He nodded slowly as the salad plates were cleared.
“Okay, I can see that,” he conceded with a smile.
After a beat, he said, “Are you always so firm in your opinions?”
Krista laughed animatedly and raised her hand, “Number one on the debate team.”
“Huh,” he said, his smile getting wider.
“So, what do you do?”
He sobered a little. “I am a CEO.”
“Eww. Intense.”
To her surprise, he started laughing. “Please elaborate?”
“Oh well, sorry to be rude, but it’s just that a girl in my situation, which is to say a ‘peon,’ has one boss. I have a good work ethic, so my boss tells me to do something, I do it, I turn it in. If there’s a problem, no big deal. He tells me, I fix it, life continues as normal. You, however, as a ‘big-wig,’ have the world on your shoulders. Is it a global company or national?”
“Global,” he replied seriously.
“There you go. World economics on your shoulders. Public or private?”
“Public.”
“Oh, well, nail in the coffin. You get results or get to have a ton of bosses telling you what’s wrong and what you should fix. Forget about looking at the big picture, you have to look at the universe-sized picture and make decisions that will trickle down and affect everyone under you, including me, the pe-on.”
“That is, if I care to look so far down the chain of command?”
“That’s true.” She smiled. Point to him on that one. “Many don’t, true. But the best-run companies have CEOs who do.”
He was quiet for a moment so she fussed up, “I don’t actually know if that last part is true, but it sounds good to the peon.”
He laughed again and they fell into silence as dinner showed up.
Krista, embarrassingly, made a few sounds of delight as she tasted the steak and fingerling potatoes. The flavors rolled around the tongue and melted in the mouth. They were oh-so-good!
“You seem to be excited about all this food, but you barely touch it,” he noticed.
“I don’t have all the room in the world in my stomach. I have to take a bit of everything. I’m going to stuff myself with dinner, though. It tastes amazing.”
“What about dessert?”
“I have a separate stomach for dessert. It always fits.”
They ate in silence for a second. He was a man of money and excellent table manners. The way he handled his cutlery and his bearing screamed rich socialite. He must’ve been in charge of a large company. But then, they all were. The peon was the odd man out at this dinner, and it showed.
Come to think of it, that was probably the reason for the scrutiny. Young, hot—ahem—and poor. Yeah, she was an anomaly with this crew, which was why he probably didn’t believe she wanted to come alone. He probably thought she was the forgotten trophy of someone at the dinner. Hopefully not John. Anyone but John!
“So, what do you do for fun?” she asked him.
“Golf, mostly.”
She made a sound like a buzzer going off, “No way. Too cliché. Pick something that not all white business guys do.”
“You sound like my wife,” Tory said in mock disdain.
“Smart woman.”
“Well …I collect art, swords, and comic books.”
“Comic books? Eww. But swords? Cool! Just so happens, I have a sword.”
“Do you?” he said, obviously surprised. “That is rare for a woman.”
“I know, right? I have Sting from ‘Lord of the Rings.’”
He chuckled, “I own Andúril.”
“Nerd!” She laughed.
“Look who’s talking!” he shot back.
“Touché. I’ve actually always wanted a real samurai sword. Well, maybe not real, but, you know, good quality.”
“I actually have a real one.”
“Shut up! Well, now you are just being a one-upper!” Lost in the fun, she said it too loudly. A few people at their table turned from their conversation to glare at her. She hid her face in embarrassment.
“It was my second acquisition,” he said after people went back to eating.
“I will admit I am a little jealous. In a different life I would invite myself over to your house to see it. As it is, when I become a huge businesswoman, expect a knock on your door.”
They ate in silence for another second before he said, “So you work with Sean McAdams.”
She was no longer surprised by his conversational hairpin turns. The guy’s brain probably never shut off. Give him a second and he’d come up with something completely out of the blue.
“Yup. He was the lead salesman on the presentation I did. He’s the one who finally gave me a challenge.”
“And what do you think of him? Off-the-cuff.”
“Well, I don’t know him super well. I know nothing about his sales tactics or whatever, so I have no idea how good he is at his job. But ...” Now it was her turn to be suspicious. “Are you a spy? Who are you going to report this to?”
He looked taken aback briefly before a giant smile creased his face. “I might ask you the same question.”
“Yes, because anyone cares what I say or think? Pe-on, remember?” Krista laughed, pointing to herself.
She thought for a moment. “You know what, actually, that is not true. Sean, of all people, would listen. I don’t know that he would care, but he would listen. I trust him.”
And she did. She did actually trust him. She had to take a second to marvel at that realization. She didn’t trust many people, especially gorgeous womanizers, but when he was being human, and when they worked together, he said what he would do, and always took care of it. He’d earned the trust she bestowed upon him.
“Why?” Tory asked into her reverie.
“Such a simple question, such a difficult answer,” she remarked as she contemplated.
“Such a wise mind in such a young body,” he responded.
She scoffed in jest, then answered, “Well, after the presentation I asked him what he thought of my part. You know, to see if he had any notes, anything I could do better, things that I did well… It was my first one, so I wanted to get feedback.”
He nodded.
“He was upfront and honest, which I might not always expect from a sales guy, but what was more, he made sure I got what I was promised.”
“Which was? If you don’t mind me asking, that is?”
She shrugged to let him know she didn’t care in the least. “Before the presentation I was promised a promotion and a raise if I did well; if I succeeded in the trial. My boss meant well—the thing about my company that I like best is that everyone is loyal to their subordinates and to the company. That‘s a first in my experience. Usually it seems like everyone is either out for themselves, or just doesn’t care about anybody else.
