Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (36 page)

She walked up to the stage, not trying to
hide her surprise. She made sure not to fall going up the steps,
and took her weird little trophy. It was plastic and had a star
mold at the top. Tory stepped away so she could make a speech.

“Wow,” she said stupidly, looking at the
trophy then out at everyone. “This is unexpected. Umm.” She laughed
nervously. “Thank you for this. I know it probably hasn’t been easy
for the boys’ club to have a woman come through and reorganize
everything. I’m sure you hate when your wives do it.” There was a
spatter of laughter. “To put you at ease a little, I’m not trying
to shake things up so much. It’s just that I don’t know your man
rules. Like the dunk tank—I didn’t realize sitting in the tank was
man-code for earning your stripes and showing off your plumage.”
Ron smiled. “I wanted to win, so I figured I could help the best by
harassing people. Sean, being the excellent boss he is, knew that
and gave up his right to show his tail feathers so I wouldn’t be
made a fool of.

“And that’s the big thing. With Sean and
Tory, and Phil when I was under him…that sounded bad, don’t start
rumors…” more laughter that time, “but they all have been so
supportive—or tolerant at least. They push me to better things. I
tried as hard as I did this weekend because it meant something to
Sean. My bosses give me room to be…
different
, and for that
reason, I excel. Then of course, there is Janice and Marcus and all
the support people to catch me when I fall. Which is often. So
thank you to all those who are either pushing or catching!”

Krista held up the trophy again and exited
the stage. There was a lot more clapping than when she came up. Ron
even stood up to clap for her, which surprised her even more than
actually getting the trophy in the first place. She sat down in
embarrassment and faced Sean’s beaming, proud smile.

He was probably taking credit for her win,
the douche.

“Okay, now for the big finale,” Tory said,
once again reclaiming the mic. “You know, of course, that usually
we have best team trophy, then competition winner, but this year it
is one in the same. Something of note, though, we did things a bit
differently this year. Instead of just taking totals of the
management team, we included points earned for the support staff.
The total overall score is what counted in the competition.”

Sean looked back at Marcus and his face
dropped. He knew that he probably cost himself the trophy by having
Marcus come. Marcus was friendly, but he was no admin.

Sean looked at Krista next, his green eyes
troubled. She shrugged then looked back at Tory. No one cared as
much as him about winning. Everyone just wanted the money, except
Krista, who just wanted to go home.

Tory continued. “Each person on the winning
team gets $100 American Express gift card. Their region gets a
victory lunch on the date of their choice.” Everyone murmured.
Pretty good prizes. “This year the winner won by
one point
!
For that reason, I’ll announce the runner up, which did an
outstanding job, and, I should add, beat the previous record for
management points…
New York
!”

Everyone clapped, including Ron. They didn’t
get squat, though, so how happy could they be? They were second by
one point, but they were still second.

“And the winner, setting the new record for
management competition points, and also the best team award,
is…………….Los Angeles!”

Sean’s smile took up his whole face it was so
big. This was what he wanted. This is what they all worked so hard
for. It did feel good that they got something for their
achievement. They were the most screwed up region arriving at the
competition and would leave as a unit. They won even though they
were down an admin. That was impressive.

Sean stood up, and beckoned for Janice to go
up with him. She tried to refuse, but he was having none of it. The
table could hear her telling him that she would stand up there with
him, but would absolutely not speak.

Sean took the stage and enthusiastically
shook Tory’s hand. Janice did, too. Sean then said into the mic,
“Thank you for this. Really, I should thank my team. They did an
excellent job and I pushed them pretty hard to do it. Some so much
so that they used a rope 100 feet off the ground as a
restroom—“

“Only a little!” Krista yelled at him.

Sean laughed. “Anyway, thanks to my team. And
a huge thanks to Janice. I didn’t push the administrative people to
win—I let them do their own thing. Janice alone saw to it that she
and Marcus kept up her high standard of excellence, and because of
that, they did outstanding. Marcus knows I can crack a whip, but I
doubt he saw it coming in Janice…”

“She’s tougher than you! And more
persistent!” Marcus yelled.

