Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(24)

Sean was looking at her with a lopsided smile. It was as if he couldn’t believe she could be so silly, and the realization made him wonder if she was an alien.

She regained her composure immediately. “Anyway, strange anecdotes aside…” She waited for him to shift back toward the computer. When it didn’t happen, she looked up to see what the holdup was.

Turned out it was her. He was studying her, his face intent, hunger evident in his eyes, but not the kind she usually saw. This time it was a softer craving. It wasn’t sexually based. It was something else…

Her head filled with buzzing. She nearly picked up her pen, treated it like a stake, and stabbed him in the chest. It would end this slow torture once and for all.

So would sex.

“REGARDING THE PRESENTATION!” She yelled to block out that last, damning thought.

The whole room turned to her.

“Sorry to interrupt, everyone. Sorry about that. I was just joking around over here. Hah hah…”

Sean’s look had turned piercing, half in frustration, half in boyish amusement.

When everyone turned away—after making a show of rolling their eyes at the inexperienced idiot in the corner—she turned back to Sean in a brusque manner. “Focus, please, Sean. This is my first presentation to a real client and I want to do well.”

He did sober then, finally. “I’m sorry. Yes, please continue.”

Another sigh followed by a wince and a guilty look at Sean, and she got back on course.

“I did change the colors, yes. The art people’s stuff clashed with mine, as you saw, so I changed it to something that would add contrast, but still worked within their color schemes.”

She moved to the first topic slide, but before she could explain her desired approach he asked, “Who helped you with this?”

“--what?”

He took a step away from her and that business look of his was back. “Did you make that decision on your own? About the colors, I mean?” His voice was quieter. It rumbled deep in his chest.

“Yes? Why? I thought you showed me the art stuff so I could mesh the two…?”

“Yes, of course,” his eyes bored into hers unwaveringly. “I’m just not used to your department thinking about the overall presentation. Usually they’re more concerned with the numbers and less concerned with the appearance.” He paused as dawning struck, “That’s why you asked if James had seen it when I showed you the art mock-ups.”

“Um, yeah?” She sounded like a valley girl. “I mean…yes. I thought someone would’ve told me the color scheme before I did all the work. It’s the same presentation so it should look similar. Right?” She could feel her face flush in uncertainty. She also wondered if anyone had noticed the large “Student Driver” sign around her neck.

“Yes, exactly,” Sean looked back at the computer.

Krista had worked on Sean’s notes without hesitation or problem, which would have irked Mr. Montgomery had he known. Sales often gave critique to Research, but Research wasn’t obligated to follow it unless it came from John or higher. Sean just sidestepped that need since Krista had already agreed.

The problem hadn’t been with Sean’s notes, though; the problem was with her presentation versus that of art. Art people could do art … obviously. And while Krista could make a numerical presentation look nice with graphs and pictures, she was hard pressed to come up with a matching cohesive color scheme to match some else’s. That was what Ben was for.

She had asked Ben, very nicely, to help her put it all together. Even though her being extra nice made him nervous, he had looked through it once, played around for ten minutes, and turned the computer back to her with exactly what she was going for. Then, because he wasn’t satisfied with the job he had done, regardless of Krista’s heartfelt praise, he had her explain the art side and what she was going for numerically, and went at it again.

He’d hunched over the computer for another fifteen minutes, a look of concentration on his face, before he showed her a finished project just shy of miraculous. It was easily better than what she remembered of the art stuff. The colors weren’t the same, but were cohesive because they contrasted perfectly.

Ben explained something about a color wheel or palette or something, but it was Greek to Krista. All she knew was that the slides had a distinct “pop” that pleased the eye and also highlighted her graphs and bullet points. Sean apparently thought so, too, since he was devouring the first slide with a critical eye.

While Sean was distracted, Krista jumped quickly into an explanation of the slides. It turned out she had practiced enough to get through it in front of Sean without a hitch. He asked a couple of insightful questions, but mostly let her explain the ins and outs of what she’d previously devised. When she was finished she backed away from him—he’d moved too close again and it was causing a weird humming in her body—and waited for any questions.

“Okay,” he looked up at her. His eye contact lingered a little too long before he said, “I have what I need. Thanks.”

Sean walked away with his head bowed over his notes, thoughtfully tapping the side of his notepad. He paused in front of the other salesman, then straightened up, his voice a low murmur. That was about the time Mr. Sleazy-O looked up and caught her eye. With a pronounced grimace, she tore her eyes away, now intently focused on her fingernail. She was careful to keep her butt pointed at the wall.