“Anyway, my boss was trying to get me what was promised, but we are just research, you know, and we take a long time to get heard when it comes to personnel. We aren’t the golden children like marketing or sales, so things take longer.
“Well, anyway, Sean stepped up and made sure I got what was promised, and quickly. I didn’t ask it of him, and it wasn’t his job, but when he sees something that needs to happen, he sees that it does.”
“Forgive me, this will sound a little …uncouth, but are you sure it wasn’t because you are an attractive young woman?”
Krista laughed because of how true it was, “Did you not notice my second to marvel at the fact that I trust him?” She laughed again. Tory took a sip of wine to hide his smile—he had noticed.
“At first I thought exactly that, actually,” she went on. “He is a womanizer—I’ll say it! He is a hot guy who women like, I see that.” Krista reined herself in. She was talking to an older guy, and an executive to boot, so she probably shouldn’t be so loose with slang. This guy, however, was keeping her pace. The whole night he had been, actually. He probably had kids, and was most likely very close to them.
Unfortunately undaunted, she continued: “I don’t find him all that desirable myself because I have been down the ‘bad boy’ road and it always ends in heartache. I’m a lot more jaded than most women. A long time ago I asked that he drop all that…behavior if he wanted to work with me.”
“You did what?”
“Sorry for the language, and it sounds a little bold now, but seriously, I think he says things without even realizing they are womanizing-type comments. It’s an image or something. I just wanted to take myself out of that loop, you know?”
He was looking at her incredulously.
“Well?” she said in defense. “You wouldn’t want to work with that, right? I had to say something!”
“You do sound like my wife. Or my daughter. Believe it or not, I was once a man like you describe.”
“I bet your wife beat it out of you, huh?”
“In so many words, yes,” he laughed. “But, as you say, it was an image. A key in the door of ambition.”
“And look at you now.”
“Look at me now. That’s right. Although, I would be nowhere without my Emily.”
“I hope that’s your wife.”
He laughed, “Yes.”
“Well, Sean is actually a really decent guy under it all, he just gets weighed down by the image, I think. But I do trust him. Other than that, I keep to my job and make sure I give the best I can.”
“No one can ask for more than that.”
“Well, they certainly can, but that’s another story.”
“What about Tom and John, the Senior and Junior VPs?”
“You’re trying to glean information! Well, you’ve come to the wrong source. I have met John only a few times and never so much as seen Tom. John is a nice enough guy. I hardly talk to him, though. Pity about his name.”
“What do you mean?”
“His name is John Susan.”
She was met with a look of confusion.
“Susan. As in, ‘Boy Named Sue’ by Johnny Cash?”
“Oh! ‘My name is Sue, how do you do? Now you’re gonna die!’” Tory quoted, and then burst into laughter that resulted in a lot of people looking their way.
Sean was across the dining area with John, looking at her with his arms crossed. She couldn’t tell if he was mad or worried, she was obviously making a scene. She needed to tone it down.
The dessert showed up as she whispered, “I always thought he wanted to be called John because he wanted to be all young and sell an image and all that. Like sales guys do, right? Then I heard the last name and it made sense.”
“Well, Krista,” Tory said, avoiding his dessert. “Thanks for the interesting and lively chat. Someday I do hope you will get to meet my wife. She’d love you.”
With that he stood up and moved off toward the restrooms. Krista was left on her own to finish her dessert and then her wine, and then to listen to the president give a speech about how the money donated would help some organization or other.
As people started to leave later in the evening she figured it was safe to get up and head to the bar. She had a good buzz already, but no one was talking to her anymore so she figured one more wouldn’t hurt.
Full glass in hand, she turned back toward the dining area and right into Sean, standing so close her foot bumped his. His heat and smell shocked into her body, mixing with the alcohol and liquefying her bones. She wanted to reach out a sure hand and feel those hard pecs, or connect her body with his, reaching around to feel his perfect butt. Fantasies exploded her thoughts; what it would feel like to trail her fingers along his warm skin; slide her palm up the inside of his leg; cupping his—
Don’t touch his crotch!
“How did it go?” Sean asked quietly, lightly grabbing her arm and steering her away from any listeners.
“How did what go?” she asked stupidly, looking up into his eyes. They were dark and ominous and tinged with worry.
She couldn’t help the lean, frustratingly unashamed of her breast making contact and sending ripples of heat into her core. His hand tightened slightly.
“Dinner. With Mr. Hartling?” Apprehension lurked right below the surface of his words.
“Mr. Hartling is someone of note?” she asked, bewildered. An abominable snowman called “Fear” chased the heat from her body. Suddenly, Tory’s conversation topics seemed a lot more designed. And spot on.
She might have seriously, unforgivably f**ked up on this one.
“Are you serious, Krista?” Sean said with an edge to his voice.
Fuck.
“He is the CEO. of the company we are chasing!” he seethed.
Her stomach hit her shoes. She broke away from Sean to think. To recall every word she said. Every word she heard from him. It took ten minutes to realize she should definitely have kept her mouth shut on a ton of stuff!
But at least she did lie in the right places, so that was good.
Oh God, but was it good enough?
Sean, seeing this reaction, led her to a bench beneath a tree at the outskirts of the event. In solitude, he sat her down and pulled up a chair so he was directly facing her, his intense eyes focused on her unwaveringly, “Tell me everything.”
Krista tried to think through the buzz of lust; tried to turn her thoughts from the primal energy radiating from him like heat weaves off concrete in the summer.
“Okay,” she blew out a breath, gripping the arms of her chair with claw-like fingers to keep her body from leaning in and soaking up that heat. “He was suspicious of me at first. That confused me because I didn’t know who he was. He asked me about…uh, oh, what I did! For a living. I told him.”