Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(115)



Sean sighed and rolled on his back. Krista shimmied over to put her head on his chest, careful not to touch any sore parts.

“I had a troubled youth,” Sean said quietly. “Hell, I was troubled youth. Sometimes I stuck up for kids getting bullied so I could fight the biggest and the strongest. Sometimes I was the bully daring anyone to stand up to me. Getting pummeled felt better than dealing with my parents. Fights after school, and then detention because…”

“How long did that last?” she asked.

He laughed bitterly, “The real fighting lasted through high school, but I didn’t shy away from it in college—I just tempered it with…other things. I finally started to put the aggression into acting until I kind of worked through it.”

Sean started drawing patterns with his fingertips on her back. “What was the cop saying to you? Are they going to put him away?”

“They should have enough to do it, yeah.”

“So you are safe?”

She didn’t want to tell Sean that she would never be safe in this house anymore. She didn’t want to tell him that she would have to move again. She still didn’t know if she was actually going to. If Jim went back to jail, she would be safe for a while at least. Maybe she wouldn’t have to move for a year or more.

But then, wasn’t that just putting off the inevitable? Was it fair to get even more attached, and then leave? Sean’s life was in San Francisco. He had a home, a great job, and his sister was supposed to move out here soon. He was established, his roots were deep.

For this conversation, Krista decided that the less said the better. When in doubt, just get naked.

Making love to him was exactly that: making love. It was the most tender experience she had had, yet. He treated her with velvet gloves, kissing her, stroking her, even entering her with reverence. His kisses were slow, soft and deep. He whispered he loved her and other sweet nothings as he entered and retreated. In turn she was soft and gentle with him, letting the passion build slowly. Each stroke feathering it higher. Each kiss blowing the spark to life.

And the spark did ignite. It built and built, they both climbed higher in each other’s arms, taking their time with great effort and slow caresses. The result was an explosion of feeling that lit sparks behind their eyes, both in body and in the heart.

It also brought tears to Krista’s eyes. She was thinking about walking away from this. From him. From Sean.

As Sean held her after, she kept the sobs quiet and her tears confined. She still needed to think this through. She still thought there might be another way, if only she could think of it.

She fell into a listless sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The next morning they were both oddly quiet on the way to work. It felt too good waking up next to him. It felt right getting ready in the same house. It felt wrong that she was thinking about moving on without him. If things were different she would actually contemplate marriage with this man. Quite the change from when she first met him.

As she lowered herself into her desk, she realized she didn’t have one deadline for the day. She had stuff to do, and things to tie off in order to start getting ready for Tory’s campaign, but nothing was dire. So she just kind of sat for a minute, staring at the walls.

Then she looked at her email.

One was from John. He wanted to meet at eleven. One from Sean, asking her to stop by before John’s meeting when she had a chance.

“Couldn’t get enough of me?” Krista said to herself in her British accent.

Hopping up, she decided she’d go hang with Kate and Jasmine for a minute before she barged in on her love.

An hour and a lot of gossip later, Krista wandered into Sean’s office cool and relaxed. She’d forgotten what a normal workload was like.

Sean had changed into a pinstriped, tailored suit once he got to the office. The natural light was streaming in the windows and spilling over his head and shoulders, casting him in an unearthly aura, making his green eyes luminescent. He, unfortunately, had a black eye and a wicked bruise on his jaw. Ben’s doctoring helped, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at him. You would know it from looking at Jim, though.

Krista stopped at the door at the magnificent sight of him. Instead of lust, though, she was struck by the feeling of love so powerful it stopped her breath. It was at that moment Sean glanced her way, doing a double-take upon seeing her, then locked eyes. He knew what she was thinking. The concern on his face from the phone call melted into a little boy looking at his first love. Her heart swelled so big it took over her whole chest.

“Yeah, gotta go. I’ll talk to you at one...bye,” Sean finished. He turned to Krista and gestured for her to take a seat, trying to be all business.

She wasn’t, “Good morning handsome. I love you lots.”

He smirked at her, his eyes flashing. “Krista, I wanted to talk business with you. Also…” He cleared his throat. His face turned red and he reached for his mouse. “Love you, too,” he looked at his computer in embarrassment.

“Uh huh. Oh, before that, though, you should know that I told Jasmine and Kate about the weekend.”

Sean leaned back and took on a serious look. There was also sadness there. He nodded.

“About the party and getting you naked. Nothing else,” she finished.

Sean blinked a couple times. “Oh... okay. They know to keep it to themselves? About us?”

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