Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(2)

“Oh. Well then, consider me there. What do I bring?”

“Yourself. Your friends. Uh…your boyfriend—Paul—if you want.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ll just bring the girls.” She wanted to ask who he was bringing. Monica? Or someone else? Hopefully not someone from the company—she was sick of watching him overlook her.

Even though she shouldn’t have been. He was a womanizer and most definitely off-limits. Still …

He nodded. She nodded. Suddenly, things were awkward. She was about to step from professional to personal with Sean. She sincerely hoped her friends were on their best behavior. She also sincerely hoped she didn’t mess up and accidentally unzip his delicious fitting jeans!

~*~*~*~

Sean watched Krista go. He’d just taken the plunge. He shouldn’t have. He knew that. But…screw it.

He picked up the phone.

“Sean.” Ray, his good friend and now co-worker, waited patiently on the other end.

“Hey. Listen, thought you should know—I invited Krista to your barbecue on Saturday. And her friends. I want you to meet them.”

There was silence. Sean sat with his eyes scrunched up, awaiting judgment.

“Did you invite anyone else from the team?” Ray finally asked.

“No.”

Another pause.

“Is this wise?” Ray asked slowly.

Sean sighed. Then laughed to himself.

“What’s funny?” Ray asked, wary.

“I just had the thought that on Saturday I might sigh in front of Jasmine and see if she’ll Thump Bird me.”

“Thump Bird? What?”

“Never mind. Look, I don’t know if it’s wise, okay? But I want her. Something fierce. I want to invite her to a social thing with my friends and her friends and see what happens. See if outside of work she is just as irresistible as inside. See if she feels the same. If it’s burgers you’re worried about, I’ll bring more.”

“You know it’s not burgers that bothers me, Sean. We are so close to a huge career boost with this account.”

“We’ll close that gap with Tory. As a team. This weekend won’t mess that up. I won’t be able to beguile her—not with her friends looking over her shoulder, and not with Ben’s soft-spoken judgment. I’ve already talked to him and he’s going—he’s agreed not to mention it to Krista unless she mentions it first.”

“Sabotaging her friends? That’s a new one for you.”

Ray sounded disapproving. He thought Sean was trying for a ploy, trying new ways to get her into bed. It was true, but not in the way he thought. He wanted her for more than a night. He didn’t care if it was breaking the mold on his normal routine, he was curious and he just had to know. He wanted to know her better.

“Her friends are her chastity belt,” Sean answered, pushing commitment worries out of his brain. “They trust me less than she does. Ray, this isn’t like that. I’ll be under your nose the whole time. If I am not 100% genuine, you have my permission to tell Mary, and have Krista escorted from the premises. You can give her a tour of all my past failures.”

Another long pause. Then, “Sean, you know that generally I trust your decisions 95% of the time. I have always believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself. But this…she’s different. There’s a real change in you around her. A good change. I truly believe that you do feel something. The problem is that you’ll go in with guns blazing, get her hooked, and then run out just as fast. You’re playing for keeps in this one, and you are never the one that gets hurt.”

Sean hung his head. “I know. I know all that. But…Ray, Christ—I can’t get her out of my head. I can’t. I haven’t told you a few things that happened between us, but…I’m hooked, okay? I’m hooked and I just want to see. I want to see if her friends would mesh with my friends. If she would be comfortable with my people. That’s all. It’s not a date—I didn’t even sell it as a date. I sold it like a work function. I just…I need to see.”

“Did you talk to Cassie?”

Cassie was Sean’s younger sister. His other brain. His walking stick some of the time. All big decisions went through Cassie or Ray. This time, both.

“It was her idea.”

Yet another long pause. Ray was not comfortable with this.

“Do you not like her?” Sean asked, suddenly uneasy.

“Of course I like her, Sean. You know that,” Ray said testily. “Somehow she is the uncommon glue that brings this whole team together. Everything is starting to revolve around her. Even the art people—even Judy. Everyone is looking to her because she’s setting the standard, and it’s a damn high standard. She charmed me seconds after I met her even though I didn’t believe in her work yet. Tory only took us on because of her brain power, ambition, and trust in you. Liking her isn’t the issue. Or maybe it is, because I’m worried about what’ll become of her when you lock in your sights and then walk away like you always do. I don’t want to see her crumble. I don’t think she deserves it.”

The ball dropped. It was Sean’s turn for silence. He didn’t realize Ray was not on his side in this. It was a first. It was yet another disconcerting issue where Krista was concerned.