Page 12 of Rowdy St. Nick

“Oh yeah! One of the barns is a full event space,” he says.

“And what does Parker do?”

“He’s one of our best ranch hands, here before Casie took over the place. She’s our current owner.”

“I see.”

A man in khaki pants and a green shirt with “Lone Star Dude Ranch” printed above the left breast comes up to the counter. He turns to me.

“Tess? Your ride is outside.”

“Oh!”

I grab my phone from the counter and hop down from my stool, dipping one last fry to eat on the way out.

“Thanks so much for the turkey melt! Are you sure I can’t give you anything to cover that?”

“I’m sure. You have a nice night now, ya hear?”

“Will do!”

Allie barely lets me shut the door before she’s driving off. I put my seatbelt on as we pull out onto the main highway, back to The Castle after my long detour.

“In a hurry are we?” I ask, looking straight ahead.

“Yes, Deb called out, so it’s just you and me on the floor.”

“I need to be hostess and play coordinator too, then?”

“Yes,” she says.

“I can handle that.”

“Okay, and you have private bookings later too, right?”

“I do, but Taylor should be in by the time I have to go to the back. She can take over hostess duties.” I mentally run through the schedule I saw earlier today online.

“I hope so. She’s not great at multitasking.”

“You can help direct her. Just stay in character while you do, and you’ll be fine.”

“Right, okay. We can handle this.”

“We can.”

At this rate, I’ll only have a few minutes to gather myself before we get there. Allie is driving like a fiend, but I get it. I can’t afford to lose the money from tonight’s bookings whether Deb called out or not, especially with my car needing work. This is my element. I know what I’m doing in this situation. As I always say,Tits up, Tess.I got this.

Chapter 5

Parker

Working after the encounter with Tess was not easy. I keep imagining her little pixie haircut and how it would feel to tangle my fingers in it. It was a lot harder to get anything done as her face kept entering my thoughts.

How is there a BDSM club on the same road as this dude ranch, and I never knew about it? I even asked a couple of the hands, and they hadn’t heard of it either. Maybe I’m not supposed to talk about it. I’m not sure what the etiquette is for a secluded nightclub where people go for BDSM play. Is it called play?

There’s one person I know can answer all these questions. Tess hadn’t given me her number. Then again, I never asked for it.

Parker, you idiot.

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