Pawn of the Billionaire(5)

The pale woman smiled back. “We will, Toni. Thank you. You do make things easier for us all. We all tell each other about this place back on the ward.”

Marco was coming in the door at that point. He preened himself. He knew that the extra customers from the oncology ward helped his bottom line. My smile fell from my face and I turned to the back. Marco didn’t realize just how much all this shit affected me, though. I caught a glimpse of the sexy man’s face. He looked thoughtful. I scowled and swung through to the back.

Sitting there with his new clothes, all fitted as if they were made for him. His warm coat, his careful grooming. What the hell was he doing here, messing up my emotions, and making me wonder why he was watching me?

I had to pull myself together. I made Marco his coffee and set a muffin out for him. Then I went out to clear the tables.

Three of the couples had gone almost together, so I stacked the tray high, wiping and cleaning the tables and tidying the sauce bottles.

Sam watched me with his dogged devotion, and I smiled over at him.

“Bit wet outside, Sam.”

“S’right, Toni.” Sam had his hand curled around his mug. “Nice an’ warm in here though.” He gazed at me. “You okay today? You look a bit … different.”

“I’m fine Sam. You enjoy your coffee.” I couldn’t deny I felt a bit light-headed. I wondered what the well-dressed guy was doing here. He didn’t seem to be doing anything, except sitting and looking around. Why? Why was he here?

I loaded the last few items onto the tray and lifted it carefully. It was a bit fuller than usual, everyone seemed to have wanted extra toast, and those little plates made the stacking harder.

I couldn’t stop it. As I wriggled past the tables, I could see the cutlery sliding. “Damn!” I managed to keep the word under my breath, but both Sam and sexy man looked around.

As the silverware rained to the floor, Sam struggled to his feet. “Let me help.”

“No! No, Sam!” I hissed at him. “Sit back up, or I’ll get into trouble.” And he sat back, uncertain, because he knew what was likely to happen.

“Toni! Not again!” Marco’s voice roared out from the kitchen, and I made a face at the offending items.

Dumping the tray on the nearest empty table, I crouched down to pick up the silverware. My head met the stranger’s with what would have been a sickening crunch if he hadn’t seen me coming and jerked backwards.

“I’m sorry, sir. Thank you for helping.” I gritted my teeth. “I can manage, though. Please sit down.”

His face was expressionless. He nodded “All right, then. If you’re sure?”

I looked up, caught his eye. Suddenly I felt the world teeter. My whole world seemed to change in an instant. How the hell had I only just found out that love across a crowded room was a real thing? As my eyes met his, it seemed as if I already knew him. Stupid girl! I dropped my eyes fast. I couldn’t think like this, there was no way that he and I were even on the same planet.

I hurriedly collected the cutlery and piled them onto the tray. This time I was much more careful, and I made it out to the back without cocking everything up again. But I’d hardly started loading the dishwasher when Marco’s voice from the front echoed through to the back.

“Toni!” He sounded really cross this time, and I stopped doing the loading. I rolled my eyes at Pete, who grinned sympathetically back, and hurried out to the front, drying my hands.

“What can I do, Marco?”

Sam was shuffling to the men’s restroom. His head was down and he looked even more downtrodden than normal. I watched him go, ignoring Marco, whose exclamation of disgust was a sign of increasing blood pressure.

Once the door swung behind Sam, I turned to Marco. “What did he do?”

“He’s a liability, Toni. He can’t keep coming here, and it’s about time he moved to another diner. He upsets all the paying clients. Look!” He gestured towards the man at the back table.

I looked over with reluctance, knowing my body betrayed me every time I looked at him. He looked uncomfortable, but there was a smear of grease down the sleeve of his light colored coat. I knew Sam must’ve brushed past him going to the men’s room, and cursed myself for seating the stranger there.

“I’ll pay for it to be cleaned.” I gritted my teeth. “Take it out of my wages. Sam needs somewhere to go when it’s wet.”

“It’s not that!” Marco’s blood pressure must be through the roof. I listened, head down. Maybe his wife had given him trouble this morning.

“I can’t have him here, Toni. Look at the state of his table, all his bags. Then falling onto another customer. It won’t work.”