Page 19 of Loving Smoke

Seeing my father walking through the bar on his way out of Smoke’s office unnerved me. Of course, we never made eye contact or any indication we knew each other, but my paranoia flared fearing somehow the other workers might suspect. I didn’t relax until I saw him leave the club.

I managed to do my job, and stay in my lane, and since the slightest slip could prove dangerous, I stayed in full character at all times. When Blood’s wide frame approached the bar, I kept my eyes on the glasses I was stocking.

He rapped his knuckles on the bar. “Marisol, we need to see you.”

My curiosity rose kicking up my anxiety. A condition I battled ever since my mother’s death. Of course, playing a part to take down two outlaw bikers didn’t help and now they were asking to see me privately immediately after my father left.

I folded the towel and left it on the bar, then made my way under the service bridge. I came around the bar and followed Blood to the back hallway. His overall size dwarfed my petite frame shaking my confidence until I reminded myself of my skills in Jiu Jitsu. Its teachings are designed to enable a smaller person to defend themselves against a larger, stronger opponent using leverage and technique. And yes, my skittish brain also recited mundane facts when stressed. A strange but calming mechanism that seemed to work.

Blood flung the office door open and motioned for me to enter. The big man didn’t waste words—making him daunting and scarily mysterious.

I entered the office with Blood close behind me literally breathing down my neck with Smoke in front of me leaning against his desk. Not fun.

“Did I do something wrong?” I forced myself to stay in character when what I really wanted to say was, “What the fuck is with all the drama—not necessary.”

Moment of truth. They were either going to fire me, give me a raise, or call me out on my true identity, then whisk me away for some form of biker torture.

“No.” Smoke crossed his muscled arms over his chest and my heart kicked up for another reason going from fast to double-time.

“Matter of fact, we’re very happy with everything you’ve been doing.” Smoke looked over my shoulder. “Right, Blood?”

Blood made a sound behind me. A mix between a grunt and a cough. Apparently, bikers had their own language.

“So happy we’d like you to take on some extra work.”

“Oh.” Totally not what I was expecting him to say.

“With extra pay, of course.” Smoke shifted his feet which drew my eyes to his legs and the perfect way his jeans hung on his narrow hips.

“Of course.” I threw out the words to distract myself from the sheer energy radiating off this man.

“Great, starting tomorrow you come in at four and you’ll be in the office until six, then you’ll go out on the floor and tend bar.”

“Okay.”

“You’re good with that?”

“Yes.”

“And like I said there’ll be an increase in your pay.”

“Thank you.” Screw the money. Now maybe I could see exactly what went down here and figure out the best way to take this dangerously gorgeous man to his knees.

Smoke’s eyes lingered on my breasts and I took it as a good thing. Tomorrow I’d make sure to wear a push-up bra because he was no different than any other man. Show them some tit and they were putty.

I didn’t normally engage in games when it came to men. I usually believed in being straightforward with them. Not that I’d had many experiences. My school breaks were spent at home at my father’s insistence and my days were spent studying to stay at the top of my class, also at my father’s insistence. Such a rigorous schedule left little time for dating.

Now my main focus revolved around exacting revenge and taking down the men who were responsible for my mother’s murder.

Marisol left the office and Blood turned to me. “I think she’s gonna work out.”

“She keys in the right codes, and never has a shortage at the end of the night.”

“She can juggle five or six customers at a time and doesn’t get rattled,” Blood added. “She’s either bartended before she came here or she’s just fuckin’ smart.”

“She picked it up pretty fast—maybe too fast?” I threw it out there for Blood’s reaction.

“What are you sayin’?”

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