Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (41 page)

There was a chair and small table in the
corner by a double door—leading to a balcony?—that was set up for
reading. There was a TV mounted on the wall with DVD and speakers,
and things on shelves below it. There was a large fireplace with a
leather couch in front of it. A door at the far side led to, what
she figured was a ridiculously large bathroom. Another door
revealed a couple pieces of gym equipment. And who was forgetting
the closet that could be a bedroom in San Francisco? Half of it was
left empty. It was like Sean drew a line down the middle and didn’t
cross his things into it.

“What do you think?” he asked from a world
away.

In point of fact, he was on the other side of
the room messing with the drapes, so he
was
a world away. A
galaxy, even. Krista felt totally out of place.

“Sean…It’s
huge
!”

“That’s what she said.”

Krista turned and looked at him. His
expression was playful, but also looked for approval. She wasn’t so
sure she wanted to give it. How would he ever pay for this? Why
would he want to?

Seeing that she didn’t think his joke funny,
he went on the defensive. “It’s not that bad.”

“You have three guest rooms. Then maybe two
more downstairs? In addition to a half-used play room. You’re a
single guy. What do you need with all those extra rooms? You only
have one sibling.
Cripes
, Sean, the closet alone…I doubt
you’ve walked into half the rooms downstairs, let alone used them.
What do you need with all this space? Planning some big parties or
something?”

“Well…It won’t always just be me.” Sean was
getting uncomfortable.

Krista shouldn’t have been so blunt, but she
was literally blown away. Her sensible side was screaming that the
house was too expensive. She sat down on the edge of the bed. She
needed a second to process.

“I was hoping…I mean, someday I hoped…” Sean
took off his jacket and draped it across the couch in front of the
fireplace. “I hoped to have a family someday.”

He was bending to light the fireplace—it was
gas—and therefore effectively avoiding her gaze.

“How big of a family?” Krista asked
sarcastically.

“Truth?” Sean turned to her. He didn’t seem
like he heard the sarcasm.

“Uh, sure?”

“I have always wanted two kids, but planned
for an oops just in case. Then the kids need a play room. So then
downstairs we would need guest rooms. The rest just came with the
house so why not dress it up, you know? We have everything we
need.”

Krista got a thrill when he kept saying “we.”
The thrill pulsated between excitement and fright. Sean was largely
planning his life around them getting married. He moved to L.A.
with that in mind. And she really wanted that; had always wanted
it. She just worried that he wouldn’t make the time for her that
he’d promised. She worried that he’d work crazy hours and leave her
all alone in this giant house. She didn’t know if she could live as
second best to his job—it would kill her.

“I’m not sure what to say,” Krista said
quietly.

“Then don’t say anything at all,” he said as
he stepped to her, kneeled, gently grabbed her face and kissed her
lightly. What he was saying scared her a little, but the feel of
his lips were a godsend.

His body pushed her back and into the soft
bed. The mattress was fantastic quality. It was like floating on a
cloud. She wasn’t done with the questions about the house, though.
She resisted slightly and Sean easily rolled to the side.

“How can you possibly afford a house this
big, Sean? Family doesn’t constitute eternal debt.”

“I turned thirty a year or so ago.”

Krista waited for more. Maybe a hint, or a
pop-up bubble next to his head helping her make sense of his
statement. She didn’t get any.

“Uh. Okay. But a lot of families have decent
sized houses with plenty of space for two and a half kids. Like
Ray, for example. Why all this? And what does thirty have to do
with anything? When you’re thirty you are supposed to buy houses
you can’t afford?”

Sean looked at her askew. “I thought you
knew. Everyone at work—Dexico, I mean—seemed to. I’m a trust fund
baby, and thirty is the magic number. Cassie, too. When I was young
I thought I would donate it to throw it in my dad’s face,
but…well.” Sean gestured around him. “Wait until tomorrow morning.
You’ll see why this place was worth it.”

