Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (34 page)

Krista did wavy hair, a soft eye and red
lips. Her necklace fell to the tip of her cleavage in most places,
but in the middle it toppled on in. The eye helplessly followed and
got lost in boob. She had four inch, silver strappy heels that
Marcus delighted over, and that made the outfit.

Fifteen minutes after the cocktail hour
started, Krista left her room and headed down. She didn’t see
anyone on the way to the elevator and she didn’t see anyone in the
lobby. She would be surprised how people took in her
appearance.

Krista walked into the big open area in a
strut. That was another thing Kate said. Walk the walk, honey,
strut your stuff into their
fucking
midst—Kate was on fire
with the f-bombs in the pep-talk.
You’re a woman, baby, make
sure they know it! Girl power!

As Krista neared the bar, she started seeing
people glance her way. All of them did a double take and stared
hard. Krista kept coming, not faltering in her step. More and more
people looked. Now people were talking, and you bet it was because
of her. The girls all wore scowls. Krista smiled. She kept coming.
No faltering, no slowing down.

When she was in clear view, there were very
few heads that weren’t turned in the woman manager’s direction. She
was bee-lining for the bar, not bothering to look for a friend, not
bothering to worry about anything.

~*~*~*~

Sean, standing with Ron, noticed the people
around him go quiet. The hush filled the bar. In confusion, Sean
and Ron both followed their gazes until he could just see her,
walking toward the bar. Sean stopped breathing.

She was a vision. She was confident and proud
and not holding back. She was like a warrior princess marching into
battle. She was so beautiful, Sean nearly scrubbed his eyes to make
sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“She feels like she’s got something to
prove,” Ron said beside him. Unlike Sean, and most the other
managers around them, Ron wasn’t looking at Krista. He wasn’t
watching her progression. Instead, he was watching reactions.

He went on with, “She’s shown everyone she
can do a man’s job, and now she proves that she is undoubtedly a
woman. She’s making us all eat it. Smart.”

“She isn’t doing a man’s job. She is doing a
job, period. It doesn’t take a man specifically to crunch numbers
and manage people.”

“And now we know,” Ron said with a smirk.
“Which I don’t think most of these men did before this
weekend.”

Sean huffed and shook his head, unable to
stop watching Krista. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to make
sure she didn’t have to continue her plight on her own. And he
nearly did, but before Krista reached the bar, someone called her
name. It was another woman.

Emily stepped forward out of the crowd with a
warm greeting and a smile.

“Oh my God, I didn’t know you were here!”
Krista exclaimed, giving her a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

“Girl, look at you!” Emily said with a
twinkle in her eyes. “I think you found the only way to shut these
men up!” Emily laughed as she looked around her. Everyone took that
as a cue to quit staring. It was widely known that Emily was not
one to trifle with. She had no power professionally, but she had
plenty where Tory was concerned. Now everyone knew Krista was on
friendly terms with her. It only worked in Krista’s favor.

“All these men are looking at Krista in awe
and fear. A couple with lust, of course,” Ron went on, looking at
Sean.

The last sentence had Sean looking back. Ron
was smiling in a knowing way.

“I talked to her, did she tell you?” Ron
continued.

“Yes,” Sean said simply.

“She filled me in about your shared
past.”

“It is common knowledge.”

“I didn’t realize she was Krista Marshall.
From Dexico.”

“And I hope you don’t tell any others her old
last name. I met the reason she moved to L.A. He was…not someone I
would ever care to meet again. Extremely dangerous.”

Ron nodded slowly, looking back toward Emily
and Krista chatting amicably. “I asked her to come to New
York.”

Sean followed his gaze.

Ron went on, “She is still loyal to you. She
also has…an
interesting
ability to withstand my
influence.”

Sean barked out laughter. “You tried to
strong-arm her?” Ron didn’t comment. “Yeah, she doesn’t respond
well to that. You have to beguile her. Give her goals and problems
to solve—you have to lay out the logic so she can analyze it, but
only give her enough information to lead her to the conclusion you
want her to reach. Then she’ll stop at nothing to fulfill it. It’s
tricky, because she’s smart; she’s extremely strategic and good at
poking holes in someone else’s logic. If you don’t get it just
right, you never know when she’ll push back.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

Sean shrugged. “I never thought of it as
work. It’s a challenge. The end result is always better than I
anticipated, and not always because I came up with it.”

