Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (4 page)

Ben was no match for a salesman of Sean’s
caliber. He nodded with each point, hating to think of his art
nearly hidden, and turned to Krista. “Would you mind, Krista?”

Sean turned to her in confusion.

Krista shrugged, still looking at her wine.
“It’s not mine to sell, Ben. But you could use the money. Your art
school is expensive.”

“It is part yours, Krista. It is a snapshot
of your life, after all.” Sean jumped and his gaze intensified as
Ben continued, “I wouldn’t have done it if not for your turmoil.
And if it belongs with anyone, it’s you. And if not you, him.”

“I’m sorry,” Sean said, looking slightly
uncomfortable, “I think I’m missing something.”

Ben looked back at the art, “Well, you’re
the ocean.”

Sean looked at Ben, waiting for more
explanation. When he didn’t get one, he looked at Krista, who was
avoiding his gaze. Finally he turned back to the piece.

“I’m
the…you mean the waves? But half the piece
is--
me?
I don’t
understand.”

“I need to go for a smoke,” Jasmine
stated.

Kate and Krista looked at Jasmine in
confusion. She didn’t smoke. Never had, as a matter of fact.

“You two coming?”

“Absolutely,” Krista said, jumping up.

“I’m good. I want to see them haggle,” Kate
responded.

Outside, Jasmine asked, “How long do people
usually smoke for?”

“As long as that conversation will last, I
think.”

“Hmm.”

“Good thinking, by the way,” Krista said as
she sat on the curb.

“Yeah, I figured Ben wouldn’t realize some
stories didn’t need to be told. I also figured you didn’t want to
hear it a second time.”

“What about the part where I didn’t want to
see Sean as he realizes how big of an effect he had on me?”

“Had?
”

“Which is the same conclusion he’ll come
to.”

“Ah. No fun.”

“No. My life is trying to buck me off, it
seems like.”

“Hang in there. You, if anyone, need a happy
ending.”

“Need doesn’t mean get.”

“Yeah, that’s the bitch o’ life,
alright.”

They sat on the curb for a while, waited for
another while, then finally decided if they waited any longer it
would be obvious they were avoiding the situation in the living
room.

When they walked back in, Sean’s gaze found
Krista…and stuck.

“Sean wouldn’t give any less than $700,”
Kate said.

Ben turned red. “You shouldn’t discuss
money, Kate. It’s rude.”

“So is telling the
subject matter
of that
piece of art, Ben, but that didn’t stop you.”

“Why would that be rude? It was just a
dream.”

Kate shook her head. “Ben talked him down
from $1000.”

“It’s worth more,” Sean said quietly,
looking at Krista like he was stripping away all the barriers. Like
Ben’s art answered a question he’d been asking for a long time.

“It’s time to go,” Krista said, hating that
look in Sean’s eye. Hating that it tugged harder at her middle and
scrambled her insides.

Oh, yeah, now he knew how
intensely he’d affected her since day one. Fat lot of good it did
now to pretend she didn’t care about him.
Thanks a lot, Ben.

With a split-second decision, she decided
she wouldn’t hold back anymore. She’d act however she acted, say
whatever she would say, flirt if she felt like it,
but-she-would-not-get-intimate-with-him. So he knew, so what? It
wouldn’t change the outcome.

“Is there something wrong?” Ben asked,
suddenly apprehensive.

“Yeah, we’re late. Let’s go,” Kate
snapped.

Jasmine scowled at Ben, Krista ignored him,
and Sean stared at Krista. It was a big mess.

Finally on the way to
Ray’s, in a car tense with Ben’s faux-pas, Sean a big,
full-hearted
sigh.
Sure enough, the next sound in the car, other than the latest
Top 40 hit, was “ttthhhhhuuuuu, tttthhhhhuuuuu,
ttttthhhhuuuu…”

Sean got his first Thump Bird.

“Ouch—that hurts worse than it looks,” Sean
said, flinching away.

Krista started laughing, as did Kate.

“Jas
mine,” Ben said, looking around the seat at Sean. “Sean is
your potential
boss.”

