Breene, K F - Growing Pains 01 (24 page)

Sean looked down at her shoes. “Are
they worth it?”

“Yes, when a fool doesn’t make me
climb stairs or walk around the company all day.”

“A fool, huh?” Sean asked,
chuckling.

“Uh oh, someone who doesn’t pander
to the young stud. What will his ego do now?” Marcus leaned against the wall,
watching the scene with interest.

“You never told me,” Sean said,
ignoring Marcus. “What were you two doing falling into the elevator?”

“Just, uh…”

“Running from Jacob,” Marcus
supplied, looking at his nails.

“Jacob? Why?” Sean’s voice got
suspicious.

“He was in my office,” Krista
admitted. “I didn’t feel like talking to him so I thought I’d wait him out.”

“What was Jacob doing waiting in
your office when you weren’t there?”

“Loitering? I don’t know. I didn’t
want to find out.”

“Does he visit you often?”

Marcus looked from his nails, eyes
finding Sean’s face.

“Not often, no.” Krista grimaced as
her heel got a hot spot, a blister forming. “Just to ask me out on occasion.”

“To ask you out? And you’ve said…”

Marcus’s brow knit as he continued
to study Sean.

“I’ve said I had a boyfriend,”
Krista replied slowly, uncertain where this round of questioning was going.

“A boyfriend? And do you?”

Krista felt the weight of the
stare. Also that Sean had slowed their climb to nearly not moving at all. “Um,
kinda?”

“You’re not sure?”

A wicked smile crept up Marcus’s
face as he honed in on Sean.

Unused to the third degree from
anyone but Kate and Jasmine, Krista got anxious. “Uhhhmmm…no—well, yes. I don’t
know. I’ve been seeing him. Paul. I’ve mentioned Paul before…”

“You’re still seeing Paul?” Sean
cut in, stopped now, his body facing her.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you say you were bored?”

“Urrmm…well…I’m still getting to
know him. I just…have issues...” The man was sounding like Kate when Krista was
being grilled about Sean. She wasn’t sure what the hell Sean wanted. Why did it
matter who she saw? And why was he asking in front of Marcus, who was all but
taking notes?

“You are trying to like a guy that
you currently don’t so you, what? Get good Samaritan points?” Sean demanded. He
stared at her, emotions warring on his face, none of them readable. Before
Krista could say anything, he shook his head and said, “Forget it. C’mon.”

He turned his back to her and
lowered, reaching back with his hands.

“What—why?”

“What just happened?” Marcus asked,
looking back and forth between the two of them like the TV was switched off by
a ghost.

“Get on. I’ll give you a piggy
back,” Sean explained casually.

Marcus’s smile turned back into a
puzzled expression, his head tilting at Sean’s sporadic behavior.

“I’m in a skirt, I’m not—“

“Get on. I’m losing my patience,”
Sean said quietly.

“I can’t believe I am doing this in
a skirt,” Krista uttered, climbing on to Sean’s broad back.

“I wish I had my phone on me,”
Marcus whispered excitedly, “I need a picture of this.”

“Shut up, Marcus,” Krista muttered,
hiking up her skirt to get her legs around Sean’s middle.

“I know about Mike at the Christmas
party, Marcus,” Sean said casually, looping his arms around Krista’s thighs.
“If you tell this story, I’ll tell that one.”

“You know about…” Marcus fell
silent, suddenly less relaxed than Krista had ever seen him. He turned away
from the other two and continued climbing. “This would have been good, too. I
really wanted to see Monica’s face.”

It was a pleasant climb. While
Marcus was quietly contemplating whatever secret Sean knew, Krista was
breathing in Sean’s scent, squeezing him with her legs, feeling his muscles
bunch and extend beneath her. She nearly rested her head on his shoulder and
tucked her face into his neck. It would have been great to lightly tickle his
neck with her breath, give him a gentle brush with her tongue before she nipped
him. She’d love to see what he did. Love to see if he lost control. She wanted
to feel the body under this jacket, currently rubbing her crotch through her
thin panties. She wanted to know if he’d become aroused—if he’d treat her like
all his other girls, or slow down for her. Focus more on her pleasure than his
own.

She was lost in her fantasy. Lost
in the thoughts of tasting his skin. In seeing if that taste was as great as
its accompanying smell.

And then to her horror…she did!

While her mind was thoroughly in
the clouds, she bent her face and ever so lightly trailed her wet lips across
the base of his soft neck. She felt his arms flex around her legs, his biceps
hardening around her parted thighs. She tightened her hold too, lost to it, lost
to the sensation of what she was feeling in that moment, completely unaware of
everything else around her. She opened her mouth and trailed her tongue up his
neck, making his body go slightly rigid…then followed through with nipping him
lightly.

Sean took a deep inhalation of
breath and stopped dead. It was what finally woke Krista up from her erotic
dream.

“Oh holy f**k!” She nearly threw up
with what she’d just done. What the God-damned hell is happening to me?
I-am-losing-my-mind!!

Marcus was turning around, just
about to open the door that would let them out onto the floor. Sean, still
frozen, would not let go of her legs. Marcus’s confused eyes hit Sean’s face,
of which Krista couldn’t see, then knit in another confused furrow.

“What’s a’matter?” Marcus asked
Sean.

“Let me down, Sean,” Krista said,
scrambling, trying to break his hold on her legs.

Sean, so God-damned turned on his
c**k felt like it was ready to explode, couldn’t move. If he did, he would back
her up against the wall so fast no one could stop him, and ram himself into her
with everything he had. He needed to plunge so deeply inside of her he reached
the center of her being, then thrust and thrust until the world went black. If
he let go right now, his control would follow immediately after.

“Sean, c’mon!” Krista struggled
behind him, her apex grinding into his back.

