“Hi.” Jessica sat down across from him. She breathed deeply then exhaled as she pushed her hair behind her ear. “That woman is a barracuda,” she said. “It’s like she wants New Dawn to fail. Maybe she doesn’t like cosmetics. Or maybe she just doesn’t like me.”

“That’s absurd. How could anyone not like you?”

Jessica looked at him a long time. In fact, he was getting a little worried when she finally said, “I don’t care.”

“What?”

“I don’t care if people like me. I don’t understand why I even said that. I need them to buy the product I’m selling, that’s all. Or promote it, or whatever else they need to do for me to succeed. Liking me has nothing to do with it.”

He wasn’t sure what brought this on, and decided to keep his mouth shut.

“I don’t want people to hate me, either. What I mean is, it shouldn’t matter. I’m not in a popularity contest. What she thinks of me is no concern of mine.”

“Okay.”

She looked him in the eye critically. “Do me a favor, would you, Dan?”

“Anything.”

“Let’s cut the intimate act when we’re in public, unless Owen is right there, okay? I need to keep my eye on the prize, and that’s not going to happen if I’m dancing with you all night.”

Her words hit him like a blow. All he could do was nod, smile, act as if it meant nothing. As if this was just another day at the office. As if what she felt about him was no concern of his.

Top Five Things Only Women Understand

5. Fat clothes.

4. Cutting your bangs to make them grow.

3. Romantic stuff like mushy cards and flowers.

2. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.

1. Other women!!!

Source: Dobhran “Top Ten Things Only Women Understand”

http://www.dobhran.com/humor/

JESSICA COULDN’T believe it. Here she was, in the middle of another tremendously successful party, getting raves from everyone from E! to W, accolades up the ying-yang from the folks at New Dawn, the wink-wink-nudge-nudge from Revlon, Chanel and Estée Lauder, and all she could think about was Dan.

She’d hurt him, which she hadn’t meant to, but now that it was done, and the repercussions were in progress, maybe she had meant to hurt him, to send the whole business back to square one. She wanted to start over, to put on the brakes well before she’d become entranced, definitely before they’d become intimate. But some things can’t be undone, can’t be unfelt.

She looked over at Dan, standing by the bar, toying with his drink. He’d had a few, more than was probably wise, but she wouldn’t dream of saying a word. He’d taken her at her word, and he’d backed off completely until Owen had approached. Then it was as if nothing had changed. Dan had become affectionate, endearing, territorial. She had to admit it had felt incredibly good, which was, of course, the problem.

She’d felt so sure about the plan of hers, to see Dan every few months, wear each other out in the bedroom, then do it again in another few months. It still felt as if that was the way to go. But talking to Marla had put a kink in the works, and Jessica wasn’t quite sure why.

The only way the plan was going to work was if she and Dan didn’t expect too much from each other. It totally depended on the focus being sex. She didn’t want more than that. In fact, she wasn’t even sure at this stage of the game if she could handle that much.

She wasn’t sure why, but sex always seemed to be more than sex for women. Men usually had the right idea, but women wanted more. Romance, security, love, commitment, a future. Why? Why wasn’t it okay to want sex for its own sake?

It would be enough for her, but only if there were no expectations of anything else. No hoping, no plotting, no daydreaming. All her thoughts needed to be on work, and her creativity, too. She wanted to rise to the top of a very competitive market, and to do that she needed focus, focus, focus.

How could she do that when she was worried about Dan’s feelings being hurt? Maybe if she just explained things to him, set it all out like the business proposition she had in mind, he’d sign on, and they wouldn’t have to continue to go through this emotional crap. It was too draining. And too distracting.

She simply wouldn’t worry about him anymore tonight. Tomorrow, when they had some privacy, she’d lay out the ground rules and see if he wanted to play.

“UH, DAN? Is everything okay?”

He looked up from his drink to see Marla standing to his immediate left, so pretty in her sailor dress, complete with a little blue boat pin on the collar. “I’m fine,” he said.

“Not that we know each other that well or anything, but that’s a total lie.”

He had to smile. They hadn’t spent a lot of time talking, but he was enchanted by the way she spoke. “Not a total lie. Just a partial lie.”

“Which part?”

“Just the part before the period.”

“Ah. Anything you want to talk about?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Except, maybe you can help me.”

She moved next to him, putting her right elbow on the bar, her left foot on the rail, mimicking his stance exactly. “I’ll do my best.”

“What is it with women?”

She raised both eyebrows, pursed her lips, but at least she didn’t burst out laughing. “I don’t know. Can you narrow that down any?”

He sipped his drink, surprised yet again that he wasn’t drunker. Usually his limit was two, on a bad night three. This was his fourth screwdriver. He remained disappointingly sober. “Narrow it down? Okay. Let’s try this. Why do women think it’s perfectly fine to change their minds every twenty seconds? First it’s yes, then it’s no, then it’s maybe, then back to yes, then damn no. Are you starting to see the drift here or should I continue?”

“Perfectly clear,” Marla said, nodding so her red hair flowed down past her shoulders, then back up. “I’m familiar with the pattern.”

“So? What’s the deal? Why can’t women say yes and mean yes?”

“Sometimes they do.”

“When? When exactly do they do that? What in hell does it take to make a woman mean what she says? I don’t get it.”

Marla patted his shoulder. “It must be frustrating. But it’s not personal.”

“It sure as hell feels personal.”

“Personal is usually when she says no and means no.”

“You’re saying rejection is final.”

“Almost all the time.”

“Almost?”

“Yeah, see, because there might be new information.”

“I’m not talking about court proceedings here. I’m talking about-” He stopped, unwilling to get more detailed about the situation. He was still working for Marla’s boss.

“It’s tricky when you’re talking about…stuff. Because with…stuff, there are a lot of factors. When women do say yes, they usually mean yes forever, so there aren’t many casual yeses. And sometimes women can think that they’re saying yes to one thing and then realize it’s a completely other thing they’ve said yes to, and then they’re not sure about the yes, so that’s when the maybe comes into play. But the no, that’s typically pretty clear, except when the no is because the woman is frightened about a new situation, and so she says no, but that really doesn’t mean no, it’s mostly a maybe, but the man, he needs to give her time to see that there’s nothing to be afraid of, and that she won’t ruin her career because she falls in love.”

Dan blinked twice. Shockingly, he’d understood everything Marla had said, specifically that last bit. “Okay, so let’s say some men get it about the being afraid part, and some men make allowances for that which seem to work but not really. Then what?”

“Keep trying?” she asked, her voice going way up high.

“But when is it real stupid for a man to keep trying? How does a man know when no is no and yes is yes?”