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

“Ladies medium.” She was practically bouncing with excitement.

I signaled to the tall blonde and whispered in her ear who I was, and to please hand me the right shirt.

She passed it to me, and I spun to present it to Caitlin with a flourish. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw that the tissue wrapping was labeled, “Number 57 of 200.”

“Limited edition!” she exclaimed. “Amazing.” She paused and looked around. “I’m surprised that Andrew isn’t glued to your side. You two are the cutest couple, seriously.”

My lips pressed together as my breath felt strained. “I don’t think cute is enough, and we’re not a couple.”

“The hell you’re not. I saw the sparks between you.”

I appreciated her concern, but I had to change the subject. “Hey, have you seen FlashFleaze around anywhere?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “I’d really like to introduce him to Andrew.”

“Sure, come on.” She linked my arm with hers as if we were old friends, leading me back into the huge party room. FlashFleaze was in the far corner, surrounded by several young men who were peppering him with questions about some tournament that happened a few weeks ago.

Caitlin went straight over to pull him by the shirt, dragging him out of the circle and over to me.

“Geez, pushy much?” he grumbled, but his eyes were smiling.

“FlashFleaze, this is Jenna. There’s some sort of top-secret high-tech thing she needs to tell you about.”

He pushed his bright orange hair out of his eyes as he turned to me and shook my hand, his eyebrow raised. “Secret tech? Naturally, I am intrigued.”

“Would you be interested in being one of the first gamers to test a new system that has extremely upgraded graphics?” I asked.

“Hell, yeah.”

“Then follow me,” I grinned, as Caitlin gave me a wave and a big thumbs-up.

Quickly searching for Andrew, he was near the center of the room, flanked on either side by tall, willowy girls dressed as some sort of anime characters, likely from one of the games. He had his arm slung around one of them as they took a selfie. The girls were both definitely making every excuse to snuggle up to him as closely as they could.

I nearly tripped on my left heel, but composed myself. Those were the kind of girls that belonged with a gorgeous billionaire playboy type. Those were the kind of girls that would likely make him happy. Not a quiet girl with wide hips that read psychology articles for fun on a Saturday night.

Tapping him on the shoulder, he spun around, looking surprised as he saw who I was with.

“FlashFleaze, this is Andrew Harper of HarperTech.”

They shook hands as FlashFleaze said, “Hey, man, I saw a couple of your shirts go by. Killer artwork.”

“Thanks,” Andrew said.

“Andrew, if FlashFleaze doesn’t mind escorting you to the VIP area, maybe you could show him the prototype?” I suggested.

“Yeah, I’d love to,” Andrew said. “Our new processor enables faster rendering with no loss of quality to the key graphics.”

They both resembled kids in a candy store, their enthusiastic, boyish expressions completely adorable.

“Yeah, let’s see this thing.” FlashFleaze nodded for Andrew to follow, and they headed for the stairs.

“Aren’t you coming?” Andrew asked.

I shook my head. “Go.”

r /> His face fell, but he gave his head a shake and caught up with the orange hair dashing through the crowd. Turning away, I swallowed hard, forcing back tears. I would have loved to watch Andrew’s face as he dazzled people. But I needed to leave him alone.

Looking around for the bar, I saw a server instead, carrying a tray with a single glass of pink champagne on it. She paused in front of me, and as I reached for it, so did a thin young man to my left.

“Oh, sorry,” he laughed. “Go ahead.”