CHAPTER SEVEN
Nadine
Oh my God. I was so nervous my hands were shaking. This was my first night alone as a hostess. I’d been shadowing Daisy or Glory for the past week, but Carmen had insisted I was ready to go it alone. Plus, she said she had several men asking for me, much to my surprise.
It was time to get started. I took a deep breath and picked up one of the pretty trays the hostesses carried.
Everything was fancy here. Even the trays had to be perfect.
I didn’t feel like I fit in at all. I looked around at the other girls.
They weren’t necessarily prettier than me. Just different. Smoother somehow.
I straightened my shoulders. If I could work for Maybelle Dickens’ catering company, I could do this.
Was I showing more boob than when I worked for Maybelle?
Yes. Was I supposed to allow the patrons to touch me some?
Yes. Was my skirt so short that if I bent over the wrong way I’d flash everyone? Also, yes.
But I was determined to make it. Like Mama said, this was my chance.
I knew I wasn’t likely to get another one like this.
I put a big smile on my face and gave my hips extra sway as I walked in between the circular tables full of handsome men in expensive suits.
Several of their eyes were on me. I felt them, but I wasn’t going to let that make me nervous.
I’d had boys’ attention since kindergarten.
The only difference was that then they wanted me to play blocks with them.
Now, they wanted to play some very different games. I could handle it.
And then I saw Carmen. She was sitting at an enormous table, the premiere table she’d shown me earlier, with six men.
Six great-looking men. I recognized one as Nico, her sexy brother who owned the club with her.
The rest? I could guess. I knew she had five brothers.
The sixth guy? I had no clue who he was, but he looked familiar.
And he was ridiculously handsome. I was going to have trouble not staring at him.
“Nadine,” Carmen called and waved at me, “come here.”
Oh, shit. Seriously? On my first real night she was going to make me serve the premiere table? I wished I could go back to shadowing Glory or Daisy. This was too much.
I tried to mask the fear and anxiety I felt by putting on an even brighter smile.
I sashayed over and set my tray down on the edge of the table.
“Hey,” I said. “How are y’all tonight? I’m Nadine.”
None of them responded with more than smiles and nods.
Carmen smiled at me encouragingly, like I was supposed to say more.
I stood awkwardly and tried to think of something to say.
I saw one of the men, the insanely hot guy, checking me out.
I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn’t place him.
Plus, it’s not like I knew anyone in West Bay.
Maybe he reminded me of a movie star. His eyes met mine and held for a moment, before he grinned.
Damn. He had a really nice smile. I smiled but forced myself to look at the others at the table.
They were all looking at the stage. I glanced behind me and saw two strippers in the middle of a sexy dance.
There was a topic of conversation! I grabbed onto it with both hands.
“So, naked ladies, huh?” I exclaimed.
All eyes were suddenly on me. Carmen had a slight frown on her face as she looked at me warily.
“They’re really the tits, am I right?”
The man who’d checked me out sputtered out a surprised laugh, but he was the only one. Everyone else just stared like there might be something wrong with me. Maybe they didn’t understand the joke.
“Get it? Because that means they’re great and their tits are actually out right now and…”
“We got it,” Carmen interrupted.
“Oh.” I stood there for a minute. I had to fill the awkward silence. “Gotcha,” I winked and gave her finger guns with sound effects. “Pew, pew, pew!”
Oh, Jesus. What the hell was I doing? It was like I couldn’t stop myself.
I had the full, undivided attention of the men now, and, judging from the fact Carmen had her head in her hands, it wasn’t in a good way.
The super hot guy I’d had eye contact with rubbed a hand over his mouth but couldn’t quite hide his smile.
His eyes traveled over my body shamelessly, and I started to feel warm and flushed.
I hadn’t felt like that except for when I’d seen that freshly showered guy at Cayenne…
Oh my God. That was him. He was the guy with the blue-gray eyes I’d seen with Nico at Cayenne.
“Well, I’ll just serve these and get out of y’all’s way.”
I reached for the tray, but I was flustered. I bobbled a bit on my heels, lurched forward, and put my hand on the tray to steady myself. It tipped over and dumped several glasses of top-shelf whiskey in the laps of two of the men.
“Oh my God. I am so, so sorry!”
I grabbed one of the bar towels from the tray and started trying to dry off the lap of the man closest to me.
He’d gotten the worst of the spill. He had a puddle of whiskey in his lap.
I went to town on his crotch, trying to erase what I’d done.
I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing beyond trying to sop up the whiskey from his fancy suit.
“Whoa, baby.” He grabbed my hand by the wrist and stopped me.
I looked up into his face. He was staring at me with mix lust and humor in his bright blue eyes.
I looked back down and realized I’d basically been stroking his dick through his pants.
He clearly had been enjoying it, too. He was obviously hard.
His gaze had dropped to my cleavage, and I stood up quickly. I’d flashed my boobs in his face.
I glanced around. Everyone at the table was staring at me with wide eyes and their mouths a little open. I had made a fool of myself. Carmen was totally going to fire me.
I covered my face with my hands. “I’m so sorry,” I cried through my fingers.