“So a special thanks to Janice who runs L.A.
support staff with an iron fist! I couldn’t do it without her.”

Everyone stood to applaud Janice and the
support people. The smile on Janice’s face was bashful, but also
proud. She was finally getting some real recognition.

As Sean and Janice were leaving the stage,
Tory got back on the mic. “Okay gang. As dinner is coming out, we
put together a little video for you of your achievements over the
weekend. The first clip is our favorite of team work. The rest are
just exceptional things we managed to pick out along the way.
Enjoy!”

When the stage was clear, a 1-2-3 image was
displayed, and then it went into the video. It was of the L.A.
region’s puzzle on the ropes course where they had to get through
the holes. It looked like they did some editing, thank god, because
there were a couple instances when Krista wasn’t all that nice to
Bob.

Krista was held up by Sean, being thread
through the top hole. The rest of her team had a hold on some of
her extremity so she didn’t fall. Her body was rigid with strain,
perfectly still. She looked like a rock star holding that pose—it
looked as hard as it felt.

Sean’s body was rigid, too. His whole body
was flexed and bulging, his arm muscles looked like it was sculpted
out of marble. His oh-so-broad shoulders bunched, his cut arms
glistened as the sun bounced off his sweat, and his butt wouldn’t
quit. More than a few young admin were looking back at him with
lust. Krista was thinking along the same lines.

Her mind dipped back to that first puzzle
when he rubbed her in exactly the right spot. She felt herself
getting wet just thinking about it. Even her mouth was salivating
as she looked at him on the screen.

She risked a glanced at him in his expensive
tux and saw that he was looking back. They caught each other’s eye
and held. Sean’s hunger was plain, as was Krista’s. His body was
brimming with desire, hers was begging to be taken, making her
breath heavy, making her pant; her chest heaving, her breasts
straining against the confines of her dress.

Sean’s eyes slowly lowered to her open mouth.
He licked his full, kissable lips. Then his eyes went lower and
caught her cleavage bursting out of her dress, the jewels sparkling
within their depths. His hands balled and his legs tensed. He
wanted her as much as she wanted him. And finally she decided, if
she got a chance to have sex with him that night, she was going to
take it. She’d deal with the repercussions tomorrow.

The crowd around them laughed, catching their
attention. The screen finished showing the VP of Utah dangling from
the plank after he fell off. He was the first of a montage of
images surrounding the weekend. There was Dean giving Krista
instruction on how to get up the big tree. Perry climbing the rope
ladder. A guy from Chicago knocking down Ron in the dunk tank.
Blake diving off the platform into the air on the zip line. Some
were funny, some were inspiring. There was some admin stuff, but
mostly it was various managers or VPs.

Krista had no idea there were that many
cameras! She’d never noticed them. Not one! But judging by the
footage, most of the area was covered. It was a little too
Big
Brother
for her taste!

Besides the lack of privacy, there were two
things that caught Krista’s eye. One was when Sean was throwing at
the target for the dunk tank. He was looking out to his left at
something, got tapped on the shoulder for his turn, turned toward
the tank (and the camera), did his heart stopping smile and a wink
before casually winding up to throw the ball at the target. He hit
it, of course. The way the light hit his face and body, he could
have been an A-list Hollywood star. The younger girls were looking
his way in longing again.

Before
she
could look his way in
longing, she saw herself on the screen. She was in paintball gear
and was running at a good speed while looking to her left.
Suddenly, she looked right. Her left hand reached up and grabbed a
branch from a nearby tree, swung to the left and dropped in a bush
in one move. She was hidden for a second before she popped up and
fired three shots. Without pausing to notice her handy-work, she
took off running again. She had to admit—she looked pretty awesome.
It didn’t feel super cool at the time because she was just
reacting, and also tumbling into a bush and some dirt, but she
definitely looked like a rock star on the screen.

