Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (25 page)

“Alright, fine. Do Navy Seal hand signs,
though. Let’s stay on the same page.”

“I am now glad you made me learn those,” Sean
said with a smile.

Perry looked at Sean cockeyed. Sean just
shrugged. “Sounded cool.”

Krista winked at Perry and the other guy who
she’d never met, but had made fun of for his weird belt buckle, and
started off at a fast jog. Sean was right behind her. Krista
motioned for him to go to the left and run. They would have to
divide their shooting.

Onward they went, loving it, the thrill of
it, being on the same team and showing off for each other. Sean had
obviously continued the routine because he was keeping pace with
her easily. So she sped up to make it more interesting. They were
bounding over objects and swerving around trees like a couple of
frightened deer, having the time of their lives. The beach was
nice, but she missed all the green of Seattle. This felt like
home.

There was a rustle off to their right. Krista
motioned for Sean to cut back and head around, giving it a wide
birth. She angled that way as fire broke out, but seemingly not
pointed in their direction. It looked like one guy was shooting
toward three or four others. One region must have made a stand
together. Dumb.

Sean ducked behind a bush; Krista did the
same. They waited for the solo guy to get taken down. It looked
like he took two guys with him. They waited longer for the other
guys to laugh and start moving around, getting comfortable again in
their ring of bushes. And then, when the white flag guys started
walking off, Sean gave the signal.

They both started sprinting toward the two
remaining guys. Krista took the one on the right, leaving the one
on the left for Sean. When he started firing, she did likewise. The
guys were so surprised by the blast of activity, the one closest to
Krista shot his teammate. He was trying to get his gun up and
pushed the trigger too early.

Hopefully he wasn’t a hunter.

Shocked stares replaced white flags as Sean
and Krista swept by them, hardly slowing. Krista gave them a wave
and looked to Sean, who quickly dove into a bush. She immediately
threw herself behind the two guys they had just shot.

“What are you doing?” It was that tall guy
with the flood pants.

“Hiding,” she said, looking at Sean crouched
behind foliage. He did some fancy finger work, telling her he found
three guys huddling not far from where he was. Krista was to run
around them, he would cover her.

“Gotta go, guys,” she said as she sprung up
and started running at a breakneck pace.

She spotted the prey as she ran. They were
huddled behind a tree and a cluster of bushes, looking around to
determine what that strange thumping sound was.
How long has it
been since they heard someone running?

Krista brought her gun up to shoot when she
saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Without
thinking, she reached out, grabbed a tree branch, and swung herself
around. As she let go, falling into some scratchy bushes, she heard
rapid fire hit the tree she had just run by. It was a narrow miss,
but she didn’t have time for the replay. After the bone jarring
thunk
and tumble landing, she popped up like a Prairie Dog
and shot at the moving object.

It was Ron from New York. He was flying solo.
Well, now he was flying back to base because she got him with all
three shots, center mass. And based on how he clutched his chest,
it looked like it stung.

Shooting sounded behind her—Sean must have
thought her firing was at the group. She bounded up and was off,
hoping to get to Sean in time to shoot someone—this game was great
for aggression.

When she got there, he was huddled behind a
tree as a stocky fellow with an intense comb-over went whole-hog
firing at him. It was an easy shot. Right in the back.

Upon impact, the guy arched his back and
turned around with his mouth open. Krista was already running by.
Sean popped out to join, keeping pace with eyes constantly
roving.

They spent the next ten minutes running
around, using hand signs, smiling, and looking for people to shoot.
As they ran, they became less cautious. If they got shot, it
wouldn’t have really put them out. Krista nearly wanted to shoot at
Sean just to see if he would dodge in time.

Finally, they heard, “PLEASE REPORT BACK TO
BASE,” over the loud speaker.

Sean and Krista both slowed to a stop.

“Is that it?” he panted.

“You need to keep running
compadre
,”
Krista said, hardly out of breath.

“How do you stay in such good shape?” he
asked, bending over and putting his hands on his knees.

“My question is, if it wasn’t for us, would
anyone have been shot? All the other teams were just sitting
around, hiding.”

