Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(98)

Sean told Ron from New York personally.

Sean had taken Krista out to one dinner, and that was when they were still in Colorado—they got later flights and enjoyed lounging. Since then, though, she had seen him at work daily, and refused invitations to his house daily. Over and over she told him she wanted to date him, not be his booty call. Over and over he told her he was too busy, but as soon as things slowed down, he would.

So just please come over.

No.

It was Friday and she had just finished looking at Jasmine’s most recent report. Jasmine was really bringing things together for the department. She was pissed that Kate was still outperforming her, and taking it upon herself to end that winning streak. What’s more, they loved her. She gave impossible demands and told her people that if they met the goal, she would give them a party. Or bring in beer. Or take them to lunch. Even after all the parties and extras were factored in, the department was way under budget.

Krista was happy with the bottom line and Sean was happy with the performance, so the parties continued unhindered. Obviously Krista wished she had thought of it.

So did Kate, who implemented the practice with gusto. It was why they were still pulling ahead. The two departments were becoming rivals. They didn’t give a crap about the company as a whole—not many underlings did—but they did care about getting better parties, and therefore, better numbers than the other departments. It got to the point that Tory noticed the bottom line and reamed Sean out for L.A.’s mistake in reporting financial information. A panicked Sean called Krista.

A day later a smug Sean called Tory back, furnished with a flash drive full of information, including a table of contents, regarding the validity of their numbers. The next week there was a company bulletin for all upper management highlighting Kate and Jasmine’s departments and their fantastic progress. Ron was livid—L.A. was making a chump out of him. The highlighted department’s got a combined party and gift cards for such superior work. Krista got another pat on the back from Tory, and their meeting was moved up a week.

Speaking of their meeting, Tory was making a trip down to meet with Krista. He wanted to discuss her employment. Like Sean said, he was aware of her offers. He was also aware she had interviewed with four companies, each offering some truly fantastic packages: higher wages, bonuses, benefits, and some spacious offices. They couldn’t offer such challenging work, however. Three of the four were basically creating jobs just to get her in the door; she would be a glorified consultant.

If she moved companies, she also wouldn’t have her friends. Or the ability to get her hands on any other departments and change everything around. It turned out she liked managing people; checking their work and motivating them to better things. She liked taking Sean’s impossible expectations and making them a reality. She also liked working with Marcus and Ben, who still had special projects that involved Krista in some form. The other places couldn’t offer her any of that.

But a challenge wasn’t going to get her a mortgage. She needed the money to grease the wheels. For that, she would move on. If Tory didn’t give her something she could sink her teeth into, she would move on.

Back into reality, she glanced at the clock. 5:30—time to go! As a rule, she didn’t work late on Fridays. Not ever. She would work both days on the weekend to leave on time on Friday. No matter how busy she got, and how much she might hate work, she still always looked forward to Fridays. Somehow one good day negated four bad ones. Or busy ones, at any rate.

She shut off her computer, grabbed her purse, and stood up. That’s when she noticed one of the guest chairs was taken. She jumped about a foot and swore. Sean was watching her with a handsome grin, leaning back, perfectly comfortable, his ankle crossed over his leg.

“Hi Geegee, how goes it?” he asked with a smile.

“Jesus! I didn’t even hear you come in!”

“You were too busy trying to sprint out of here.”

“It’s Friday.”

“All day, yes. Do you have plans?”

“Happy hour with the girls and Ben. Per usual.”

Krista got a tingling sensation in her groin. She hoped he was finally asking her out. Being with Sean again got her all revved up and a month was an extremely a long time to go without sex. It was also a long time without any sort of contact. She craved feeling those muscles on her cheek, or taking a big whiff of his manly scent, or just cuddling up on the couch and watching a stupid movie.

By the look in Sean’s eye, all the same things were running through his head. “Did you want to go to dinner after?”

“How about I skip happy hour and we just go to dinner?”

“Great. What time should I pick you up?”

“An hour from now. Should I pack some clothes?”

She wanted a whole weekend of lounging around. One dinner on a Friday was a perfect gateway for a weekend of sex.

“Unfortunately, just for the night. I have to work this weekend.”

Krista’s sails deflated. “You’ve been working a lot lately.”

Wariness passed over his face. She couldn’t tell if it was because of what she said and their past, or if he was just tired from the job. Either way, she couldn’t date the guy if he never made time for her. And she wouldn’t be with him if she couldn’t date him first. Chet may have been weird, but he always made time. He always treated her well and took her out. It’s a sad world when the Chet’s out-did the Sean’s.