How to Date a Dragon(22)

“The bar is only open until eleven o’clock at night?”

“Yeah. Didn’t Claudia tell you? I don’t know why Anthony insists that everyone be out before midnight, but I’m not about to question my good luck.”

“Hmmm…” Bliss wondered about that too. “Is that unusual? I thought most bars were open until at least one or two o’clock in the morning.”

Angie shrugged. “We’re just a neighborhood bar. Most late-nighters go to the trendy clubs. Anthony might have tried the later hours and found it wasn’t worth it, but I really don’t know.”

Bliss could always ask Claudia, if she cared enough. For now she’d adopt Angie’s attitude and just call it good luck.

“The only downside,” Angie was saying, “is that we don’t get breaks. There are labor laws on the books that say employees who work more than six hours must have a meal break. Personally, I’d rather go home than go on a useless break.”

“I won’t be working full time.”

“Really?” Angie tipped her head. “Huh. Claudia doesn’t usually hire part-timers and let them live here. And even though all of us are technically working part-time at six hours a day, five days a week, she doesn’t insult us by calling us part-timers. Oh! Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I didn’t mean…”

“No offense taken.” Bliss figured Claudia was doing her a favor, but the others didn’t need to know that. It might be a good idea to keep her friendship with the boss on the down-low, unless Claudia hadn’t already mentioned it. “So does Claudia do all the hiring?”

“Yeah, as far as I know. Anthony seems to trust her completely. I’ve never seen him show up during the day, and that’s when Claudia is in charge. Most interviews happen during the afternoon. She’s the only one who works eight hours at a stretch, as far as I know. She spends a lot of time in the office, so maybe she considers that her meal break. Must be nice, having a two- or three-hour meal break every day.”

Nope. Looks like Claudia didn’t mention we’re friends. That might be handy in case her friend needed to know what went on behind the scenes. Nah. Stay out of bar politics, Bliss. You have more important things to focus on. She probably wouldn’t be working there long enough to care.

As long as she could redo most of her designs before the producers and camera crew showed up to film the segment where they checked in on all the finalists, she’d be okay. She did not want that happening at her parents’ house. Other shows did that, and she’d always seen happy families who were supportive of their son’s or daughter’s ambitions. The last thing she needed was her mother calling the competition foolish.





Chapter 5


Claudia had taken Bliss into the office and given her a uniform. Black skirt, black apron, and white blouse. Bliss changed behind a folding screen. The uniform fit well enough, although she would have liked it tapered a bit to show a more feminine hourglass figure. Maybe she could find a tailor. Then she remembered she needed her money to rebuild her real job. If she didn’t win the competition and the fifty-thousand dollars that came with it, she’d be screwed.

When she strolled around the partition, she asked, “Aren’t uniforms sort of old school?”

Claudia smiled indulgently. “Wait until you meet Anthony. Talk about old school…”

“The owner? Why? Is he like a million years old?”

Claudia laughed and tied Bliss’s apron tighter. “Not at all. He’s young and ridiculously good looking, but he has this old-world charm. Very formal manners, a slight European accent, but he won’t tell you exactly where he comes from, so don’t bother asking.”

“Okay…” Bliss glanced in the mirror and realized that when Claudia cinched the apron tighter, she gave her a nice nipped-in waist. Problem solved.

“Look, I’m just mentioning it because he can be a bit intimidating to new staff members. Don’t worry about it, though. He’s a sweetheart when you get to know him.” She sighed.

“Do I detect a crush on the boss?”

Claudia’s expression suddenly turned serious, and she shoved an order pad toward Bliss. “Maybe. But don’t say anything or even hint at that. He doesn’t date his employees, and he has a psycho girlfriend who you don’t want to piss off.”

Bliss took the order pad and continued to study her friend’s face. “I’ve never seen you like this, Claudia. Is there something else going on?”

“No, just… just keep whatever I tell you confidential, okay? I’m giving you more information than I’d give an employee I didn’t know. Anthony’s a good guy, but Ruxandra—his girlfriend—is a piece of work. Steer clear of her. And stay as far away from Anthony as you can when she’s around. If she gets the wrong idea…” Claudia shivered.