“Only if he stops sighing like that. I
swear, that job has made Krista do nothing but sigh. It is
contagious! I’m just pulling out the problem at the root.”

“You’re
beating
the root, not pulling it
out,” Krista said, still giggling.

Ray’s house was nestled into other
moderately sized houses with front yards all looking similar with
mowed lawns and shaped bushes. Trees dotted the sidewalk and people
were walking dogs with their kids in strollers. They were
family-sized places, probably three bedrooms, two baths, and room
for a car or two. Nothing giant like the Midwest houses, because
space was still short in the East Bay, but it was big enough to
raise a family, which was why everyone probably moved here. It was
the ‘burbs, basically.

Sean led the party through a side gate, down
a cement walkway and into the back yard. It was apparent he knew
his way around. Also apparent that he felt comfortable enough with
Ray to wander around his house unattended.

As the group cleared the house, entering the
back yard, they all groaned at the moderate-sized swimming
pool.

“Could you have
mentioned
bathing suits
?” Jasmine said with a scowl.

Before Sean could answer, Ray came bustling
up with a big smile. “Hi Krista, Ben, Sean!” He then looked at the
two girls expectantly.

“Oh…” Krista said, remembering her manners.
“This is Kate and Jasmine. They might be joining our team.”

Ray smiled kindly, shook each hand, then
turned to Sean. “There are beers and dogs in the usual places. I’ll
let you show them around. Mable is here and has already started on
the brandy.” Ray rolled his eyes, his smile still in place, before
he nodded at Krista, gave Sean a warning look, then bustled
away.

“Mable is the neighbor across the street,”
Sean said, leading the way to a barbecue station near the house. It
was a stationary, elaborate grill with two overflowing coolers next
to it. The smell of hot dogs wafted their way as Sean grabbed
beers. “She dips into the sauce then tells racist jokes.”

“Yikes,” Kate said as she opened her
Corona.

“Yeah. I’ve never met someone with as many
racist jokes as this woman possesses. I think she collects them
where normal people collect bells.” Sean led everyone to a small
picnic table near the pool.

“Bells?”
Jasmine said with a glint in her eye. “How old
are you?”

Sean laughed as they all sat down. More than
a couple eyes glanced his way. “Okay, shot glasses. Whatever. Not
the point.”

“So the point,” Kate said
with a smirk. “Who the fuck do you know that collects
bells?”

Sean laughed in the carefree way that said
he was relaxed and himself, leaning forward to rest his elbows on
the weathered wood. As he did so his body brushed against Krista’s,
hatching butterflies in her stomach as he said, “Well, if not
bells, what do people collect?”

“Knives. Swords. Lighters,” Jasmine
supplied.

“Or
art,
Jaz,” Ben said, looking at
Jasmine askew. “Stamps. Coins.”

“Well, if you want to be boring, then, yeah,
I guess art,” Jasmine said with a shrug.

Sean was looking at Jasmine with shock and a
smile, “Should I be worried?”

Kate and Krista both laughed as Ben
nodded.

Sean turned his glittering green eyes to
Krista. They were intense and focused. They caught Krista and held
her.

“—
don’t you think, Krista?”
She heard through the fog a second later.

Krista tore her eyes away from Sean, who had
stopped smiling. Whose eyes had softened to the point of mushy.
“What?”

“This back yard is way bigger than I thought
it would be from the front.” Kate was looking at her with a
poignant look.

“Yes, definitely,” Krista responded, not
missing the scrutiny.

“That was a big selling point to Ray,” Sean
said, surveying the scenery. There were a collection of people near
the rear of the yard where tables and chairs were set up on the
lawn.

They fell into easy conversation, which was
broken sporadically by Sean brushing against Krista, or bumping her
with his big shoulder, or turning that beautiful smile her way. Her
heart skipped and thundered and pounded in her chest so often she
could barely concentrate.

As the day wore on, and they ate, drank and
talked, Sean was up and down, coming and going, saying hello to
someone, or getting in a quick chat with someone else. He knew
most, if not all, of the people at the party. It was obviously not
a work party, and Ray and Sean were obviously great friends. There
was no gray area here, this was all personal for Sean.