“I don’t know that I would work half so well
with her. I doubt I could
beguile
her, as you said. I tell
people what to do, and they do it. End of story. Well, she’s not
moving. Not to me, anyway. You might watch her, though. She might
not be moving to me, but she might not be staying with you,
either.”

Sean sighed, watching Emily and Krista cross
to the bar arm-in-arm. “I know. I haven’t figured out what to do
about it, yet.”

“I also think it is time to start hiring in.
Promoting from within is a good practice, but we need knew
blood.”

“We need less slackers,” Sean said.

Ron didn’t bother acknowledging. It was a
common problem in any company, but more so with theirs.

~*~*~*~

“It’s been a long weekend,” Krista said
casually, leaning against the bar.

“I’ve heard some stories.” Emily glanced
around. She lowered her voice, “Tory’s been watching you
closely.”

“Trying to make sure I didn’t sue for sexual
harassment?”

Her smile was grim. “That was part of it, I’m
sure. He didn’t mention it—it would’ve put me in a bad mood. But
other than that, you were at odds, huh? I would
not
have
wanted to be in your place!”

“Me neither. I didn’t have a choice,
though.”

They paused to order drinks—it was the same
peppy bartender that saw her embarrassing fall.

“Drinks on the house!” he said in a bob. “I
know you won’t spill it!”

Emily looked at Krista in confusion.

“I did a dive and saved my empty drink. He’s
of the age that still thinks that’s
awesome
.”

Emily nodded, and then shook her head.
Changing gears, she asked, “What prompted the fabulous outfit?”

“Other than the fabulousness, you mean?”

“Of course.”

“I got a pep talk from a friend. She said to
put it in their faces.”

“
They
being all the overbearing,
egotistical men here?”

“Exactly.”

“What about Sean?”

Krista threw her a confused brow crease.
“What about Sean?”

“What did he say about your outfit?”

“Hasn’t seen it yet.”

“You two aren’t an item?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Emily looked away casually.

It prompted Krista to elaborate.

“My choice. I just…He tends to do things for
his career instead of for me. Don’t know if I want to spend a life
being second.”

“Oh sweetie…I know. And I really do know. I
spent a great many years alone. When men are young, they want to
build an empire. It isn’t until they are older that they realize
what is really important in life.”

“So the movies say. I guess I just don’t
trust him anymore.”

“Well, that’s for you to decide, of course. I
say, give him a chance. He’s been bending over backward to make you
welcome here this weekend. He’s really put himself out on a
limb.”

“I know,” Krista sighed. “And I miss him. A
lot. I just…I don’t think I can go through that hurt again, you
know?”

“I
do
know, Krista. I do. I was in
your shoes once. Well, tonight just focus on what’s
important—throwing it in their faces. But, I do wonder. Panties or
no panties?”

“Ah. You heard about the ropes course, I see.
Right. Yeah, I had another pair.” Krista flicked her hair in
embarrassment. Apparently everyone would be wondering.

“Well—“ Emily stopped mid-sentence and her
eyes lit up. “Sean! Long time no see.”

Sean walked up to them in his slow, graceful
saunter. He was wearing a tux that fit like a dream. His fluid
grace and muscular build lent him a 007 quality. Women and men
alike watched him move through the room. Well, gay
man
,
actually. There was only one. That they knew of.

“Ladies, how goes it?” Sean said smoothly,
his gaze sliding past Krista and landing on Emily.

“Great, Sean, as usual. I heard your team did
very well right out of the gate,” Emily said, leaning against the
bar. Sean leaned closer to Krista to keep eye contact with
Emily.

She was a tricky old gal.

“We gave our best effort. Everyone on the
team really put their all into it. I was proud of everyone,” Sean
replied eloquently.

“I see our politics are up to snuff. I heard
one team member wasn’t so active in participation…” Emily had a
glint in her eye.

