Page 3 of Shiny Things

“Good morning, Kim.”

I sighed. “Good morning. Take a seat anywhere you’d like.”

“Which section is yours?” he whispered.

I pointed to the left without even thinking and then groaned to myself for making such a rookie mistake with him.

Turning back to the line, I greeted our other guests with a smile that I knew didn’t reach my eyes. My whole body was trembling from Elias’s momentary closeness.

Damn him.

This was not how I needed my day to start.

Only three tables were taken in my section. The remainder chose seats in Gia’s section or headed straight to the register for pickups with David.

Since Elias had sat down first, I started with him. At least I’d have the other tables to distract me from lingering too long.

“What can I get you today, or do you need a few more minutes to look over the menu?” I asked like a robot about to be stuck on repeat for the day.

He scowled. “The usual.”

Just to annoy him I almost asked what that was, but we both knew I knew it, and I wasn’t in the mood to play games with him or delay so I could linger at his table.

“You got it,” I said.

As he started to reach for my hand, I turned and smiled at my next customer taking all their drink orders on my way to the kitchen.

I gave Elias’s order to the kitchen and prepped all the drinks at once.

“Hey, are you okay?” Gia asked as she started filling her own drink orders.

“Fine, why?”

“Because Eli looks like sparks are about to fly out his ears or something. Are you two fighting?”

She was the only one that ever got away with calling him Eli. It was like a baby sister privilege or something.

I sighed. “No. I’m just busy and don’t have time to stand around chatting with him.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, you and Eli are always flirting with each other. So what gives?”

“We do not,” I argued, even knowing it was true.

She shot me a look. “We’re seriously going to do this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lately, I have kind of gotten the feeling that Gia would be happy to see me settle down with her brother. She had been adamantly against it in the past, so I had no idea what changed. Honestly, I was a little terrified to ask. Some things I just didn’t want to know.

Staying in order, I dropped Elias’s coffee off first. One sugar and a splash of milk just the way he loved it. I kept moving and delivered drinks to the next table, taking their order before moving to the one after that.

By the time I called out my other two tables’ orders, Elias’s food was up.

Great,I thought.The faster he gets out of here the better.

“Here you go. Your usual. Enjoy.”

This time he grabbed my hand before I could walk away. It shot tingles up my arm in a way that only his touch ever did.

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