Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (22 page)

She was smiling and laughing, making fun of
him. She couldn’t let them see how badly she was withering on the
inside. He had hit too close to her insecurity in this male
dominated setting. He was aiming for her weakness, and she couldn’t
let him know—any of them know—he hit the mark.

“Wouldn’t fit,” Blake said as he got ready to
throw.

“Oh!” Krista talked to the men behind Blake,
suddenly not looking so sure. “You guys, Blake already knows his
size in women’s lingerie!”

A couple of the guys snickered. One looked
uncomfortable and the last lost interest. That was good news.

Blake threw the ball, no longer smiling. It
went wide and nicked off the bulls eye. Krista stayed up on her
seat as the target shook. “Well, now—“ and then she was
falling.

“Damn it!” she laughed when she came up.
“Almost got you!”

She wiped water from her eyes, and then
sensing Blake was gearing up for redemption—and judging by his
serious face, it wasn’t something she wanted voiced—she asked the
general crowd, “Is my makeup running?”

As expected, all guys in earshot looked at
her like they would their wives. Any committed man couldn’t help
himself—any woman that wore makeup would ask that question at one
time or other. Hilariously, they got all weirded out and kind of
shuffled around, trying not to look at each other. Except for the
couple of guys who were brow beat, or plain helpful, and actually
told her where to wipe. Those few guys were made fun of
immediately. Blake was left out entirely, losing most of his
followers. He was obviously single, and therefore different and
left out at that time.

The last group that came up was Utah.

“
Utah?!”
Krista said to everyone but
the group in front of her. “Holy cow. Who’s watching your farms
with all your wives?”

Then she accidentally belched really loud.
She got surprised looks.

“And that was just water. Wait until I have a
couple beers! This ain’t my first rodeo!”

There was surprisingly a lot of laughter on
that one. Which made sense. It was why football commercials
celebrated the farting male—guys thought gross bodily issues were
funny. Krista couldn’t explain it, but she’d just capitalized on
it.

The first two guys got her in the water. They
were the only ones that did it out of the gate.

“Utah!” she yelled in glee. “Your wives must
have the same underwear. You’ve seen it all before!”

Everyone laughed as she took the hard plastic
seat again.

The next guy who came up was a giant, obese
man. Way overweight. All the guys at the conference were a
little–to-a lot overweight; their ages and status in life made that
pretty common. This guy had a genetic problem, though. Krista could
tell he thought she was going to pick on him for it. And most
small-minded or unoriginal people would have. She got the
impression, however, after looking at his shuffling feet and
deflated stance, that he figured he was about to feel about
two-feet tall. In other words, that she would make him feel exactly
as she had been feeling the whole weekend, and especially
throughout the dunk tank competition. It wasn’t hard to realize
that it was below the belt.

“What’s up, Moustache?” She called instead.
“Don’t you know that only child molesters wear moustaches? And
before you say anything, I am over eighteen!”

The guy was obviously surprised when she said
moustache. He started laughing and paused in his wind-up. It gave
Krista more time to attack.

“Look at those whiskers, boys! He’s trying to
be Wyatt Earp over here!”

He wound up, threw and missed.

“It was because of the size of your
moustache. It knocked you off-kilter!”

A couple guys pointed and laughed at him, and
he shook his head with a smile and stood off to the side with his
fellow crew. She was laying it on thick, but he didn’t mind it in
the least. It was probably a first for him, judging by his relieved
body language.

Krista kept going with the cat calls until
everyone had gone. Finally, she was able to get down and out of the
stupid tank. She felt sticky and awful. She was in desperate need
of a shower and a change.

L.A. Region was there to greet her.

Georgie gave her a towel and she gratefully
wrapped it around her chest.

“How did you do?” she asked.

Sean was still looking at her with hard eyes.
He wanted to lay into her, it was clear. Thankfully, unlike the
others, Donald didn’t notice.

“You have missed hits on each of us once,
except for George and Sean who didn’t miss any,” Donald relayed as
if he was reading it off of a list in his head. “Overall, you were
dunked 30% less than the others.”

