Change of Heart Read Free Page A

drinks.
    "Where were you guys before you got here?" Andrian asked a while later between bites.
    "I was in Miami," Crane lied seamlessly, having told it so many times, "and Jin's been traveling for a while. We both work at Fusion; it's that nightclub on the strip."
    "I've been there," one of the guys said. "It's a nice place.
    You've got that cool Bossa Nova lounge upstairs."
    "Yep," Crane grinned, "that's it."
    "What do you guys do there?"
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Jin bartends in the club, and I bartend upstairs in the lounge you like so much."
    "I bet you make a shit load of tips." Andrian couldn't stop smiling at me.
    "I do alright."
    "What our boss would really like," Crane arched an eyebrow for my benefit, "is for Jin to take over the night manager spot at his restaurant in King's Beach so he could run the club. I could work up there too, and everybody would be happy."
    "What's stopping you from taking the job?" Andrian asked me.
    I looked deep into his eyes until he got it.
    "Oh, shit, King's Beach is our territory—you needed permission from Logan to come and go."
    "Yep, can't be on your land without safe conduct."
    "Well, shit, consider it done, Jin. I mean, you and Crane are heroes as far as I'm concerned, and Logan won't even care that you're there. I'll run it by our sheseru, but I really don't think it'll be any problem. Tell your boss you and Crane will take the job."
    I nodded. It was a nice surprise for the evening. "Thanks."
    "No, thank you, guys. It could've been a real bad night all the way around without you stepping in. Anything we can do to repay you, please just ask."
    "Well, this'll do it." Crane smiled at him.
    "Well, great." Andrian nodded, genuinely pleased as his eyes locked on mine.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    It was four in the morning by the time we were dropped off in front of our apartment. I felt exhilarated as the car drove away. I had extracted a promise from Andrian not to let Delphine know anything about us, just to let her know that he had seen us when, and if, she asked. She would ask, he promised me with a smile, but he agreed to my stipulation.
    Alone on the street, I smiled at Crane, arching an eyebrow for him.
    "You lucky piece of shit," he groused, trailing after me toward the three flights of stairs that we had to take to our place.
    "What?"
    "You know what," he snorted. "You dodge more fuckin'
    bullets than anybody I know."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "What am I... oh, I dunno, you get lucky and Christophe Danvers's yareah just so happens to come into our club one night with all those other women, ladies night out or whatever, and you end up convincing her to let us into her tribe without having to appear before her semel."
    I stopped on the stairs, turning to look down at him. "She enjoyed it. She didn't even know she could admit members into the tribe until I told her."
    "Yeah, I know," he said, shoving by me to take the lead as we climbed the flights up. "And once you got her all pumped up about the idea, and you went all charming and seductive on her, she couldn't resist. I didn't know gay men could turn women into putty."
    "She's a panther first, woman second, so I——"
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "She's a woman first and you played her."
    "I nudged her a little."
    He groaned loudly, which made me smile as we reached our door. "I just hope that doesn't come back to bite you in the ass."
    "And by me you mean you, of course," I clarified as I unlocked it and walked into the dark two bedroom apartment.
    "That's right." He yawned as I turned on the lights, and he collapsed onto the couch. "It's all about me."
    "Well, I think we're good," I called out, walking around the back of the couch through the door to my bedroom. "I'll tell Ray tomorrow that I'll take the job managing the restaurant, and we can move to King's Beach and not be around to bump into Christophe Danvers."
    "And Logan Church won't bug us because Andrian will tell him that