Page 30 of Lawton

Shit.

Again, I looked around the restaurant. Wherewasour waitress, anyway? Screw the food. I needed a drink. A stiff one. Maybe two. A few tables away, I spotted a different server. I waited, hoping to catch her eye.

She stood at the end of a low table, talking to a couple of frat-boy types. Gripping their beers, they sat, looking up at her with big eyes and goofy smiles.

Whatever she was saying, she had their undivided attention. The nearest guy was eyeballing her legs like they were the nicest thing he'd seen all year. I gave her legs a good, long look. Easy to see the appeal. They were nice. Better than nice, at least from the back. I hadn't seen the front, but something told me they wouldn’t disappoint.

The poor guy was almost slobbering. A few weeks earlier, I might have slobbered over those legs too. But that was before I'd foundher, the girl of my fantasies living almost next door.

Laughing, the waitress turned her head, giving me my first clear view of her face. Suddenly, all of the air got sucked out of the room.

Holy hell. It was Chloe.

Chapter 14

Brittney's voice cut into my thoughts. "You see something you like?"

I swung my head toward her. "What?"

She was holding out a dessert menu. With a long, manicured nail, she gave it a quick tap. "Look. They have sundaes. I haven't had one in ages." She ran a tongue across her top lip. "Doesn't that sound yummy?"

"Yeah." I was only half-listening. "Yummy."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Chloe heading toward the bar area. Itwasher. Wasn't it?

She had on a lot of makeup, and her hair looked nothing like before. It looked big and stiff, like the hair of the other waitresses, come to think of it.

It didn't fit with what I'd seen before. Wet or dry, Chloe's hair had a nice, natural look. Soft. Smooth. The kind of hair you could run your fingers through. The kind that would fall across a pillow in ways that were just too damn sexy for words.

"Lawton!" Brittney said.

"What?"

"It doesn't have to be sundaes," she said.

Next to her, Amber was nodding. "We could have pie." She smiled over at me. "You like pie, right?"

"Sure," I said. "Great."

In my peripheral vision, I was still watching. Chloe had returned from the bar and was serving drinks to the frat guys. She leaned down to set a beer on the low tabletop. One of guys leaned back in the booth. His gaze zoomed in on her ass. I felt myself tense. That skirt was too small. And too short. The guy leaned closer.

"What kind of pie?" Amber asked. "I like apple, but I could do cherry."

The frat-guy lifted his hand.

I shot to my feet.

Amber looked up at me. "What's wrong?"

I turned to see the frat-guy reaching for his beer – not Chloe.

I sat back down.

"Gosh," Amber said. "You don't have to look so mad. Whatever pie you want is fine by me."

Five minutes ago, I'd been dying to leave. Now, I was dying to stay. The way I saw it, Amber could order every pie in the whole damn place, and I'd be happy as hell. She was a slow eater.

We were sitting in a far booth by the windows, about as far away from Chloe's tables as we could get. The way it looked, she didn't see me. But I could see her. I felt myself smile. My night had just gotten a whole lot better.