Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (53 page)

When they heard Krista had a new boyfriend,
Cassie had thrown a plate at Sean’s head. She narrowly missed.
Then, she’d started crying. She didn’t blame Krista—she saved all
the blame for Sean,and reminded him of it whenever she thought
to.

After a beat, Ray asked, “Why is Tory
shoving Krista in your face, I wonder? Why fly her up here? Why not
let the San Francisco offices handle it?”

“Because she’s the best in the company at
what she does.” Sean couldn’t help the surge of pride, followed by
the familiar pain. “Tory probably wants her to judge me. Judge what
I’ve done. If anyone can poke holes in my work, Krista can.”

Ray nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want me
in the meeting?”

Sean shook his head. “If what I hear is
true, she will rip us apart. There’s nothing you can do to
help.”

“It won’t be out of cruelty, Sean,” Ray said
quietly. “She was never that kind of girl.”

Sean felt like crying. If there had been no
witnesses he might’ve. “I know, Ray. She’ll just be doing her job.
I just wish they were sending someone else.”

*****

It was ten in the morning and Krista had a
death grip on her lucky mug. She was sitting in the conference room
in the San Francisco office waiting for Tory. A small team was
sitting with her, including Marcus and Ben, going over the
preliminary information from their old company. Krista knew the
numbers backward and forward, could see the gaping holes as if they
had neon arrows pointed at them, and couldn’t help but highlight
all the discrepancies (of which there were a million) for all the
team to exploit.

In short, doing her job. And doing it well,
just like Tory taught her.

Aside from that, which was second nature at
this stage in the game, she was trying desperately to control the
raging butterflies in her stomach. It felt like the little suckers
were battering up against her ribs, punching her heart and other
organs, and ultimately making her feel like she had to throw up
constantly.

“Who is giving the presentation?” Ben asked
stiffly, interrupting the thumping in Krista’s chest. He and Marcus
were wondering if Krista would make it through the day without
throwing a tirade or breaking down in tears.

For herself, she put her money on both.
Tirade first. Tears later.

“Guess,” Marcus said with a smile in his
voice. “There are five people.”

“Okay, will we see John?”

“Mr. Senior VP? Yes, indeedie.”

“Judy in marketing.”

“Right again.”

“Janice in art?”

“Ha! No, they went with Phyllis of all
people! Phyllis replacing me? No way! Krista, you remember
Phyllis—she is the one that made you figure out the book machine on
your own!”

“Ben helped with that, actually. I cheated,”
Krista said going over the material they were given. Not that she
needed to—it was all memorized. She stupidly thought it would take
her mind off of Sean. She had so wanted to look good in the
meeting. Instead, to properly do her job, she would look like the
Big Bitch she was rumored to be.

Sean might have loved her once, but after
the meeting, if he had any feelings left, they’d probably veer
toward hatred.

Tears might be first, actually.

“Sneaky!” Marcus said as he pointed at Ben.
“I didn’t know your tendrils were in the company before I met
you.”

Ben smiled. “James Montgomery from
Research?”

“No! You won’t believe this—they are using
that little weasel Larry! Since he worked with Krista before, they
thought he would know how to work her or something. Montgomery was
livid
!”

“They know I’m coming?” Krista asked in a
choked voice

“Of course they do! John is thrilled. He
thinks you and him see eye to eye,” Marcus said dryly as he
lounged.

“One more, right?” Ben said, looking at
Marcus with a furrowed brow.

“Sean,” Krista whispered.

“Oh yeah.” Ben suddenly found something else
to focus on. They were silent until Tory walked in a couple minutes
later.

Tory was a busy man, but made a point to
walk at a measured pace. When he spoke to you he never belayed his
rush, never lost his patience, and always held you in the highest
respect. Well, he did everyone Krista knew. He probably lost his
cool down the road somewhere.

“Okay gang, the car is out front. Krista,
please walk with me.” Tory watched as his team of high powered
suits filed out in front of him. They were a crew of Ivy League
stars. They all had the same haircut, the same suit, even the same
body type. They also had the same thoughts. But those thoughts made
millions, so Tory must’ve known what he was doing. Krista, Ben, and
Marcus called them Tory’s Circus.

