George seemed oddly fascinated by the subject all of a sudden. Karl and Chris also had a couple of tattoos each, leaving him as the only member of the crew without one.

“So has this Franco guy done all six of your tats?” asked George. “Even the, um, private ones?”

“Yes. Franco’s one of the best known tattoo artists in the entire city. And when I had the so-called private ones done, his wife was in the room both times.”

Ben sipped his beer quietly but couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm from edging into his voice as he inquired, “Is she a tattoo artist as well?”

“Nope. Aricella does piercings. In fact, that’s how she and Franco met. His shop wasn’t offering piercings at the time, so someone referred him to Aricella. He walked into her place, told her he wanted his dick pierced, and the rest is history.”

“His – what?” breathed Elle in disbelief, the shock evident on her face.

“Lauren.” Ben shook his head in admonition.

“Oops, sorry,” she apologized sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Elle. I guess that’s what comes from working exclusively with men for more than four years.”

“Yeah,” agreed George with a guffaw. “Lauren’s spent so much time us with that she’s practically one of the guys now. Little wonder she has no idea how to act like a lady. In fact, some of the really raunchy things that come out of her mouth have made me blush.”

It took a few moments before George realized he was the only one at the table laughing. When he did, he stopped abruptly and glanced around the table in confusion. Chris was staring at him in wide-eyed horror, Karl in disgust, while Elle gave him a tiny smile, and Ben’s displeasure was more than a little obvious. And then George’s gaze shifted cautiously over to Lauren, whose expression was surprisingly but still terrifyingly impassive.

“Well, Georgina,” she said in her most scathing tone as she slid off her barstool, “that’s because you’re a fucking pussy. And now, before I say anything else to offend the ladies at this table, I’m going to take off. See you in the morning.”

Karl grabbed hold of her arm before she could storm off. “Hang on a sec, kiddo. You’re leaving two shots behind. Not like you to waste top shelf booze.”

Lauren shrugged as she pulled on her quilted down coat in preparation for the near freezing weather outside. “Give them to Georgina. Maybe having a real drink will finally help him grow a pair. And you should know by now, sweetie,” she added smugly as she gave Karl a farewell kiss on the cheek, “that I won’t have any problem at all getting as many free drinks as I want. In fact, think I’ll go find myself one now.”

She stepped out of the way before Karl could take hold of her arm again, ignoring the pleading look on his face, just as she didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the way George sputtered and twitched with outrage, or the way Elle’s mouth was gaping open in shock. And she especially didn’t let herself speculate as to why Ben looked so furious as she turned and walked out of the bar without a backwards glance.

Chapter Ten

March

Ben sighed. “Can you get me Lauren’s number¸ please? Evidently she’s forgotten our video chat this morning and needs a little reminder.”

“Of course, Ben. Here it is.”

He jotted down the number that his assistant Kym read off to him, then stared at the notepad for long seconds. The very last thing he wanted to do this morning was place a call to his very volatile and unpredictable photographer out in Big Sur.

That was how he’d been forcing himself to think of her these past couple of months – as strictly his employee and not as the woman he’d once loved to distraction. And most of the time he did a decent job of convincing himself that he and Lauren were definitely a thing of the past. She had quite obviously moved on, treating him as distantly and impersonally as she would the FedEx delivery guy.

But there were other times – far too many for his liking – when he was either morose as he remembered their time together, or teeth-clenching jealous of every single man she flirted with or smiled at – including the very same FedEx guy.

It helped – as Lauren had pointed out during their initial one-on-one – that they saw each other so infrequently. Even when she was in the office during wrap-up and planning sessions, he wasn’t involved in every phase of the production. And he was being kept very busy at the job that was proving to be far more demanding than he’d first believed, too busy to spare a lot of time pining for what was no longer his.

But when she was in town, and they were obliged to interact, it seemed at times that she went out of her way to antagonize him. Lauren argued about almost everything, nearly always had a different idea or approach than the rest of the team, and wound up getting her way at least eighty percent of the time.

After one such grueling session where she’d triumphantly emerged the victor – having bullied, badgered, and cajoled the team into tackling their next story from her perspective – Ben had shook his head in exasperation, watching with mingled annoyance, admiration, and amusement as she’d strutted out of the conference room.

“Jesus, I’d rather cage fight a live tiger than negotiate with her sometimes,” he’d confessed to Karl, the only other team member remaining in the room. “Has she always been so stubborn? Such a - ”

“Pain in the ass?” finished Karl, nodding. “Yep, and from day one. I still remember the very first time Chris and Stefan and I met her. Here she was, this little girl just out of college, not even twenty two years old, and she swaggered through that door like she owned the place. And from the first time she opened her mouth, it was obvious that she was going to be the leader of the group. She might have had the least experience, been the youngest and the only female, but there was no denying she was in charge.”

Ben regarded him curiously. “And none of you minded? I never had the chance to meet Stefan, but I understand he wasn’t anything like George. The producer is unofficially considered the team leader.”

“In most cases,” agreed Karl. “Poor George there couldn’t lead an army of ants no matter how hard he tried. We all know he got this job because of family connections, and Lauren in particular rarely lets him forget that. Stefan was great at his job, but even he recognized that spark in Lauren right away, and he was content to let her boss everyone around.” He gave Ben a reassuring pat on the back. “And before you ask your next question – the answer is yes. Her Majesty also defied Quinn all the time. But then he had the hots for her big time, and let her wrap him around her little finger without even blinking an eye.”

Ben frowned. “Are you trying to tell me they were involved? Quinn’s a hell of a lot older than Lauren. Or was he just harassing her?”

Karl gave a shout of laughter. “Try to imagine anyone actually harassing Lauren – and living to tell the tale. And no, they were definitely not having a thing. Quinn’s almost twenty years older, for a start, and has a longtime girlfriend for another. And while Lauren flirts like crazy, she has a strict hands-off policy once she learns a guy is married or involved. Besides, the very last thing Lauren would do is date anyone who could be considered her superior. She’s not about to let anyone think the reason she’s been so successful is because she boinked her boss. Not that anyone would have the balls to go spreading something like that around.”

“Yeah. I get all that.”

In fact, nearly everything Karl had just told him made a lot of sense, made several missing pieces of the puzzle click into place. It explained perhaps why Lauren kept such a distance between them these days, why she rarely asked him a personal question, or was even alone in the same room with him. And the fact that he was living with Elle would have only added fuel to that fire, would have given Lauren further incentive to keep their relationship strictly on a professional level.