Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(26)

“So, as long as I keep up with excellence, I’ll be endeared?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Oh good, that is much better, yeah. Too much work for my pay plus pressure for perfection.”

“You could still be working in a dark hole as a bored representative of a department no one wants to talk to...”

“And you could be still trying to find your way into the client’s back pocket.”

He was quiet for a moment, “Sounds like we’re lucky we found each other, then.”

“Too bad soon the student will outstrip the teacher...”

“Dream on Geek Girl. You are a far cry from my caliber!” he laughed.

“Okay, well…” She opened the door and stuck her foot out.

Sean got the distinct impression she was trying to get away. She blamed herself for earlier; it was riding her. This was a pivotal moment. If she walked away like this, she would never come back. He knew it as well as he knew his own name.

“Beach in thirty? Same spot?” Sean said firmly. He was not planning to let that happen.

Krista shook her head, then looked at her watch. Her shoulders heaved with a suppressed sigh.

“Exercise will make you feel better,” Sean pushed.

She looked back into the car, analyzing again, calculating. She was getting herself back online. “Alright. Thirty.”

She shut the door and slowly went inside. Sean got out of there before she could change her mind.

~*~*~*~

As Krista got to the beach, tears still unshed but feeling better after having talked to Kate, she saw Sean waiting in the usual spot. He turned around as she walked up behind him and gave her a quick scan.

“Ready?”

Krista nodded, still self-conscious about her freak-out earlier. It seemed as though Jim had made it impossible for intimacy. While she didn’t have one episode with Paul, she had to admit she hadn’t invested too much. Her time with him had all been on the surface of her emotions, never scratching deep.

It was extremely disconcerting, then, that Sean had easily reached the danger area and they weren’t even involved. Or, they weren’t supposed to be, anyway.

Could nothing ever go her way?

Tendrils of white drifted by, making the beach look like the set of a horror movie. A couple of people ran or walked their dogs along the debris-cluttered sand, but largely the two-mile stretch along the ocean was deserted.

Sean waited in running sweats that hugged his athletic legs, and a white T-shirt that didn’t adequately hug his torso. When she showed up, he didn’t allow her time to dwell. He immediately started running, going as fast as he could sustain, and not mentioning once the fact that a girl was beating him.

After that it went the same as before; all things muscle Sean completed without much fuss. It was all based on one’s body weight; push-ups, sit-ups, squats. When they were done, Krista was panting with fatigue and he was mildly put out.

When they were nearing the end of the routine, the sun was nearly touching the ocean. The only reason they knew this was because the eerie, foggy light was dimming rapidly. No one was out to watch the sunset. The locals realized they wouldn’t be able to see it, and the tourists must have taken the hint.

Krista stripped off her soaked shirt, mostly wet from fog juice rather than sweat, and sauntered down the beach in her sports bra and yoga pants. Sean followed suit, both of them mopping their faces, and both indiscriminately checking the other out. Krista could just make out Sean’s smile with her peripheral vision. Obviously he knew she was checking him out as he was her, and thought it just as funny. Neither of them commented.

They went through the yoga poses again, which were the same as the last time. Krista still hadn’t been to a yoga class to learn more. This time, surprisingly, Sean had the easier ones down, and was a great deal better at the harder ones.

“You’ve been practicing,” Krista accused, definitely feeling better about her life after the run.

“I couldn’t have you drowning. Been running, too.”

“Just can’t stand someone beating you at something, huh?”

“I’ve not really had a lot of experience with it, no.”

She laughed at him.

“It could be worse I suppose,” he said as he attempted to balance with this right foot resting on the inside of his left thigh. “You could be stronger as well as faster and prettier.”

Krista gave him a “hmmm” at his flattery. It was hard to tell if it was true or autopilot. She let out a cleansing breath as she focused and balanced her body in the final yoga pose. She centered herself, gathered herself, and felt peace within herself. She could love Sean in an asexual way. There was no need to get physically involved. She could love herself in the same way. She didn’t need to have it all—she just needed to find peace somewhere.

When she opened her eyes, the sun was tucking its light into the belt of the horizon. The sky was lit in fire and ice filtered through shifting bursts of white. Krista noticed Sean was staring at her. His taut body fully faced her, his large hands at his sides, his eyes lost to shadow. The pull of him was so strong she wavered where she stood, desperate to keep herself from taking those two steps and letting him put his hands on her. This wasn’t his tricks. He was radiating an animalistic hunger. A hunger to mate; to pick her up where she stood and take her back to his bed. To consume her. To be consumed.