Fortune's Just Desserts by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online

stubbornly. “But if Eva came to you and said she wasn’t feeling well, you’d make the decision to send her home, right?”
    The answer to that was yes, but he didn’t want to admit that to her. He just knew it would encourage Wendy to be even more impetuous than she already was.
    Yes, they had more patrons because of her. Men poured in every day until it was practically standing room only in the dining room. But that still didn’t give her the right to usurp his authority or take it upon herself to try to run things.
    â€œDo you lie awake at nights thinking up ways to annoy me, or does it just come naturally to you?” he asked.
    Rather than becoming contrite—or combative, which was more her speed—Wendy smiled. That sunny, radiant smile that cleared out all the clouds in the sky and made a man glad just to be alive.
    At this point, he had to admit to himself that, as annoying as it was, he was attracted to her.
    How the hell could he be attracted to someone who drove him crazy like this? Someone who inherently he didn’t even like?
    It just made no sense to him.
    But he was beginning to learn that things didn’t have to make sense, especially when they concerned Wendy.
    â€œI don’t know,” Wendy answered, then, in her impossibly lyrical voice, added, “I’m not trying to annoy you.”
    â€œWell, for someone who’s not trying, you’re doing a damn good job.”
    This wasn’t getting him anywhere. Struggling, he managed to get himself under control and focus on the bottom line in this case—what Eva’s absence meant to the restaurant today.
    â€œI’m going to have to get someone to cover for Eva this afternoon.”
    Marcos was only thinking out loud. He hadn’t meant to share the thought with Wendy. He especially hadn’t meant for her to think he was asking for her help.
    But in the next moment, she was volunteering. So much for being able to hold being lazy against her.
    â€œI can do it,” she told him. It was, actually, the second part of what she’d come to tell him, that she was going to be taking Eva’s tables for her, as well as waiting on her own.
    Marcos looked at her for a long moment. Had she forgotten about her own tables? In an effort to get her to throw in the towel and quit, he’d given her more than the usual number of tables to wait on.
    â€œYou’re already on duty,” he pointed out.
    â€œI know. I can just add her tables to mine,” she told him.
    â€œTwice the work,” he repeated. Was she comprehending this? “You’re telling me that you’re willing to double your load?”
    Her slim shoulders rose and fell in a careless gesture. Her blouse slipped off her left shoulder, exposing a creamy expanse of flesh. She appeared to be completely unself-conscious about it.
    He wasn’t. Which was why he forced himself to focus on her face. Not that he didn’t find her face compelling as well, but at least it didn’t fire up his imagination the way her exposed expanse of shoulder seemed to.
    â€œYou’re not that good a waitress,” he pointed out flatly.
    If his goal was to hurt her feelings, he’d succeeded,but she refused to let on. Never let them know you’re vulnerable—a lesson her father had instilled in her over and over again from a young age.
    She was beginning to realize that the man had had some wise insights.
    â€œMaybe this’ll make me a better one,” she answered with cheerful determination. Her wide, bright smile never dimmed. “You never know.”
    There was that grin again, he thought, annoyed. Intrigued despite himself. It was wider this time. When she continued looking at him like that, he felt compelled to find out more about her, to lose himself in her alluring gaze….
    But he refused to get sucked into another discussion with this woman. He knew when he was out-matched, and Wendy Fortune