Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(80)

As Marcus and Krista followed Sean around a corner, Marcus asked in a voice tinged with humor, “Another one of your ex’s, Sean?”

“It has to last more than a night to be an ex, doesn’t it?” Krista asked Marcus, struggling to keep up with their walking pace.

Sean half turned with a warning look as they reached the door for the stairs.

“Where are we going?” Krista asked.

“Back to your office, via the stairs,” Sean said, holding the door for the other two.

“Oh no! No way!” Marcus exclaimed. “I have a very regimented workout routine that does not involve stairs.”

“I have four-inch heels that are adorable but not all that comfortable.” Krista pointed at her feet. “My feet will not hold up for three flights of stairs.”

“They are adorable.” Marcus nodded thoughtfully, looking at her heels. “But you should put more money into your footwear. They’ll last longer and be easier on your feet. Girl, you should know this!”

“Yes, I do know this, but I don’t make enough to constantly buy pricey footwear. With as many—“

“Stairs, now,” Sean interrupted firmly.

“Ooouu, I like when he gets firm,” Marcus said with a smirk, pushing Krista in front of him.

“I don’t,” Krista replied petulantly, gingerly putting her foot on the first stair as if it was covered in grime. “It means it’s harder to get out of what he wants.”

“This is true,” Marcus followed Krista’s example with the same expression of distaste.

Halfway up, Krista had to stop. “My feet are seriously killing me, you guys. I can’t do this.”

“Take off your shoes,” Sean said behind her.

“Eww! I’ll probably get syphilis from this floor. No.”

“Then soldier on.” Sean put a hand lightly on her back.

She hobbled up another two steps before she had to stop again. Marcus was on the landing, waiting. Sean stepped up beside her.

He held out his arm, “Help?”

“It’s not my balance that’s the problem,” Krista said, looping her arm in his and the other on the railing, using the two like crutches.

Sean looked down at her shoes. “Are they worth it?”

“Yes, when a fool doesn’t make me climb stairs or walk around the company all day.”

“A fool, huh?” Sean asked, chuckling.

“Uh oh, someone who doesn’t pander to the young stud. What will his ego do now?” Marcus leaned against the wall, watching the scene with interest.

“You never told me,” Sean said, ignoring Marcus. “What were you two doing falling into the elevator?”

“Just, uh…”

“Running from Jacob,” Marcus supplied, looking at his nails.

“Jacob? Why?” Sean’s voice got suspicious.

“He was in my office,” Krista admitted. “I didn’t feel like talking to him so I thought I’d wait him out.”

“What was Jacob doing waiting in your office when you weren’t there?”

“Loitering? I don’t know. I didn’t want to find out.”

“Does he visit you often?”

Marcus looked from his nails, eyes finding Sean’s face.

“Not often, no.” Krista grimaced as her heel got a hot spot, a blister forming. “Just to ask me out on occasion.”

“To ask you out? And you’ve said…”

Marcus’s brow knit as he continued to study Sean.

“I’ve said I had a boyfriend,” Krista replied slowly, uncertain where this round of questioning was going.

“A boyfriend? And do you?”

Krista felt the weight of the stare. Also that Sean had slowed their climb to nearly not moving at all. “Um, kinda?”

“You’re not sure?”

A wicked smile crept up Marcus’s face as he honed in on Sean.

Unused to the third degree from anyone but Kate and Jasmine, Krista got anxious. “Uhhhmmm…no—well, yes. I don’t know. I’ve been seeing him. Paul. I’ve mentioned Paul before…”

“You’re still seeing Paul?” Sean cut in, stopped now, his body facing her.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you say you were bored?”

“Urrmm…well…I’m still getting to know him. I just…have issues...” The man was sounding like Kate when Krista was being grilled about Sean. She wasn’t sure what the hell Sean wanted. Why did it matter who she saw? And why was he asking in front of Marcus, who was all but taking notes?

“You are trying to like a guy that you currently don’t so you, what? Get good Samaritan points?” Sean demanded. He stared at her, emotions warring on his face, none of them readable. Before Krista could say anything, he shook his head and said, “Forget it. C’mon.”

He turned his back to her and lowered, reaching back with his hands.

“What—why?”

“What just happened?” Marcus asked, looking back and forth between the two of them like the TV was switched off by a ghost.

“Get on. I’ll give you a piggy back,” Sean explained casually.

Marcus’s smile turned back into a puzzled expression, his head tilting at Sean’s sporadic behavior.