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Monique’s eyebrows arched. “Private lessons? How much is she paying you for that?”
“I, uh…”
She pursed her lips. “You’re not charging her.”
“We’ve come to a mutual agreement,” he said carefully. “It’s not about money.”
“So a date,” she said flatly.
When he protested, she raised a palm, cutting him off. “Look, you’re a grown-ass man and can do whatand whoyou want, but promise me you won’t get distracted by a woman again. We’re starting to build momentum with the shows, and now you’re looking at that theater, which could change all of our lives if it works out. Don’t veer off course. You know how you get when you get involved with someone.”
His jaw flexed. “And how is that?”
“Blind,” she said, not pulling any punches. “You chased Kenzie to LA without thinking about what it would do to anyone else, to the show, to you.”
Great.They were back to the Great Abandonment talk. “Monique—”
“All I’m saying is that we need you one hundred percent focused right now. If you need to get laid, go hook up with someone for a night. Don’t date someone at your job.”
He made a face. “Please stop giving me sex advice. And it’s not a date, all right? I’m not interested in her like that. I’m just helping her out with some issues she’s dealing with. Totally sexless endeavor.”
Monique’s gaze flickered with something, and Jasper felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with awareness.Hell.He gave Monique a look that saidShe’s right behind me, isn’t she?
Monique smiled a smile that said,Yep.
Wonderful.
He turned and found Hollyn cringing, her nose tic in full effect and her gaze trained somewhere near the floor. “Sorry, didn’t meant to interrupt.”
He had no idea how much she’d heard so he tried to play it off. “Not interrupting. You ready to get started?”
Her gaze jumped to his. “I guess.”
Monique clapped her hands together. “Alrighty, I’m headed out. Hollyn, it was nice to meet you. Jas, I’ll see you at the next show. Good luck with the private lessons.”
“Thanks,” he said, not missing the warning look Monique gave him. The look that said,You’ve fucked up things before. Don’t do it again.
But really, Monique had nothing to worry about. It didn’t matter that Hollyn was attractive or that he loved her articles or that they were going to be alone tonight. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Fitz that he wouldn’t be bringing women home. He didn’t have time to worry about dating right now, and he especially didn’t need to try something with the woman behind Miz Poppy. Because he had one guarantee in life—he sucked at relationships. If he went down that road, he’d mess it up with Hollyn and he’d end up with either no Miz Poppy review or worse, a bad, vengeful one.
The opportunity for a hookup wasn’t hard to come by. The opportunity for a career break was much more precious. Which made Hollyn a straight-up diamond.
“So,” he said, turning fully to Hollyn, “you ready to play?”
