Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(92)

It was then that she realized it wasn’t just one or two stray guys who took notice. It was most of the male horde. They were all gathered around her stuff, some looking at her, some at Adam, and some at the crazy boobs of John’s woman.

Krista decided that turning around and swimming in the opposite direction as fast as she could would look weird, so she kept paddling in. The good news was, she didn’t feel so ugly. Bad news was, she now had to talk to these clowns. She wasn’t sure that was much better than the businessmen.

“That was a nice dive,” said one of the guys loitering around her stuff. He had brown eyes and auburn hair that was drying every which way. He was attractive in a boy band sort of way.

All of them were, actually. They were all cut from the same mold. An expensive mold, but unoriginal. All slightly above average looking, all with shortish hair, all with preppie accents, and all thinking too much of themselves. They were the children of the surrounding families, and the surrounding families were rich, and probably ran empires. Krista was again the stinking pauper. No more office parties!

“Thanks,” she said, not even bothering to feign interest.

She hopped out of the pool ten or so feet from him and the others, and sighed in resignation when a few of them got up and moved over.

“Do you know any more?” Brown Eyes asked.

“What, dives?” To his nod she said, “A couple. I try to switch up my repertoire as the day wears on.”

It was a joke. He didn’t laugh. Either he didn’t get it, didn’t think it was funny, or was too busy being misunderstood to laugh.

After a second of realizing something was expected of him, he smiled and said, “Oh, cool. You want something to drink?”

Yes! “Sure.”

“Beer?”

Champagne! “Great.”

“’Kay.” He turned to look for one of his friends. “Billy! Get two beers, will-ya?”

There was a disembodied “yeah” before Brown Eyes refocused on her. Krista did a quick check of her suit to make sure she was all tucked inside. She would hate to think she was luring them.

Oh wait, she had a vagina—yeah, she was luring them.

“So, who are you here with?” he said, returning to the ‘getting to you know you’ stage of the conversation.

“My company.”

“Oh, cool. You work in the city or around here?”

“City. I’m from Seattle originally so this is my first time in Marin.”

“Oh, cool. How do you like it so far?”

Billy, a somewhat ugly kid in his late teens, showed up sans beers. “That watcher-woman wouldn’t let me. She said I wasn’t old enough.”

“Well, tell her it’s for me and my friend--?”

“Krista.”

“Krista.” Brown Eyes was flashing a mean scowl. He probably learned it from his dad.

“I did,” Billy whined. “She said to send you up yourself!”

Brown Eyes sighed and turned back to Krista. “Hard to find good help!”

Eww. That was a dick thing to say. “No problem. I need a walk, anyway.”

She was up and walking away before Brown Eyes could even blink. Billy bobbed behind her.

She found the stern looking staff member in front of the beer and wine table and approached without hesitation. Krista hoped she didn’t get carded because her purse with her ID was upstairs with her sweater.

As soon as she was in front of the table, however, the stern face became a smile. “How may I assist you, Miss Marshall?”

“Wha—“ How’d she know my name?? It was so very big brother.

“She’ll have a champagne, and I’ll have a beer, please.”

Krista’s stomach turned upside down and a teensy bit of pee escaped.

“Of course, Mr. McAdams.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

The alcohol monitor swiveled her eyes, “Mr. Rochester, I assume you have business elsewhere?”

Krista spun around and saw two things—one was that Billy was scampering off, and the other was that Sean was looking down into her soul, devouring her with sparkling eyes.

“Hi,” she breathed.

“Miss Marshall, your champagne?”

Krista turned back on a cloud, grabbed her champagne from the friendly staff member with stern tendencies, and stepped out of the way so Sean could step up. He received his beer and turned back to her.

“You made it,” he said with a smile and intense eyes. It seemed like it was just the two of them standing there; everything else fell away.

“Um, yes. Of course. We had to, right?” She was having a confidence problem. It was also hard to focus with that bare chest so close to her mouth.

“For the most part, yes. I just—“

“Ah, there you are.” It was Brown Eyes. Persistent little f**ker.

Standing, he was about Sean’s height, but nowhere near his weight class. His thin, bony frame and tiny waist made him look like a boy next to Sean’s man. He didn’t let that bother him. He marched up like he owned the place.

“Stella, a beer please. And next time I send Billy, do me a favor and give him what he asks for. He’s my running boy for the day.”

Stern lady was back. “Hello Mr. Rochester. As I said, I am under strict orders to give alcoholic beverages to those over twenty-one-years-of-age only.”