Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (21 page)

“Honestly, it
is
torture,” Krista said
quietly. Sean looked at her in surprise. “But Sean treats me like a
person, whereas the rest of this company—well, you’ve been on the
‘I hate women’ bandwagon yourself, so you know.”

Georgie looked mollified. “Yeah, sorry about
that. Change is tough. It’s no excuse, but I
did
legitimately think you were
schtooping
the boss to get where
you are. You have risen really fast.”

“It would be Tory that I was
schtooping
,” Krista said, “He’s the one responsible for my
promotions. And if that were true, Emily would have assassinated me
by now.”

Georgie huffed. “I looked through your
packets. Bob thinks Sean is doing the work. I know better. That
ain’t Sean’s style. He might make the deadlines further out, but
not do it himself.”

Sean, who was silent up until then, finally
spoke up, “So what you’re saying is, she must have done it herself
because I’m too lazy?”

Georgie and Krista both laughed and said,
“Exactly!” at the same time.

“But here’s what I don’t get, since it’s on
the table,” Georgie said as they walked through the hotel door,
“Krista was working for our company for a while before you showed
up, Sean. Then you show up as a VP. Doesn’t make any sense.”
Georgie glanced at each of them, must have seen a blank look, then
continued, “What I mean is, if you broke it off, Sean, then you
would’ve been glad she moved away. If you didn’t, then you
obviously wanted her back. But, and correct me if I’m wrong Krista,
but showing up as her boss as a big
surprise
isn’t really
the greatest approach. Doesn’t make sense.”

“Yeah,” Krista said lightly, desperately
wanting to talk about something else, “and you think
women
are crazy?”

“We didn’t plan to split,” Sean said
seriously. “She had to move for other reasons. I showed up thinking
she would be happy to see me.” The way he said it, it was obvious
he realized it was a big error.

“You’re young, Sean,” Georgie said with a
grin and a shake of his head. “You don’t act it in business, but
now it’s sure showin’. Wrong way to go, man! Even
I
knew
that, and according to my wife, I do everything wrong.” Georgie
clapped Sean on the back. “They don’t think like us, man—no
offense, Krista, but I think you’ll agree. Once you wrong a woman,
beware. They’ll skin you alive. Might cry over your pain and nurse
you back to health after, but they’ll take you to the cleaners as
sure as I’m standing here. You should have begged for forgiveness
for being born before you showed up unannounced.”

“Wise man, Georgie,” Krista said. “But beware
yourself. I don’t like hearing my personal business on the lips of
strangers.”

Georgie put up his hands in mock surrender.
“I’m no dummy. I see the way the winds are blowing. You have high
powered friends. I’m not crossing those lines.”

The ref led everyone through the lobby, past
the banquet halls, and into a courtyard out the side of the hotel.
It was still technically indoors since there was a glass ceiling
and partially glassed walls—it looked like a large greenhouse—but
the floor was cobblestone. It was probably a place that held
weddings in the heat—it had both air conditioning and sun.

Along the wall shared with the hotel were a
row of tanks with a target off to the side of each. They were dunk
tanks.

Krista felt a tingle go up her back. She’d
just proved she was the least helpful when it came to throwing
balls…it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was supposed to go
in the tank.

Her pink bra might make a showing after all.
It was the worst news all day—which was actually okay. Georgie had
come around. So had Donald. People could know that her bra was pink
if it meant they would also end up knowing she was legitimate.

Still, it sucked.

“Okay,” Sean said, forming a circle with the
region. “I’ll do the dunk tank. It’s a bad position to be in, so
I’ll take that responsibility.”

“Except that we need the points and Krista
won’t get us any,” Bob scowled as he looked at the tanks.

Sean’s eyes got hard. “Krista will try her
best, which is what I expect of all of you. I will do the
tank.”

“’Cause she’s a girl?” Dean asked quietly. He
wouldn’t meet Sean’s eyes.

“No, it’s not…”

“Damn it!” Krista said testily, talking over
Sean. “Fine, I’ll do the dunk. I can’t throw as well as any of
you—we all know this. I’ll miss the target. So I might as well get
dunked. Everyone wants to throw crap at me anyway.”

