Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(92)

He nodded slowly as the salad plates were cleared.

“Okay, I can see that,” he conceded with a smile.

After a beat, he said, “Are you always so firm in your opinions?”

Krista laughed animatedly and raised her hand, “Number one on the debate team.”

“Huh,” he said, his smile getting wider.

“So, what do you do?”

He sobered a little. “I am a CEO.”

“Eww. Intense.”

To her surprise, he started laughing. “Please elaborate?”

“Oh well, sorry to be rude, but it’s just that a girl in my situation, which is to say a ‘peon,’ has one boss. I have a good work ethic, so my boss tells me to do something, I do it, I turn it in. If there’s a problem, no big deal. He tells me, I fix it, life continues as normal. You, however, as a ‘big-wig,’ have the world on your shoulders. Is it a global company or national?”

“Global,” he replied seriously.

“There you go. World economics on your shoulders. Public or private?”

“Public.”

“Oh, well, nail in the coffin. You get results or get to have a ton of bosses telling you what’s wrong and what you should fix. Forget about looking at the big picture, you have to look at the universe-sized picture and make decisions that will trickle down and affect everyone under you, including me, the pe-on.”

“That is, if I care to look so far down the chain of command?”

“That’s true.” She smiled. Point to him on that one. “Many don’t, true. But the best-run companies have CEOs who do.”

He was quiet for a moment so she fussed up, “I don’t actually know if that last part is true, but it sounds good to the peon.”

He laughed again and they fell into silence as dinner showed up.

Krista, embarrassingly, made a few sounds of delight as she tasted the steak and fingerling potatoes. The flavors rolled around the tongue and melted in the mouth. They were oh-so-good!

“You seem to be excited about all this food, but you barely touch it,” he noticed.

“I don’t have all the room in the world in my stomach. I have to take a bit of everything. I’m going to stuff myself with dinner, though. It tastes amazing.”

“What about dessert?”

“I have a separate stomach for dessert. It always fits.”

They ate in silence for a second. He was a man of money and excellent table manners. The way he handled his cutlery and his bearing screamed rich socialite. He must’ve been in charge of a large company. But then, they all were. The peon was the odd man out at this dinner, and it showed.

Come to think of it, that was probably the reason for the scrutiny. Young, hot—ahem—and poor. Yeah, she was an anomaly with this crew, which was why he probably didn’t believe she wanted to come alone. He probably thought she was the forgotten trophy of someone at the dinner. Hopefully not John. Anyone but John!

“So, what do you do for fun?” she asked him.

“Golf, mostly.”

She made a sound like a buzzer going off, “No way. Too cliché. Pick something that not all white business guys do.”

“You sound like my wife,” Tory said in mock disdain.

“Smart woman.”

“Well …I collect art, swords, and comic books.”

“Comic books? Eww. But swords? Cool! Just so happens, I have a sword.”

“Do you?” he said, obviously surprised. “That is rare for a woman.”

“I know, right? I have Sting from ‘Lord of the Rings.’”

He chuckled, “I own Andúril.”

“Nerd!” She laughed.

“Look who’s talking!” he shot back.

“Touché. I’ve actually always wanted a real samurai sword. Well, maybe not real, but, you know, good quality.”

“I actually have a real one.”

“Shut up! Well, now you are just being a one-upper!” Lost in the fun, she said it too loudly. A few people at their table turned from their conversation to glare at her. She hid her face in embarrassment.

“It was my second acquisition,” he said after people went back to eating.

“I will admit I am a little jealous. In a different life I would invite myself over to your house to see it. As it is, when I become a huge businesswoman, expect a knock on your door.”

They ate in silence for another second before he said, “So you work with Sean McAdams.”

She was no longer surprised by his conversational hairpin turns. The guy’s brain probably never shut off. Give him a second and he’d come up with something completely out of the blue.

“Yup. He was the lead salesman on the presentation I did. He’s the one who finally gave me a challenge.”

“And what do you think of him? Off-the-cuff.”

“Well, I don’t know him super well. I know nothing about his sales tactics or whatever, so I have no idea how good he is at his job. But ...” Now it was her turn to be suspicious. “Are you a spy? Who are you going to report this to?”

He looked taken aback briefly before a giant smile creased his face. “I might ask you the same question.”

“Yes, because anyone cares what I say or think? Pe-on, remember?” Krista laughed, pointing to herself.