Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) Read online

  “Please, Kate,” Sean begged quietly.

  What had become of him? Asking like this, freaking out like he was, groveling to Krista’s friend. He’d never done this before in his life; he’d never put himself out there for so many people to laugh and ridicule if they wanted. He’d never exposed himself like this. All to get a girl to like him.

  And the bitch of it was, he’d keep going. Because she was worth it.

  “Please tell me?” Sean said again, rubbing his head. “I won’t affect her ability to move on in any way. I just—I need more information on this. I can’t lose her. I am trying to make it better for her here. I am trying to figure out a way. We just have to get through this weekend and I am confident she’ll have a gold-plated place in this company.”

  Kate sighed through the phone. “Fine. Only because I like when she’s my boss—I know, I’m insane. But Sean, if you fuck her over on this, I swear I will figure out a way to fuck you over back. I will find your house and light your bushes on fire. If you think I am kidding, then you are a dumb fucking prick. Am I making myself clear?”

  Sean sat down heavily, shaking his head at her trademark foul mouth. He believed her. He was actually slightly nervous. It almost made him chuckle—especially since she was barely five feet tall.

  “I won’t…fuck her over,” Sean replied. He didn’t like swearing all that much, but he thought it was necessary with her.

  “Dorito’s is offering her something like a 15% raise. They want her bad. They’ll definitely go higher when she starts to negotiate. Bingley’s has heard that she is thinking about looking, also. They are probably trying to make contact to see how much she wants. By the time next week is over, it’ll be a bidding war. Everyone loves her, Sean. She kicks ass in a soft sort of way. Bosses are gaga over her.”

  Sean hung his head. He knew she was getting near the end of her patience, but he didn’t know she was this close. “Thanks, Kate. I know how valuable she is. I’m just more of a hindrance than a help these days.”

  “Yup. You are. I gotta go. Some of us had to stay behind to work.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Marcus came out of the bathroom to Sean sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Sean looked up at his approach. His face was one of pure desperation.

  “Two companies, Marcus. Two companies want her so far. I can’t give her a raise yet because I am too new. I can’t support her through this because she won’t let me. I can’t figure out how to get her team to work, let alone accept her. Without her, I’ll fail—in life and in this job. Yet there is nothing I can do to keep her.”

  Marcus pulled his towel around him, sat on the adjacent couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. He enjoyed flashing Sean most times, just to see him squirm, but this wasn’t the time.

  “First of all, bro.” Marcus paused, hating saying the term bro. He felt like a caveman, but it was the most straight-man’s man-to-man expression he knew. “You are over reacting. You rarely fail in anything you do. You certainly won’t fail in your position.

  “Second, you haven’t failed with her yet. I’ve talked to her. She hasn’t dated anyone since that…since Chet. She hasn’t even slept with anyone else, and believe me, I’ve been keeping my eyes open. I can’t believe she’s lasted this long! She isn’t over you, Sean. She’s just waiting for a reason to trust you again. Give her one.”

  Sean didn’t look up. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do, Marcus? If I knew how to prove myself, I would.”

  “Back her this weekend. Back her, look out for her, and help her succeed.”

  Sean looked up in irritation. “Of course I am going to back her. Even if she was nothing but a co-worker, she is exceptional at her job. Of course I’ll fight for her. So will you. And Janice. But it won’t be enough.”

  “Krista won’t let the guys here roll her over. She is a nerdy push-over, but she’ll only play dead for so long. If you give her little signs of support—“ Marcus held up a hand to stop Sean from arguing. “I know you don’t think she wants it, but she does. She needs it. Whether she’ll admit it or not, you are her loved one. Give her a little encouragement. Trust Uncle Marcus, he knows.”

  Sean chuckled despite himself and shook his head. “What is this woman doing to me?”

  “Making you a better person. Let her.”

  Sean leaned back, now smiling bigger. “Bro?”