Everyone nodded before Sean said, “I’m the
VP, Krista, I’ll do the dunk. That’s final.” Sean sounded hostile.
All the other men looked down with varying stages of
unhappiness.

“Don’t be a ninny, Sean,” Krista replied in a
huff, starting toward the tank. “You and Georgie have the best
arms. I have no arm. We have $500 riding on this, remember? At
least my bra is new. You all owe me a new shirt, though.”

Sean grabbed Krista’s arm and whipped her
back. His eyes were burning and he was livid. “Krista,
no
.
Young, hot girl is not what we are going for with you. You are a
viable member of this team. You don’t need to be on display.”

Behind Sean, the rest of L.A.’s managers
looked up with wide eyes. Sean rarely lost his cool, and he very
rarely raised his voice. This time he was doing both, not to
mention physically handling a co-worker. It wasn’t smart for a
million reasons, least of all that she could sue and biggest of all
that she could get weighted down in the past and have an
episode.

Thankfully, though, Krista was locked firmly
in the present. And she was held there by anger.

“You are forgetting yourself, Sean McAdams.”
Her voice was ice. It cut through his haze like a razor blade. “As
a
viable
member of this team, I can see that the best
strategy for our group
as a whole
would be to swallow my
pride and sit in that dunk tank. The other members of your team
have identified, and pointed out, that fact. As our leader, I would
hope you would put aside your personal interference and recognize
that. And please get your hand off of my arm.”

Sean didn’t move for a beat, his eyes boring
into hers. Finally, his hand loosened and let go, but his eyes were
on fire. Krista stared at him a moment longer, then turned and
walked to the tank. Her back was loose and she was partially
smiling. She didn’t want anyone to think she wasn’t okay with the
decision. It would suck, but so be it.

A guy helped her in to the warm, humid tank.
She sat on the hard plastic seat hanging over clear water. Down the
line the other guys were also getting helped in, with some not
fitting onto the seat all that well. It looked like all the VPs
were taking the seats. All the VPs and the girl.

Sean stared at Krista for a moment longer.
She took that moment to say, “If you guys miss
one single
shot
, I will personally kill you!”

Georgie saluted with a smile and Donald’s
eyebrows dipped in concentration as they all got in line behind the
next tank over. Knowing Donald, he actually thought she was
serious. The other two snickered at her—
bastards.

The ref rang the bell, and the first shots
were taken. In front of Krista was a guy in his late thirties with
obviously died black hair. Krista figured that since she had to sit
the tank, it was okay for her to start talking smack.

“Good thing you weren’t sitting the tank!
You’d dye the water black!” She called.

The guy had been taking aim when he looked up
in surprise. He looked around, apparently not sure if the manikin
had just come to life and started talking. To him!

“Yeah, I’m talking to you, big hitter. C’mon,
let’s see what you got, big shot, before your hair fades.”

His team started laughing and Krista’s team
looked over. Bob had a big grin on his face. It occurred to Krista
she might get in trouble for this. It also occurred to her that she
didn’t give a crap. They would have to tread lightly with her in
the best of situations because she was the only female in an
obviously male-dominated environment. Sexual harassment charges
could merely be mentioned and she would tear the place apart. She
wouldn’t do that because she had ethics, but they didn’t know
that.

The guy took aim again, but Krista could see
he was visibly shaken. “Let’s go
Vidal Sassoon
, I haven’t
got all day.”

Without looking up, he threw the ball
hurriedly and missed.

Krista breathed a sigh before she said,
“Better luck next time.”

The next man up was tall and thin with jeans
that barely reached his ankles.

“How’s Sleepy Hollow this time of year,
Ichabod?” Krista asked loudly.

The man had a lopsided grin and shook his
head. He took aim.

“You expecting a flood, or are ankle-highs
the fashion in your neck of the woods?”

He threw and missed, but it was close.

“
Phew
!” Krista said out loud. “Close.
‘O’ for two. Next up, Ren and Stumpy. C’mon Pigmy, show us what
you’ve got!”