Sean shrugged. “Good way to keep points.”

“Our way was the better way to win,
though.”

“Our way is always better, Geegee, don’t you
know that by now?” Sean said with a laugh.

They walked back to base, taking their time.
Krista didn’t want to leave the seclusion of the trees. Sean wanted
to catch his breath. After a few yards, Sean asked, “Where are you
going?”

Krista stopped and blinked at him. “Back to
base? Following you? I don’t know…”

Sean smiled and walked in the opposite
direction. “Base is this way,
Pet.”

She had no idea where she was, having no
sense of direction, so she let Sean lead. She hadn’t felt this
close to him in so long, it put a lump in her throat. Also, the
unique term of endearment. She
definitely
didn’t want to
leave the seclusion of the trees.

But the woods couldn’t last forever. As they
walked out of the trees, they were met with all the regions lined
up, talking and laughing and wanting to get off of their
over-burdened feet. L.A. region had everyone accounted for but
Marcus, who either got injured and was on his way to the hospital,
or was still out in the trees somewhere sitting very still.

Bob eyed Krista as they walked up, noticing
the lack of paint, and looked at Sean with a smirk. What he was
thinking was clear. Sean played hero.

Krista wondered if she tripped and accidently
shot him in the face, if she would get in trouble…

“There he is.” Janice pointed.

Marcus was walking out of the tree line
laughing and joking with one of the guys from Texas. Neither of
them had paint on them.

“Everyone that did not get shot, please step
forward,” The ref said.

Sean and Krista walked to Marcus. The guy
from Texas was it from his region, and there was one guy from New
York—Krista was happy to see it wasn’t Blake. Everyone was counted
and told they had the rest of the day off. Dinner was at 7,
cocktail hour started at 6.

“I could have guessed you two would be
unscathed,” Marcus said as they started walking back. Georgie and
Donald fell in with them.

“How did you make it?” Krista asked.

“It was great, doll. I climbed a tree. I sat
there and shot people as they wandered too close. No one ever
thinks to look up.”

“I certainly didn’t,” Sean said as he
leisurely reached his arm up to put it around Krista’s shoulders.
It wasn’t until the last second that he caught himself and put it
back down, slightly embarrassed.

It seemed so natural that it only caught
Krista’s attention when he stopped and pulled it back down. No one
seemed to notice but the two of them, thankfully.

“What about you guys?” Georgie asked.

“Did you follow the strategy?” Donald
added.

“No, actually,” Sean replied. “We went with
Geegee’s strategy. We were always on the move. We figured they were
used to objects running away if they hunted, so we ran toward
them.”

“Except if they were ex-military,” Donald
countered.

“Hadn’t thought of that.” Krista
pondered.

Sean just shrugged. Didn’t really matter to
him.

“How did you know what to do? I mean,
together?” Georgie asked. “Dean and me tried to work together, but
as soon as we yelled back and forth, we got hit right away.”

“Navy Seal hand signs,” Sean stated as they
entered the lobby.

“Where did you learn Navy Seal hand signs?”
Donald asked in disbelief.

Krista answered, “I thought it would be cool
to know them once, so I looked it up and learned it. Then I made
Sean learn it when we lived in San Francisco. So really, it could
be gibberish, but it was the same gibberish, so it worked.”

“And you let her teach you something you
probably never thought you’d use?” Marcus asked Sean.

“She was naked. How could I say no?” he
answered with a laugh. Krista punched him on the arm. It was
actually true, but he didn’t need to advertise it. They were
getting a little too liberal with their personal information.

Sean, Marcus, Janice, and Krista all got off
on the fifth floor. The others said they’d see them in a little
while. The boys, who were rooming together, headed to their room.
Janice and Krista headed to their own. Krista wanted a nap before
dinner. Plus, she had to get ready. No time to spare.

Sean wasn’t allowed to follow.

Chapter Eighteen

It was twenty minutes to six and Krista was
in a bustle to finish up. She did her hair in a loose curl. It was
casual, but still elegant. For makeup, she did a smoky eye and
neutral blush and lip. She walked out of the bathroom in her black
bra and panty set with the intention of putting on her dress and
heading down. Instead, she walked out, saw Sean sitting on the bed
waiting for her, and froze.