  Marcus threw a pillow at him and walked back to the bedroom—Sean’s confidence was back. To herald the occasion, Marcus dropped his towel in plain sight.

  Chapter Twelve

  Exiting the bathroom feeling refreshed and more like herself, Krista sighed, thankful Jasmine didn’t send the squirt bottle with Janice. She’d taken a nice long shower, took her time getting her hair and makeup just right, and had a glass of wine from the mini-bar. She was relaxed and ready to kick a little ass. If she was going to leave anyway, she might as well go out in style.

  Krista put on her well-cut, but still plain, black dress and admired herself in the mirror. She looked good. Conservative, but pretty. Feminine, but with status. It was subtle beauty and it emulated subtle power. She deserved her role, and she would prove it—the dress helped her sell that image.

  When she came out of the bathroom, she heard the same voices as before. When she entered the sitting room, Sean and Marcus both looked up.

  “Hmm, great work, doll. Jewelry?” Marcus said.

  Krista swore under her breath and caught Janice’s disapproving eye. She put on her sapphire necklace and some bracelets, and then headed back out. It wasn’t until Sean noticed the necklace that she remembered he’d given it to her. Also when he’d given it to her. It had been the night she’d had to admit she would have to say goodbye. It was also the first night Sean had ever been without a condom with a woman. She wondered if she was still the only one.

  His eyes were attached to hers. They had widened briefly, surprised she was wearing the necklace he got her, but now they were connected. His look turned her insides to mush, making her eyes glisten and her heart lurch. If she didn’t do something quick, she was going to have a meltdown.

  “Geegee, quit stalling. C’mon. I have people to meet,” Marcus said, standing up abruptly.

  Krista wrenched her eyes away from Sean and took a big, cleansing breath. Then reality set in.

  “Do I have to do your circuit with you?” she whined.

  “Yes. C’mon.” He pushed her out the door.

  “Hold a seat for me,” Sean called out.

  Marcus waved at him as he let the door shut and started walking to dinner. “Geegee, get a grip. You don’t want to ruin your makeup.”

  “Thanks,” she said simply. She was now extremely glad she told Marcus all about she and Sean. Without Kate, Jasmine, or Ben, she didn’t have any lifelines in case she lost control. And with Sean around, control was fleeting at best.

  They did their stupid rounds again. This time, Marcus made contact for the second time, and Krista had to talk more. It was a pain. Small talk was irritating, especially since the managers all thought she was an admin assistant and really only there to be a donkey. Oh yeah, and eye candy. Krista’s irritation was rising incrementally with each new person she had to talk to.

  Finally, they sat for dinner. They got to pick their seats, so Marcus invited a couple of admin assistants to join them. He started gossiping with them immediately, effectively excluding Krista because she could nowhere near keep up, and definitely didn’t want to.

  Instead, she people watched. It was out of boredom, sure, but she needed to get to know her enemies. She needed to figure out what she was up against, and come up with a way to effectively work around them. Or go through them. Or over them. Or stab them. Whichever worked.

  The first thing of note was that many of the mangers knew each other. They talked sports and sometimes about golf or cigars. There was a defined pecking order. A few guys got deferential treatment, many were their groupies, and a few others were obviously the nerds
and mostly ignored. They stood around in groups (girls would call them cliques) talking and laughing, and unconsciously complementing each other on being men.

  As Krista watched, she noticed quite a few men were self-conscious—looking around, fidgeting, and following the conversation rather than an active part in it. Even more were trying to puff up for the passing admins, thinking with their anatomy instead of their position. It was gross. And not professional.

  Sean was working his way through them, acting like the ambitious new guy everyone wanted to measure up. As such, they were vying for his attention like a bunch of girls. Women and men both turned to look as he approached, eager to meet him and exchange a few words. He was smiling and confident, enthusiastically shaking hands and being the man’s man they expected. He was having no problems fitting in.

