Page 9 of You're All I Need

Stevie and Adrienne share a look. “Not bad, per se, but they’re harder to clean and show every little splatter,” Stevie says.

“And they’re boring,” Adrienne blurts out.

“Here ya go.” Meredith delivers our drinks and retrieves her order tablet from her apron. “Are we ready to order food?”

“I’ll have the Up All Night burger,” Stevie requests without even looking at her menu.

“Spicy Little Number for me,” Adrienne orders.

The corner of my mouth ticks. Her burger choice certainly is fitting of her personality.

When Jack places his selection, Meredith turns to me. “I’ll have the Morning BJ,” I state with a big grin and a wink.

Adrienne snorts as Meredith finishes writing our order, not seeming at all fazed by my innuendo. Probably because she’s heard them all. That’s what happens when you work for a place that named their entire menu with naughty-themed burger titles. “I’ll get this in for you guys,” she says with a smile before heading off to check on another table.

“Did you ask him about Saturday night?” Stevie asks Jack.

“Not yet,” my friend replies before turning his attention my way. “Mom is going to watch the kids Saturday night so Stevie and I can have a date night. We’re planning to come up here after dinner and listen to the…entertainment. Do you want to join us?”

I smile that cocky, self-assured grin that’s always gotten me out of trouble. “Like a threesome?”

Stevie was just taking a drink of her water and proceeds to choke on it. “What?” she sputters, trying to cover her mouth so she doesn’t spew liquid across the table. “No!”

Jack chuckles, clearly knowing I’m kidding. “Sorry, no threesome, friend.” The corners of his mouth curl up as he shakes his head.

“Third wheel, then, huh? Sounds like a great time.”

“You won’t be a third wheel,” Stevie insists. “The wives of the owners are all coming up.”

A slow, sexy grin spreads across my lips. “So, I’ll be one of the only dudes in a big group of women?”

She shakes her head. “Yes, Caden. You’ll be one of the only dudes in a big group ofmarriedwomen.”

I bark out a laugh and wink. “You just had to go and ruin it for me, didn’t ya?”

“Anyway, you’re welcome to join us,” she states.

“I know you’re on call Saturday, but we haven’t been getting too many emergency calls lately,” Jack chimes in.

“Did you talk to him about the…thing?” Stevie asks Jack.

“He did, and even though I don’t mind being on call on the weekends, I’m open to whatever,” I insist.

“We’re gonna talk about it Thursday,” Jack says.

I nod and add, “Why don’t we talk about hiring an admin too? I know we’ve discussed it in the past, but it never seems to go further than that. We could definitely use someone in the office to help do officey stuff.”

I notice Adrienne sitting up straighter in her seat. “You’re looking for office help?” she inquires.

My eyes go to her, devouring her thick curly hair and her round face. She’s so fucking beautiful it almost hurts to look at her. Clearing my throat, I reply, “We’ve talked about it in the past, and the business just keeps growing. Jack currently does all the billing and payroll and whatnot, but I know he hates it.”

“I volunteered to do it because it wasn’t fair to you to have to be on call every weekend,” he adds.

“But we’re going to discuss a different schedule, so why don’t we try to figure that out too. Think of how many customers we can add to the schedule on the days you won’t be required to be in the office.”

He stares at me, a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. I can tell he’s on board, and even though we’ve had this conversation before. Something always came up, tabling the decision. Well, now is the time to do it. I know it, and he does too.

“I don’t know what exactly you’re looking for, but if it’s just someone with some experience, I’d be open to talking to you.” Adrienne’s statement catches me off guard.

---