Krista reeled a little from the trust fund
stuff, especially since she wanted to ask how much. But that was a
gold digger question, which she wasn’t, so she couldn’t; but
also…there was no “but also.” She was reeling. Trust fund? She
actually knew someone with a trust fund? She was hob-knobbing with
a rich kid and never knew it? Kate would laugh herself silly. So
would Jasmine. Because if there something none of them were, it was
trust fund material.

Sean was trying to read her. Then he must
have given up because he said, “Krissy…I love you. You know that. I
have since I saw you, which sounds corny, sure, but it is what it
is. I don’t have you yet, I know this, but I am going to try and
try until I do. Okay? So, yeah, I went crazy and got what I thought
might be your dream house. Mine, too. But it’s just a house. If I
live the rest of my life pining for you, then I can sell it and buy
a hut in the middle of the woods and be a hermit. No big deal.”

“Don’t people get their inheritance when
their parents are gone?”

“I’ve told you the story of my parents—how
they decided having kids was the pits. Well, my dad has all the
money. My mom has a bunch she got when her parents died, but when
we were born, that money was still in her parent’s hands, and they
hated my dad, so they held onto it. Out of spite, my dad set up a
fund for us—Cassie and me—that my mother couldn’t touch. The
grounds were that when we hit thirty, we got the moolah. He hoped
that by that time, we’d hate our mother and wouldn’t give her any.
He must not have thought her parents would ever die. And before you
ask, I work as hard as I do because it is not enough to live on for
the rest of my life. Plus, screw him.”

Krista still didn’t understand, but she was
touched. She nodded slowly and blinked away the tears starting in
her eyes. Sean leaned in and kissed her tenderly. She let him push
her back on the bed as his kiss got deeper and more passionate. She
slid her hand under his shirt and felt his six pack as her nether
region roared back to life.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Suddenly Sean pulled back and looked down at
her, his sea-green eyes dilated. “I never asked you—what was the
deal with you on the ropes course?”

“What?” Krista’s voice was husky. She let her
fingers trail down his smooth skin to his belt.

“The first one we did when you rubbed on me?
I very nearly lost my head, you know.”

Krista laughed. She had forgotten about that.
“What brought this up?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about it but we
have either been at work or…indisposed. I don’t think anyone
realized what we were doing, thank god! But holy cow Krista, I
wasn’t expecting it, and then all of a sudden I couldn’t stop and
you were rubbing…” Sean blew out a breath.

Krista realized she had really sent him over
the edge in the middle of a team exercise in which his subordinates
were in close quarters. She laughed. she couldn’t help it. It was
ridiculous when she thought back on it, but it had hit the spot at
the time. Literally.

“You got hard,” she said as she undid his
belt.

“So every time I get hard you are going to
come rub yourself against me?”

She slid down his zipper slowly. “Yes.”

Sean’s smile disappeared as Krista slid her
hands along the smooth skin of his shaft. He gave a small intake of
breath.

“Maybe not in public?” he said quietly with
obvious strain in his voice.

“Maybe,” she breathed as she increased the
speed of her rubbing.

Sean kissed her, tugging at her pants. When
they were open enough, he reached in with his large hand. There
wasn’t enough space for him to maneuver—her pants looked great
because they were tight enough to show off her figure.

Sean changed gears, grabbing her arm and
gently removing her hand. She scooted under his large body a little
more and arched up so her breasts were against his chest.

“I want to do this slowly, baby,” Sean said
as he leaned down to kiss her softly. “I want to spend a lot of
time on you.”

He got up, lit some candles, and turned off
the lights. When he came back shadows played across his intense,
love filled eyes.

He pulled her to a standing position and
started to remove her clothes. Each area of skin that was exposed
got a soft, gentle kiss. He barely touched her as her garments fell
away. The result was a tantalizing play of hot and cold across her
body.

As her panties fell, her last article of
clothing, she was completely exposed. Sean stood back and looked
her over, his eyes lingering on her breasts, nipples jutting out in
anticipation. When his eyes lighted on her newly groomed groin
area, Krista felt warm wetness and a searing bite of urgency.

“Spread your legs,” he whispered.

