Page 26 of Cozen

“Cozen.”

“Got a last name?”

“Taylor,” she returned. “I’m not exactly dressed for work, am I?”

All the other girls were done up in the same black bodycon dresses and silver heels.

“Just smile a lot,” Chase said, shaking his head as he peered over the bar at Rowena on the floor. “Anything is an improvement over that one at the moment. I suspect the patrons won’t even notice you’re not in uniform as long as you treat them well.”

As the man said those words, Rowena was still trying to get her legs untangled from the barstool.

Sometimes, shit just worked out.

Cozen was lucky like that.

Cozen handed over the drink orders to Marissa who—at least for the three days Cozen had been working at The Kingdom—was still struggling to figure out how to do proper liquor orders. It wasn’t that the girl was stupid, or even a little bit flaky.

She was actually sweet, and nice.

And damn, she could make a good drink.

Marissa just wasn’t good with numbers. Or as she liked to say, she didn’t do math. Cozen figured the girl was skating along by the skin of her teeth because Chase had eyes for the bartender. Cozen saw him looking at Marissa one too many times when he thought nobody saw him do it.

“Need help?” Cozen asked the girl.

Marissa shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll get used to it.”

“You do know you have a calculator right in your phone, right?”

“Not supposed to have it on me while I’m working.”

“Chase wants proper numbers on his orders, too. I think he’d suck it the fuck up.”

Marissa smiled a little bit. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Use your phone, hon. It’ll be easier.”

And less stressful, too.

Cozen didn’t point that fact out, though.

Turning away from the bar, Cozen balanced the silver serving tray on her palm as she headed for the kitchen. For whatever reason, Jett Griffin had not yet came to the restaurant since she started working there.

Maybe some switch in his schedule.

A vacation, possibly.

Cozen didn’t worry because men were creatures of habit. He would come back eventually, and she would get her chance. That was all she needed. Just one single chance to put herself into his path, and find a way to insert her presence into his life.

An opening.

All good thieves found their openings.

In the kitchen, Chase was doing his rounds. The manager—she had come to find he wasn’t the owner of the restaurant—clapped his hands to speed up an already rushing crew. She figured a lot of the stress in the place was caused by his high-intensity nonsense.

Cozen didn’t care.

She did her thing.