Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(5)

“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, 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 br**sts and tease her ni**les.

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.