With eagerness she complied. Sean, still
fully clothed, stepped closer and lightly flicked his tongue across
her neck. His manly scent filled her senses, accentuating the heat
from his body. It contrasted teasingly with the cold in the
air.

Krista leaned her head back, allowing him
more access to her throat, as she felt his light touch on her
stomach. Her focus followed those fingers, got distracted by the
wetness of his tongue, then back to his fingers.

He gave each nipple a tweak, sending a spark
of heat through her core followed by body engulfing shivers. His
fingers worked back down her body, softly touching her right side,
and then her left. He skipped her middle and lightly touched the
outside of her hips with both hands. He stepped in front of her
then, tilting his head to allow his lips to be centimeters from
hers.

“Spread your legs wider, love,” he
murmured.

She felt vulnerable but complied. Her wetness
was more exposed to the air now and she was quivering with the need
to quench her sexual appetite. She felt a warm mouth encompass a
chilly nipple and a moan escaped her lips. He suckled as his warm
hand cupped the other breast. She had bumps all over her body from
the temperature difference, as well anticipation.

He lowered himself slowly and expertly, his
warm breath and playful tongue working down her body. His hands
were missing from the equation and she wondered where they would
turn up next. She dared not peek, though. Half of the pleasure was
in the surprise. It heightened the anticipation to the same degree
her need was rising.

His mouth left her navel. “Keep your eyes
closed.”

Krista nervously smiled. Cold air wafted in
as his heat was removed. Somewhere in the room was rustling and
jingling, which must’ve meant he was shedding unwanted fabric.
Before long his heat returned and she shivered anew. He hadn’t even
touched her yet and she was moving her body as though he was
already inside her.

Soft fingertips felt like butterfly wings up
the inside of her thigh. Warm breath mingled with her wetness, but
came no closer. Fingers tickled their way up. Krista widened her
legs even more as they traveled to her apex. Torturous pleasure,
this waiting. She clenched and unclenched her hands, waiting for
Sean to make hard, fervent contact. After a couple more seconds of
nothing, she looked down to see what the holdup was.

She met sparkling green eyes below her navel.
His mouth curled up, then his tongue come out for a soft, wet,
loving taste. It wasn’t nearly enough to quench her desire, but
just enough to keep her on the hook. She closed her eyes again and
moaned as Sean licked and sucked, still not fully engaged. Her body
was quivering, her flesh was hot and cold, her forehead broke out
with a sheen of sweat, and her hips were gyrating, wanting more
purchase from that tongue and mouth.

“Please Sean,” She panted.

He gave a soft chuckle and finally,
finally
the fingers found their way into her wet slit as
Sean’s tongue applied pressure to her sweet spot. Her body
shuddered in pure delight. Heat waves radiated from point of
contact and spread out to ricochet through her body in resonating
pings of pleasure. Her breath was coming faster now. The heat
seared her. The fizz on her soda bottle bubbled up and up, more and
more pressure, until finally, with a great quaking release, she
moaned her orgasm through the house.

Sean relaxed his stimulation as her body
relaxed its pose and slumped onto the bed. Standing for those types
of things was fun for a while, but after the big “O,” it was too
much work to stay on one’s feet. Krista felt the mattress move and
then Sean was dragging her further onto the bed.

“I told you not to peek,” he said softly in
her ear.

“Then why were you waiting for me to look
down?”

“Because I knew you would.” His hands roamed
across her body, feeling. Exploring. After a second, it dipped back
between her legs. “I need more.”

Krista wasn’t exactly waking up, but she knew
she should, so she rolled to her side to stroke him. Only, he
pushed her back and nuzzled her neck.

“I want to relearn this fabulous body of
yours.” He moved into position to take a nipple into his mouth.

Krista’s brain was still fuzzy, so it took
her a while to fully find purchase in the pleasure the second time
around, but when she did, she came harder than before. Sean was
always a rock star in bed, but this time he had really outdone
himself. When he was through, Krista lay with her arms out to the
sides, her legs wide open and her chest heaving from screaming for
so long.