Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(48)

“You and me, remember? Just you and me. I’ll take care of you.”

Krista sighed and nearly leaned back into his body like she used to. He must have seen it, because he said, “You and me,” and his voice was all kinds of mushy.

Krista took a few more breaths, heard the people around her chatting and laughing, and relaxed again. She focused herself, got herself out of her nightmares, and let her hands drop to her sides. She couldn’t remember winning ever being so hard.

Krista felt a spoon enter her hand. She reached her other hand out for the egg.

“Can you do this, or do you want to switch?” Sean asked quietly.

“I can do it,” Krista replied almost confidently.

Sean said nothing, which probably meant he nodded, but when he handed Krista the egg, he held onto her hand for an extended beat. She let him, feeling the warmth infuse her body through that point of contact. She felt the familiar stirring deep in her core that she’d thought was gone forever. She relished it, savored it, and felt a longing to cry out when Sean reclaimed his hand.

It was official—the weekend was warping her mind.

“Okay teams, there is the finish,” The ref said to the gathered regions. “You will have plenty of time, so be careful, and most important, be safe. Each team will be monitored for cheating, so just relax and have fun.”

“Oh, thank God, we can’t cheat. Now I can relax.” Krista giggled.

Sean chuckled, still standing close. “Ready?” His breath tickled her ear.

Krista gave in to impulse and leaned into him, feeling his body against her bare arm. She felt his hand on her back briefly, then his body heat disappeared. It was show time.

“Okay Geegee, step forward three paces until I say stop. Walk normally.”

She did as he said. She heard a raspy male voice off to her right as another team worked their way in the same direction.

“Stop. Now, one step to the left…No, wrong left…Good. Four normal, but careful steps forward. Follow my voice. Slower please, this is not a race. Good.”

They kept going. Krista zigzagged back and forth, stepped over small things, and walked around big things. Soon Sean realized she would follow his voice in a diagonal. That made things ten times easier. She had steady hands and balance, so her egg was not in danger as long as she followed Sean’s directions. And that was as easy as eating a slice of chocolate mousse. They reached the finish in no time.

“We made it. Good work,” Sean said, his voice full of pride. After a beat he said, “You can take off the blindfold now, Geegee.”

“Oh.”

When Krista could see again, she took stock of the situation. She and Sean were the first to be done. The closest team in their wake was still halfway through the course.

“Wow,” Krista said, looking at Sean. He was looking back, longing plain on his face.

“Stop it.” Trying to hide a flush, she looked back at the struggling groups. “Either they are bad at this, or we are exceptional.”

“You two are exceptional.”

Krista jumped and turned around, her egg falling out of her hand. It was Tory with a clipboard. He was wearing a bright red shirt, a hat to keep the sun off his face, and a good-natured grin. “You have broken the record for fastest across the line. Which was not remotely as exceptional, Krista, as your and Donald’s team work. It also broke a record. We’ve taken a picture of it for the books. First time anyone has gotten it exact.”

“Well…” Krista hedged, “Not exact. Close.”

Tory seemed to know she was trying to keep the fact that she and Donald thought so much alike under wraps. He gave a humored grin before he turned to Sean. “Before dinner, please stop by my suite. I would like to speak with you regarding some matters.”

Sean acquiesced.

Tory turned back to Krista. “Keep up the good work. You are doing splendidly!”

“Thanks Tory.” Krista beamed.

“I thought you were impervious to compliments,” Sean said, examining every inch of her face.

She shrugged. “That was before I was thrust into a situation where everyone hated me and wished me ill.”

Sean got a look of pain, and started to say something, but was interrupted by the next group getting across the line. They were laughing and panting, but their egg was intact. Krista had no idea where they were from, but it was a place without a lot of Sunshine because they were pasty white. San Francisco? She didn’t think Iceland was invited.

Dean and Bob had lost their egg and were slowly walking in. Georgie and Donald were taking a long time, but were working through it. Donald was giving the instructions and it seemed they were extremely detailed based of the fact that Georgie kept shouting at him to get on with it. They would make it, and being that there was no time limit, L.A. would get a point for them. The region was doing okay so far.

Chapter Fourteen

When everyone was in and the eggs, spoons, and blindfolds were collected, they headed back to the hotel as a big horde. It was then that Krista overheard a few guys say, “I would have been first, too, if I had slept with my partner.”

Obviously the douche that said it meant to be overheard. He wanted to put Krista down. He wanted to undermine Sean. Krista, feeling Sean go a dangerous sort of fluid, spoke up immediately.

“You mean you didn’t?” she asked the forty-something tubby man with a puffy, red face and greasy hair. “Must not’ve wanted it bad enough, huh?”