  Wanting someone to talk to, Krista turned back to Marcus, but he was leaning the other way, whispering something conspiratorially to the three women he was talking to. With each word, he transformed further into just another admin assistant, effectively closing off the manager he’d walked around with earlier. He was doing his job. Part of Krista wished he wasn’t so great at it.

  In a quick depression, she stared at her wine and thought about ways to further improve her department. As she was doing a quick rundown of numbers in her head, she noticed the seat in front of her disturbed. She figured it was Sean, but her quick glance told her she was wrong. Instead, it was a guy over six feet tall with wavy dark-brown hair and deep blue eyes. He was attractive, if not gorgeous, and had a lean body. Besides that, there was something about him that was sexy as hell.

  “Hello,” Marcus said as the stranger sat down.

  Oh, sure—when a hot guy comes over he makes conversation my way!

  The man’s blue eyes shifted from Krista to Marcus. “Hey, bro. Blake.”

  “Marcus. Nice to meet you.” Apparently Marcus also thought their new visitor was sexy as well.

  Blue eyes met Krista’s blue-gray and waited.

  “Krista,” she supplied.

  Blake quirked an eyebrow. “Which region are you from?”

  “L.A. You?”

  “New York. I saw you over here looking bored. Thought I might entertain you. I wondered how I got so lucky that you weren’t with the other admins…”

  Krista’s butt actually clenched. Possibly to keep her jaw from doing so. “I’m not part of their club.”

  “Oh? And which club would that be?”

  “The administrative club.”

  “Oh, so you’re the female manager out of Los Angeles that took Phil’s spot?” Blake was obviously surprised. He knew there was one, so what type of woman was he expecting? Older, perhaps? Manly, maybe?

  “That’s me.”

  “Huh. I heard she was a bitch.”

  Oh. Apparently Krista wasn’t wearing her bitch face. She might remedy that...

  “Relax,” Marcus breathed quietly. Blake’s eyes flashed.

  Krista didn’t need the reminder. Hot guys trying to get a rise out of her was as familiar as sexual harassment. She was on home turf. She also needed to stop meeting guys in bars.

  “Biggest bitch of the company, in the flesh,” she said, confidence purring under her words. “Most effective, as well. I don’t have a penis to get in the way of my decisions.”

  Blake smiled silkily at the jest and smiled. “A pleasure.”

  Krista’s sexy parts purred to match her voice.

  The chair moved to Krista’s side. On her other side, Marcus smiled.

  “Hi Blake, nice to see you,” Sean’s deep voice greeted pleasantly. There was a warning in that voice. Subtle, but powerful.

  “McAdams. How are you finding the job?” Blake didn’t sound pleased to see Sean.

  “It’s great. I’ve settled in nicely.”

  “Oh yeah? I heard it was a rough start.”

  “Changing things always is.”

  Blake looked at him in silence for a second, and then smiled as he turned his eyes back to Krista. “Krista, it was a pleasure. I’ll talk to you again. Enjoy your dinner.”

  Krista sighed as Blake glanced at Marcus and smoothly got up. She watched him walk over to a table across the floor holding one of the heavy hitters—a large statured man who had already proven to be in the upper tier of the many cliques. With him were three other serious-looking silver haired foxes. If ego was an air-freshener, that table would be polluting the whole place with its stench.

  Blake wasted no time checking out the clusters of young admins. The slut was joining the table of egos to learn a thing or two.

  I just might hate this place.

  “You’re drooling,” Marcus said with a laugh in his voice.

  “They are the region to beat,” Sean stated, his voice tight.

  “Blake didn’t seem to like you much,” Krista noted lightly as she buttered a piece of bread.

  “No. I got the job he wanted. Tory likes to promote from within and I was completely unheard of before I took the open position. Blake is the same level you are, but has been so for about five years. He thought he was due to move up. His boss did, too. Luckily for me, Tory didn’t.”

  “Hmm.” Krista was uninterested in business politics from a company that liked to ostracize women. Also, the pistons were firing in her groin and she needed to get laid. Badly.

