Page 62 of The Main Event

Levi looked interested now. “How come you haven’t met her if it’s serious?”

“I’ve never met any of them unless it was a fluke. I think he doesn’t want to rock the boat. It took everybody a long time to get comfortable with one another. Introducing someone new into the mix might make things awkward. You know how I feel about things being awkward.”

Awkward was definitely how I was feeling. My goal was to turn around and slink away before they realized I’d been eavesdropping. That didn’t happen, though, because Levi’s busy eyes found me before I could take a single step.

“Hey, Jax,” the happy bartender sang out. “How goes it?”

I went ramrod straight and found myself looking at Daisy rather than him. She was grim as she regarded me. “I’m good. I’m just looking for Daisy.” I was resigned to my fate. I couldn’t turn around because Sheryl would tell Daisy that I’d been looking for her, and it would make no sense if I fled now. “I was hoping you could give me a breakdown of the parties for the rest of the season.”

“Sure.” Daisy’s expression was ice cold. “Have a seat.”

I sat across from her rather than next to her because I was afraid to scent that perfume again. I had real fear that I would turn into Pavlov’s dog and start humping her leg or something. What was wrong with me?

“I’m just trying to understand how it works,” I explained. “We have big parties every Friday and Saturday and small parties most Sundays.”

She nodded. She was all business. “Yes. The smaller parties vary. Some are children’s parties, which you wouldn’t think would be decent money, but when adults are around kids that much, apparently, they want to drink.”

I smirked. “That makes sense.”

“We have a monthly group of card players who meet here, too,” she continued. “I wasn’t certain the first time I bookedthem because … I mean it’s women playing cards. I couldn’t fathom them running up a bill. They can drink, though.”

“I’m not surprised. My mother does the same thing. Tell me about the midweek parties.”

“Oh.” Daisy nodded in understanding. “Those are mostly corporate parties. We get some Christmas parties in December, which is great because those pay really well. And, since Christmas is the theme for a good six weeks—it can even eke into the new year—then we only have to deal with the decorations once.”

“What about New Year’s Eve?”

“We have a big party here. It’s not sponsored by anybody so it’s open to everybody. We start selling the tickets in November and they’re usually gone within a week.”

“Do you think we should mark up the price?”

She hesitated, but not for longer. “I brought that up to your grandfather. I believed we were selling them too cheap. He thought otherwise.”

“What do you think now?”

“I think we could bring in an extra twenty grand if we mark up the tickets twenty bucks each.”

“Will people complain?”

“You’ll always get some complainers. We’ll still sell out, though. Mark my words.”

“Then I think that’s a no-brainer.”

She nodded and went back to whatever she was doing. Basically, I’d been dismissed. I didn’t get up, though. Instead, I stared at her and wondered about a few ridiculous things. Like … how soft was her hair? It looked soft. The night of the kiss it had been dark to match her costume, but it was back to its regular color now, and it looked silky and beautiful.

I wondered about how she looked under that costume, too. She’d obviously had help pushing up her cleavage to suchdeath-defying heights. Part of me wishes I’d been there for the dismantling of the costume. And it wasn’t just the sex—although that likely would’ve been earth shattering—but the intimacy as well.

She made me want to be closer to her. Just by being herself, I was drawn in. Constantly. I’d never truly felt that way about anyone before.

“Do you need something else?” Daisy asked. Her gaze was on the sheet she was filling out.

Slowly, I got to my feet. “No. I just wanted to understand the parties.”

“Well, now you do.”

When I dragged my eyes to Levi, I found him watching me with what could only be described as sympathy. He straightened when he realized I was looking at him, but his eyes remained a little sad.

“So, I’ll see you tonight?” Levi prodded, catching me off guard.

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