Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(45)

“I lied.”

“I see. Expert liar.” He didn’t sound impressed.

“Expert flow go’er. My roommate helped me on the color scheme and did a few layout fixes. I needed it to look better, you know, but I’m a novice with art.” Sean still looked miffed. “But, he’s not company related, so it counts as me, right? Not really a lie.”

“What about the actual wording of the presentation? And the material?”

“Oh, all me. My roommate is a genius art guy. Numbers are my territory. I help him balance his checkbook, he helps me with color and placement. Easy for him, easy for me.”

“He’s an expert art guy and you’re an expert math girl?”

Krista shrugged.

“When can I meet your roommate?” Sean could pivot on a dime.

She must have blinked a hundred times in two seconds before she stuttered, “Uh… he has a job.”

“When can I meet your roommate?”

“Let’s put that on the table for further discussion.”

Sean looked at her with that bemused expression again before conceding. “Fair enough. Next grievance.”

“Ushering me out of the room.”

“That wasn’t planned in the beginning. I‘d hoped to keep you close as a top quality distraction throughout. But with that answer ... you showed you were a step above everyone else. Excepting me, of course.”

“Oh, of course,” Krista said sarcastically.

He continued with a smile. “I didn’t want them wondering why someone smart, and probably high-powered despite her age, was hanging around in the back of the room with...the others. After you left I told them you had to get to another meeting and you were on borrowed time. I did make you look good in the end. Give me a little credit at least.”

“Hmmph.”

“Next?”

She’d finished her second Guinness. Based on the fact that the food was still settling but the Guinness was flowing like water, Krista was already starting to feel a little tipsy. If she didn’t slow down so the protein could block alcohol absorption, she would seek out Sean’s bedroom and her pants would fall off of their own free will.

“Um, okay,” she forged on, face red again, “Why didn’t you tell the others my role in Friday’s meeting? I mean, you had Ray give a piss-poor rendition of my information when I was sitting two seats from the guy.”

“Piss-poor?” Sean was looking at her with a smirk.

“Don’t tell him that, but yeah. There were holes everywhere.”

“What, did you memorize it?”

Krista stopped, her glass halfway to her mouth, in order to give Sean a look that said he was smarter than that. When he still seemed dense, she said, “I researched it, wrote it, then formatted it…twice. I know the information in it. Don’t insult me.”

Sean laughed and gave her a pat on the back.

“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell everyone I was the one who researched the info,” she pushed.

“I did.”

“I only use my hair color when there is an actual advantage to looking stupid. I suggest you revise your answer.”

Sean laughed again, this time putting a large hand on her shoulder as he did so. His hand was warm and comfortable. She suddenly wanted it between her legs.

She sputtered into her glass and put the Guinness down immediately. Things were going A.W.O.L.! She had to calm-the-hell-down! Alcohol was making her decision-making process take a complete back seat to her need to get laid. It. Was. Not. Good!

“I’m still not sure why I did that, to be honest …” Sean paused as he looked at her, his eyes roaming her face. A second later he cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly, before going back to leaning on the bar as he said, “It was a last-minute decision that seemed right. Ray disagreed, but…I think I might leave you as the secret weapon for a while. They all have to work with you, so they’ll figure out you’re likable sooner or later. Until then, hopefully they’ll trip up somewhere and I’ll hear what’s going on behind the scenes.”

“Trip up, how?”

“Cut corners when the boss isn’t looking. Slack off when they think they can get away with it.”

“What makes you think I’d rat on my co-workers?” Because I won’t.

Sean slowly turned to her with his whole body. He leaned in slightly, his smell wrapping around her head dizzyingly, and said, in a soft, intimate voice, “By me taking very good care of you. I know how to inspire loyalty.”

Krista tilted her head at the change. He had always been trying to get in her pants, but she’d never heard him talk this sleazy before. To anybody. It was such a turn-off that she actually thanked him for the answer. It might as well have been cold water he dumped over her head.

“Yeah, okay, look,” she said with renewed confidence. She turned her body straight toward the bar, answering his body language with her own. “Here’s the thing. If you’re going to keep up the sexual innuendos, I don’t think I’ll be able to work with you. I certainly won’t be on your side. I’m hoping working with you is beneficial to me, but if you keep it up I’ll hate it. I would rather take my chances on my own if that’s my only choice.”