, add lettuce, tomato, onion.”

Exhaling, I push the ticket into the holder. “Fine.”

Except it’s not fine, because it frazzles me so much I get the next order totally wrong, and Melanie’s back in the window pointing at the table of middle-aged women and saying they want their orders completely re-done. Because of course they do.

You know what’s worse than a table full of middle-aged women saying they want their orders completely re-done?

Nothing. There is absolutely nothing worse. Ask me how I know.

I’ve had it. Enough with this man and his stupid order and his stupidly pretty face.

Unwrapping my apron, I stalk out of the kitchen and find the source of the past seventy-two hours of frustration. Or maybe more. I’ve lost the ability to count thanks to this man. It’s easy enough to spot him in the dining area: He’s the guy in the navy-blue uniform that fits him like a freaking glove. The guy who iscompletely ignoring me as I approach and is chatting it up with his table mate, Ox Hall, another officer.

I point at him with a shaky finger, only this time the shakiness is from how mad I am. “You.”

He startles and looks up, a question in his eyes. Then his entire expression morphs, and he smiles knowingly. “Hi.”

I don’t bother with pleasantries. “Just order the regular burger,Officer.”

“But I?—”

“Nope. No buts. It’s the regular burger. Why do you need to order the Dash Burger if all you want is the regular one?”

Ox stifles a laugh, and he doesn’t try holding back the grin when I glare at him. “Afternoon, Willa.”

Not bothering to respond, I swivel my head back to Reid. “Well?”