Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(75)

Georgie held his ground pretty well, having a good 200 lbs to anchor. Krista didn’t. For the second time in a half hour, she went down like a sack of potatoes, followed by Sean. Followed by two refs.

Rather than get up right away, unlike the refs, Sean just laid there, face buried in her neck, upper body sprawled over her. It felt good. It felt like old times when they laid in random spots in the house after sex. She felt his body on her, his heartbeat racing hers, and again thought home.

The bad news was that they weren’t alone.

“Ouch,” Krista said with her arms spread out in the dirt.

Sean slowly got up, then pulled her up after. The way his eyes bored into her said he had exactly the same thought she did. He wanted her. Really, really badly.

“Next,” Georgie said out of breath.

Everyone groaned.

They got Dean through the next highest one, which was only about four feet in the air, then Donald through one in the side that was small, but doable at about three feet. They were all through. Desperately tired, dirty and disgruntled, but through.

No one talked as they followed the ref to an area that had a big rope ladder with lunch awaiting on the other side. All they had to do was climb over. The catch—because there always was one—the rope wasn’t stationary. They swiveled all over the place as they climbed. It took balance. Donald fell off twice. Dean once. Georgie did okay, but cursed the whole weekend after. Sean was like a monkey and Krista did just fine, being that the rope wasn’t high off the ground to incite Krista’s fear of heights. And Bob…well, Bob didn’t fare so well. He did eventually make it, pushed on by Dean, but it took five attempts.

All the attempts, combined with Krista’s acceptance and success, grated on his last nerve. He was about to crack. Krista saw it a mile away. He would not join the team. Of that, she was certain. And because of that fact, if she ever hoped to remain with the company, he had to be pushed out. He had to be humiliated. And she was happy to do so—but the timing had to be right.

Chapter Twenty

After a break and some sandwiches, they charged forward to the next challenge. It wasn’t their idea; they would have stayed on a break for another three hours, but the ref was keeping them to a schedule. Apparently not many of the other regions tackled as many obstacles as L.A. did. Well, actually, they showed up to the same number of obstacles, but not as many actually went through with it. Imagine lifting Perry…

Because of that, L.A. was behind on time.

They went on to puzzle after puzzle, the challenges thankfully getting easier physically, but harder to solve. There were blocks that had to be fit together. There were word puzzles and riddles. All of it intended for the team to work together. And it did, for the most part. Everyone had a say if they wanted it. And most gave input when it was something they were good at.

It was through those challenges that a few things started showing through. The first was those who were melding as a team, and those who were getting farther apart. Donald and Georgie had thoroughly joined team Krista, and had always been with team Sean. Bob was not comfortable with team Sean, and still loathed the sound of Krista’s voice. It was Dean who was the surprising element. He was not drifting with Bob, as he once did. Instead, he tried to participate as much as possible, excited with the challenge and working together. He was also turning a blind eye to the girl. He obviously still didn’t love her, but he didn’t hate her, either. His mind was opening.

This further enraged Bob.

The next thing to come to light was who really led. Sean was the boss. In that, there was no question. But he always looked to Krista for input. Always. Sean would strategize the issue, figuring out what would be best, then turn to Krista. Krista would almost always agree, then come up with the shortest path to that goal. It was Krista who looked to everyone around her for input, and fed it back to Sean for the final approval. When they were on par with each other, they were yin-and-yang—everyone else enhanced an already cohesive team.

The last issue was how irritated the ref was getting that everyone tried everything. Bob didn’t want to, that was clear, but he was pushed and prodded to do so. At one point, Krista thanked the man-code. Otherwise, Bob would have walked off ages ago. It was from the ref they learned their only competition was New York, who was also still at it, and who also had most, if not all, of its members doing all the challenges.

“No way they got through the top hole, though,” Georgie said as they walked to the final challenge.

“Your team should really not listen to me when I am speaking into the walkie-talkie,” the solemn ref said in front of them.

“What are we going to do, plug our ears?” Krista asked.

“Speak in Spanish,” Dean suggested.

“I speak Spanish,” Georgie intoned.

“Me, too,” Donald said. “I am taking classes with my kids.”

“Then speak French,” Dean altered.

“I speak French,” Krista volunteered.

“Un peu.” Sean chuckled.

“More than a little!” Krista shot back at him.

Sean smirked.

“Well, speak in muffled tones behind a tree, then, if you don’t want to be heard,” Dean said with a smile and a sigh.

“New York did not get through the top hole, no,” The ref said, resolute. “They passed their youngest member through the hole that Mr. McAdams went through. One person did not finish.”