Krista looked at Sean, who was staring back
with an expression she had never seen before. It was incredulous
mixed with desire mixed with wonder mixed with determination mixed
with something else. Resolve, maybe? Each emotion was flying by as
he looked at her intently. His mouth slowly bloomed into a smile
before he turned back to the screen. Krista followed suit, just in
time to see Janice standing over Marcus with her hands on her hips
before the video ended. Everyone clapped and the lights came
up.

“Thanks everyone for a wonderful evening!”
Tory said. “Please enjoy your dinner and an open bar for the
duration of the evening.”

“Uh oh,” Sean said as he turned back to his
plate. Salad had been served. “Open bar. Am I going to have to peel
you off the floor again?”

“For your information, no. I don’t plan on
drinking much tonight.”

Sean looked over at her. He was searching for
something. “Why not?”

Krista shrugged. “Had enough last night. I
don’t want the night to be over too quickly. I want to remember
everything.”

“Hmmm.”

Krista wondered if he caught her meaning.
“You?”

“Ditto.”

They passed the dinner talking to the table.
Marcus kept looking at Krista and winking, or making a weird face.
She wondered if her lust was obvious. She assumed it probably was.
She also didn’t much care.

After dinner she found her way to the bar
without Sean. He got delayed talking to Ron. She was getting a
glass of wine when Marcus came up next to her.

“Geegee, you did well this weekend. Talk of
the town.”

“I’m the only female manager, Marcus. Did you
think it would be any other way?”

“Janice likes you, you know. So do all the
other older admins—they think you are giving the men a run for
their money. But Janice likes you because she thinks you’re good
for Sean.”

“I’m good for Sean? Why?”

“Apparently you stick up for yourself, don’t
take crap from him, and keep him grounded. She says you’re the only
one, man or woman, that does it.”

“Backhanded compliment?”

“You mean, is she calling you a Big Bitch? In
so many words, yes darling. But that’s what Sean needs, I guess. I
agree, actually. I wish he needed a male big bitch, but you can’t
have everything.”

“Can’t have everything, true,” Krista said
dryly.

“I used to think Sean had her around because
she was no threat to you, but—“

“What?” Krista interrupted.

“Well doll, Sean hired her. If he hired
someone like those little admins you see around here, everyone
would have thought he was, you know…”

“
I
wouldn’t have.”

“Bull. You would have wondered. The whole
region would have wondered.”

Krista thought about it for a second. It was
true, she would have wondered.

“See?” Marcus said, laughing. “Anyway, not
the case. Or not only the case, I should say. That woman can type,
like, 800 words a second! She is super human when it comes to all
that administrative crap! Seriously. She put all those other admins
to shame! I don’t know where he finds the people he hires.”

Krista shrugged and sipped her drink. “What
do they say about me?”

Marcus sighed and looked around. “Well, not
great things, doll. Not great things. Aside from giving the men
hell, you know. They all agree there, but then their beastly
woman-side takes over, and they start hating on you. The young ones
hate you because you have the young stud’s eye. The old ones hate
you because they think you are trying to get above yourself. Most
think you are sleeping with Sean, some think you are sleeping with
Tory. Some don’t believe you are all that great, some think you are
some sort of spy. That’s all the admin gossip, though. They
obviously don’t know much, and I’ve told them nothing. ”

“Sounds stupid. What do the managers
think?”

“Bob has led the ‘Krista is a useless sack’
campaign up until today. I assume the whole impotent thing turned
off his crusade. You’re welcome. For the rest, as the only woman,
you aren’t taken all that seriously. But you’re starting to win
votes from what I can see. A few people are your big supporters,
like Georgie, Donald, and Perry. But anyone else who thinks you’re
good news is keeping tight-lipped about it, including Phil. For
now. Ron is leaning in your direction—word is he wants to get you
to New York. He sees the value in hiring a woman, and why not start
with onewhohas already proven herself? When Ron is on board, the
winds will change.”

“They don’t want to go against the grain
until it’s safe.” Krista sighed. All this wasn’t very fun. She just
wanted to do her job and do it well. It was bullshit she had to
fight for the privilege.