Krista started laughing again. She couldn’t help it. “Didn’t the other actors think you were selling out or something? Those two don’t really go hand in hand, you know?”
“They thought I would never make it because I had a fall back.”
“And they were right?”
“They were. They are also all working crappy, dead-end jobs in the poor house. I intend to have the last laugh on this one.”
“Oh ho ho. Well. Remind me not to give you a reason to hold a grudge.”
His kissable lips curved upwards as he reached for his Guinness.
“Okay, fine, you moved on from acting. When did you meet Ray?”
“I never said I moved on, but I met Ray at the first company I worked for out of college. The job was just to pay the bills while trying to make way as an actor.”
“Uh huh--wait. You still act?”
“Do you still do hair and makeup?”
“Yeah. Mine. No one pays me for it.”
“You don’t do it for your friends?”
“Okay. Yes, I do. But still, they don’t pay me for it.”
“Well, I don’t get paid for the little I do, either.” He made a funny gesture with his head that was apparently aimed at mimicking her.
“So...you act for your friends?” She giggled again.
“You seem to giggle a lot for a sarcastic bitch, you know?”
“We’ll get back to that. We are still on you. No pun intended.”
“Mind in the gutter, Marshall! And you were worried about me?” He huffed then sighed. “I act for various small house productions that hold public auditions and generally don’t pay, all right? If they do pay, I only accept the bare minimum the union mandates, and then I donate the money back to the theater house or school--whichever it is.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
“That is not the secret I was entrusting you with.”
“Yes, but it’s probably a better one then the other one. This is outstanding gossip. Nobody knows this little nugget, I bet.”
“And will they?” The way he said it gave her pause. It was like he was grudgingly putting a small slice of his vulnerability in her hands.
“Well, here’s the thing.” She was willing to bargain. “I am eventually going to make a huge ass of myself. Maybe tonight. Maybe a month from now. Maybe in a year. No, it won’t take an entire year ... Anyway, I will undoubtedly make a huge ass of myself. I will keep your gossip to myself if you keep my gossip to yourself. You tell everyone what a dumb-ass I am, well then ...” She let the sentence hang like he did.
“How will I know what’s gossip, and what is your usual behavior?”
“Yeah, good point. I’ll tell you. A nugget for a nugget.”
“Deal.”
They lapsed into silence as Krista waited for him to continue. He didn’t.
“Oh no. I still haven’t gotten the first nugget. Ray Man. First job. Spill,Señor.”
“I was hoping you weren’t following the conversation anymore.”
“I can function rather well in drunk time, thank you very much. I am not so long out of college, after all.”
“True. Okay, well, Ray was my mentor, as I said. I got the job to make some money while I looked for acting gigs. Ray taught me how to sell; what to say, how to make a buck.”
“‘N’ all that jazz.”
“Yes, all that jazz. He is a great salesman. He taught me to be a great salesman. After I got tired of being rejected and poor in the acting community, I decided to pay more attention to Ray. I learn fast.”
“And well, I imagine.” Her brain strayed to Pink Shoes discussing rumors of Sean in bed. She could imagine those strong shoulders over her; his long, hard body pressing her down into the soft mattress.
“You all right?”
Krista jumped, and then punched him in reflex. Then froze.
Sean smiled and grabbed his arm at the same time. “Ouch—what was that for?”
Chapter Ten
Sean watched as Krista’s face drained of color. She looked up at him with giant eyes, seemingly waiting for a reaction. Not sure what was happening, just that impulse said she needed soothing, he reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Then it happened.
She flinched mightily, shrinking back until she had sunk in on herself, curling herself into as much of a ball as she could while still staying on the bar stool.
“I’m sorry—are you okay?” Sean asked quickly, not sure what to do.
“Excuse me, I—I have to use the restroom.” And she was gone, hurrying away with tears in her eyes.
Sean stared after her. Someone had done a number on that girl. He’d never seen a woman her age look so scared. What the hell had happened in her past to make such a strong woman tear up at a playful punch? Was it parents, or a boyfriend? Whatever it was, it was serious.
Sean wished he knew her friends. He wanted to know more about this. He wanted to help if he could. She was worth it. Even if he never got that date, she was a good person. She didn’t deserve this baggage, whatever it was.
He wanted the address of this guy. He also realized that he needed to stay the hell away from her. She didn’t need whatever baggage she had, and she certainly didn’t need any of his. And Sean had plenty of his own.
When Krista got back she was under control, but apologetic. Her eyes stayed downcast as she climbed back onto her stool. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you.”
Sean shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. He wanted to joke with her about it. A five-foot-nothing woman of her size hitting him—yeah, she couldn’t hurt him with a baseball bat. But he didn’t think she’d understand joking about it. He played it safe.
“I forgive you.”
~*~*~*~
Krista took a big, steadying breath. The last time she had hit a man playfully it had been Jim. They’d been at his house with no one else home. He’d hit her back. It was on the arm, but she couldn’t wear a short-sleeved shirt for two weeks. The bruise looked like it had been painted on.
Krista nodded. “Sorry. Anyway, um…”
“I was saying that I learn well. From Ray Man.”
The name had her solemn expression softening. She took another large, cleansing breath. “Right.”
“I started helping him make sales. Then I started making them on my own. Then… I surpassed the teacher.”
Sean had an incredibly soft expression on his face, but he wasn’t pushing her. He wasn’t asking for her secrets.
“He wasn’t pissed about that?” She asked thankfully.
“You’ll see with Ray. His ambition only goes so far. He sells to make a living for his family. He works to live, and lives for his family. I don’t have a family, so I work to live, and live to achieve.”
