Kristin Hardy - As Bad As Can Be

“I don’t need looking after,” she said icily.

“You may need looking over, though.”

“Not by you,” she retorted.

How could a woman look so outrageously tempting with her jaw jutted out daring him to come after her? “You keep doing what you’re doing and eventually it’s going to come back and bite you.”

“I know the regs, O’Connor. Having the bartenders dance on the bar once in a while won’t get us shut down.”

“I’m not talking about the authorities. I’m talking about customers.”

She gave him a smug stare. “Do you want to know my take last night?”

“You don’t get it. Newport may be a summer town, but you’ve also got people who live here year-round.”

“So?”

“So the summer people are here four months max. The rest of the time you’re depending on the townies, plus some of the yachty set. You’re pitching your place to the summer crowd, but they’ll only keep you in business for a few months out of the year. And if you get a rep as a bar that makes the town look cheap, the townies won’t come.”

Mallory rolled her eyes. “Please. We’ve got universities in town. The students will keep me in business.”

Dev hadn’t told him she was half mule. “Don’t you know the first rule of college? Students always have the most money at the beginning of the semester. After a few weeks, you’ll notice that fewer and fewer of them will show. Your blue-collar guys, if they want to see women, they’ll go to a real strip bar. And you’re cutting yourself out of one whole part of your demographic if you set up the bar so that women won’t want to come alone.” He shook his head. “Not a smart move.”

Mallory studied him and her mouth began to curve. “You know, not every woman is turned off by the atmosphere in Bad Reputation. Some of them like it. We’ve got some regulars—they like the fact that the clientele is mostly men. They like watching the women dance—hell, sometimes they even get up on the bar themselves.” She traced a small pattern on the desk with one finger. “I don’t think using sex to sell the place is a dumb idea, I think it’s brilliant.”

Shay shook his head. “You’re not getting the big picture. You’re setting yourself up for trouble.”

Mallory stared at him for a long moment, then she stood up, the corners of her mouth tugged into a dangerous smile. “You think I’m trouble so far, honey? You don’t know the half of it.”

“Don’t try to turn this into some power game. Let’s just do the best thing for the bar and for your brother, not something that’s bad for both.” Shay watched her walk to the door.

“You want to see bad, sweet pea?” She stood with her hand on the doorknob, eyes flashing. “You just watch. I’ll show you how bad I can be.”

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