Six Degrees of Desperation (Dirty Tricks) Read Online Free PDF

pounded the
floor.
    As the endless song continued, she was
practically tossed from one man to another. And soon she was seeing
more than one man in black with the yellow rose on his lapel. She
blinked. Maybe she was dizzy from all the hand-offs and twirls.
Surely there wasn’t more than one Zorro with a yellow rose.
    Then one passed her on the dance floor.
Before he got three steps ahead, another passed her with an
identical outfit and a yellow rose. Just in case she thought it was
all a hoax, the man winked and grinned.
    Charli’s knees buckled in the middle of a
spin. Her partner caught her before she fell and was trampled by
the crowd partaking in the merriment. “Are you okay?”
    “No.” Charli shook her head. “I need to get
back to work. Do you mind?”
    He eased her to the side and escorted her
off the floor, thanking her for the dance.
    She headed back in the direction of her
tables, keeping a look out for the mystery Zorros. Now that she
wasn’t dancing, she didn’t see even one. What was up with that?
    Any chance at a relationship with the
handsome, gentle Connor Mason rode on Charli's ability to wrap up
this mess tonight. The sooner the better. Unfortunately, she was
there to work and her tables were yammering for drinks.
    Begging off the dance floor, Charli hurried
back to her coverage area, snatching up empty mugs and bottles,
taking orders for more drinks and munchies. By the time she reached
the bar, she felt as if she'd run the gauntlet and only thirty
minutes of the night had passed. She had another four hours to
go.
    For the next hour, she worked filling
orders, fending off advances and forcing a smile to her face when
all she wanted was to scream and run from the bar. The condoms and
lubricating jelly slipped to the very back of her mind as she
worried about the confrontation ahead when she had to let Original
Sin go and tell Connor of her transgressions.
    Never mind the package Connor had picked up
at the jewelry store. God forbid he actually planned to propose
tonight—in this madhouse, with all these people around. Charli
prayed he didn't. Their relationship was too new. Too fresh, too
uncertain, even though she knew Connor Mason was a keeper, she
needed more time to make up her mind.
    "It's your turn. Go on break." Audrey took
the tray of empty mugs and bottles from Charli's hands. "Go rest.
It's going to be a long night and the show starts soon."
    Charli smiled at Audrey and slid behind the
bar where she filled a clean mug half-full of ginger ale and
hightailed it for the storeroom where she planned to sit on a stack
of boxes with her feet up for the few brief minutes she had to
herself.
    Jackson was leaving the storeroom with a
case of vodka on his shoulder, headed toward Libby and the bar.
"It's all yours. I snagged a chair from the floor for you girls to
use during break."
    "Thanks." Charli entered the storeroom and
closed the door behind her, reveling in the relative silence. Boxes
of wine, cases of beer and staple foods stacked from floor to
ceiling along the walls acted as additional insulation against the
steady thrum of the country western band, whose speakers blared
full blast in order to be heard over the shouts of the patrons of
the Ugly Stick Saloon.
    Ears ringing, her feet throbbing in the
stiletto heels she'd worn with her costume, Charli rounded a tall
stack of corn chips to find the wooden chair Jackson commandeered
from the overcrowded saloon. The column of chips acted as a wall,
blocking the view of the door, making the room seem even more
isolated from the hubbub. Charli sank into the chair and let the
stress and strain of the evening leach out of her system.
    The door to the storeroom opened.
    Too tired to get up, Charli leaned back her
head. "You can have the chair after my break, but right now, I
couldn't move if the building was on fire."
    "Poor Charli," a deep, resonant voice
preceded the man it belonged to around the stand of nacho
chips.
    Charli jerked upright, all