He looked up, his eyes flashing as he held
her. His eyes traveled slowly over all exposed flesh, working down
her body, lingering on her lacy panties, then back up, lingering on
her breasts, and then mouth.

Krista quickly stepped back into the
bathroom. The only other option was just as quickly step closer to
him. She didn’t have much control left, so she had to exercise it
while she did.

“Privacy?” she asked loudly.

“That’s what a bathroom is for,” he said with
a deep, husky voice.

“Well, I need to put on the dress. Would you
mind f-ing off so I can do that?”

“Not at all.”

Krista peeked her head out and caught him
still sitting on the bed, looking her way with a small smile. When
he met her eyes, his mouth twitched up into a mischievous
smirk.

“Busted,” he said quietly. His phone rang as
he was getting up.

“Hello?” he asked, slowly sauntering into the
outer room. Janice must’ve been elsewhere or she never would have
let Sean in the bedroom part of the room.

Krista snuck out, grabbed her dress, and ran
back to the bathroom. She eavesdropped to Sean’s phone call as she
slipped into it.

“What’s up?...I’m in Krista’s room. She’s
getting dressed…The red one…I don’t know, it’s red. And
sparkly…Marcus, I don’t know about these things. It was on the bed.
She’s putting it on now…Hang on—
Krista?”

“What?” she yelled.

“Is the red dress the conservative one, or
the slutty one?”

“Conservative.”

“Marcus?...Yeah, it’s the conservative
one…I’m sure it will. She looks good in anything—wait, here she
comes now…” Sean took the phone away from his ear and looked at
her. His eyes, once good-natured, turned soft. “You look beautiful,
Krista. As always.”

She smiled like a dumb girl. Hearing you’re
beautiful is always nice.

“Thanks,” she muttered sheepishly.

Sean smiled at her, let his eyes travel her
body again, then turned back to the outer room and put the phone to
his ear. “Marcus?...Yeah, she looks great…I don’t know what frumpy
is…”

“Tell him I do
not
look frumpy!”
Krista yelled as she looked for earrings.

“She says she doesn’t look frumpy…I don’t
know. Listen, we’ll be down in fifteen or less…Yeah,
fine…
What?”

Sean glanced back toward Krista then hunched
slightly and went out of view.

“It wasn’t my idea,” he said lowering his
voice.

Krista naturally listened harder.

“No—I
tried
but you know how she is…”
He must have been talking about the dunk tank. “I don’t know. She
made the best of it, I think, but it got to her. Then that
fuck-stick
Blake’s comment… I
know
. I’d love to rip
his arms out of his sockets and beat him with them. Tory heard
about it and was furious. If Krista wanted to, she could sue for
sexual harassment, and no matter what attorney Tory found, she
would win…I know. Ron apologized to her, so that was good, but it
just reinforced how she was feeling the whole time here, you know?
I can see the strain on her…Yeah, listen, I’ll see you in a while.
She’s bound to be finished…” After a pause Sean sighed
dramatically. “Fine. Krista, what shoes are you wearing?”

“What?” she called. She didn’t want him to
think she heard the whole conversation. It was important to be
sneaky when one was up to no good.

“
Shoes
—what kind of shoes?” Sean
walked back into the room.

Krista held out her foot for inspection. As
he looked at them with a furrowed brow, he said into the phone,
“Red ones…
Christ
Marcus, I don’t know. They have a heel,
they’re red, and I can see her foot a little…“

“Tell him the peep-toe, three inch heel. They
match the dress perfectly.”

“I hate this,” Sean said to Krista while
holding his cell phone away from his head a little. Then he
haltingly repeated what Krista had said. “Why don’t you just—“ Sean
apparently got cut off, then rolled his eyes. “
Fine
. Krista,
wear the black strappy ones.”

“I don’t have those. I left them at
home.”

“She doesn’t-- … Krista, Marcus had Jasmine
put them in your bag. Wear those instead. And hurry up, there is
too much estrogen crossing my path, and it’s making me
uncomfortable.”