Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(86)

Sean opened his eyes with a gleam. He now knew how to sell Ben on a job. Krista wondered how long it would take to bring him over to the dark side. Her guess was not long.

She got everything off the printer, put it in order, including her revamped table of contents, and gave it to Sean.

“Amazing,” he breathed quietly.

“It will work then?” She asked, inadvertently noticing the bulge of his pants as they tightened over his man parts. She wondered what kind of underwear he wore. Also, if he was this big when relaxed, she wondered how big he was when he was at full mast...

Sean glanced up and caught her look. He cocked his head with that devilish grin playing on his lush lips. It was awfully hard to bluff when you kept showing your cards to everyone at the table.

He held her eyes for a moment longer, heat kindling, before he tore them away and looked down at the new report. He cleared his throat then said, “This is perfect. I need to add a few things of my own, then it’s ready for John. This company needs people in charge like you and Ben. This took half a work day, tops, and it’s in perfect shape. Just think what we can do with more time?”

After the report was ready for Sean, and Ben got a tour of the art department, which had his eyes sparkling like a man in a mid-life crisis looking at a Ferrari, everyone was left to their own devices, which meant Krista, who refused to take Sean’s money for pizza, went home alone to an empty house and an empty calendar. She would have had an empty belly, too, since without the pizza the fridge she was down to moldy cheese, OJ, and Abbey’s labeled items, but five minutes after she got home she got a text from a number she didn’t recognize telling her Goat Hill was on its way.

She now had Sean’s number. It was the whipped cream to the mud pie of the day.

Once Sean had Ben’s phone number, effectively pushing aside the middle man—Krista—it was only a matter of time before he talked Ben into a job. She had absolutely no doubt it would happen. Not many people could say “no” to Sean for long when he had something in his sights, and Ben barely needed a push. Once he saw the empire the catalogers had built, and the fully stocked art department, he was begging to be brought over.

So barely a week later, when Ben plopped down next to her on the couch one evening, she figured Sean was somewhere, relaxing, complimenting himself on his effective sales work.

“He talked you into it,” she stated without preamble.

“He said that someday I could be the head of the art department. And after all, I need a job, why should it matter which company? And your company is seriously set up in a way my other company wasn’t.”

“Ben, he could tell anyone they could be the head of the art department. It doesn’t mean you will be.”

“But he said if I worked with you then we would probably rise up together. And that makes sense because we do make a good team.”

“We would be in different departments. It wouldn’t be our choice to work together.”

“But he’s right; I can work anywhere while I am going to school. I might as well work in the place that gives me the best deal.”

She couldn’t argue with that. If it was a good deal for Ben, and knowing Sean, it was, then she couldn’t fault Sean for making it happen.

She answered by shrugging. The decision was made and she hoped Sean and company didn’t gobble him up.

After watching TV for a few minutes, Ben said, “He is a very attractive guy.”

That’s an understatement. But where was he going with it? Ben wasn’t g*y, but he did have an artist’s perspective. A glance at him revealed nothing. Was it just commentary in general, or aimed at her specifically? She knew Ben would never point out that Sean was out of her league, but her brain certainly put the implication there.

“Indeed,” she replied nonchalantly, hopefully leading him nowhere with her response so he would have no choice but to elaborate.

Frustratingly, he left it at that! That meant she had to, too, or else it would be glaringly obvious she liked the guy, which was something she didn’t even want to admit to herself, let alone say out loud.

The day approached for the long-anticipated dinner and wine fundraiser. As promised, the whole team would go sans dates, along with, but not in the same ride as, the executives and some prominent members of the company. Sean’s team would be solely responsible for hanging around and hopefully talking to someone important. They were given assigned tables and, apparently, paired with someone they could dazzle. Krista’s person of note was one of the guys in the presentation room so long ago. In other words, no one of consequence. All she had to do was let him look at her boobs and it was in the bag.

Which meant she had an excuse to show them. Dazzle factor: check!

She was wearing a new dress that made her bod look super sexy, but was still mostly conservative. It covered all the necessary elements while still showing off her form. And yes, maybe it could have covered a little more boob, but it was still G-rated, and she did have an excuse for that, so she didn’t worry about it.

She did her hair in a long flowing coif and applied striking makeup since it was a dressy affair. She had a ton of fun making herself look glamorous, which meant she completely lost track of time, so when the doorbell rang, she threw out a curse, hastily grabbed her heels and sprayed on some perfume before she rushed to the door.

Ray was standing there, waiting patiently, dressed in a well-tailored suit and perfectly combed hair. His shoes were like mirrors and relatively new. He probably hated dressing like this, but being a salesman, he was an old pro at it.