Velvet Fire - Ashby Crime Family Romance

I laughed again. “No shit. Ma doesn’t suffer idiots and when she… well let’s just say she’s stronger than she looks.”

Curiosity flared in her eyes but thankfully, she didn’t press me. “Are y’all secret southerners or something?” She posed the question to Cal who looked up with a confused blink.

“What the hell is a secret southerner?”

She tossed her head back and laughed, exposing the column of her long neck and the expanse of smooth skin on her chest and shoulders. The best part of all was that fucking beauty mark right on her collarbone.

“You know people from the south with no accent and go out of their way to hide their southernness?” she shrugged. “Bullets & Beers reminds me so much of the bars and clubs back home. It’s even got the vibe of my brother’s club.”

It was the second, maybe third time she’d mentioned her brother. Not her parents, but her brother, and I was damn curious to know more. “You never said anything about a club,” Bonnie whined.

“What kind of club?” I asked, more intrigued than ever.

“Just a private, members only club.” The extra pink on her cheeks told a different story, but I decided not to push. Not yet.

“What does that mean?”

Bonnie’s question reminded me that we weren’t alone.

“It means it’s a private club that requires a membership, which I don’t have.” She glared at her friend before turning a more friendly smile my way.

“So, Maisie. You got a boyfriend?” No point in beating around the bush, especially when she was someone I wanted.

The question surprised her, but only for a moment. She shook her long dark hair so it fell around her shoulders like a shampoo commercial and flashed her sexiest smile.

“No boyfriend. I graduate in a couple of weeks and I don’t know where I’ll end up so what’s the point? Like, I’m not sure I want to go back to Texas. Stay here, or even try my luck in LA. So, no boyfriend at all.”

Now that was exactly what I liked to hear, a woman who was—possibly—down for a quick fling and with plans to leave town sooner rather than later. Could this chick be any more perfect? She’d be long gone before the flame flickered out, nothing more than a few good memories. “Does that mean you’re looking for something less permanent?”

Bonnie snorted at the question, triggering one from Cal and I glared at them both.

Maisie laughed again. “You talk weird sometimes, Virgil. I like that about you. And it means that I’ll evaluate each offer on its own merits.” She was a sassy little thing and even now, with my brother and her uptight friend a few feet away, it was working for me.

It was really working for me. “Let’s start with something simple. Your phone number.”

Her brows rose in question and her lips curled into a grin so I took that as a good sign. A smile like that was always good in my book. “Since you remembered to ask this time.” Maisie practically purred the words at me before she took my phone off the table and frowned at the screen before she turned it to me. “Open, please.”

This girl was something else. Any other woman would have at least tried to get at my password to poke around, but Maisie, it seemed, couldn’t care less.

I typed in my code. “There you go,” I said, winking as I handed it back to her.

Her fingers flew across the screen for more than a few seconds before she held up the phone, smiled and snapped a photo. “In case you forget which Maisie I am.” She winked at me with a mischievous smile on her face, and I knew in that moment that I would have her.

Maisie would be mine. It was just a matter of time.

“Hey guys!” Mo, the waitress flashed a wide smile at me and my brother, surprise and curiosity shining in her face.

“Didn’t know you were comin’ by today.” Her gaze flashed down at Maisie and then Bonnie, a million questions in her prying eyes.

“Damn, you guys must eat here a lot.” Bonnie said much too innocently.

“Of course they do,” Mo enthused with enough grit for a woman twice her twenty-one years. She’d only been working at Midnight Mass for the past year and no one knew why, only that she was another of Sadie’s strays. That meant she’d been through the shitter and needed a new start. “We’ve got the best shepherd’s pie in the city,” she winked at Cal.

“And the best damn lamb stew on the whole west coast,” I echoed words I’d said to the cook, Darnell, often.

“That’s right, Virgil. Good to see you.” It was subtle but there was the flare of jealousy in her face as she took in Maisie’s curiosity and her proximity to me. The way my thumb brushed absently against her shoulder.