Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(73)

“Oh, not a problem, Cap’n. That’s my job, after all.” She backed up, uneasy with the fire consuming her body. His musky scent was intoxicating her, his hard chest so close.

He continued to look down at her, inside of her, his lips a foot from hers. “Give my regards to Marcus, will you? I have to work late.”

“On a Friday? ‘All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.’” She quoted as she turned and left. She wasn’t about to talk him into it. She didn’t know how long she could stay good with the mood she was in.

~*~*~*~

Sean watched her go, the elegant sway of her h*ps inspiring a sheen of sweat on his brow. He thought back to when he first walked into the room. She’d been looking at him with a hunger he hadn’t seen from her before. It appeared she’d lost her nervousness.

Strangely, it also appeared he’d found it.

He had to admit that it wasn’t abnormal when a woman stared at him like he was naked, but it wasn’t often she had a wild magnetism behind her eyes that made him think she’d prey on him, and then rip him apart with her lust. It wasn’t often a woman would have him completely at her mercy.

Or that he wanted it that way.

He turned to Ray. “This account is going to sap all the time from my life, I can already see it. And we don’t even have an in yet. What amazes me is that Krista was terrified the whole time. She thought, without a doubt, that she didn’t do enough. It’s…she’s crazy. She must be.”

Ray sat in a chair with the first of Krista’s books in front of him. His eyes monitored Sean steadily as he said, “I owe you an apology.”

Sean, slightly taken aback, sat down opposite him. “What for? Did you date my sister at one time and never tell me about it?”

Ray didn’t smile at the jest. “I one-hundred-percent doubted you. I met the young—I met Krista, I worked with her presentation, I’ve seen some of her previous reporting, but I still believed the rumors the whole time. I thought she was on the team so you could get closer to her. I’m sorry.”

Sean had to consciously keep himself from fidgeting. He didn’t want to show how troubled he was. He didn’t even know why he was troubled in the first place! Ray had doubted him many times, sometimes so much so that he refused to follow Sean’s leadership. But this time…it seemed personal, somehow. It seemed like an attack on Sean’s vitals.

He shrugged it off. “You aren’t going to apologize for Marcus?”

Ray continued to gaze steadily at Sean for one more beat before he dropped his head to continue examining Krista’s work. “Nope,” he said, “Marcus requires constant attention to keep on track. He has great ideas, I will admit, but as far as a viable asset to this team, he is only as good as Krista makes him.”

“But look at how far he’s come in two short weeks. Since the day Krista met with him to go over his ideas, and actively started working with him, Marcus has turned on, has he not? He looks at the big picture more, he cares about the presentation, he is interested in new ideas—the man is transformed.”

Ray hesitated before he said, “He’s less slow, I’ll wager, but only where it concerns working with Krista. Everything else you’ve asked for has been half-assed. I’d call that waking up slightly, rather than transformed…”

“All I’m saying is that when he’s intrigued he is motivated. He will come a long way yet, you wait and see.”

Ray snorted. “Now you’re just being cocky.”

“He is high maintenance, though,” Sean conceded.

“He’s not the only one that’s high maintenance…”

Sean shifted uncomfortably. He knew where this was going.

“Monica.”

And then it did.

Sean stood and paced to the large window overlooking the bay. “She needs validation to do her best work. I told you that.”

“You didn’t tell me how low you were stooping to give her that validation…”

“It’s not stooping. It’s par for the course with this company.”

“Maybe when you were twenty and didn’t know any better. Or when there weren’t any better options to focus your attentions…”

“What other option is better for my focus than this mammoth account? My sole motivation is landing this account. She is integral to that. If I dangle the bait, she’ll do anything I ask, whenever I ask it. It’s not pretty, but it’s a means to an end.”

Ray’s fabric rustled in the quiet room. “I don’t agree. I don’t think selling your soul is necessary to keep that woman on the hook. I think you are just stroking your ego, and I also think it will come back to bite you. In more ways than one.”

Sean blew out a breath as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I will make sure to keep it going until we have the account. After that it doesn’t matter. She’ll get over it.”

“Who will? Monica, or the bright young woman who lets you be yourself?”

Sean turned back in confusion, “What are you talking about?

Ray shrugged, flicking pages. “How many double dates have we been on?”

“Wha—double dates? What does that have to do with anything?”

Ray closed the book and swiveled his seat toward Sean. He had a grave look. A worried look. “How many double dates?”