“Material boy.”
Sean’s smile was out of the blue. “I still have my passion, it just doesn’t pay the bills.”
“So then, you got a job with our company?”
“Oh, no. No, I worked for two others after the one with Ray. The job directly after I did pretty well. I made Senior Sales Associate all on my own. But the guys I was working with were real salesmen, what everyone thinks of as real salesmen, anyway. They lived for it. They were manifestations of it. They weren’t my kind of guys.”
“Testosterone freaks.”
Sean looked at her in surprise, then leaned back and started laughing. A few other people looked over with smiles.
“Yes. Exactly!”
“But you are plenty testosterone-y. Man’s man and all that.”
“I can be when I need to be, yes. I mean, I’m not effeminate or anything. Opposite of that. I like being a man and all that, but...a different sort, I guess you’d say? Not sure how to explain.”
Was he flustered? Krista grinned, back onto the path of comfortable. She’d have nightmares, though. Whenever she had a flashback like that, she had nightmares. But Sean was making the moment easy. He wasn’t asking questions to fill his curiosity, and he wasn’t smothering her. He was cautious, she could read that, but he was floating beside her, keeping her relaxed. It helped so much she wanted to break down all over again.
He noticed her grin and said quietly, “Shut up.”
She laughed then. She couldn’t help it. Straight men hated saying anything that even remotely made them sound g*y. Bunch of dummies.
“I got it. Go on.”
“O-kay. Well, I moved on again--a different company with a higher pay bracket. I realized at this time that not only did I like making money, and want to climb higher--because, after all, what else am I working for besides money, right?”
“Correct, sir. Money makes the world turn, n’ all that.”
“Uh, yes. Well, there was an opening so I let Ray know about it. Ray applied for it because it was more money than he was making without a lot more responsibility, or hours. He got it with some help from me. We worked on a couple projects together and I realized we made a dynamic team. Plus, it was good to work with someone who was more my speed.”
“You always share a higher level of trust with someone who pops your cherry.”
Sean choked into his beer. “What?”
“Your sales cherry. Your mentor. You trust him—I get it.”
“Good Christ, Krista—and you were worried about me being too sexual?”
“No, I was worried about you being sexually cajoling. Nothing about sex in general. I’m not a prude.”
Sean’s pupils dilated as they held hers. “Right,” Sean said quickly, looking away. “Anyway, we learned to be the best sales team in the company. I moved up the ladder, he moved up with me. I moved to this company, made my way and gained my stripes, and just recently brought him with me.”
“So ... you are the young, hot-headed hell raiser. The guy who gets his man regardless of the obstacles. Ray is the level-headed father figure who keeps you in line, but in the end helps you get your guy?”
“This isn’t a police show, Marshall,” Sean laughed in his rich baritone. “But kind of, yes. The people I can’t reach, he usually can.”
“Good cop, bad cop. Okay, I get that. Why is that a secret?”
“It is a secret because I am not nearly as good without him. He is my crutch, plain and simple.”
“I don’t think that’s true at all, but I do think he is the one who makes the work less dismal.”
“You are perceptive.”
“As Helen Keller, yeah. I have my moments.”
Krista’s phone beeped with a text message. Being a solid member of the technology social network, she dove into her bag to see who it was. As soon as she saw the name she threw her phone back with a hair too much force.
“Not looking forward to that text?” Sean asked casually.
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, remember when I was ranting about that speed dating thing?”
“The whole company remembers it, but go on.”
“What do you mean?”
“You scared Cindy out of the room. Did you not think she would tell everyone?”
Krista got a distant look in her eyes as she remembered back. “Oh yeah. Well, to hell with her. She’s a bitch. She single-handedly made Joanna qui—um…“
Joanna had been the girl Sean took home from the Christmas party. At least, that had been the rumor.
“I know what she did to Joanna. I also know you didn’t join in on that.”
“Uh…”
“I didn’t sleep with her. It isn’t gentlemanly of me to say it, but we both tried to set the record straight, so I don’t think she would mind. You were never in the gossip circles, so you never got to hear.”
“Uh…” Krista had no right to that information. She couldn’t even verify it, because Joanna got the hell outta Dodge when everyone came down on her. Plus, if that was true, then for that one time Sean did the right thing, there were a great many he didn’t. Krista had personally witnessed the morning after, and personally heard a chick or two crying in the bathroom. It didn’t change anything.
Sean was staring at her, though, awaiting confirmation. Like a dog that sat on command, he wanted to know his good work was noticed. That ego of his—it was out of this world.
“Well, that’s something,” she said unconcernedly. Sean went back to his beer. “Anywho, be that as it may, Cindy is a bitch.”
Sean nodded.
“Anyway—oh man, she told everyone I went speed dating?”
“Yup.”
“Said I couldn’t get a man the traditional way so I had to do it the new age way, or something stupid like that, right?”
“In so many words, yes. How did you know?” Sean looked at her suspiciously.
“I was in high school, Sean. This is classic girl clique crap. Oh man, if I wanted to, I could totally—yeah, I’m going to. Wait, no I can’t—WAIT! I can!” Krista was definitely buzzed now. And riled up.
Instead of telling her to quiet down, or shut up, as Kate and Jaz might, Sean had that bemused expression again.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I just really want to take that bitch to the cleaners. I only have one friend, though. Tommy. He’s shit for this kind of thing.”
“Wait until Marcus befriends you. You’ll have a lot more options.”
“Marcus?—Oh, that hot guy on our team?”
“Uh…the…”
“Just say yes. You know he’s hot.”
“I will not be admitting it.”