“I’m so gonna ask her out,” Luis told the group.
“Ask her out and I’ll fire you.” Chris made sure to say it with a smile, but there was no keeping the real threat out of his voice.
Vinnie smirked at him. “Aw, dude. You’re in so much trouble.”
Damn it. Was it that obvious?
“Hot and talented.” That from Shen, which made Chris raise a brow in question.
“You think she’s attractive, too?” Shen was notoriously picky. Women practically threw themselves at him whenever they went out, but he rarely hooked up with any of them.
Shen nodded. “She’s pretty. And she’s got a great body even with her old lady style.”
“Where did you meet her? You’re not dating her, are you? Is she single? Can we please hire her?” That was from Luis, who was practically bouncing with every word.
“Dude, for the last time. You need to lay off the espresso.” Shen reached over and smacked the back of Luis’s head. “She’s talented, I’ll give you that. But you guys haven’t weighed in at all about what you think about the piece she just played, and we are not going to hire her because of her looks.” He leveled a look at Chris. “You better not have promised her anything without talking to us, man.”
Chris held up a hand. Out of all of them, Shen was the most level-headed and the one whom Chris trusted when it came to decisions that were best for the business. He was also a fucking awesome animator.
“I’m not going to hire her just because—” Weird. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to say the words, she’s hot. For some reason, it felt wrong to talk that way about her, even if it was true. “We will only hire her if we all liked her sample. We’re a team, okay? I’m serious about that shit.”
He felt, rather than heard, the guys breathe a collective sigh of relief. Chris tried not to feel offended, but he had hoped they’d have more faith in him than that. This situation with Minh was making him too emotional. Hell. Not this situation. Minh herself was making him feel things he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Besides. She’s probably not what we’re looking for, in the end.” It felt disheartening, saying those words.
“Well not so fast, Reichert.” Vinnie grinned.
“Yeah.” Luis nodded. “That piece she just played was like Whoa. You didn’t like it?”
Chris shrugged. “Nah, it was good.”
“But you said she probably wasn’t what we were looking for.”
“I’m not sure, that’s all.” She keeps hiding her real talent. I want her to stop hiding from me. I want her too much. He looked at Shen in question. Luis liked the piece. Vinnie liked it. But it was Shen’s judgment that Chris would allow to influence his own opinion.
“When can she start?” was all Shen asked.
Chris blew out a breath, feeling relieved. “I guess we have a consensus, then.” He nodded at Shen, and Luis and Vinnie high-fived.
“Now, who wants an espresso?” Luis asked.
“Why don’t you just hook yourself up to the machine, already?” Vinnie teased Luis as they walked away, toward the kitchen area, leaving Shen and Chris alone in the entryway.
“It seems like she is what we’re looking for.” Shen was staring at him intently. “So what now?”
There was no mistaking the double meaning behind Shen’s words. He was the most observant guy Chris had ever known. There was no doubt in his mind that Shen knew how Minh made him feel.
“Now I call up our lawyer and we draw up a contract for this movie.”
“And if she wants more?”
“What, like to be a full-time employee?” He knew he was being deliberately obtuse, but he didn’t feel like having this conversation right now.
Shen huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, okay, asshole. Let’s call it full-time.”
Chris shook his head. “She’s not that kind of girl. She’s looking for something more stable. Big studio, churn-’em-out kind of stuff.” He shrugged. “Her style worked for this song, but the rest of the score? That’s why I was trying to get her to work on the opening scene first.”
Shen eyed him curiously. “But were you hoping she would rise to the occasion or fail spectacularly?” He shook his head, not waiting for Chris to answer. “Regardless, we’re running out of options, dude. We need a score. Any score. We still have the screening and a little time to redo the whole thing if some investor decides to give us a shitload of money all of a fucking magic sudden. But right now, I don’t think we have a lot of room to worry about this.”
Chris groaned. “Yeah. I’m still working on the money bit. I guess Minh will do. But just for this movie. No full-time shit. She wants to move into films as her career, and I’m her first break. I’m not interested in being any more than that.”