Page 4 of Vixen's Guide to Christmas
Really, Kat? That’s your fucking opening line?
Granted, it’s a good sweater. Not many red-headed men can pull off a “It’s Christmas for Shizzle” sweater.
I’m internally punching myself, but judging by Grayson’s smile, he doesn’t seem nearly as embarrassed as I feel.
“Appreciate that,” he says with a smile. “I like yours as well. Anything with a well-placed pun is top-tier in my book.”
His words relax me just a little. “Thanks. A few haven’t gotten it tonight.”
“Really?” he says with true shock in his voice. “Please tell me you didn’t mark them down as possibilities. If you don’t get that reference, I don’t think I can trust you as a human.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” I exclaim. “I know I’m the youngest a millennial can be, but the music of the generation to me is elite. And if I can get a holiday pun out of it? Even better.”
“You’re a hip-hop girl?” he asks, his eyes brightening up. “You don’t meet many of those these days.”
He has the same music taste?
Please eat good pussy…please eat good pussy…
“What can I say? I’m one of a kind.”
“Yes, you are…”
His words hang in the air for more than a second. Our eyes never break each other’s stare. But it isn’t awkward. It’s…a connection. It’s the moment when you know that this person is different. That there’s something here to keep the conversation, and the night, going.
It’s something to make Kat Smith come out and play.
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grayson
Enthralled.That’s the only word I can think of to describe what I’m feeling toward this woman. With every word that comes out of her mouth, with every obscure nineties hip hop reference she makes, with every curve of her red lips, the more I’m taken with Kat.
I mean, the woman looks like a fifties pin-up girl, is wearing a cheesy Christmas sweater, and just got done giving me a quick TedTalk on A Tribe Called Quest.
I think I’m in love.
Which is a crazy thought to have since I didn’t come here looking for love. No, when Hazel told me yesterday during my presentation that they were having a test event for their new venture, Quiz and Cupid, I knew I had to come. My thought was that I’d show Hazel that I was willing to go the extra mile if she’d hire me, and the company I work for, Sterling Strategies, for her media and publicity needs. But meeting Kat? Safe to say this was a very pleasant, and unexpected, surprise.
“Have you ever done anything like this before?” I ask, suddenly realizing that our time is almost up for our speed date.
“Speed dating?” she asks, but is also already shaking her head. “No. It’s not really my scene.”
“Me neither,” I say, wanting to keep this honest, but also not wanting to tell her that my initial reason for coming here was to impress my hopeful future client. “So what made you want to come tonight?”
The side of her lip twitches up, and I swear I see a little light in her eye. “Honestly? The trivia.”
“A woman after my own heart,” I say honestly. The concept of combining speed dating along with a popular concept like bar trivia was the reason why I wanted to pitch to Left for Love in the first place. Because when it comes to bar trivia, I don’t lose.
That can be said in a lot of areas in my life. I grew up playing sports and played baseball in college, so that kind of competition has been engrained in me from a young age. Even now as an adult I feed that part of my soul with softball in the summer, a kickball league, and my new fascination, pickleball.
Don’t knock it. It’s a hell of a workout.
That competitive streak has also spilled over into my career. I knew when I decided that public relations and media strategy was the career for me it would mean that I always had to be on. Play to win. Have the best ideas. The best concepts. And for a competitive guy like me, that was right up my alley.
And I do win. Well, ninety-nine percent of the time. Recently I’ve been in a slump, but that’s just because of a new woman in town who keeps somehow beating me.
Katherine Smith. If I didn’t know any better, it would sound like a witness protection alias. I’ve tried to do some digging on her, but she doesn’t have a resumé on LinkedIn and from what I’ve gathered is an independent contractor. The only reason I even know her name is because a friend of mine told me. He works for a bank that was going through a crisis—a bank whose account I thought I had in the bag. When I called to see if he could get me any info on who they went with, all he knewwas that Katherine Smith came out of nowhere and blew the decision-makers away.
