Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(85)

“Ladies, how goes it?” Sean said smoothly, his gaze sliding past Krista and landing on Emily.

“Great, Sean, as usual. I heard your team did very well right out of the gate,” Emily said, leaning against the bar. Sean leaned closer to Krista to keep eye contact with Emily.

She was a tricky old gal.

“We gave our best effort. Everyone on the team really put their all into it. I was proud of everyone,” Sean replied eloquently.

“I see our politics are up to snuff. I heard one team member wasn’t so active in participation…” Emily had a glint in her eye.

Sean kept his voice neutral. “Everyone put in effort where they had the most potential. Our Krista here nearly gave out in the end, but we all talked her around.”

“Literally gave out, he means,” Krista said happily, even though she was a little tired of being the team scapegoat. She’d done enough. She wanted to relax and slip behind the scenes again.

To that effect, she looked out over the gathered people to keep her in the positive. Everyone was dressed in their best, including the admins. Some of the older ladies looked a little frumpy, and some of the younger ones looked brazen, but she certainly couldn’t talk about the latter. It was nice they all gave an effort.

“She’s had a lot to deal with this weekend,” Emily tempered.

Krista shrugged. She didn’t want to get into it.

“She’s born it like a trooper, though. Always has,” Sean put in.

“What is in store for dinner?” Krista asked to change the subject.

“They always do a great dinner, here,” Emily said. “Well, I had better see what Tory is up to. He tends to be an old bore when someone isn’t around to keep the topic off work.”

Krista smiled a goodbye and moved in closer to the bar. She was determined to keep her attitude positive tonight. She didn’t want to talk about work or the weekend at all.

“You are devastatingly beautiful, Pet,” Sean said close to her ear.

Krista sat on a barstool and turned her body toward Sean. She expected him to be looking at her br**sts. Most men would have. Hell, she would have been. They were out there for the public eye, after all. Instead, when she looked up she met his soft gaze.

Krista’s heart warmed over and dribbled romantic goo all over her shoes. “Thank you, Sean.”

“There is a rumor that I sexually harassed you.”

Sean sat on the bar stool next to her, and then scooted it closer. Their knees were lightly touching and the contact thrilled her. She needed to pick a direction with him. He was right—they were all or nothing. Krista had never been a half-ways type of girl, anyway.

“Really? When?”

“Up in the tree. I’ll bet Dean saw us.”

“Saw you, you mean.”

Hurt flashed across Sean’s face. “Me, yes.”

“Is that why you’re over here? To dispel the rumors?”

Krista didn’t mean it to sound disgruntled, and though her tone was light, he still looked like a puppy that just got swatted with a rolled up newspaper.

“No,” he said quietly, looking at his drink. “I’m over here because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from you and wanted to be closer.”

“Oh.” She felt like an ass.

“Krista…” Sean sighed and turned back to her. There was such vulnerability in his eyes, she got a lump in her throat. He didn’t expose this side of himself much, so she knew whatever he was going to say was important to him. She waited patiently for him to continue. He, in turn, was waiting for Perry, who stepped in next to him to get a drink, to grab it and go. It looked like Perry wanted to chat, but realized something was going on. Krista would have invited him into the conversation, but she wanted to hear what Sean had to say.

“Krista, when you left San Francisco,” Sean continued, looking down at this hands, “I thought my heart was ripping out of my chest. I cried, I’ll admit it. Men aren’t supposed to cry, but there you go. A big part of me was hurt. That part turned angry. I didn’t think you’d actually leave. I logically knew you had to, but it felt like you were leaving me. I think that was mostly why I wanted to sever communication. I figured you would realize how I felt and change your mind.”

Sean paused. Krista knew this was a monologue, and that he had to get this stuff out. She didn’t want to make him lose his nerve, so she stayed silent even though it was an odd place to be spilling the past. But then, they never saw each other outside of a work setting, except when Krista slapped him, so Sean probably thought it was now or never.

“I am ashamed to say that lasted about six months. I made myself be angry to forget the hurt. It was how I always dealt with my parents constantly leaving my sister and I—anger is easier to bear. It’s an easier pain to tolerate. I put my past on you. Again.

“After about six months the anger ebbed a little. I came out of my shell a tiny bit. Enough to hear that Jim was by your house looking for you. They had to call the cops on him. I knew then what a jerk I was. That you leaving had nothing to do with me. That my attitude was shallow.

“By then it had been a long time. I wanted to call, but I was so remorseful of my behavior, I chickened out. I drafted an email, but every time I read it back, it sounded stupid. Instead, I threw myself into my work. Truth was, I could have transferred with you into a manager position. A position you have now. But Tory was talking about restructuring and I convinced myself I wanted VP. That I deserved it. That I would need it to deserve you. Tory set the bar extremely high for that position—not that I blame him. There was a large list of interviewees. Blake being one of them, of course.