Free Maid to Order by Rebecca Avery

the waitress who’d returned to take their orders. Having been numb for so long he couldn’t seem to process the feelings and sensations she brought out in him fast enough to even attempt to keep up. He barely registered that she’d ordered or that silence had descended around them for several seconds while he continued to stare at her.
    As if to pull him back to the present, Amy said, “What? I’m not a salad and water kind of girl, Rusty… Sir . Cheeseburgers and beer are more my style. Not quite the kind of dinner companion you were expecting?”
    He didn’t miss the snort that escaped the waitress or the look of shock and disgust that crossed her face. Barking out that he would have the same thing that Amy had ordered, even though he wasn’t real sure what that was, he then waited for waitress to walk away.
    He’d had about enough of Amy’s shenanigans for one evening… cute or not … and he was going to let her know right now. Whether it was rude to say something or not, she was ringing his bell and he was going to put a stop to it.
    “You do realize your comment just now, in front of the waitress, sounded as though you were my paid companion, don’t you, Ms. Carlton?” he asked smartly.
    Again he cringed the minute the words left his lips. He couldn’t take this comment back either but it should effectively shut down whatever had possessed her to flirt with him in the first place and put an end to any of her future attempts to seduce him. She was poking a short stick at a very mean bear and her youth apparently made her blissfully unaware of it.
    Grinning like a clown at a circus she leaned in close to him yet again and said, “Not any more so than your comment did in front of my friend’s husband.”
    Then she glanced over her shoulder at the man behind her as though to make her point.
    “I’m sorry…” he managed after several seconds of stunned silence and a heavy sigh that escaped him. He felt like a real heel but couldn’t take any of it back. Besides what would be the point? She needed to stay clear of him and being an asshole was one way to make sure she did. “I was raised by my grandfather and he had certain… ideas … about what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t.”
    What had possessed him to tell her that? It wasn’t like she would even care about his childhood anyway. This wasn’t a date nor was she even a friend. She was essentially a stranger that grated on his nerves… and emotions. Her teasing smile only widened at his confession and something like a smirk escaped him before he could rein it in.
    Why did she have to be so damn cute?
    “I think that’s the closest thing to a smile I’ve seen from you all day, Sir ,” she laughed.
    Then she reached out and poked her finger at the corner of his mouth before she took another drink of his beer instead of her own. He felt her slight touch everywhere at once. Young or not, he wanted her. In a way that he couldn’t remember wanting a woman before.
    Unable to stop the smirk that had returned he said, “Are you planning to eat my meal also… or are you content with just drinking my beer? I mean seriously, how much more do you want from me?”
    Glancing down and realizing that she had his bottle in her hand, she blushed and set it down gently on the table. Then her brief moment of embarrassment turned to that same form of teasing that was slowly making him crazy. Her sexy grin returned while she wrapped her arms loosely around his drink and hers, as well as the watered down glass of tea, and then looked back up him.
    “I want it all, I guess. Everything… drinks, food, actual conversation… more of your panty dropping smiles,” she laughed.
    Too tired to keep up the boundaries he should be firmly implementing, he relaxed a little more during the course of their meal. For as pretty as she was, she was also equally sweet and smart. God help him, he was completely fascinated by her as he listened to stories of her dog and