You Belong to Me (Stevens Book 6)

Chapter 11

In the end she ordered a hamburger with fries and a side salad, and without thinking she took Rainer's lemon and squeezed it into her water.

"Did I just miss something?" Dana asked giving Fiona a bite of jarred carrots.

"I have noticed that my service is vastly improved when I eat with Rainer. It seems he is a beacon to all waitresses. So we have started making bets as to whether or not he is going to get a phone number out of  the encounter or not."

Dana just nodded her head in understanding. "That happens a lot with the men in our family." Alice didn't say that she had a hard time believing that anyone would hit on Quinn with Dana around.

Most of their conversation centered on Fiona, the project that Rainer was working on currently, and what his next assignment was going to be.

When their food came it was delicious. It was one of the best burgers that Alice had ever had and she even managed to steal a few of Rainer's onion rings and pickles. When it came time to order the pie she wanted it all, and Rainer must have read her mind because he shook his head. "We have a bit of a drive ahead of us, you might want to take it easy."

Alice just shot him her best 'you're not the boss of me' look and ordered a lemon meringue and banana pudding pie. She was pleased when Rainer ordered chocolate.

"Good choice," she approved.

"That's because you are going to eat half of it."

She just looked at him as she munched on a fry, not bothering to deny the truth of the statement. They were both totally unaware of the looks that were flying back and forth between Caleb, Dana, and Quinn.

The pie came, and Alice ate the majority of all three slices.

The waitress was a little shy when she brought the check. "Excuse me Mr. Stevens...uh Rainer..." she amended, trying to sound more grown up.  "Can I have your autograph?"

Rainer gave her a polite smile with a joke about making sure he wasn't signing the check.

The waitress request had thrown Alice a little, she had stopped seeing Rainer as a celebrity over the last few days. "Remind me to add autograph to the betting list," Alice joked weakly, and Rainer looked at her thoughtfully as if he had heard the unsteadiness in her voice.

After the bill had been paid, by Quinn, they all slowly ambled their way back to the parking lot and the trucks. When they had arrived the place had been packed and Rainer and Quinn had had to park in the back part of a neighboring vacant field.

They were saying their goodbyes, and Dana had just finished giving Alice a hug when she saw it. It was a huge grey and brown snake. Alice couldn't help herself, she had never seen a snake before and she was trying to climb up on Rainer's back before she knew what was happening.

Everybody jumped and looked around for what had spooked her, when they saw the snake they looked from it to her like she was crazy.

Her arms were around Rainer's neck as she held on not daring to let her feet touch the ground. Rainer had no choice but to wrap his arms under her legs and hike her up further on his back or choke.

"Alice it is a garden snake," Rainer assured her.

Alice wouldn't take her eyes off if it. "Are you sure it's not a Cobra Python one?"

She wiggled a little as Rainer shifted sideways. No way was she taking her eyes off of it.

Dana had started to load up Fiona, who was pointing at the snake, and she kept shooting amused glances over her shoulder at Alice.