Page 108 of Kazimir

I sighed. “I’m good with them. I just hate sounding like I’m bragging.”

“Get over that.”

Well. Fair.

“I’m good with them,” I said more plainly. “Not CPA level maybe, but I can keep inventory straight, track discrepancies, flag patterns, balance tills, manage supply ordering, and tell when somebody’s trying to bullshit me over pricing.”

He steepled his fingers. “And when someone is trying to bullshit you personally?”

“I don’t let people get over on me.”

“Even if they were powerful?”

I held his gaze. “I grew up around Bronc. Powerful doesn’t make me melt. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”

He laughed then. That answer he liked.

“What if a patron makes you uncomfortable,” he asked, “but has status enough that refusing them creates complications?”

“I’d follow protocol. Get somebody above me involved if needed. Keep my tone polite. Keep my spine where the good Lord put it.”

“Interesting phrasing.”

“I’m from Texas.”

“I had noticed.”

“Look, I know this ain’t,”—I caught Lucia’s side-eye and corrected myself—“isn’t a normal club. I know I’d have things to learn. Fast. But I’m not stupid, and I don’t rattle easy. And if I don’t know something, I’ll ask before I screw it up. I don’t guess, I ask questions.”

He drummed his thumb once against the desk. “How are you with discretion?”

I snorted. “I was raised in a wolf pack in a human town and work around an MC. Half my life has been not asking questions I’m not supposed to ask.”

“And the other half?”

“Saying what everyone else was too chicken to say.”

Lucia made a quiet sound that could have meant agreement.

Bohdan’s amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Obsidian requires charm, but not only charm. It requires discipline. The ability to make guests feel welcome without granting them entitlement. The ability to be warm without being careless. The ability to observe.”

“I can do that.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.” My pulse was going like a freight train, but once I got rolling, I did better with the truth than with caution. “You want somebody who can make people comfortable and still hold a line. Somebody who can remember orders, faces, habits, and problems. Somebody who can smile at a man while mentally measuring whether he’s about to be annoying, dangerous, or both. I can do that.”

He said nothing.

The silence stretched just enough to make my back muscles lock up.

Bohdan rose and came around the desk. Up close he was even more put together, which felt frankly aggressive. He leaned one hip against the desk and crossed his arms.

“You are outgoing,” he said.

“I’ve been accused.”

“You are also related to an allied alpha with a possessive streak.”