The short man took aim quickly and threw.
Krista barely got a breath to yell something else when she was
falling! She hit the water with a splash and came up sputtering.
Their team was cheering and slapping high-fives.

“Good work, short stack,” Krista yelled as
she climbed out of the water. She sat with a
splat
onto the
righted plastic seat. She wiped her face with her hands, then wrung
out her shirt. The pink bra was finally making an appearance. The
region of men in front of her noticed, and were now looking at her
with surprise and shock. The tall man pointed.

“What, your wives don’t dress up for you
anymore?” Krista asked loudly.

Other groups down the way turned and looked.
Sean’s face was tight, his jaw clenched. Everyone else was
laughing.

Krista started hearing other dunk-tankers
talking smack. It wasn’t long before that was the name of the game.
They couldn’t match Krista for reckless crowd pleasing, though. It
got to the point that everyone was waiting to hear how she would
harass someone before they would throw their own ball into their
various lines.

Chapter Fifteen

Sean was one of the men that listened, but he
didn’t stop to hear what she had to say, he stopped to hear how she
said it. He could tell she was embarrassed and feeling vulnerable.
As well she should—she was basically flashing a bunch of guys she
was convinced hated her. It was not an optimal situation. But she
was making the best of it, and she was slowly but surely winning
people over. She was courageous, and everyone saw it whether she
wanted them to or not.

He just wished it didn’t have to be this that
showed it.

“Sean, you’re up,” Georgie said, tapping his
shoulder.

Sean tore his eyes away from Krista,
currently picking on an embarrassed Jeff from Texas, and looked
ahead of him at Ron from New York, who was smiling back.

“I see you have a woman doing your job for
you?” Ron said conversationally.

Ouch.

Sean smiled. “Hard to say no when she gets
her temper up.”

“
That’s
for sure,” Georgie muttered
behind Sean.

“You let women push you around?” Ron said
with a confident smirk.

“When she outthinks me, every day of the
week. But then, unlike you…” Sean wound up, “I’m open-minded.” He
threw a bull’s-eyes.

Ron went down with a splash and came up
sputtering.

“We’ll see, McAdams,” Ron said, heaving
himself onto his seat. “We’ll see if she can keep her head above
water.”

Sean clenched his jaw then forced himself to
smile. He tilted his head and walked to the back of the line,
checking on Krista again. If she could rise above these idiots, she
would prove them all wrong and Sean right. Rising above, though,
that was the kicker.

~*~*~*~

Krista was dunked time and again, but they
missed as often as they hit. Some guys stood nervously in front of
her, scared what she would say in front of his peers. They were the
ones that often rushed their throws and missed. Some were pissed
and trying not to show it. They often missed, too. It was the guys
having a good time, probably used to sports and smack talk, that
hit her every time. Occasionally, they had back talk, which was
actually as funny as it was fun. Most often, she heard that her
shirt was drying, so she needed to get swimming. That was all most
of them could focus on. Not a real imaginative crew, but then, they
were men—they never were imaginative where boobs were
concerned.

That was, until Blake came up.

“Hey, Miss Krista,” he called languidly.

“Hey, Blake. You know, I had a pony named
Blake once. It was senile. We had to put it down. Your mom a fan of
ponies?”

“That’s a pretty bra,” he called, tossing the
ball up and catching it in his hand. “I would rather see it on my
floor.”

For the second time that day, Krista got the
tingling in the base of her spine. That was uncalled for and
way
across the line. The guys standing behind him snickered,
jumping on the “she’s an object” train like they’d been waiting for
someone to mention it. The two regions next to them heard and were
looking over, some with shock and some with leery grins.

It was here that Krista knew she would win or
lose. She would go down as one of two things: a female singled out
for her tits and ass, or a woman who could hold her own.

She embodied Jasmine’s sure, dry humor when
she said, “You would rather see it on your floor? Or have me
discard it so you can try it on? Oh hey, you know what? I have some
heels that match! You want to add those to your list of
cross-dressing items?”