Krista grabbed her laptop and stuffed it
into her computer case. She caught up with him and matched his
stride.

“Have you talked to Mr. McAdams since you
left San Francisco?” Tory asked.

“Wow, Tory. Right for the jugular, huh? No,
I haven’t.”

“How will he affect you today?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I have my notes on
their written materials bulletined, but I’m not sure how much he’ll
scramble my thoughts once I see him. It’s been a long time.”

Tory nodded thoughtfully. “I appreciate your
honesty. It is a breath of fresh air from my ‘Yes Men.’ Well
Krista, you are only human. I am going to sit you next to me today
so I can keep an eye on you. Use your laptop—just ping me with
whatever you need. I can always arrange for you to meet with their
Research Analyst separately if you need to.”

“Sean won’t let that happen.”

“Hmm. Yes, that might be right. Well, we’ll
figure something out.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t call me ‘sir,’ it makes me feel
old.”

“Yes, Mister,” Krista said with a smirk.

They got into the town car together. As
Krista always did, she started to prep the team with what she would
expect from the numbers they gave. Then they were walking into the
lobby. Her hands were sweating and her legs felt weak. Thanks to
Sean’s example once upon a time, she had an array of tailored,
high-powered suits for these meetings, so she knew she looked good,
but she still felt vulnerable. She fell back behind the Circus.

They waited in clusters, Ben and Marcus
joking next to her. Everyone fell silent when they heard what was
unmistakably John’s voice: “Tory, nice to see you again! It’s been
a while. Too long!”

“Hello John. Nice to see you.”

“Please, follow me,” John said. The
procession started.

Krista couldn’t see over their group, so she
didn’t know who was up front with John, if anyone. Her stomach was
in knots as she made the familiar way through the corridors and
into the elevator. They went up the elevator in shifts since they
wouldn’t all fit in one. John and Tory were gone by the time she
got there.

“Re
lax
,” Marcus said in Krista’s ear.
He grinned like the Cheshire Cat. He was excited and anxious to be
back in his old stomping grounds.

“Be nice to them today,” Krista gave Marcus
a poignant look. She got the feeling he couldn’t wait to make
mincemeat of Phyllis.

“
Me
be nice? You’re the one with the
reputation of Big Bad Bitch!” Marcus laughed as they got in the
elevator. “I’ll have to stop you from blowing their whole
house…down.”

One of the Circus smirked. Krista scowled at
him. He went back to being straight faced.

The Circus was all a bunch of nerds in a
former life. Money they might have now, but they still remembered
their high school years as geeks. Krista would’ve been nice to them
in high school, but she bullied them now. It was fun.

“You’ve been waiting for this moment for two
years, whereas I have been dreading it,” she said to Marcus,
keeping an eye on the members of the Circus. She hated when they
listened in. They were as bad as a sewing circle.

“True. Okay, I won’t make Phyllis look as
stupid as she’ll sound. But that’s all I can guarantee.”

Krista smiled tightly as her stomach did
flips. Two more floors. One.
God!

They followed the Circus to the largest
conference room. As they walked in she looked around in wonder.
They had completely revamped all their electronics and redecorated.
Everything, including the chairs and phones, were new. The room
looked sleek and modern. Everything was fresh, impressive. If she
didn’t know their staff, the look of their facilities would lend a
positive spin to their credibility.

It was all Sean’s doing, Krista knew it just
by the look. John was the money man, Sean was the closer. He had an
eye for flair.

Tory was shaking hands with Larry, and then
with Phyllis. He gave a warm hello to Judy. The Circus was finding
their seats. John was setting up the projector. Where was Sean? He
wasn’t in the room. Maybe they thought he shouldn’t be in the
presentation since she and he had history?

Krista walked over to Judy, the marketing
person Krista had worked with when she’d been in the company. “Hi
Judy. Really good to see you.”

She smiled. “You, too, Krista. Give ‘em
hell. They deserve it!” she said quietly.

