“I’m not always easy to wrangle,” she told Kirby.

“My boyfriend says that about me. He’s six three.”

“Is he now? Amazing.” Carly sipped her martini and let the nearly too loud music wash over her. Saturdays were for letting off steam, and that was exactly what she planned to do, especially with a day off tomorrow. She was already a drink in and her muscles felt a little looser. She inched her way slowly to that point of tipsy with each new sip. God, she loved the gradual feeling of that unravel. She wasn’t a fan of drunk, but tipsy she could do. “Be back soon,” she told Kirby and headed across the bar, following the magnetic pull that wouldn’t seem to let up.

“You came,” she said to Lauren when she arrived at her table near the front of the bar. “I honestly wasn’t sure you would.”

Lauren gasped and smiled. “Why? Because you think I’m uptight?”

“No. Because I know you are.” She tossed in a wink for good measure.

“Don’t be so sure you know everything.”

“I’ll work hard,” Carly said. “Let me buy you a martini. Please. I’ve never seen you outside that rehearsal room, so this warrants a celebration. Deal?”

“I’m in.” Carly stole an extra few seconds to absorb this new version of Lauren. Her dark hair was down and she’d added a subtle curl to it which came off as fucking glamorous. Carly loved it. Lauren wore jeans and a white cold shoulder blouse. Yeah, those bare shoulders were really doing Carly in. Lauren was hot with her shoulders covered, but this just seemed cruel. The straitlaced thing only fueled that fire.

“One martini for my stage manager,” Carly said five minutes later, depositing the drink next to Lauren. She picked up her own martini and offered a toast. “To a kick-ass show.”

Lauren touched her martini glass to Carly’s. “I will sincerely second that. As soon as you meet your off-book deadlines.” She added a wink.

“Is it really that big a deal?”

Lauren stared her straight in the eye. “It really, really is.”

“For you? I will put in the effort.”

“It should really be for you, but I’ll take it.” Lauren passed her an amazing smile, and that made everything better.

The music in the bar portion of Pete’s was loud, but by now Carly’s ears had acclimated. Yes, they had to talk louder than usual to hear each other, but that was part of the fun of being out and about. God, she felt like dancing, but one-on-one time with Lauren won out.

“Do you live near here?” Carly asked. It wasn’t small talk. She wanted to know more about Lauren, and geography seemed like a good place to start.