Until There Was You(16)

“Nice meeting you, Wayne,” Posey said.

Jon looked over at her and widened his eyes dramatically. Ah. A very handsome man was approaching her. She’d missed him in the lineup outside; in fact, quite a few new people seemed to have drifted in. She took a quick scan—nope. Liam was not among them. Not that she noticed. Or cared. Oh, bieber. Here she went again.

“Hi, I’m Gus. Please tell me you’re not on Team Jacob,” the cute guy said, grinning.

“I’m so over him,” Posey said, smiling back. “Hi, I’m Posey. If you could name a pony, what would you call it?”

“Boy or girl?

“Girl.”

“I’d call her Misty of Chincoteague.”

“A classic.” Posey smiled. “You get a point for that.” So far, so good. Jon called out instructions on how best to slice plum tomatoes, and she and Gus got to work.

“I’m not a huge fan of these singles things, but who is, right?” he said, glancing down at her. “And you’re adorable. I’ll bet you’ve never been to one of these in your life.”

Well, bless his heart! He was cute. “This is my first time,” she acknowledged.

“What do you do for work, Posey?” he asked.

“I own an architectural salvage operation.”

“Cool!” he said. “I love old things.”

The night was getting better and better. He crossed his arms. Nice arms, she noted. Nice everything, actually. A little stir of attraction tickled her stomach. She sliced her plum tomatoes obediently as Jon waxed rhapsodic about sauce. “And what do you do, Gus?”

“I’m an actor.”

“Really!”

“That’s right.” He grinned proudly.

“Full time?”

“Full time.”

“Wow.” Posey couldn’t say that she met a lot of actors…a few community theater buffs here and there, but paid actors? “So, you get enough work up here? I mean, we’re hardly New York or L.A.”

“Actually, yes.” He smiled and sliced, rather adept with a knife. “I get plenty of work. I’ve made a pretty good living at this for years now.”

Should she recognize him? Was he someone famous? “Have you been in anything I might’ve seen?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he said. “What do you like to watch?’

Now was probably not the time to mention that last night, she’d watched Phantom of the Opera for the ninth time…might make her seem a little on the fetishist side. “Um…I like just about everything.”

“Have you ever seen Heat Rising?” he asked.

She thought for a minute. “I don’t think so. What was that, an action flick?”

He winked. “It sure was.”

“Is that the one where the submarine is stolen by the pirates?”

Gus smiled. “Getting colder. It was…” He paused dramatically. “An adult entertainment film.”

Posey blinked. “Say again?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper and gave her a very adorable grin. “I’m a  p**n  star.”

She gave a hearty laugh. “Yeah. Me, too. Posey Does Portsmouth. Have you seen it?”

He stood up straighter, and the smile left his face. “Posey, I act in adult films. That’s my job.”

Holy Elvis Presley. He was serious. “I thought… I didn’t think you were…” She glanced at Jon, but he was helping the Taylor Lautner fan, who was using her knife like a hatchet. “So. Wow. That’s…interesting.”

“It is, isn’t it? And it’s not nearly as sleazy as it sounds,” Gus went on. “I mean, do I get more than my share of tail? Sure. But I’m looking to really connect, know what I mean? Fall in love. Make love. Which is so different from acting, where some know-nothing director is telling me what to do. And it can be hard, you know? Some of the scripts we get are absolute crap. There’s no story, you know? I mean, what are these characters looking for, right? Other than a good lay?”

Posey nodded. Tried to picture bringing this guy home to her parents’ house, where pictures of Pope Benedict, son of the Fatherland, hung in three of the six rooms. He’s a  p**n  star, Ma. A  p**n  star. Nope. Wasn’t gonna happen.

“I should probably be honest here,” Posey said, trying to take a note from Wayne. “I…I think your job would probably rule you out in terms of dating. I’m sorry.”

“Who asked you, huh?” he snapped. “Man! You’re so prejudiced! So I screw people for a living! So do lawyers! Would you go out with a lawyer?”

“Um…probably,” Posey said.

Gus tossed down his knife and folded his arms in full sulk. Her brother-in-law gave her a questioning look, then clapped his hands once more. “Gentlemen, take a stroll to your left, won’t you?”

“Holy crap! Posey Osterhagen, right? Shit! Long time no see!”

Posey felt every muscle in her body stiffen. “Rick. Yep, it’s been a while.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are, Rick. Why don’t we just skip each other? No need to waste time, right?”

“Smell the basil, gang,” Jon was crooning. “Isn’t that glorious? Now you know why you paid so much to take this class. This basil was flown in from Cyprus, okay? Heaven!”