Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(53)

She was so out of his league.

As the images flicked through the TV screen, Sean couldn’t help but feel the quiet of the house descend. It wasn’t a giant residence, three bedroom, but for one guy who tried to never be home, it was too big. Too much empty space.

As he always did when he got twinges of loneliness, he reached for his phone. Then he hesitated. He wasn’t in the mood for a booty call. He had a few women to choose from, all eager and willing, but they were dense and unsatisfying in every way. All they were good for was a warm body, and that wasn’t good enough. At least not tonight.

Putting the phone down, he settled more firmly on the couch, a strange melancholy overcoming him. Drowning him.

Chapter Eleven

The next morning Krista was refreshed and energized. She barely noticed the pulsing white blanket of thick San Francisco fog. The clunky, dismembered train and its hard seats didn’t get her down, either. Even her newly coiffed hair immediately frizzing didn’t bother her in the least. She was flying today!

She’d been seeing Paul over the last few months. They’d been going strong with dates and hanging out now and again. It was a slow, mild way back into dating and trust. Paul was nice, no two ways about it. He wasn’t prone to outbursts of anger, he always thought of her first—well, often he thought of her first—and he listened when she spoke.

Krista had really tried to get out of her own way, quit second-guessing the reasons he was being sweet, and give in. She wanted to love him. She wanted to make it a thing with him. The problem was that, while he was certainly attractive, she was having a hard time with chemistry. They could talk and laugh, but…there was something missing. Thinking it was her fault, she talked to him about it, giving him a rundown of her current emotional state and difficulty trusting.

He said he was content to be a booty call. Krista couldn’t tell if he was joking, which was a bit unsettling because that wasn’t really what she was after…

Regardless, last night she’d had to work out some lust issues, and they totally went for it. She came hard and fast. So did Paul.

When her alarm started singing at the usual time, she gave it a tap and was up to start her day. Thank goodness for sex and small miracles.

She walked in the building with a bounce in her step and a jingle in her jangle. She felt great. She was excited to start the day with a new assignment—hopefully that gave her plenty to do.

She needed to see Sean but she also needed coffee. Being that it was his usual time for the break room, she headed there first. He wasn’t there, but a mystified Cindy was. She apparently didn’t understand why she was getting a smiling hello. By the “sniffing-shit” look on her ugly mug, she didn’t trust Krista’s good mood.

As well she shouldn’t.

As soon as Krista could, she planned on befriending Marcus and figuring out a way to get Cindy back for being such a fat cow. Now, however, she had more pressing things to think about.

Like a new opportunity!

Sean was at his desk with his perfect suit in place, his perfect hair just slightly disheveled, and a pair of perfect bags under his eyes. That was about when the record needle screeched off its perfect track.

On closer inspection, it looked like a ghost haunted him. He had a five-o’clock shadow and a wildness about his eyes that wasn’t there yesterday.

Krista gingerly knocked on the partially open door.

He looked up.

Krista was struck by a blast of unresolved desperation. It looked like something was eating away at him. His workload, which was currently stacked on all available space on his desk, probably had something to do with it.

“Hey Krista, how they hangin’?” Sean asked as he shuffled some papers and sat back tiredly.

Did he think she was his new buddy from the gym or something?

She figured if he wanted to paint her with a pair of balls, she would play it up like they were magnificent balls indeed. “Hi-ya Sean. They’re hangin’ low, down to the flo’.”

“What’s up?” He didn’t even give her a smirk. She wondered if his boss shat on his desk last night. Clean up would put anyone in a bad mood.

“Well, O-Captain-my-Captain, you said to report to you first thing in the morning. Here I am.”

“Oh right. Yes, please follow me.” Sean got up, waited distractedly for her to get up, and gestured for her to lead him out of the office. Once out, he took over the leadership role and headed up two floors, and then to the right. He stopped in front of an office about the size of the one he currently occupied. It had a new, ornate desk, two chairs in front of it, and a plush leather chair behind. There was a plant in the corner, two file cabinets, and one window to look out onto the floor.

Krista looked around confusedly. Sean waited patiently, looking the office over. A computer was already set up with two flat screen monitors and newish office supplies, all arranged on the desk, waiting to be used.

“Umm, what’s happening?” Krista asked, staring at the shiny surface of the desk. She had expected to sign some papers. Or maybe get her assignment with the promotion and raise to follow later. What she saw was a deserted office.

Sean looked at her in a dazed sort of way. She could see the tiredness draining his energy.

“There wasn’t anything suitable near your department. With enough privacy. John wants what we do kept in the strictest of confidence.”