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Mace’s brown eyes gave my body a slow perusal, ignoring Jasper’s push or growl of warning. “Not unbelievable at all, Nessa. Just can’t believe I get such a pretty view for the whole night.”
Though he was big and an even bigger flirt, I didn’t feel threatened by Mace. “Wow, you are quite the charmer aren’t you, Mace?”
“I’ve been known to charm a lady or two,” he said with a suddenly shy smile. “Come on in, Nessa. I’ll introduce you to the guys.”
“The guys?”
“Yep,” Jasper said, coming up on my other side with a slightly friendlier look on his face. “Mace is one of our security guys, and he’s the one who handles the money, so you’ll see him close up most of the night. The rest are inside.”
When Jasper relaxed, if that was what he was doing, he wasn’t quite so intimidating and was kind of handsome.
“Oh,” I sighed. “Okay.” For some reason I thought this would be a more informal operation with a few guys in white button down shirts and batons. But this was the Ashby family. I should have known better. “The guys. Sure.”
“Don’t be nervous, none of us bite. Jasper won’t let us,” Mace said as he opened a metal door that led to another metal door that only opened when the door behind us was closed, leaving me sandwiched between two big intimidating guys with muscles that went on for days. “These doors are to protect us as well as the players, but someone will be at the front door at nine sharp on game nights.”
A loud click echoed in the small space, and Mace pulled the door open before motioning me through, Jasper so close behind me I could feel the heat of his body. “Uh, where to?”
He put a hand to the small of my back, the move so gentle and protective I thought maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe the tough guy thing was due to the nature of his work. I knew better than most that often the biggest, baddest guys around were also the gentlest.
“Right this way,” he said.
I looked around like a poor relative coming to stay at the palace. The carpet was a deep shade of red that complemented the dark leather and chrome look of two large tables set up about fifteen feet apart. The chairs were pure luxury with high backs and plush seats. Kat had told me they were meant to keep the players at the table for as long as possible.
There was a long, fully stocked bar at the far end of the room and a good looking man with a bald head stood behind it with his arms folded, looking intimidating as hell.
“That’s Hulu,” Mace said and pointed at the bald guy with cool gray eyes that sized me up the closer we got to the bar. “This is Nessa, the new card girl.”
“Nice to meet you,” I told him, suddenly my shy self again. I stuck my hand out awkwardly and his much bigger hand covered it easily, his grip strong.
“You too, Nessa. Just call out if anyone gets out of line. They won’t because I’m very intimidating,” he said with a playful grin, “but still.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“Welcome to the fam.” He winked and again, it was only mildly flirtatious. I felt at ease.
“Oh, thank you, Hulu.”
“Next,” Jasper said, his voice an annoyed growl as he pulled open a small door that revealed a surveillance room with half a dozen screens. “This is Evan. Evan this is Nessa.”
Evan looked up with a blank expression that made his golden eyes appear even more eerie, despite the floppy brown curls that made him seem almost…normal. “Nice to meetcha, Nessa.”
“You too, Evan.” He was, apparently, a man of a few words. Either that or he’d already decided he didn’t like me.
“Normally Provo is in here, but he’s running late,” Mace added as he guided me out of the tiny room.
“I know Provo. He and Lance served together.” They were friends for a long time, and Lance’s death hit him almost as hard as it had me.
“Right,” Jasper said in a low tone. “And this is where you’ll do all the money changes, but don’t worry because Mace will always be at your side when that happens.”
“Okay. Is there a limit or something I need to know about?” I didn’t want to make any mistakes because it just wasn’t my style, but also because I didn’t know how harsh the penalties were for mistakes with this organization.
“Mace will handle all of that. Your main job is to keep the players entertained. Keep the drinks coming, laugh and joke with them, flirt with them but not too much. The players are rich and used to getting what they want, so be careful.”
His green gaze was serious as hell and I nodded, taking in every word.
