Page 1 of Alien Dragon's Bride

Chapter 1

Megan

Megan’s right knee banged against the diner’s briefcase at one of her tables. She stifled a cry by forcing a fake smile on her face and said, “Welcome to Sal’s Cafe, what can I get you two?”

The man gestured to the woman across the table, who then leaned over and covered his hand to show ownership. Megan rolled her eyes. Like she’d be interested in a guy she met here after three seconds.

“Do you have sparkling water?” Her petite nose crinkled. Megan was sure it was a high-end nose job. “It wasn’t listed on the menu.”

“No, sorry, just bottle water, coffee, tea, apple and cranberry juice, and sodas.” Why did patrons think they had stuff that wasn’t listed? The whole purpose of showing items on the menu was to get people to order them.

“Well, then an herbal tea with soy milk.” She eased back into the booth.

“We’ve only regular tea…sweetened or unsweetened.” God, this was going to take all freakin’ night. Megan glanced at the clock on the wall without moving her head. Twenty minutes until her double shift was over and only an hour left before hospital visiting hours were over.

“Let’s go somewhere else, Marcus,” the woman demanded.

Fine by me. They’d probably leave a crappy tip anyway.

Then the image of Megan’s dad on dialysis at the hospital hit her. She needed the money, no matter how small.

“We’ve only got whole milk and cream, but I can get a pack of soy milk and chai tea for you.” Just means I’ll have to run across the street to the grocery store. Not like she hadn’t done that before.

“Great.” The woman beamed. “And I’ll have a dinner salad with no onions and light Italian dressing on the side.”

No way was Megan going to correct the woman that there was nothing lite about Sal’s food or that the salad didn’t come with onions.

“Got it, and for you, sir?” Megan asked.

The man’s eyes met Megan’s and she inhaled sharply. His irises were an almost golden color. Had to be contacts. Decked out in an Armani suit that probably cost more than Megan made in a year, he looked so out of place here. And the woman he was with paled in comparison to him. Like he was hunting for prey and she’d fallen into his snare.

Megan shook herself, then poised the pen over her order pad.

The menu lay unopened on the table. He cocked an eyebrow as he stared at her. Was he trying to read her or intimidate her?

“I’ll give you more time and return with your drinks while you decide. Can I bring you a glass of water or ice tea?”

“Sweetened tea would be good. The sweeter the better.”

Megan smiled and gave him a nod. But before she could turn away, he touched her hand briefly and a rush zipped through her.

“I’ll take the special with everything on it.”

“Of course.” She scribbled down his order and raced the ticket to the kitchen. If she hurried, she might get out of here with enough time to see her dad. “Order up, George.”

He grunted. “You work too hard, girl. Taking everyone’s shifts all the time.”

“Tell that to my bills.” She placed the ticket on the carousel. “Or better yet, give me a raise.”

“Gotta talk to the bossman. He already gave you extra for cleaning the bathrooms and doing the bank runs for him.” He scratched his dark hair through his hairnet.

“Hey, gotta grab a special order for my customer, I’ll be back in five.”

“Chica, you work too damn hard. Do what Alice does and pour milk and cream into the regular tea. Tell them it’s a new imported tea if they question.”

Yeah, except Megan didn’t like lying to people if she could help it. “Be right back, I’ll ask Jen to cover my tables for me, ‘k?”

“Go before I call the bossman on your crazy trips for customers.” He flipped over the sizzling hamburger patties.

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