Page 7 of Take the Bait

Tucker tipped his head back and laughed even harder. He didn’t know if she was trying to be funny, but he loved it.

“Valid question. Why don’t I buy you a new drink and you can find out?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re a suspiciously nice person. But okay. Buy me a new drink.”

Tucker smirked, and she rolled her eyes as she looked over at the barista she’d giggled with earlier, who was watching their interaction with rapt attention.

“Shit. I’m sorry for making a mess,” she said to the barista, wringing her hands together.

“No problem. I’ll mop it up after I take your orders. Same thing?”

She nodded, and Tucker ordered a cinnamon roll.

A few moments of silence passed as they waited for their orders. “So. What’s your name?”

She eyed him. “What’s yours?”

“Tucker.”

“Hmm. Nice name.”

“What’s yours?”

“Not sure I’m ready to disclose that yet.”

Damn, this girl was a mystery.

A hilarious, bumbling, loud, chaotic mystery.

“And why is that?”

“Reasons.”

“Ah, yes. Reasons. So will you disclose the reasons for your burp? It seems like that was premeditated, based on what you said earlier.”

She grinned. “Very astute. It was.” She sighed. “Obviously, my date was not a winner.”

“I’ll say,” Tucker said with a laugh, then cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was a first date. We matched on a stupid dating app I was coerced into downloading. Seemed nice enough when we messaged. Then we got to the date and oh my god, he literally wouldn’t shut up.” She began rubbing her temples. “I mean, he was so self-absorbed and long-winded and would not stop talking aboutcryptoof all things.Crypto.”

Tucker stifled a laugh.

“It was miserable. Torture, even.” The words started rolling out of her so quickly they almost ran together. “If I were a spy and that was the method they used to torture secrets out of me, I’d give them all up right away. I mean, the guy never took a breath. He was going on and on about how he wanted to show me hisinvestment portfolio.I mean, do I look like someone who wants to see an investment portfolio? Ew, gross.”

She shook her shoulders as if trying to get rid of a disgusting feeling.

“Ew, indeed,” Tucker said, nodding solemnly.

“He didn’t ask me a single question about myself. I mean, to be honest, it felt like a miracle when he shut up long enough for me to order a drink. So…”

She took a breath.

Tucker grinned. He was so ready for the rest of this story. “So?”

“I decided to test the limits of how far that could go. How much could I get away with doing before he stopped talking?” She looked at him deviously.

Tucker chuckled. “So what did you do?”

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