Page 1 of Sassy Embrace

ONE

LEIGH

Leigh tied her dark hair in a ponytail as she walked through the main entrance of the Naked Wolfe.

“Mornin’, boss,” the young woman behind the counter called out to her. Her name tag read Rosie. “Or, evenin’, I guess.”

Leigh smiled at the girl and tapped her fingernails on the countertop. “Any guests giving you trouble yet, today?”

Rosie shook her head. “Pretty quiet so far. Oh, but Hank called out sick, so there’s no one to do the cowboy lasso routine.”

Leigh raised her eyebrows. “What a shame for our paying customers,” she said as she continued walking toward the velvet curtain leading to the dance floor. But she paused, recent events calling out to her.

“Did Hank say what he was sick with?” she asked, a hint of dread in her voice.

Rosie didn’t pick up on it and shook her head with a smile. “Nah. He sounded like he was putting on an act, though. I bet he’ll be down at the Howling Strings concert tonight, right as rain.”

Leigh sighed in relief. “Well, that concert better be damn worth depriving a bunch of horny women of his lasso trick.”

A small group of patrons walked in the door, their IDs ready to hand to Rosie. Leigh silently excused herself, the weight of the conversation not quite leaving her.

It was bad enough managing a male shifter strip club. Leigh was happy to take over management from Nic and Jake since they packed up and moved out to Vegas. But it came with all the trappings of managing any such club. Security, and a lot of it, programming that attracted a very specific audience, and hiring the right kind of guys who understood the role.

She genuinely could not believe just how many times she had to remind her staff that they were dancers, not prostitutes, no matter how pretty or rich the client was.

But on top of that, Leigh was also overseeing the management of The Horny Wolfe since Emma and Mason were tied up leading the Central Pack. A regular nightclub for shifters, it had fewer management concerns when things were smooth in the shifter community.

And she was also still bartending at The Sassy Wolfe and keeping an eye on its management in Nate and Karla’s stead. After all, it was kind of hard to run a nightclub when you had twin infants to take care of.

Leigh silently mused she should get hitched, if only for the seemingly guaranteed vacation that came with it.

“Tonya,” Leigh called out to her head bartender. The woman looked overwhelmed and exhausted, and she was only two hours into her shift. “How’s the newbie?”

Tonya sighed, a big puff of air blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “Not gonna lie, Leigh, he sucks. He doesn’t know how to make a Cosmo. Kept asking the lady if she’d prefer a whiskey neat.”

Leigh closed her eyes and shook her head. She’d been too busy with an inventory issue at the Sassy Wolfe to oversee the new hires at the Naked Wolfe. Now she was paying the price.

“You’re whipping him into shape, though, right?” Leigh asked.

“You know it.”

“Atta girl. Any other issues I need to know about tonight?”

Tonya paused, an ice-cold bottle of light beer dripping condensation on her gripped hand. She chewed her lip a moment, before popping the cap off and sliding it over to a waiting customer.

“Tonya…” Leigh said.

“I heard a couple of the dancers talking about that new drug that’s been all over the news.”

Leigh’s blood went cold. This was exactly what she was afraid of. “Like, taking it?”

Tonya shook her head. “They were joking about finding some and doing it on a dare, just showing off. You know how young wolves are. But they were way too casual about it. So I reminded them that doing drugs on the clock is grounds for termination.”

“I’m sure they called you a buzzkill.” Leigh sighed.

“Among other things. Don’t they teach kids not to do drugs in school anymore?”

Leigh shrugged her shoulders, feeling a slight bit of strain rising from them.

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