“Krista.” Tory wanted to get started. She
went to him and took her seat. She set up her computer promptly,
positioned her lucky mug just so—though behind her computer because
she didn’t want Sean to see it—and opened her IM. She then joined
the rest of her team so they could pass notes without getting
caught. All that done (and done quickly since she had done it a
million times in a million different cities), she got ready to wait
patiently for the show to start.

John was talking to Marcus. He caught
Krista’s eye and gave her a big smile and small wave. It was not
the John she remembered. All sarcasm was gone. She was now the
client. The enemy. He was trying to schmooze.

She smiled back, nodded, and then looked
away. Suddenly she wasn’t all that impressed. This wasn’t how she
saw her homecoming at all. In fact, it put a different light on her
tenure there. Compared to what she was used to, this company was
small potatoes; poorly set-up, small staff, small minded people,
and limited resources. It surprised Krista that Tory took the
account the first time around. But then, he stole everyone that
made it great—Krista nearly shined her finger nails on her suit
with that thought.

He’d taken everyone except
one
. The
most important one at that.

At least she moved on career-wise. She might
not have been as good, or as experienced, but at least she moved up
to bigger and better things. She at least beat Sean in that.

That was
if
it were a contest. And
being that it was all she had to focus on to ease the pain, it’s
what she went with.

She heard the doors closing and looked up
lazily, ready for all this to be over. That was when the world
flipped upside down.

It was Sean.

He was wearing a suit that was glued to his
perfect body. Those big broad shoulders, that upper body vee going
down into the thin hips. His tight butt atop strong, defined
thighs. She licked those thighs once. She moved against that
washboard stomach. She felt those large hands cup her breasts and
tease her nipples.

The room got dense and her face was burning.
Her breathing sped up, but she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“
Help
!” she pinged Tory.

Tory glanced at her, saw the crisis, and
smoothly got out of his seat to greet Sean personally. He steered
Sean toward John.

“Water?!” Ben pinged.

“RELAX. BREATHE. BREATHE. BREATHE.” Marcus
typed.

The Circus was looking around in confusion
and anxiety—it didn’t take much to rile them up. At the moment,
they clearly had no idea what was going on, but were ready to bail
anyway. They would be ideal in an emergency, because like rats,
they’d find the quickest way out, women and children be damned.

She followed Marcus’s advice as she nodded
to Ben. She kept herself from bracing her hands on the table as she
filled her lungs with air. She bent over to get a pencil out of her
bag to hide her face until she was sure it wasn’t red anymore, and
then she looked up.

Straight into the fathomless green eyes of
Sean McAdams.

His hair was longer and lighter, and his
face was tanner, but it was the same high cheek bones, the same
strong jaw, and the same sensuous lips she spent hour after
glorious hour kissing. His beauty more than took her breath away.
Her memories didn’t do him justice. All the hours she spent sitting
on her surf board daydreaming couldn’t compare to this one moment.
Her memories were cookie cutter cut outs of the real thing.

She didn’t realize the pain could be this
acute. In two years, it wasn’t just his beauty she’d forgotten. It
was how much their separation still hurt. How much she still loved
him. How that love—still so fresh, still feeling so right—hadn’t
diminished in the slightest.

John started talking about their great new
ideas for the latest product. He talked about their successes, how
they reached their audiences, their goals as a company, and how all
of that would create the perfect arena to house this campaign. It
was a load of crap. All of it.

Krista didn’t care, though. She couldn’t
focus. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Sean, but then she
didn’t have to. He greeted them as a whole, called out special
greetings for Marcus, for Ben, and for Krista, but he didn’t meet
her eyes again. Then he thanked Tory for taking the time to see
them.

Sean led the show. If Krista’s side had the
Circus, Sean’s was the side show act. Like the first presentation
they did together those many years ago, Sean was the mediator. He
talked to Krista’s team while Larry set up. He then helped Larry
relay his information. He did the same with Phyllis. He teamed up
with John for some other ideas, and talked about how hard they
would work for the account. He didn’t meet Krista’s eyes, not once,
throughout the whole of the presentation.