Dateline Matrimony (Hot off the Press! 3) - Page 7

“Sorry. I’m washing my hair that night,” she answered pleasantly.

“I didn’t tell you which night the concert’s being held,” he reminded her.

She didn’t miss a beat. “I didn’t say which night I’m washing my hair.”

“Oh, man.” Dan shook his head as Teresa moved away. “You went down in flames, buddy.”

“Yeah, but did you see her eyes? She said no, but what she wanted to say was—”

“Hell, no.”

Riley snorted in response to Dan’s droll interruption. “Scoff if you like—but I’m getting to her. She won’t be able to resist my charms much longer.”

“Is that right?” Dan glanced up when Teresa set his breakfast on the table. ?

??Riley thinks he’s getting to you,” he said gravely.

“He’s right,” she murmured, refilling their coffee cups. “He’s definitely getting on my nerves.”

“You know, we should talk about that. How about over dinner tonight?” Riley suggested.

“Sorry. I’m going to be ill tonight. Excuse me, I have orders to serve.”

“I think I like her,” Dan murmured appreciatively.

“Just help me pull this knife out of my chest, will you?” Riley pantomimed the motion as he spoke.

“A knife?” Dan asked blandly. “Or is that one of Cupid’s arrows?”

“Very funny. Eat your breakfast.”

Dan obligingly picked up his fork, though his brown eyes still gleamed with amusement that was most definitely at Riley’s expense.

Okay, so the guy was amusing. Teresa had found herself looking forward to the days when Riley O’Neal had breakfast in the diner.

She wasn’t particularly flattered by his frequent invitations for dates. She suspected that he was the type who’d make a play for any reasonably attractive new woman who entered his life. But it was still nice to see a look of appreciation in an attractive man’s eyes. It gave her a glimmer of hope that someday…maybe…she’d meet someone to share her life with again. Someday far in the future.

“I think he’s got a thing for you.” Marjorie Schaffer winked at Teresa as she whispered her revelation.

Looking up from the table she was wiping with a damp cloth, Teresa wrinkled her nose. “Old Ernie? I think he proposes to every woman who crosses his path.”

“Of course he does. Ernie even proposes to me at least twice a week. But I was talking about Riley O’Neal. Everyone has noticed the way he’s been coming in here almost every day to flirt with you.”

“Riley’s as much of a habitual flirt as old Ernie. I don’t take either of them seriously.”

“He sure has been coming around a lot since you started working here. Used to be he’d only eat here once or twice a month, tops. Now it’s three or four times a week.”

“Really?” Teresa was a bit surprised by that. She’d assumed Riley had always been a regular. She found it hard to believe he’d changed his daily schedule just because she was serving coffee here.

Maybe it was a little flattering….

She hefted a tray of dishes and moved toward the doorway. “I’ll leave you to your romantic fantasizing,” she teased her friend and employer lightly. “I have customers waiting.”

Teresa was still thinking about Marjorie’s words as she approached Riley’s table with the coffee carafe a few minutes later. Maybe he really was interested in taking her out. Not that she was in a position to get involved with anyone, but it gave her something to daydream about.

She stopped at the table next to the one where Riley and his friend were conversing as they finished their breakfasts. As she refilled the cups of the middle-aged couple sitting there, she couldn’t help overhearing a snatch of Riley’s conversation.

“I hope your wife’s enjoying the middle school program,” Riley was saying to the police chief. “I’d rather eat mud pies myself than listen to that bunch of kids mangling Disney movie songs.”

Tags: Gina Wilkins Hot off the Press! Romance
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