Page 5 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

Anymore.

Jen and I held our breaths as the two dragons exited the restaurant.

“Motherfucker, that was stressful. I hope they don’t make this their new hangout spot.” Jen theatrically shook out her whole body the second the door closed behind them. “Don’t get me wrong, the extra business is nice, but Deja’s been flipping her shit about how that new dragon-sized chair she wants is on back-order, and she practically had an aneurysm when she heardbothwere here today. At least you didn’t drop anything. Didn’t even cry in the back.”

I blinked at her tirade. “Were you expecting me to?”

She shrugged. “I would have. Did you see the way Az—Az’z—the red one kept looking at you? I didn’t know if he wanted to fuck you or eat you.” She gave me a lascivious wink. “I know what I’m betting on, though.”

“We should really learn how to pronounce their names if they’re going to come here regularly,” I said. Then the rest of her words slammed into my brain. “Fuckme? No. Oh no.” Just becauseIwas fascinated with all that muscle packed under glittering red scales didn’t mean he returned the interest.

Even if hedidreturn the interest, I sure as shit wouldn’t do anything about it. Az’zael could crush me in his claws without even noticing.

“What kind of tip did he leave you?” Jen asked, as if that number would grant infinite insight into the dragon’s feelings.

I groaned. “Please don’t make me answer that question right now.”

Jen’s gaze darted around the mostly empty restaurant. Then she grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “Okay, now yougottatell me. We’re both going on break.”

When we reached a quiet corner out back of the restaurant, I pulled the wad of cash from my apron. Jen’s brown eyes went huge as I quickly counted the bills.

One hundred dollars. Nearly twice his bill. When I’d grabbed that wallet, I figured I’d get the price of the meal, tops.

“Holy shit,” Jen murmured.

“Yeah.” I stared at the cash for a moment longer before stuffing it back into my apron. “Did he tip Cal or Maya like this?” I’d have heard by now if he left such a generous tip, but I had to ask.

I’d know about any weird “take it from my wallet,” too. Cal was a proficient gossip. I didn’t dare tell Jen about thetake it from my walletpart. I wasn’t interested in being the topic of gossip for the next half dozen shifts.

“Nope.” Her lips split into a wide, self-satisfied grin. “He’s into you.”

“Sure.” I snorted as I pulled out my phone and sent my mom ten bucks, withGroceriesin the memo line.

A small hit of relief surged through me. At least I could do this small good thing for my mom today.

“I’m serious! Dragons date humans sometimes! And he was watching you the entire time you were on the floor.” Jen’s brow furrowed. “Now that I think about it, he watched you when he was in here before, too.”

My phone buzzed with a text from my mom..

Dwayne handles groceries

I know. Just in case you want a little something extra

“I’ve seen the type of humans dragons date. They sure as shit aren’t servers.” Human/dragon couples weren’t common, since most dragons lived in the middle of nowhere—forests, remote mountaintops, that kind of thing—but a few high-profile interspecies couples had been splashed all over social media in the last couple of years. The human halves were all educated and polished. Not college dropouts constantly behind on bills.

“Cal says he’s seen one or two looking for humans on those sugar daddy/sugar baby sites,” Jen said. Cal had been loudly claiming that he was going to find a sugar daddy and blow this joint since I’d started at Norma’s Kitchen a year ago, but since he still showed up for work every shift, I doubted he’d been successful.

“You’re the only one here not terrified of them, so maybe…” Jen waggled her eyebrows, and we both dissolved into giggles.

“Sugar babies clean up nice. That’s literally their job,” I said when I caught my breath. In a particularly overconfident combination of ambition and economic desperation, I had made an account on one site the year before. The second I’d seen my competition, I’d logged right back out.

I could do my makeup and hair, throw together a set of clothes, and hold a decent conversation, but some of those women had master’s degrees. Their pictures showed them dressed in silk, and their hair and makeup looked like it had been professionally done. Profile after profile demanded four figures for a dinner date.

I was just some random server. No one would pay twenty-five hundred dollars for dinner with me.

“So maybe a hundred bucks is just the dragon version of ‘I think you’re cute, have a nice day.’”

Jen rolled her eyes. “What else could it be?”

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