Krista grinned. “Hate to say it, Sean, but
I’m always right.”

His anger flashed, but he looked away. She’d
hoped he would have calmed down with a jest, but his pride was
hurt. Or something else was going on that he wasn’t about to spill
in front of the crew.

“Well, so we won overall?” Krista asked.

Everyone nodded, their smiles big.

“Thanks to your trash talking!” Dean
said.

At that, Sean turned around suddenly, eyes
wide. It was the first time Dean talked to Krista in any other way
but a sneer. Thankfully, Sean was at the back of their cluster or
he would have ruined it. Krista was starting to win him over. The
day’s humiliation was almost worth it.

Almost, but not quite.

Krista saw New York’s VP heading her way with
purpose. The man was in his early sixties or late fifties, and was
a big cat. He probably smoked cigars, had a box at Yankee stadium,
and a weird looking wife with big hair and fake nails. Sean turned
to greet him, but got a nod instead.

“Krista. We haven’t been formally introduced.
I am Ron Powers. I am the Senior VP over there at the New York
region. I’ve been with this company a long time. I just wanted to
give you a formal apology for what was said to you by one of my
men. It was over the line. Thank you for handling it so
gracefully.”

Krista shrugged, making light of it to save
face. “No problem. I’ve heard worse.”

“Not at work you haven’t, I hope.” Ron gave
Sean a hard look.

“Thanks for the apology, Ron. It means a
lot,” Krista said, trying to get this scene over with before Sean
said something stupid or she broke down crying.

Ron turned back to her and shook her hand.
“You’re a fire starter. Maybe it’s about time we got a female
perspective.”

Krista didn’t miss the hedge but continued on
anyway. “Tory’s always had that. Her name is Emily. She’s the
silent partner.”

Ron gave a loud, booming laugh. It was like
thunder clouds rolling through. “Observant. And correct.” He shook
her hand again and headed away.

With that, everyone stared at her, waiting
for her reaction. She gave it by turning and headed back to her
room. As expected, Sean fell in beside her like he was her personal
bodyguard. It wasn’t until they were separated from the rest of the
groups, including their own, that he asked quietly, “Are you
okay?”

“Are
you
okay, Sean?” she
deflected.

“Krista, you can hide a great many things
from a great many people, but you can’t hide all that much from
me.”

They were walking through the lobby. Krista
was silent as she approached the elevator. Some Utah people were
already waiting. The moustache man turned to her, stalling the
conversation between Krista and Sean.

“Krista, is it?”

She nodded and he continued with, “I’m Perry.
You did a great job up there. I’ve been to these things before, but
the dunk tank part has never been so fun. Welcome aboard.”

“Thanks, Perry. If I was a better shot, I
wouldn’t have been up there in the first place. But you saw the
balloon toss. I’m not much of a thrower. More a soccer player.
Talking trash was the least I could do, right?”

“I guess,” he said as the elevator
opened.

They all filed in, no one talking much in the
tight space. She and Sean got out on their floor.

“Well, see ya,” Krista said to Perry.

“In about an hour.”

As soon as the doors closed, the silence once
again permeated. She knew Sean wanted to talk about it, but he held
himself in check.

When Krista got to her room, escorted by the
body guard, she felt his presence stop with her. Thinking he wanted
to talk to Janice, she walked into the quiet space and held the
door so he could follow behind.

Except, Janice wasn’t in there. She and
Marcus must’ve still been at their competitions.

Trying to remain unperturbed, but not
thinking of much else besides Blake’s humiliation, she stripped off
her wet shirt and threw it in the bathroom. She wanted to be left
alone. She wanted to sort it out in her head. Most importantly, she
wanted to cry to relieve a little stress. She didn’t know how to
get Sean to go, though. She was fragile, he was right, but she
didn’t want to break down in front of him. They didn’t have that
kind of relationship anymore.

In just her bra, Krista rooted around in the
closet for the dress she would wear later. In a soft voice, she
heard, “Krissy, please.”

