Tiny Dancer(Divine Creek Ranch 13)
Chapter One
Mid-October…
Camilla O’Neal waved at Tom Barton as he rose from The Dancing Pony’s long wooden bar after finishing the drink she’d mixed for him.
“Thanks for the great service, shortcake,” he said with a wink. He slid a twenty-dollar bill across the bar to her after paying his tab, tipping Camilla easily triple what she’d normally received in the past. Her dreams of running her own nightclub were coming closer to reality every day. Each dollar she saved was a dollar for which she wouldn’t have to go into debt. Since she’d started wearing the sexy costumes three weeks before, the tips she earned had increased for the same amount of work.
She’d worn the sailor costume that night, which consisted of white shorts, a skimpy white button-up shirt tied under her bustline, white sailor cap, and her white cowgirl boots. In her book, boots went with everything. Plus, they were comfortable.
She watched surreptitiously as her boss, Ben Lawrence, and coworker, Quinten Parks, strode from the storage cooler located behind the bar. A needy-sounding sigh escaped her lips, which she hoped no one had heard over the country music playing on the sound system. Ben had on a black T-shirt that hugged his biceps and muscular pecs as he hefted the case onto the stainless-steel counter by the sinks. Quinten’s bulging biceps strained at the sleeves of his denim shirt as he placed his box next to Ben’s.
She wanted to reach out to Quinten and run her fingers through his dark-blond curls. He’d adopted a slightly longer haircut in the last year, and she’d been pleasantly surprised to learn that his hair was curly. He wore it in a messy style that fit his easygoing personality perfectly.
Well, usually easygoing. Not so much these days.
She felt like she was walking on eggshells with those two. Her heart fluttered as she thought of them both and she castigated herself, hoping she wasn’t as obvious as she felt. She needed to take her own “work is work and pleasure is pleasure” talk to heart. She’d always made it her personal policy to not have relationships with coworkers. They just made doing the job harder. The problem was that she wasn’t sure how strongly she felt about that policy anymore. She wanted to know them better but was afraid to.
Face it, Cami. You want them both, and you’re afraid to take that step. Afraid to risk that they’d be willing to share. It’s asking a lot. Add being coworkers on top of that. It’s a recipe for disaster. She mentally shook herself and squashed the feelings that welled in her heart as she glanced at them from beneath her lashes.
She was too close to her big goals to risk watching it all topple. She needed a good work relationship, free of personal hassles. Her eyes strayed to both men again.
Quinten was a nice contrast to Ben, whose hair was dark brown and crew cut, which complemented his darkly tan coloring and deep, deep brown eyes.
Both men seemed oblivious to her presence at the cash register as she placed money in the till.
Jake Owen’s “Alone With You” played over the sound system as the men returned to the storage cooler to bring the rest of the cases of beer. She began transferring the bottles from the boxes into the coolers behind the bar.
Of all the jobs she’d ever had, this one was by far her favorite and the one she’d miss the most when she moved on. That mostly had to do with the men she worked for. Ben Lawrence and Ethan Grant, co-owners of The Dancing Pony, were hardworking, thoughtful, and understanding bosses.
Ben, whom she worked with most often of the two, was incredibly attractive and it had taken a concerted effort over the last couple of years to not give in to the temptation to reach out and touch him. Her first management job in her chosen field was very important, so she’d learned to live with the attraction she’d always felt toward him. The work relationship had to be on the up-and-up.
Then there was Quinten, with his naughty golden-boy good looks and easy demeanor. If she could have a best friend in a work environment, it was him. They’d connected on the first night she’d worked at The Pony, but there again, the professional relationship had to come first. Quinten had tried to put his attraction into words but she’d stopped him before he could finish. That had been hard as hell, because she would’ve loved to have pulled him into the cooler that first night and muss up his golden locks for him.
Her goals had been and still were completely solidified and she couldn’t let anything get in her way. A work affair with either of the men she was attracted to could be disastrous for her plans to have her own club. Her reputation as a professional businesswoman mattered more than anything and too often affairs with coworkers damaged a woman’s credibility.