  She felt Sean looking at her, noticing her desire. “He’s your type,” he said slowly and with some hesitation.

  Krista’s heart constricted before she realized his meaning. Her type. Dangerous. Her pistons sensed the thrill of danger. It was a bad sign.

  “Oh,” was all she said before the soup came.

  The dinner passed uneventfully. Food was adequate. Sean basically ignored her in his quest to chat up everyone else. Marcus, likewise. Krista had yet to see Phil, but apparently he had settled in quickly. He had already made improvements and his people loved him. Krista was happy for him.

  She glanced at Blake a few times, and couldn’t help but notice he was regularly glancing back. She needed to stay away from him, yes. She knew that. She couldn’t trust herself around him and it would be career suicide to sleep with him. But she could look. He was hot.

  Plus, her wine was boring to look at. It never changed facial expressions. Although, it was definitely talking to her. And if she wasn’t careful, later it might talk through her.

  When dessert came, Sean rigidly said goodnight as he left for his room, probably worried she would go try to find Blake and wanting to get out of there so he wouldn’t see it, and then Marcus escorted her to her room so she could do no such thing. She felt like a prisoner between the two of them. She might have a soft spot for hot, confident a-holes, but it’s not like she’d act on it! Wasn’t it she who said Sean needed to stop peeing in the company pool? Well, Blake was that chemical that turned a person’s pee bright red so everyone would see it. Krista knew not to go there.

  But a girl could look for heaven’s sake! Marcus of all people should know that!

  The next morning Krista dressed in a plain black suit and was told to march straight back into her closet and get the suit the tailor in San Francisco made. Krista thought it was too dressy, but she was loudly outvoted.

  In retaliation, Krista told Marcus to march back into his own closet, and stay there.

  Marcus didn’t know whether to think that insulting, hilarious, or worth using on someone else. He settled with a stern, “Just hurry up.”

  Sean showed up in a similar suit. He walked into the room and leaned against the bathroom door as Krista did her makeup. It was as far as he’d ever come into their room. Krista had a feeling Janice was hovering close by, monitoring for no hanky-panky in the girls’ dorms.

  “Geegee,” Sean said, all business, “Good, I’m glad to see you wearing a suit. I instructed the other guys to dress well, too. I want to make an impression.”

  “What will everyone else be wearing?”

  “The admins will wear business casual and
most of the managers will wear shirts and ties. VPs will all be in suits, as will the more serious managers. After lunch we’ll all dress down, I believe. That’s when the games start.”

  “The games?”

  “Team building. That’s where the competitions start.”

  “Sean, why am I the only female manager?” Krista asked, her vulnerability peeping through.

  Sean’s eyes softened and he straightened up. For a second, he wavered between stepping closer and staying put.

  He stepped closer and put his hand on Krista’s shoulder. “I guess there haven’t been many women that could step up to the plate.”

  Krista shook her head, leaning into his touch. “It sucks. It’s discouraging.”

  “But look, where there’s one, there are bound to be more, right? Someday you’ll be a VP, and I’m sure you’ll steal Kate and Jasmine from me to be your managers.”

  “I guess.”

  He rubbed her back, wanting to step closer again, but this time refraining. She wasn’t sure if she was sad about it, or relieved.

  “Hang in there, okay? Soon you’ll make your mark. I’m sure of it.”

  She now wished he did take that step. That he did get a little closer. She was in turmoil and lonely. She didn’t belong in this world, but was too stubborn to back down. She could have used the increased contact. Instead, she fell back into her haze of depression, finished up, got her computer, and headed toward the door. She noticed he wasn’t following.

  “You coming?”

  Sean had a moment of indecision. Then said, “No, I need to speak to Janice before we head down.”

  “Is Marcus coming, do you know?”

  “I think he went down early to mingle.”

  She would have to brave it alone. Not only was she the only female manager, which no one would talk to, but not even her own region wanted to hang out with her. She had an uphill climb, and she had to do it without support of any kind. This weekend just kept getting worse.