“How’s it going in there?” Angie asked as Penny passed through the bar once more. She was mixing some drinks herself, but Angie was doing most of the work and putting the drinks on trays for her to take out to the men.

“Overall, it’s going pretty well, and don’t tell Candy this, but I think two of them are trying to pick me up. It seems to me like a competition of some sort. One of them is being very obvious about it, but the other one hasn’t been annoying or sleazy. I don’t know what to make of it.” She spoke in a hushed tone, and Angie looked at her with questioning eyes.

“What do you mean?” she asked, and Penny shrugged.

“I mean, Chase Ellis told me he wants to buy a case of wine for me, since I didn’t like what he ordered. He then asked for my address to send the wine to and my cell number, so he could make sure it arrived.” Penny shook her head, almost snorting with an amusement.

“You like him, don’t you?” Angie asked with a knowing look. Penny looked at her, clearly surprised, and the smile vanished from her face.

“What are you talking about? I do not!” she snapped back. Angie laughed and held up her hands, calming her friend down.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything to Candy about it, but it’s clear by the way you’re being defensive about it!” she teased once more, and Penny shook her head, this time with more force than before.

“I don’t like him! I’m telling you, I don’t! I’m hoping to get a good tip out of this whole thing, but that’s it!” She crossed her arms and looked at Angie with defiance in her eyes, and Angie laughed once more.

“There’s nothing wrong with thinking some of the clients are hot. Chase Ellis is a real catch. Alright, alright!” She let the subject drop when she saw the way Penny was looking at her. She handed her the drinks and nodded toward the dining area. “You’d better get these out there before they complain that you’re taking too long. You’re on a roll so far, best not screw it up now.”

Penny gave her friend another look as she picked up the tray and headed back out into the dining room. It was quickly growing crowded, but her years of experience had taught her how to maneuver through the tables and patrons with ease, and she didn’t so much as slosh the drinks as she made it back to the table with a smile.

“We were worried you’d gotten lost,” Jax said with a slightly slurred tone to his voice. It was clear he was getting a little too drunk, but no one at the table was going to cut him off. They allowed each other to make their own decisions, and no one was going to tell him that he had had too much. It was his responsibility to take care of himself. Though the policy was to stop serving drinks at a certain point, Penny had seen worse and figured the guys would say something eventually when he got too sloppy.

“No, I had to wait to get into the bar to mix up some of these drinks. Sorry about the wait,” she said as she began setting them down on the table in front of the men.

“Hopefully you didn’t get them too mixed up,” Jax slurred. He put his hand over her arm and she looked at him. There was a smile on her face, but it was clear by the look in her eyes she wanted him to let go.

“No, that’s not quite what I meant, and I’m going to have to ask you to let go of me. I’ve got other tables I need to get to.” She smiled once more, but her tone was carefully controlled, indicating that he was perilously close to crossing a line with her.

“But we’re at the VIP table, come on, you’ve got to give it to us, we’re special,” he said loudly with sweeping hand gestures this time. She tried to pull away once more, but he held onto her firmly, pulling her closer.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to let go!” she snapped, this time pulling back hard.

Jax tried to move in to kiss her, but Penny stumbled back, avoiding his mouth that reeked of whiskey and wine. Jax’s hand was still gripped on her arm, and he swayed too close to her, but she felt her back hit something solid. Looking up, she saw that Chase was standing directly behind her, his frame practically enveloping her body. She was about to yell for the bouncers, but seeing Chase behind her, she paused uncertainly. Was he going to tell her to stop causing a scene? Would he get Jax off her? Would he just join in? After what seemed like forever but was only a few seconds, Chase cleared his voice.

“Let her go. She’s got to get back to work and your sloppy ass is going to get us kicked out of here,” he drawled. He gave Jax a look that Penny couldn’t quite read, but felt intimidated by it regardless. Jax looked from one face to the other.

“Oh, come on, you guys. I was just teasing her. No harm done,” he said as he released her arm. Penny rubbed the spot where he had been holding her. He hadn’t hurt her, but she didn’t like having the feeling of his clammy hands on her when she made it clear she wanted him to let go. She looked over at Chase, and her expression spoke volumes of her gratitude.

He gave her a small smile, running his hand through his hair, and she quickly turned and gathered the empty glasses that had once again accumulated on the table. She didn’t want to talk about it, and she didn’t want to spend any more time with these men than she had to. Even though these things tended to happen on the job, it didn’t make it less frightening. She was disturbed by what had just happened with Jax, and she wanted them to finish up and leave.

