Sophie rolled her eyes, but Ria could see the longing in her face. That was the life Sophie wanted. Despite everything, she still believed. She still wanted that happy ever after.
That kind of life wasn’t for Ria.
Connor made her nervous. She’d have to do her best to stay off his radar. Shouldn’t be too hard. He didn’t seem all that interested in engaging with anyone. Female or male.
As far as he knew she was just one of the waitresses. Not a sub. Not anyone of interest. Nothing to see here.
The little waitress was watching him again.
She had good instincts. When he wanted to, he could fade into the background. People didn’t tend to see him as a threat, and he used that to his advantage. Little did they know.
Boy, just because someone dresses poorly don’t make them a pauper. He smiled as he remembered his grandfather telling him that. He hadn’t understood it at the time. Couldn’t understand why someone with money would dress in rags, but he got it now.
He wondered if her wary nature was due to a guilty conscience. He’d run standard background checks on all the staff at Indulgence. There were seven waitresses and three bar staff on the books. Nothing had jumped out as suspicious in hers.
Connor deliberately didn’t look her way; he didn’t want her to know he was aware of her scrutiny.
She was beautiful. Lush and curvy, with wavy, dark-blonde hair that probably fell past her shoulders when it wasn’t pulled back into a hideous bun at the nape of her neck, a plump little mouth, and exotic hazel eyes.
When she walked into the room, she turned heads. She was completely out of his league. And she had trouble written all over her. It was an almost irresistible pull.
He really was a sucker for punishment. He glanced into the mirrors behind the bar, watching her with Sophie. They were a strange pair to be friends. Almost complete opposites. Yet he saw the way Ria watched over her friend.
Sophie moved away, walking over to a customer, and Ria glanced around the room. His glass had been empty for about ten minutes. A good waitress would have been back already to ask him if he wanted a refill.
Ria wasn’t a good waitress. From what he’d seen, she treated everyone with an equal dose of impatience and for some strange reason the people in the bar lapped it up.
“Ria!” Someone called out from behind him. “You gonna get me a refill or what?”
“Why don’t you get off your fat ass and get it yourself,” Ria yelled back.
He turned slightly to look at the man. He was skinny as a beanpole and laughing. He leaned over to say something to the woman next to him.
The other night, she’d told one of her customers that he should go crying back to his mama if he didn’t like the way his drink was mixed. Connor had tensed, expecting trouble. He’d been ready to go to her aid.
He hadn’t expected the man to laugh so hard tears dripped down his face.
Ria was known for her sarcasm and bad manners, and it had become a draw card. He wasn’t certain he liked it. If she were his, he’d put a stop to it. It was disrespectful. Which is what he intended to tell Ajax before he left. He guessed Roarke and Dylan had no idea what was going on; surely, they would have put a stop to it by now.
Indulgence was different from Roarke’s other clubs. Waco was a smaller town. The BDSM crowd wasn’t large and it would be hard to make much of a profit from a small membership. So, the bar at the front was open to the public. The dungeon beyond had a small bar area that members could use if they didn’t want to come out here.
As far as assignments went, this was a pretty tame one. Most people wouldn’t bother hiring an investigator for something this small, not when the cameras he’d secretly installed should catch the thief in the act. However, Roarke had had a lot of trouble with this club when the old manager had been in place. He’d only just cleaned this place up then this happened. Club Indulgence was fast becoming more trouble that it was worth. Roarke wanted this person caught quickly. Plus, Connor’s boss owed Roarke a big favor, so he’d given Connor to Roarke for a few weeks to make sure this was nipped in the bud.
Ria stomped over to the other table and practically slammed the drink down. “Here ya go.”
“About time.”
Connor turned and gave the man a glare. Bad manners were never acceptable. The other man ignored him. Connor was used to that. He made a note to find out his name. Perhaps it was time for him to be audited. Or have a few parking tickets turn up on his record.
Fun. He hadn’t messed around with anyone since the last time he’d fucked with Hunter. Not that his boss had found it that amusing.
Nope, the boss didn’t have much of a sense of humor unless he was the one pulling shit.
She approached his table. Finally. “Want another?”
He stared at her for a moment. She stared back at him for a good fifteen seconds before her gaze dropped. She’d lasted longer than he’d thought she would. Gratification filled him when he realized he’d been right.
She was a sub. He wondered why he hadn’t seen her in the club. She’d look gorgeous in a fiery red corset to match her personality. And finding a way to control all that sarcastic energy without losing her spark would be a challenge. He hadn’t had one of those in a long, long time.