All four ladies sauntered up to the bar. "All you have to say is the word money and we will hear you." Dana didn't like me, but she didn't hate me so much that she would refuse taking the tip I offered.
"Oh, my God, you earned all this from bartending?" the woman dressed like a slutty witch said.
"Yep."
Kate entered the area from the back hallway.
"Why are you giving it to us?" Dana asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "It's not like we’re Kate's children and if you're nice to us you'll endear yourself to her."
Kate’s brow furrowed, and she put her hands on her hips as she watched me talking with her staff.
"You worked harder than I did. And I have no illusions that anything I do will endear me to Kate. Do you want the money or not? I can divvy it up between everyone else if you don't want it."
Dana shoved the money into her cleavage.
"What's going on here?" Kate asked, approaching the bar.
"Taking care of tips." I took the last wad of money and headed back into the kitchen to share it with the kitchen staff.
From my view, which I felt was an expert view, the night went very well. A night like this didn't pull in the kind of money I was sure Kate pulled in tonight without everyone on the staff doing their part.
They all deserved a reward.
Maybe later, I would get a reward, too.
An image of Kate writhing under me slid through my brain. I pushed it away. My reward tonight wouldn't be holding her in my arms. I'd be lucky if she talked to me.
When I came back from the kitchen, Kate and Dana were at the end of the bar talking. I continued to dawdle, looking busy behind the bar even though all the work to get ready for tomorrow was done. Finally, the chef and kitchen crew appeared, and along with Dana, they left the club.
Kate looked up at me from the other side of the bar with tired and wary eyes. "You can go now."
I leaned toward her, putting my forearms on the bar. "You could say thank you. You can't tell me that you haven't tallied up your receipts and seen what a successful night you had."
She arched a brow. "I see your ego hasn't shrunk. You don't think we would have had a successful night without you seducing the women."
I flashed her grin. "You would've had a successful night, but face it, those women bought a shit ton of alcohol tonight. You're welcome."
"If you hurry, you might catch up with one of them. Or maybe two or three."
I feigned thinking about it. Then I looked her directly in the eyes. "No. I'm a one-woman man."
Her eyes rounded, clearly not expecting me to be so direct. Kate wasn't a woman to play games. She liked direct and honest, and that's what I wanted to be.
"I saw you checking me out. I know you didn't like how those women threw themselves at me. You can tell me the truth." I leaned closer to her, close enough that I could smell the scent of her exotic perfume. She really was like a siren, ensnaring me. "You were jealous."
"I was not jealous."
The sayingshe doth protest too muchcame to mind. I thought about repeating it but decided it would probably make her retreat even more.
I switched tactics. "I'll tell you the truth. I didn't much like seeing the gangster guy with you on the dance floor. You know that guy is probably at home jerking off to an image of you shimmying out of that dress."
"You're vulgar." But the expression on her face didn't quite match her words. She liked me talking in a suggestive manner. I had to only hope that she wasn't also liking the idea that it was gangster guy imagining her.
"I'll probably end up doing the same thing tonight."
She gaped at me, and I grinned. For a moment, I thought maybe I’d broken through. “You look beautiful, Kate.”
The steel wall closed up again. She backed away from the bar. "You can go now."