“Would you mind bringing a round of waters?” Chase asked, and she nodded. She was relieved that he was asking for water rather than more alcohol, and she hoped that it was an indication they would be leaving soon. Of course, she got caught up once more with the other tables, and it was a few minutes before she was able to bring the water back to the VIP table.

“I apologize for the delay. I was trying to get through the other orders, but they weren’t entirely sure what they wanted. I hope you didn’t mind the wait,” she said with a smile as she set the waters down in front of everyone. Jax was falling asleep in his chair and James assured her it was alright. But it was Chase who really made sure she knew she had done a great job.

“I think we’re ready for the check, please. Would you mind putting it all on one tab? And don’t forget to include the case of wine for yourself.” He gave her a charming smile, which she cursed herself for blushing over.

Penny was surprised at how much the men had spent on their drinks. Though she was keeping count of how much they were drinking, she didn’t calculate it in her head until they were finished, and the amount was staggering.

She handed the bill to Chase, then thanked the men for coming in that evening. “I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your night.”

“Thank you, you as well,” Chase said as he filled out the receipt. She walked away, eager to get back to the table and clean it up when they were gone. Penny didn’t like to have dirty tables when she was waiting, though it didn’t bother Angie or Candy as much as it bothered her.

She gathered the tray and walked back out, clearing the used glasses and remains of champagne from the table and heading back to the bar. She grabbed the receipt, but it wasn’t until she was at the register that she saw the tip Chase had left her. Though the check had been a lot higher than she thought it was going to be, he had still left her a staggeringly large tip.

If she kept making tips like that, she would be out of the nightclub even sooner than she thought. She slid the receipt into the drawer of the register and walked away with a wide smile on her face.

“Feel free to take one of the bottles of wine with you when you go home tonight. You too, Candy,” Penny said with a grin as she tucked a bottle under her arm. She wanted to share the case Chase had bought for her with her friends, and she enjoyed seeing their faces brighten when she told them what had happened. She had already told Doug what happened, and she was on her way out the door when he called her back all of a sudden.

“Yes?” she asked when she poked her head into his office.

“Did you see the size of the tip the Alabaster Club left you?” he asked. She nodded.

“Yes, sir. I was pretty surprised with that one,” she said, lips parting in a huge smile. He looked at her with bewilderment in his eyes, then he drew in a breath and let it out nosily.

“I have to say, you’ve got a gift with the high rollers. I don’t know if it’s your tits and ass or if it’s the way you treat them, but I’ve got a question for you.” He folded his hands in front of him and looked at her with perplexity.

She always felt uncomfortable when he commented on her body, but in her years of working at the nightclub she had learnt to take it in stride since it was something that happened so often.

“What is it?” she queried.

“We are going to be having a Middle Eastern prince in here next week, and I want you to tend to the table. I don’t know what you’re doing, but whatever it is, you’re doing it right, and I don’t want to risk losing his business.” Doug smiled and she felt her heart skip a beat. The fact of the matter was that she didn’t know what she was doing to get on the good side of the clients, either, but it was clearly working. She took care of the way she looked; she spoke with respect and had a lot of patience with the clients. She honestly just tried to be herself, but she did admit she emphasized her assets and charm to keep the clients happy.

“Alright, I can do that,” she said with a smile. A broad smile spread across his face and he gave her a nod.

“Excellent. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, then,” he said as he turned his attention back to the computer.

“Goodnight,” she said as she turned and walked out the door. She felt a sense of giddiness. She couldn’t believe she was the one who had been assigned to tend to royalty. He would be the most important patron yet! More good things were happening in that one night than had happened in the whole week. She marveled at the tip she had gotten that night, and for some odd reason, she couldn’t get Chase out of her mind.

She didn’t want to think Angie was right, but there was a part of her that was confused. She was so used to men hitting on her that she had become pretty desensitized to their lines and smiles. She never let herself get carried away with their attention and compliments and just thought of it as what it was—a job. But tonight, she felt a strange connection to this man in a way she had never before felt with one of the guests in the club. Did it mean something? Or was she thinking there was something there when there really wasn’t? Was she just attracted to the extremely handsome man with a lot of power and money?

It was difficult for her to know what she was feeling, but she didn’t want to worry about it any longer. It was the end of her shift, she had her favorite bottle of wine, and she was going to go home and relax. The rest of the world could be shut off for a while.