She stopped in the middle of her search,
bowed her head, and let the tears come. Sean was there immediately,
arms wrapped around her, crushing her to his stone body.

He lowered his mouth until it brushed lightly
against her ear. “I didn’t want that for you,
Pet
. That’s
what I was trying to prevent.”

“And in doing so, you would have made it
obvious to everyone that you were protecting me. They already think
I am sleeping with you to get promotions.”

“I know. And you handled it well. Even
Blake’s comment.”

She could hear the steel in his voice. She
didn’t think he had heard the comment directly, but it wouldn’t
have taken long for it to spread. Krista folded up into his arms
and let him rock her slowly. She inhaled his unique scent and
thought of the sun warming the sands as the ocean mist flowed over
her.
Home.

She put her head back a little. Sean’s cheek
lightly glanced against hers as his mouth came closer. She lifted
her head slightly, her lips mere inches from his. She expected him
to bend a fraction and meet her. When he didn’t she said in a
breathy whisper, “Do you want to make love to me, Sean?”

Chapter Sixteen

“So bad it hurts, Krista,” Sean’s voice was
husky and labored.

His breath dusted her face. His sensuous lips
barely touched the corner of hers for a split second. She could
feel his erection against her hip. His arms constricted, but then
they loosened again.

“But I won’t. You are emotional right now.
That would just make you more confused. It would further complicate
things. I don’t want the chasm between us any larger. I can barely
get around it as it is.”

Krista didn’t like that answer. It was
probably true, sure, but she wanted him. She wanted to feel like
she was home again. Like she was safe, and loved, and protected
from the harsh winds of the world she found herself in. Him in her
body had always made sense. He had always made her feel wanted,
beautiful. She didn’t think about how he pushed her away, or his
fear. Instead, she slowly felt up the inside of his shirt, tracing
each abdominal muscle. She could hear his breath coming faster. She
nuzzled into his neck and kissed him slowly and softly, then nipped
him.

“
Oh
, Krista.” He moaned as his hands
slid down her back slowly, finding their way to her butt. His arms
constricted again, smashing their groins together, his hard bulge
pressing deliciously.

She cupped the back of his head and brought
his lips closer to hers. She hadn’t opened her eyes, and didn’t
bother now. She trailed kisses across his cheek and found his
mouth. Wasting no time, she opened those lush lips with hers and
slid in her tongue with needy thrusts. He tasted of spearmint and
coffee and
Sean
. She flicked and played her tongue off his
as he ground her groin into him, gyrating slowly.

She was in ecstasy. She’d forgotten how good
he felt. Better than anybody she’d ever been with. Just a small
kiss had her heart hammering. He let her lead, breathing heavily as
she kissed and stroked, leading him to the bed. He went like a
trusting lamb, unable to say no, unable to stay strong.

That was when they heard a key in the lock.
Dawning was slow for both, but finally they came to their senses,
Sean first. He grabbed Krista’s arms and pushed her away
regretfully. The effect was like dousing Krista in cold water. She
blinked and looked around confusedly before finally grasping the
severity of the situation—Janice was just about to walk in with
god-knew who and she was grabbing Sean in all the delicious, but
wrong, places. She was doing exactly what the whole company thought
she did to get to where she was.

She looked at Sean. His eyes were filled with
lust and regret, but he stepped away marginally, giving them more
room. He took a big breath as Janice walked in, who stopped
abruptly.

“I’m sorry,” Janice said, surveying the scene
and looking flustered. “Sean, you shouldn’t be in here.”

“I know,” he replied, still looking deeply
into Krista’s eyes. He was trying to will her to understand
something. She figured it was lack of control. “Krista was chosen
to be dunked and had a hard time of it.”

“Oh, I was afraid of that!” Janice said,
bustling over. She found a towel, tore Krista further away from
Sean, and wrapped her up in a motherly sort of way.

But Krista didn’t need her mom right now, she
needed Sean. If not Sean, then alone time to sort out her
feelings.

She struggled out of Janice’s pitying grasp.
“I’m good you guys. Really. I have to get changed. Sean, where
should I meet you?”