She’d barely clocked in when Stevie came to findher, assigning tables for her to cover and rattling off the Friday night specials. Then, she was gone and Ruby was on her own.
The first hour of her shift passed in a blur as she worked, serving food and chatting with her customers just enough to leave a good impression. She pocketed her tips and ducked in the back a couple of times to chat with the cooks that she was still getting to know.
She’d just returned to the dining room to make sure no one needed a refill on their drinks when she saw the owner of the restaurant out of the corner of her eye. He must have been upstairs, where she’d heard he had an office, because he walked out of the back hallway.
Ruby stayed in place at the server’s station, where she could get sodas and coffee, watching as Owen strode across the dining room. She couldn’t seem to pull her eyes away from him. She’d caught a few glimpses of Owen since they met on her first night, but she didn’t have a chance to speak to him again.
She hoped that he didn’t notice her staring, but she would have been surprised if he did. It was obvious that a man like him had more important things to worry about, not that she knew anything about the guy. There was just something about the way he carried himself that made him seem like an important man, an air he exuded that made him seem like a powerful, confident man..
Maybe it was because he owned a nice restaurant like this. That had to give a guy a certain amount of swagger, didn’t it?
What she didn’t understand was the danger that she sensed in him. When she looked into his eyes in that hallway, she was somehow entirely sure that he was a person that wasn’t to be messed with. He was someone that it would be wise to fear.
Yet, she felt something entirely different. The deep-seated lust that burrowed into her was the last thing she expected. She’d never been drawn to a bad boy before, so she couldn’t understand the reaction.
But she wasn’t just staring tonight because she found his aura mesmerizing. The man was hot. His tailored black suit couldn’t hide how well-built he was, and she’d liked that he was tall and broad. He had a strong jawline that was dusted with stubble the day they first met, but he was clean-shaven today. It suited him better.
His black hair was short, adding to the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing he had going for him, and his brown eyes roamed the room in an assessing way. That made her remember that she had work to do.
Ripping her eyes away from Owen, she filled two glasses of diet Coke and headed to a couple of women that were about halfway through eating their dinner. They were all smiles and compliments about their food, and when she stepped away from the table and looked around, she saw that Owen was seated in the VIP section. That was what she learned the separate area in the dining room was for. Special and important customers were seated there.
Owen was by himself at first, but as Ruby finished up a few tables and glanced over again - fully aware that she was acting like a swooning teenager over a guy that she barely knew - she saw that a group of people had joined him.
Stevie approached her at that moment.
“Can I get you to help in the VIP area?”
“Really?” Ruby asked, surprised. “You usually let the new girls serve the important customers?”
Stevie grinned. “Only if they’re as good as you are. I’ll have Sarah cover your tables and split the tips, but don’t worry, you’ll make plenty of money taking care of Owen’s table with Claire.”
Ruby nodded as she headed toward the VIP section. Claire had trained her on that first night, so she was comfortable working with her. She was already at Owen’s table taking drink orders, but he wasn’t giving her any of his attention. His eyes were trained on Ruby as she approached.
She went straight to him, pulling out her notepad. “Good evening, Mr. Walsh.”
“Owen,” he corrected her. “Call me Owen.”
His voice was deep, and it made a shiver run down her spine. She bit her bottom lip before realizing how sexual that probably looked. Plastering a grin on her face, she brought a pen to her notepad.
“Okay, Owen. What can I get you to drink?”
“Macallan, neat.”
She wrote down the scotch order on her notepad before turning to the man beside Owen. As she met his eyes, she was startled to realize that he was the DA. She’d just seen him in a news report yesterday talking about a case he was prosecuting. He smirked as he saw the recognition in her eyes and ordered a whiskey. As she made her way around the table on the opposite side of Claire, it seemed that all the men were ordering hard liquor.
She didn’t recognize anyone else at the table, but they were all men in suits. A few of them even gave off the same intimidating vibes as Owen, but she wasn’t drawn to it from any of the others. That reaction seemed to be reserved for him.
They were the only table in the VIP section, so Ruby and Claire spent the next hour serving them exclusively. It wasn’t too difficult since they were working together, even though the group ran up quite the bar bill over the course of the meal.
As she worked, she kept stealing glances at Owen, and he seemed chummy with the men at the table. She didn’t linger too much, so she only caught snippets of conversation and didn’t learn much about what this gathering was about, but she couldn’t help feeling curious about it.
“Bring me the check for the whole table,” Owen said as everyone finished their meals.
Ruby nodded and reached out to grab his empty plate. As she did, her hip brushed against his arm. It was a small point of contact through clothing, but it sent a tingle over her skin. Owen was in the middle of talking to someone, but his eyes flickered over to meet hers briefly. She could have sworn that there was heat in his gaze for a moment, but he looked away so quickly that she couldn’t be sure.
Stepping back, she walked away from the table with her heart racing. That had to be her imagination, right? Why in the world would a powerful man like that look at her with desire burning in his eyes?
Ruby went back to clearing the table while Claire prepared the check, making sure to keep her distance from him this time. By the time the dirty dishes were all in the dish room, Owen had paid, adding a huge tip to the receipt for the waitresses to split. Ruby was shocked as she stared at the amount. Even splitting it, this was more money than she’d expected to make all night.
