Page 3
There’s a paperback sticking out of her apron pocket. The spine is cracked to hell, and it’s stuffed with sticky notes.
“What are you reading?”
She looks down like she forgot it was there. “Toni Morrison. I have a midterm Thursday.”
“Where?”
“UCLA. I’m a lit major.” She tilts her head. “You ask a lot of questions for someone who just broke a man’s nose.”
“I wanna know everything about you.”
She laughs again and shakes her head. “Sir, you don’t even know me.”
“Not yet.”
“Uh-huh.” She backs up a step, pointing at me with her pen. “Stay out of trouble.”
She walks off. Looks back over her shoulder once. When she sees me still watching, she spins around so fast that she almost knocks into a waiter with a tray of champagne flutes. I chuckle.
My fucking girl.
* * *
Enzo clears his throat when I sit back down. He’s gone a little pale. “Maksimov, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t fuck up the customers.”
“Then you should stop letting in customers who grab your waitresses.”
He very wisely takes a long sip of his drink and shuts the fuck up.
I don’t go home. I sit in that booth for two more hours, drink my whiskey and watch my woman work. When she bends over to pick up something, I have to look at the ceiling before I come in my slacks like a goddamn fucking teenager. And every time she passes my booth, her eyes slide my way.
She knows.
I lean over to Misha. “Find out everything about her. Where she lives. Who she lives with. If she has a man.”
“And if she does?”
“Then he’s about to be gone.”
Misha grins. “On it.”
* * *
At one forty-five, she brings the check.
Sixty-two dollars. Enzo reaches for it, and I take it out of her hand before he can. My fingers brush hers, and she pulls back like I burned her.
I open my wallet and empty it into the little leather folder. Every bill. I don’t count. I hand it back to her. She opens it and stops breathing.
“Okay, no.” She shakes her head and pushes the folder back at me. “That’s way too much.”
I just stare back.
“This is like two thousand dollars!”
I hold her gaze.
“I can’t take this. Nobody tips like this. What do you want?”