Sean kept his voice neutral. “Everyone put in
effort where they had the most potential. Our Krista here nearly
gave out in the end, but we all talked her around.”

“Literally gave out, he means,” Krista said
happily, even though she was a little tired of being the team
scapegoat. She’d done enough. She wanted to relax and slip behind
the scenes again.

To that effect, she looked out over the
gathered people to keep her in the positive. Everyone was dressed
in their best, including the admins. Some of the older ladies
looked a little frumpy, and some of the younger ones looked brazen,
but she certainly couldn’t talk about the latter. It was nice they
all gave an effort.

“She’s had a lot to deal with this weekend,”
Emily tempered.

Krista shrugged. She didn’t want to get into
it.

“She’s born it like a trooper, though. Always
has,” Sean put in.

“What is in store for dinner?” Krista asked
to change the subject.

“They always do a great dinner, here,” Emily
said. “Well, I had better see what Tory is up to. He tends to be an
old bore when someone isn’t around to keep the topic off work.”

Krista smiled a goodbye and moved in closer
to the bar. She was determined to keep her attitude positive
tonight. She didn’t want to talk about work or the weekend at
all.

“You are devastatingly beautiful,
Pet
,” Sean said close to her ear.

Krista sat on a barstool and turned her body
toward Sean. She expected him to be looking at her breasts. Most
men would have. Hell,
she
would have been. They were out
there for the public eye, after all. Instead, when she looked up
she met his soft gaze.

Krista’s heart warmed over and dribbled
romantic goo all over her shoes. “Thank you, Sean.”

“There is a rumor that I sexually harassed
you.”

Sean sat on the bar stool next to her, and
then scooted it closer. Their knees were lightly touching and the
contact thrilled her. She needed to pick a direction with him. He
was right—they were all or nothing. Krista had never been a
half-ways type of girl, anyway.

“Really? When?”

“Up in the tree. I’ll bet Dean saw us.”

“Saw
you
, you mean.”

Hurt flashed across Sean’s face. “Me,
yes.”

“Is that why you’re over here? To dispel the
rumors?”

Krista didn’t mean it to sound disgruntled,
and though her tone was light, he still looked like a puppy that
just got swatted with a rolled up newspaper.

“No,” he said quietly, looking at his drink.
“I’m over here because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from you and
wanted to be closer.”

“Oh.” She felt like an ass.

“Krista…” Sean sighed and turned back to her.
There was such vulnerability in his eyes, she got a lump in her
throat. He didn’t expose this side of himself much, so she knew
whatever he was going to say was important to him. She waited
patiently for him to continue. He, in turn, was waiting for Perry,
who stepped in next to him to get a drink, to grab it and go. It
looked like Perry wanted to chat, but realized something was going
on. Krista would have invited him into the conversation, but she
wanted to hear what Sean had to say.

“Krista, when you left San Francisco,” Sean
continued, looking down at this hands, “I thought my heart was
ripping out of my chest. I cried, I’ll admit it. Men aren’t
supposed to cry, but there you go. A big part of me was hurt. That
part turned angry. I didn’t think you’d actually leave. I logically
knew you had to, but it felt like you were leaving
me
. I
think that was mostly why I wanted to sever communication. I
figured you would realize how I felt and change your mind.”

Sean paused. Krista knew this was a
monologue, and that he had to get this stuff out. She didn’t want
to make him lose his nerve, so she stayed silent even though it was
an odd place to be spilling the past. But then, they never saw each
other outside of a work setting, except when Krista slapped him, so
Sean probably thought it was now or never.

“I am ashamed to say that lasted about six
months. I made myself be angry to forget the hurt. It was how I
always dealt with my parents constantly leaving my sister and
I—anger is easier to bear. It’s an easier pain to tolerate. I put
my past on you.
Again.

“After about six months the anger ebbed a
little. I came out of my shell a tiny bit. Enough to hear that Jim
was by your house looking for you. They had to call the cops on
him. I knew then what a jerk I was. That you leaving had nothing to
do with me. That my attitude was shallow.