Page 49 of My Casanova

Fade stood behind Adalee and rubbed her shoulders. “Chill, babe. I get a vote, and you know I’m going to vote yes.”

Adalee turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “That’s sweet, honey, but I would still like my own vote.”

“Same,” Fallon called and raised her hand like she was in a classroom.

I tried to ignore the big camera that was weaving through the shop and trying to capture everything. It was pretty distracting and had flicked toward me a few times but never lingered long. I doubted anything going on here was exciting enough for the audience.

“I know what your vote is,” Yarder sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I just need to run it by the rest of the guys, okay? The club is who is going to help you get this off the ground.”

“Fine,” Adalee grumbled and crossed her arms. “But I would like it to be put on the record that I am not down with us not having an official vote.”

“It is noted,” Yarder growled, clearly over the conversation.

“What are we doing here?” the guy I didn’t know asked and glanced around the shop with a skeptical expression.

Poppy pushed off the counter with a grin. “We’re surrounded by cheese and wine, Pirate. Just enjoy it.”

Pirate scoffed and shook his head. “Yeah, no thanks. I’m not into wine, and cheese just belongs on pizza and burgers.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Stan called dramatically and swooped in like a hawk. He hooked his arm through Pirate’s. “I think you need a little education, biker man. And I will be your guide on this journey.”

“Hey, hey,” Yarder called to Stan and pointed a warning finger at him. “Take it easy on the samples today, okay? We got some shit we need to do when we get back to the clubhouse.”

“Sure, sure,” Stan called back and grabbed two bottles of wine before heading to the cheese case with Pirate in tow. “I just want to show Bootlegger some things.”

“Bootlegger?” Compass laughed from the door.

“It’s Pirate,” Pirate growled with a scowl.

Stan moved behind the cheese case, completely unfazed. “Oh, yeah. You’re right.” He grabbed a wedge of aged white cheddar and held it up dramatically. “At least I knew it wasn’t Jack Sparrow.”

God, I loved Stan.

Most people would be intimidated by a bunch of bikers and their ol’ ladies.

Not Stan.

Not one bit.

Adalee and Fallon wandered over to the cheese case and laughed as they watched Stan work his magic on Pirate. Compass and Fade stayed by the door, leaned against the frame, and just watched everyone.

The camera crew knew where the excitement was and followed Stan and Pirate, which meant they were finally off me. Thank goodness.

“How have you been?” Poppy asked as she turned her attention back to me.

“Oh, uh, I’ve been good. Business has been steady since our little party. At least ten people have come back in and mentioned you guys.”

Poppy beamed. “That’s great. I hope they bought something when they came back in.”

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. They totally did.”

Poppy hesitated, then asked, “Has Smoke been in?”

“Poppy,” Yarder groaned. “Do not do this.”

“Do what?” she asked innocently.

“Act like you don’t know what’s going on.”

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