Page 6 of Take the Bait

“Maybe,” Tucker said. “But you yelling at her isn’t going to change anything.”

“Hmph.”

“How about this? You let this go, and dinner at Fish Food is on me for the next month.”

Tom’s eyebrows raised.

“What do you say?” Tucker asked.

“Wait,” the woman cut in. “You don’t have to—I can buy you a drink, like I said. You don’t—I mean, I appreciate that?—”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Tom stuck out his hand, and before the woman could object any further, Tucker shook it.

The woman gaped at both of them, then bit her lip.

“Well, I guess I’d better go home and change. I’ll see you tonight.”

Tom gave the woman a scowl before turning on his heel and leaving. She closed her eyes and sighed, and Tucker studied her.

She was tiny. Maybe five feet tall with shoes on, and about as thin as his pinky finger. She had short brown hair pulled into messy dutch braids, and delicate, fine line tattoos adorned her arms. And even though she kept diverting her gaze from his in embarrassment, he was mesmerized by her green eyes.

In the scuffle, nobody seemed to notice that she was also drenched in coffee. Tom was too caught up in himself, and Tucker had meant it when he said Tom had been standing too close. This woman didn’t seem like the type of person to blindly walk into someone—though, he didn’t know her that well. Yet.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

“I didn’t mind, shortcake,” he grinned as her eyes widened even more. “Besides, I owed you one for the entertainment the other night.”

“So you remember that.”

“Hard to forget a woman of your size burping so loud that everyone in my restaurant went completely silent.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. “Okay. Well. I had my reasons. And if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just go crawl under a rock and bask in my shame.”

He laughed. “But if you do that, I can’t buy you a new drink.”

She looked at him like he was crazy, and he laughed again.

“You don’t want to buy me a drink.” Her tone was incredulous.

“Yes, I do,” he responded.

“I don’t need your charity.”

“It’s not charity.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Then why?”

“Because I think you’re cute.”

She looked even more shocked. “But… I burped.”

“I liked it.” Tucker felt a smile stretch across his face at the memory that had made him laugh several times a day since it occurred.

“I spilled coffee all over an old man.”

“He really was standing too close.”And he deserved it, he added silently.

“Do you have a savior complex or something?” Then in a whisper, she added, “Does coming to my rescue get you off?”

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