A-Hole to A-List (PR Girls & Instalove 1)

I loved how he was almost a bit rough with me, but I couldn’t be seen like this. Running a hand through my messed up hair, I shook my head. “Mingle, now,” I ordered.

He released me with a dramatic eye roll. “Fine.”

Dashing past him to the ladies’ room, I tried to wipe around my smudged lips with a damp paper towel.

“Stop that,” a voice behind me said.

Spin

ning, a willowy woman with bright teal hair was smiling at me. “The more you rub the skin, the redder it will be. Hold on.”

She pulled a makeup wipe from her purse. “Go around the lips gently.”

“Thanks.” The wipe worked perfectly, then I was able to blot the rest carefully with the paper towel. “You’re a lifesaver, thank you,” I smiled at her.

“You’re welcome. Impromptu make out, I assume?”

“Yes. I know this isn’t the time or place, but things happen, I guess.”

She laughed, and I suddenly recognized her from the photos I’d been studying online earlier in the day. After I dotted on just a little more lipstick to even things out while she fluffed her hair, I said, “Hey – let me buy you a drink for saving me.”

“Sure,” she shrugged.

“I’m Jenna.”

“Caitlin.”

We went out to the bar, and Andrew seemed startled that I had someone in tow. “Andrew, this is Caitlin, and you’re buying us both a drink.”

They laughed, and she asked for an espresso martini. I led her back to a quiet corner, and by the time Andrew arrived with our drinks, her boyfriend, gamer Jimmy Vieki, FlashFleaze’s right hand man, had joined us.

Once everyone was introduced, the guys immediately began talking tech, so I asked Caitlin about the intricacies of having teal hair. Then she told me that her gamer name was LazerPixxxie, spelling it out for me carefully.

“Some guys hate playing with girls online, so I let them know up front, so they don’t get furious later,” she explained. “A lot of them take this way too seriously. Aren’t games supposed to be fun?”

I laughed, agreeing completely.

A few people noticed that Jimmy was out in an open area, and our chill nook became the new party zone in about ten minutes. I was able to fake that I’d met a few people before, which is why I knew their names to introduce them to Andrew, making him sound like a tech guru.

Maybe it was because she’d seen what Andrew had done to my lipstick, but Caitlin didn’t treat him like a corporate guy, just one of the gang. Everyone else picked up on her cue, and soon we were chatting with the whole group like old friends.

To my great relief, nobody said a word about Andrew and the paparazzi punching incident. Perhaps they hadn’t heard about it, because it wasn’t specifically about gaming.

Most of the crowd was extremely curious about the “new upgrade specifically for gamers,” which was the only information I was allowed to drop. I told them it would be revealed at the booth at the Lightning event, which they were all attending.

Collecting addresses and t-shirt sizes, I assured a dozen of them that they’d be getting full details on Wednesday.

Everyone wants to be told a secret. People love to know things, and if possible, be the very first to know. It’s a strange phenomenon, but it seems to be universal.

The more a person can be made to feel like they’re special, that they have something most people don’t, the more memorable and important something seems – even if it’s just a t-shirt for a computer tech company.

A cold breeze ran down my bare back, shaking me to my senses. Andrew was running a billion-dollar company with revolutionary tech that was about to be in high demand. I couldn’t be distracting him, or myself.

For the rest of the night, I was nothing but professional, forcing myself to keep a mental shield of pure steel between Andrew and myself, no matter how much he stared at me, or how much I needed to throw myself into his arms to feel that electricity again.

8

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