“This is much better. And greatly appreciated.”
“I haven’t seen you here before,” he said. “First time?”
“Yeah. I was on my way home and saw the sign and just pulled over.”
He eyed her again and asked, “You look like you’re dressed up for a date, but you’re sitting here all alone.”
He was trying to get a feel for if she was some kind of fancy escort. That shit didn’t go on in his place.
“A blind date gone horribly wrong,” she said. “Can I get some food here too? I actually didn’t even eat dinner. I had three bites and excused myself to go to the bathroom and never returned.”
He laughed. He’d never had a woman do that to him before and always found it hilarious when it happened to someone else. How bad could it be for someone to sneak out like that?
“Itmusthave been horrible then.” He grabbed a menu and put it in front of her. “I can take your order here once you’re ready.”
The waitress came over with an order so he took it and pulled drafts and mixed drinks. He returned to the foxy redhead and asked, “Ready to order?”
“Yeah. I’ll take the nachos.”
“Nice and messy,” he said. “I can appreciate a girl who can throw back a Chicken Cock and chase it with ground beef and jalapenos.”
Her face blushed adorably, almost matching the color of her hair. Long, shiny, and wavy on the ends. She didn’t have a lot of makeup on, but she looked pretty sexy. The dress more than sealed the deal for him. Obviously did for some other men too, as he noticed she was being watched.
“I’m in the mood for something greasy and spicy and I have to do it where no one knows me.”
“Why’s that?” he asked, finding that statement curious for someone as thin as her. “Are you a model and can’t be seen eating?”
“Aren’t you just a sweet thing,” she said. “I know you’re joking about the model part. I’m a food researcher. Or food scientist to many.”
He had a good idea of what that meant. He was a smart dude with a background in science even though none of his employeeshad any clue. Hell, they didn’t even know he owned the place; they just thought he was a manager, and he preferred to keep it that way.
“So you modify food? Feed it to animals for reactions? What?”
She smiled, her eyes almost flirting with him. “Nothing quite like that. I work right out of Albany for a private company that has a lot of big name clients. We test food and packaging for them and send the results. I modify recipes in an attempt to make things healthier. We also figure out nutritional information to put on packaging. Lots of things and it’s probably boring to you.”
“Not really. We serve food here, and people are always asking questions like that.”
“Some people want to know. Others know eating out means there are a lot of calories and not always a lot of nutrients. Like those nachos I ordered.”
“There’s protein with the beef, a veggie with the peppers, and dairy with the cheese. We use all natural ingredients here.”
“Then I stand corrected.”
She smiled bright, her quick wit and responses entertaining him and taking his mind off being here.
He got called over for another order and left her to take care of it. When he turned around there was a regular next to her, flirting, and he could see the annoyance on her face a mile away.
“Steve, I don’t think she’s interested in an unemployed driver.”
“Ah, Dean, you just blew my cover. I was going to introduce myself as a business owner.”
“Uber doesn’t count,” he said. “And if you’re looking to earn some fares, you better not be taking them tonight since that’s your third beer.”
“I’m off tonight,” Steve said, picking up his beer and moving away.
“Thanks,” she said.
“You’re welcome. I figured anyone who had to sneak out on one blind date wasn’t in the mood to be hit on somewhere else.”