“Hey, don’t worry.” The same man reached out again and grabbed my hand.
This time he held it in his. “It’s all fine.
” He smiled at me. He looked similar to Nico with his dark hair, golden skin, and blue eyes, but he was smoother looking.
More refined. Bottom line, he was hot. And a Salazar.
And he was still being nice to me after I spilled a drink in his lap and almost gave him an unintentional hand job.
Well, come to think of it, maybe that’s why he was being so nice.
He pulled an empty chair closer to him and patted it. “Sit by me, Nadine.”
So, I did. I tried to ignore the fact that I had tears in my eyes, and I plopped myself into the tall chair. It was made of the softest leather I’d ever felt.
“I’m Enzo Salazar,” he said. “I’m the oldest.” He gestured to each person around the table.
“You know Nico and Carmen,” he said, skipping them.
I couldn’t even look at Carmen. I was too afraid of what she’d say to me.
“Then there’s Javier.” He gestured to a man with the same dark hair, eyes, and olive skin as Carmen. They could be twins.
Javier winked at me. “Hey, Nadine. It’s nice to have you here.”
“Th… thank you,” I managed to get out.
“Next up are the twins. There’s Joaquin,” he pointed to a guy who looked exactly like a younger Nico except he didn’t have tattoos. Joaquin nodded at me. He looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh. “And there’s Leo, the baby of the family.”
Wait. That guy was a Salazar? He looked nothing like them. He had paler skin and light blond hair. He had those bright blue eyes that some of them had, but that was the only similarity I saw. I frowned and everyone laughed.
“That’s the reaction I always get, sweetheart.” Leo grinned at me. I liked him immediately. “I know I look like I was adopted when you look at these guys.” He gestured to his siblings sitting around the table. “But I promise I wasn’t. If you saw my mom, it would make sense.”
I nodded because I didn’t know what to say. I also blushed because the way Leo was staring at me left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was interested in me.
“You need to leave Enzo and come sit by me, baby.”
Enzo ignored him and kept talking. “And this,” he gestured to the last man at the table, “is our mayor.”
Crap. The hot guy was the mayor? “You’re the mayor?” I couldn’t believe someone that young and attractive would be in office. He should be a model or an actor or something.
“I sure am, honey. And I’m wondering why the hell I didn’t get that same lap treatment Enzo got. You spilled whiskey in my lap, too.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. And when I did, everyone else did.
“What if I was serious?” the mayor asked after the laughter had died down. “Is there some way I can schedule that kind of treatment in one of the VIP rooms later?” His eyes were hot on mine even though he was still smiling.
I started to say something, but Carmen cut me off. “That’s not possible.”
Oh, snap. I was getting fired. The smile slid right off my face.
Enzo reached over and squeezed my hand. “She’s not firing you,” he whispered.
I stared at him. “No?”
He shook his head. “Just let her handle things.”
“No. I’m sorry, Reynolds,” Carmen continued, “but Nadine is only here on a limited time basis. She’s going to work for us for the next three weeks and then enter the auction.”
He looked disappointed. “My loss.” His eyes stayed on me, and I could feel them almost like a touch. I saw everyone else at the table looking between the two of us.
Carmen just smiled. “Doesn’t have to be. Attend the auction and bid,” she said.
The mayor gave a half smile and looked away.
“See?” Enzo smiled at me.
I smiled back, relieved.
“What are y’all talking about?” Leo, the blond twin, asked, looking between his eldest brother and me.
“Nothing,” Enzo said. Then he turned and winked at me.
“I don’t think I’ve seen Enzo say this many words to a woman he wasn’t fucking in… maybe ever,” Leo said. “I’m jealous. Come sit with me, sweetheart.” He indicated the chair Joaquin was sitting in next to him. “I can make him move.”
Carmen rolled her eyes. “Give it up, Leo. Nadine has to get back to work now.”
I took the hint. I stood up, and, on impulse, leaned over and gave Enzo a kiss on the cheek. He looked both charmed and shocked by the gesture.
“That’s not fair,” Leo said.
“I have to say, I agree,” the mayor chimed in, his blue-gray eyes connecting with mine again. I felt a little zing of something pass between us, but I tried to ignore it. He was the mayor. He wouldn’t be interested in someone like me outside of a VIP room.
“Nadine, I’ll catch up with you later,” Carmen said.
“Um, okay, but do you want me to keep waiting tables or should I stop now?” I gestured towards Enzo’s still wet lap.
A couple of the guys started chuckling, but I wasn’t trying to be funny.
“By all means, keep serving,” Nico said after glancing at Carmen. “But remember, you’re called a hostess, not a waitress, Nadine.”
“Right. Gotcha.” I started to give him the finger guns but managed to stop myself.
I still gave him a big wink, though, and he smiled.
I’d noticed he didn’t do that often, so that made me feel better.
Even though I thought the combination of his intensity, his muscles, and his tattoos made him seem a little… threatening.
I met the mayor’s eyes as I left, though, and the speculative look he gave me was nerve-inducing.
I didn’t know what to think about him, exactly, but something told me I’d be seeing those eyes of his in my sleep.