“Because you laughed.”
It was his turn to goggle, this time at Nova. “What?”
“You laughed at what she said,” Nova repeated.
“So?”
Nova sighed and took a sip of her Arnold Palmer before she answered. “Torin, you don’t smile very often and you almost never laugh. I think that’s the second time I’ve heard you even chuckle since I started working here. And, at last count, you’ve smiled at me seven times.”
He wasn’t sure how he felt about her words, though the last sentence struck him. “You’re counting how many times I smile at you?”
A dark pink flush spread across Nova’s cheeks and she silently cursed her fair skin because she knew it would be obvious.
“Only because they’re rare,” she said, her tone defensive.
Torin was smiling at her before he said, “Well, I guess you can say this one is eight.”
“Shut up,” Nova said.
He laughed. Not just a quiet chuckle or a short bark of laughter, but a from-the-gut guffaw.
Nova felt her neck and chest heat and knew the blush was traveling further down her body. “Don’t you dare…”
“And that makes three laughs,” he said, still chuckling.
“You suck,” she replied, unable to think of a witty enough comeback. She was still in shock from seeing him light up like he did.
Hellfire and damnation, she wasn’t going to be able to resist trying to make him laugh like that again. Even if it was at her expense.
Torin was still chuckling when he got to his feet and picked up his plate. “You done?” he asked.
Nova dropped her fork on her plate and nodded.
As he had every other night he’d fed her, he took her dishes to the sink, rinsed them off himself, and tucked them in the tray for the dishwasher.
It said a lot about him. While he expected his dishwasher to clean up after customers, Torin cleaned up after himself.
Maybe it was nothing to him but Nova liked the way he treated his kitchen employees.
Torin walked back over to her. “All right. Enough loafing around counting my smiles and laughs. I’m paying you to do a job, so go do it.”
Nova made a face at him and went to wash her hands at the sink. “I think I need a raise.”
She ignored the little chuckle he set loose and went back into the dining room.
Though she knew it was coming, Addie managed to sneak up on her as she was wiping down empty table. The restaurant would be closing in half an hour and there were only three diners left—one couple and one woman eating alone as she read a book.
“Hey,” Addie said, her voice right behind Nova.
“Ah!” Nova straightened and nearly head butted the other woman as she whirled around. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“Stop yelling,” Addie hissed. She glanced and saw the three people lingering over their meals were turning away from them.
“Then, stop sneaking up on me,” Nova retorted in a hot whisper.
“I might if you would tell me what in the hell you did with my grumpy pants boss.”
Nova blinked at her. “What?”
