Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(76)

“No you wouldn’t. I’d still do it.”

Sean stilled for a moment, taking her in. His eyes roamed her face. “No mug?”

His eyes reached inside of her, making a piece of ice in her middle heat up, then drip, loosening a painful barrier she’d lived with for so long she’d forgotten it wasn’t supposed to be there.

“I was afraid it would try and kill itself again. Thought it was safer left in my office,” she said quietly, knowing he was trying to head toward personal waters, using her mug as a scapegoat. Strangely, this time, it was working. He was starting to have an effect. He poked at that block inside her chest, softly, unhurriedly, wanting to release it.

It was a startlingly new development that would surely have Kate whacking her with a baseball bat to get her back on course.

Sean laughed intimately, honing in on her. Willing her to let go; to drop all her office stodginess and come out and play. The warmth building in her sternum made her body tingle, reminding her of its twin, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a really long time. Since Johnny Earnshaw, actually. Which, consequently, had been her first love.

It was going to take more than a bat.

“Wise,” he said quietly, his face growing serious. Intense.

She hastily cleared her throat. The moment passed like a fragrant plume of smoke in a breeze. “Anyway.” She tore her eyes away and pointed them at the desk. “Here is what you asked for. The first is the art from our extensive system. All the images from that other meeting were there, but I didn’t include those. I did some digging and found some other stuff that looked good.

“After that are other, similar images from other ad companies across the span of time. It is pretty fun looking for all that stuff, so I put a lot in there. Too much probably, but copies are cheap and knowledge is not, so what the hell, right?”

“And you have more,” Sean said it in a flat tone, now looking through the books.

“Yeah, well, uh, I decided to find some pictures that went with Marcus’ ideas. Like I said, images are so easy to find and so readily downloaded and copied, so I just thought, ‘why not?’”

Without saying a word Sean grabbed hungrily for the other books. He turned and got the research she did previously on Marcus’s ideas. He found what must have been his favorite ideas and paired them with the new images. He let out a “hmmmm” as he tapped the page.

“This is good, Krista. Have you shown these to Marcus?”

“No. He’s mad at you for making him work, so I didn’t want to add fuel, so to speak.”

“Hmmm,” still looking at the open book, he picked up the phone. “Yes, Marcus? ...” Sean listened for a while, his brow furrowing in concentration. “Yeah, great man, that is awesome… No, no I don’t need to see it right yet… No, that’s fine. Listen…yeah, great. Perfect… Listen, I am sitting here with Krista--…no, for once she is making you look good. Come see what she’s got…Great.”

Sean hung up and went back to looking at the images. Krista was forgotten for the minute, until Marcus came in and leisurely sat next to her.

“Miss Marshall,” Marcus said in his relaxed way, “You are no longer allowed to work on any of Sean’s ideas. We can’t keep up. There is not enough Red Bull in the world to compete with a twenty-year-old.”

Sean looked up with a smile and offered Marcus her latest. He then picked up the phone again. “Ray, come in here…Please.”

Marcus was exclaiming in delight with his hand clutched on Krista’s shoulder. “Geek Girl, I am a genius! Sean, call Judy.”

Sean did not hesitate, and soon the entire team was stuffed into Sean’s office. Ray and Sean were talking about strategy while Marcus and Judy were talking about ideas and making notes. Krista, forgotten again, was squished against the wall in bored delight.

It was at this time that John walked in, his normal cartoon-style, hurried pace slowed with the bland look of the research girl idly standing against the wall. Krista imagined that was the reason for the perplexed expression. “Sean, it’s time to move you to the new office I think.”

It was like an arctic gale came out of nowhere. Everyone froze with wide eyes, like a kid caught drawing on the wall with permanent marker. The office resembled a game of Twister, with limbs intertwined and frozen, waiting for the next spin. All eyes found John in a pronounced widening.

“John,” Sean said behind a guarded mask.

“What’s going on here?” John asked in disapproval.

“We are reviewing the latest information from our researcher.”

“How is the proposal going?” John glared intently at Sean, no one else in the room existing at that moment.

“Halfway there. It will be on your desk Monday morning, as promised.”

John let his gaze sweep Sean’s office, catching the books Marcus was holding. It was apparent that he should leave after chastising his subordinate, but it was just as apparent his curiosity was staying his feet.

Pandora’s plague won out.

“What have we got?” he asked in a brusque tone.

It was Marcus who jumped up with the books, reaching around Judy to yank Krista to his side. He began rapidly explaining what he thought was his best idea, showing facts on it, then the images. John took the statistics from Marcus, being that Marcus really hadn’t a clue how to explain them, then skimmed the pictures.