Chapter Three

Sean was standing with a group of guys,
laughing but trying to make an exit all the same, when he glanced
over at the table to see how Krista was faring. He wanted to give
her some space to see how she acted without his presence to
distract her, or to get her defenses up. And the effect was
spellbinding. She had him enthralled. He wanted to sit, mute, and
watch her easy smiles and subtle grace. His eyes trailed along her
sun-sparkled skin and soaked in the feminine timbre of her voice.
When she turned those blue-gray eyes on him, he was caught, his
tongue slow and sluggish, his thoughts filtered through honey.

She got along with everyone easily, often
leaving a trail of laughter as she and her friends wandered around,
striking up conversations and inspiring jealous looks from other
women.

She chose that moment to look up and sweep
the area. Her eyes landed on his, dipping in deep as a thrill went
up his spine. She winked, scanned the faces he was standing with,
then went back to her friends.

“Gonna keep her all to yourself,
McAdams?”

Sean looked at Jeff. The guy was more of a
friendly acquaintance than anything, but he was Mary’s work friend
and was set up with many of the same women Sean was. For that
reason Sean ran into him often. Jeff never minded picking up Sean’s
throw-aways.

“Have to get her first,” Sean said, looking
away from Krista. He didn’t want to inspire rivalry. He didn’t want
competition. It was hard enough talking to her with nothing but her
defenses and mistrust getting in the way.

Not that be blamed her, exactly. Today he
was hunted by a few women who didn’t take, “We can still be
friends” all that well.

Krista spared him a glance as she ducked
around a tree and crossed the grass.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Sean said, hating
that he sounded like he was going to make a play. Realistically, he
was going to try and talk to her and hope she didn’t give him a
straight arm and take off running. That woman could embarrass the
most confident of men.

As Sean was closing in, Krista noticed,
having her hesitating for a brief minute, causing his chest to
constrict in worry that she really would straight-arm him. Instead,
miraculously, she slowed to let him catch up.

“This was the California I was longing for,”
she said, falling in step with him toward the house.

“Then why are you heading indoors?” Sean
asked, slowing the pace.

“Because I am under the impression Ray
wouldn’t look too favorably on me peeing in his bushes.”

Sean laughed and slowed to a stop, facing
her. She gave a quick glance to the sliding glass door that led
inside, and stopped with him. She was barely staying relaxed, Sean
could see the tension worming its way into her shoulders. But she
was holding. She was giving him an
in
.

“So… you tricked me,” she said into his
dumbstruck, focused gaze.

“Did I? How’s that?” Sean couldn’t stop
looking at her mouth. He wanted to kiss her so bad he was having
trouble thinking straight.

Krista must have noticed it, but for a
wonder, she didn’t back away. “You said this was a work
function.”

“Not true. I said I wanted Ray to meet your
friends.”

“You tricked me into a date.”

Sean took a step toward her, watched her
chin tilt upwards to meet his eyes, then stepped around her to lean
against the wall. He very nearly pulled her back to rest against
him, but knew that would be too far.

“Is that what this is? A date?”

She studied him for a moment. Analyzed.
Checked out his posture, looked at his mouth, then shifted her
weight. He was trying to stay neutral. Trying not to scare her
away. But he wanted to pounce. He couldn’t help it.

She lost her fluidity of movement but
stopped herself from taking a step back. “Trickery is the devil’s
playground, and the Water Closet awaits.”

Sean backed off immediately. “The water
closet, huh? Do you need a treasure map to get there?”

Krista grinned. Her eyes flashed, “I’m not
sure I’d want to find the type of treasure that hangs out in a
bathroom!”

He laughed with her. “Good point. Listen, I
wanted to tell you—if you aren’t going to pee your pants that
is—that Ben wasn’t trying to expose you earlier.”

Krista lost her smile as she looked
away.

“He wasn’t thinking about psychiatry when he
was painting,” Sean continued. “He was just going with the flow of
his own brain. He didn’t realize it might embarrass you.”

Krista stepped closer and leaned back
against the wall next to him. “You are talking like I haven’t known
Ben for nearly a year and a half.”