Page 27 of War Games

When the check came, Carey paid in cash, shoving in bills and handing it back before Natalie could walk away.

“Keep the change,” Carey said, beginning to stand up as Natalie nodded and walked away.

“When did you get that much cash?” he asked, unable to keep the question to himself until they could make it outside.

“I’ve been tutoring online to make some extra money and kill time while everyone was so busy this summer,” she explained, shrugging. Grabbing her purse, a small thing she started carrying when she started driving, she gestured for him to follow. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” He got up and smiled as he walked out with his daughter. They drew some looks, just as they always did.

“She got a ten-dollar tip,” Carey said softly as they stepped outside and headed for his truck. “Which was only ten percent of the meal. Think that was a good enough message not to flirt with a girl’s dad if the girl is paying for dinner?”

“I think how you handled it at the end was message enough,” he said, pulling out his keys to unlock it. He opened the door for her and closed it once she was inside. He quickly checked the truck for any bugs of the electronic variety and once he felt satisfied, he got into the driver’s seat and looked at his daughter.

“I was hoping you would step in earlier.”

“Were you?” She looked horrified. “I was thinking that if she wanted to behave that way, I didn’t need to cause a fuss. I just wouldn’t tip her and would make sure she understood that when dinner was over.”

“So, I was trying to teach you a lesson about taking control of a situation, and you wanted to teach her a lesson.” With a chuckle, Heath turned on his truck. “I’m not sure why I thought I needed to teach you anything now.”

“Maybe it’s because we haven’t hung out recently. I go out to dinner with Landon and Dirk enough, though. I see them do it all the time. Better than causing a scene in the restaurant bypotentially getting someone in trouble, Dirk says. Landon will grumble a bit, but that’s Landon.”

“Landon has grumbled about too much attention at places since he was a child,” Heath said, sighing. “It’s not his fault. The attention used to be for a different reason than just him being an attractive young man. He also hates being entirely ignored the way Natalie just did to you. Also, for a different reason.” Heath was a white man, and his son wasn’t. Raising Landon in the latter half of the 1800s hadn’t been easy on either of them. It hadn’t been an easy time to be a mixed family.

“Yeah, it’s understandable why he is the way he is.” Carey leaned back. “Dessert was bad. That was disappointing. It was just… all sugar.”

“I thought the same thing,” he said. “The rest was good. We’ll have to find out if they are willing to do large orders or catering for the pack. We can forgo dessert for those types of things.”

“I’ll look into it if you want to pay me for it.”

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement. What’s your tutoring rate?” he asked, thrilled that his daughter was going to bargain her time for an income. Heath was as much a businessman as he was a werewolf and a father.

“I charge twenty dollars an hour and tutor ten hours a week, maximum. I charge twenty because high school students and their working families may not have the money for more,” she answered, smiling. “Working for the pack, I will charge fifty because the pack has more expendable income and is more important work. On top of that, my tutoring is a set schedule, but the pack notably needs more flexibility. I should be paid to account for that difference because it might interfere with other areas of my life.”

He was so impressed by her immediate argument about how much she should be paid and why, he knew he was going to agree with it. He was truthfully proud of her, even if her logic wasn’tperfect. She had been so completely confident in her offer that he knew a few people who would have just given her what she wanted because it was ballsy and charming to see from a young woman her age.

“Done,” he said. “We’ll shake on it once we get home. I’ll even have a contract written up to give you tomorrow.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, grinning as he pulled out of the parking spot and started the drive home.

Once home, he and Carey shook hands in front of Jacky, who was utterly confused by the action. He could only imagine the scene that played out for her. Father and daughter laughing as they found her, got into position and shook without saying a word to her about it.

“What is happening?” she asked, looking between them.

“A business deal that you have now been a witness to. I will pay Carey fifty dollars an hour for any work she does for the pack. Specifically, finding out what restaurants will cater large meals when I need to feed all of them.”

“That’s just to start,” Carey said, grinning as she left.

“She’s scamming you,” Jacky said softly once Carey was in her room.

“Oh, I know,” Heath said, chuckling. “It’s only going to be a few hours a week, though, and she’s working for the money. She wants to be self-sufficient. Why not encourage that sort of energy?”

“Fair enough.” Jacky shrugged, and he could see it was put to rest for her.

“I need Teagan to write up a contract,” he said, kissing her cheek as he pulled out his phone to send that text. Teagan was humored and promised to have a draft by the end of the next business day.

Later, when he and Jacky were in bed, his phone started going off.

“It’s nearly midnight,” Jacky said with a groan, curled under the blankets right where he wanted her, as he reached for his phone. He wasn’t moving fast until he saw the name.

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