Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(91)

As she surveyed the area, Krista couldn’t help but laugh to herself. It was a bit like middle school. Most of the girls were on the far side, and most of the boys on the side closest to the beverages. There were a couple who mingled in between, but it was unquestionably two factions.

“You see, there are a lot of business types here because that’s all Tory knows,” Emily said, turning them back to the refreshment table. “Since they are boring for the most part, and never swim, I invited some of the neighborhood. Okay. I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be around to swim later on when most of the business types go home.”

Krista laughed, thanked her profusely, and let her get back to hosting.

And now Krista was on her own with no one to talk to. She sorely wished Jasmine and Kate were here. Or even Ben. She could be social when she had to, but it was always a little awkward.

She thought absently of Sean. If they were on good terms Krista would still have someone to hang out with. She knew Sean would swim. He hated business types as much as she did.

Speak of the devil…

It became clear why all the girls were on the far side of the pool, and why the boys couldn’t be bothered to hang out with them. That’s where Sean had set up shop, and all the vaginas gravitated toward him. If Krista were one of the neighborhood kids, she wouldn’t want to compete with that, either.

As Sean stood up, Krista nearly dove behind a bush. She felt like a Peeping Tom just standing there, in the middle of nothing, staring. But oh my lord, he looked good.

He was in a bathing suit, wet, and walking toward the pool with two girls, one on each side. Both girls were pretty, younger than her, and were focusing on Sean like a goat looking at trousers. And why shouldn’t they? He was magically hot. His defined pecs were glistening in the sunlight. His flat stomach and washboard abs soaked in the sun and tucked into his slim but muscular hips. His giant broad shoulders rippled when he moved his arms to gesture. His face was carefree and easy, a smile here, a flash of his brilliant eyes there. He was at home half-naked in this glamorous setting with a girl on each arm.

Did I ever actually think he could be mine? Krista was delusional.

But she did get to see him naked, so point to Krista. Eat that, tiny tots.

She decided to forego the beverage for the moment, since she planned to get in the pool right away anyway, and decided blending in with the groupie horde was not the way to play it. Looking stupid wasn’t what she was going for today. She already had poor and out-of-place going, so she figured any more titles would just weight her down.

Instead, she chose a spot near the rock wall free of people and put on some sun lotion. Once done, and all her non-swimming clothes stowed in her satchel, she dangled her feet in the water. Her skin could tan beautifully, but it was out of practice way out in Sunset. She needed to build up a base, so it was essential that the tanning lotion sink in properly.

While she waited, she tried to watch Sean’s progress to the water’s edge, but as soon as he dropped down, he was lost to the swarm of girls. How could the guy stand it? It looked suffocating.

She belatedly noticed she’d chosen a seat near John’s woman, who was lying on a lawn chair about ten feet away from the water’s edge. And yikes! The girl could scare a straight man g*y. Her leathery-brown skin was glistening—probably baby oil—and her platinum blond head spilled her dry and cracked hair over the end of the chair. She was on her back, and while she was skinny with a decent body, her boobs looked like they were trying to rocket off her body into outer space. Bad boob job! Very bad. They were probably really hard. So gross.

As soon as Krista’s lotion was good and soaked in, she headed to the diving board. She was determined not to notice Sean and his women, so she kept her head down as she mounted the higher of the two boards, and then did a quick swan dive into the water.

Yes, she was showing off a little. She’d done diving as a sport for a couple years when she was younger, so she had a few good dives down. She had no idea why the sport her parents chose to push her into was diving, rather than soccer or ballet, but every once in a while she was the biggest attraction at pool parties. She was hoping, in light of Sean’s groupies, this was one of those times.

Thanks Ma.

The water was cool and refreshing. She swam a few strokes, and when she surfaced, she treaded water. She loved swimming. She was marginally good at it, but what’s more, the feeling of weightlessness was always a decided attraction. Because of this, she wasn’t in a hurry to get out.

It took about two minutes before a guy about her age started to swim closer. She was not only fresh meat, but the only girl not vying for Sean’s attention.

Wait—not true. Rocket Boob over there was also on her own. She probably didn’t count, though.

“Hey,” the youngish guy said by way of greeting. He had dirty blue eyes and short blond hair. As in, buzz cut short. He was good looking, if no Sean, and thin shouldered. The rest of him was below water, and Krista wasn’t interested enough to scope it out.

“Hi.”

“I’m Adam.”

“Hi. I’m Krista.”

“Oh hey.” He kind of turned away, but stayed in her vicinity. Apparently that was him hanging out with her.

Krista rolled her eyes. Being close and not talking was middle school behavior—Freshman, tops. She was not in the mood to relive those days, so she leisurely swam towards the edge of the pool where her stuff was.