Sean clenched his whole body. In a
voice thick with need and tight with strain, he said, “Marcus, help her away,
please.”

Marcus recognized that look. He was
a man after all. He was also a man who knew other men at the height of arousal.
He knew exactly what was going on, but Sean couldn’t worry about that right
now.

“Okay, yeah…” Krista clattered to
the wall, the sound of her heels against the concrete echoing through the
hallway. She swiped her hair out of her face and raised her chin, trying for
some decorum. She wiped her forehead of sweat. “That’s—we—I’m…” Krista gave a
thumbs-up, then scoffed at herself. “I’ll go brave Jacob now, if that’s okay…”

Shaking her head, she crossed in
front of the other two with her head bowed. When she was through the door
Marcus stepped up to Sean with a sinful smile.

“Having difficulty, there, ‘ol
boy?” Marcus clapped Sean on the back.

Sean put his hands on his h*ps and
let out a breath in a whoosh.

“What happened?” Marcus pushed.

Sean shook his head and looked at
the door Krista had just walked through. “She caught me off guard.”

“With what? How?”

Sean looked at Marcus, waiting
expectantly with an excited grin, and was extremely thankful he had dirt on the
guy. “Never mind. Let’s go save her from Jacob. We’ve wasted a lot of time and
I still have a million things to get through before day’s end.”

As Sean stepped through the door,
his body taut and flexed, he spied Krista halfway to her office and rushed to
catch up. He couldn’t bat down a strange anxiety pinging through his body. A
surge of adrenaline pumped his blood, forcing his breath out in fast pants.

He didn’t want another man touching
her. It was a first. He’d always thought his complete lack of jealousy was one
of his greatest flaws. When a girl revealed she was dating more than just him,
he’d usually shrugged, completely unaffected. Rarely he’d believe it was true,
and when he did, he’d assumed it was to make her seem more desirable; the
carrot to the donkey. It never worked, although he always appreciated the
excuse to end the acquaintance.

Not so, now. As Krista hurried
toward a room Sean had set aside for her, invaded by another male, something
primal in Sean opened up and blossomed out, consuming him. Filling every inch
of his sizable frame with purpose he felt raw and invigorated, as if a pure
shot of testosterone boosted his strength and prowess, making him feel more
powerful. If he didn’t feel like such a man, he’d be worried about the reason
behind this sudden rush.

“Krista, wait,” Sean instructed as
he drew near, Marcus following along behind.

Krista stopped, bowed in on
herself, embarrassed at her behavior. She needn’t have been, but Sean couldn’t
deal with that now.

He stepped in front of Krista into
the room, blocking her from view, eyes finding, then sticking, to Jacob,
currently sitting in a visitor chair with a notepad resting on his lap,
“Jacob.”

Startled, Jacob looked up with wide
eyes.

“Why are you sitting, unattended,
in someone else’s office?”

The color drained from Jacob’s face
before indignation rushed in. Jacob’s chin tilted upwards. “That isn’t any of
your business, McAdams.”

Sean took two more steps into the
room, now further in than Jacob. “Despite the fact that it is rude and
unprofessional, as someone in your position should know, this office belongs to
one of my team members, who is working on a sensitive project. You shouldn’t be
in here, especially unattended.”

“I’m here on business,” Jacob said
brusquely, defending his position with a puffed up chest.

“Ooo, he’s going for the showdown.
Risky,” Marcus whispered in a hurried hush.

Sean ignored Marcus, though he
couldn’t help but notice Jacob flinch. They both knew Marcus was right.

“What business?” Sean asked,
stepping closer to Krista’s chair.

Jacob’s face hardened by Sean
trying to claim the space, “I am checking out her equipment. Making sure it is
satisfactory.”

“You could have left a message or
sent an email. Even so, being that you were sitting in the chair, you’ve
finished your analysis, I presume?”

Jacob stared in defiance.

“Well, then,” Sean continued, “I
assume that means you have no reason to be loitering in her office?”

“I also planned to warn her about
her email use.”

Krista’s face lost its color. Her
lush lips slimmed down into a thin line as her body imploded, the strength of
her character sapping at the threat. Her eyes sunk to the ground, waiting for
punishment from a clown acting like nothing more than a bully.

An urge to bodily throw Jacob from
the room came over Sean in a wave. Like it did when he’d realized Krista had
been abused in the past, something awoke. Something violent. Those witnessing
saw a new light shining in his eyes. Something wild. Something disturbed and unruly.

Jacob unconsciously took a step
back.

“Who do you report to? Chris, isn’t
it?” Sean asked in the smooth tones of a predator. Marcus faintly gasped.

Jacob brought himself to his full
height. “Just doing my job,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Nothing you can
do about that, despite your threats.”

“No?” Sean asked quietly.

“They’re throwing down!” Marcus
whispered excitedly into Krista’s ear. “Going for a power play to see who rates
over the other. They’ve wanted to do this forever, but never had a good enough
reason. You are gossip gold, girlie.”

Jacob stared at Sean, suddenly
faltering on confidence. He turned to Krista. “Sorry Krista,” he said, in a
tone that did not sound sorry in the least. “Personal email is a warning for
your file. If it doesn’t stop you may be terminated. I’m going to have to write
you up.”

Krista gasped.

“You will address the complaint, as
is standard for your department, and I will take up the matter,” Sean said,
slowly sauntering to Krista’s side. He wanted to put his arm around her so
badly he had to put it in his pocket to keep it at bay. “You will then be shut
out of reviewing the emails or web content of everyone on my team.”

“Is that so, McAdams? On whose
authority? Yours?”

“If I don’t get you fired first.
Now please leave. You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

Jacob huffed as he left the room,
confidence restored at the firing threat. He didn’t think Sean could do it, a
mistake he wouldn’t realize until he was packing his desk.

“I should have handled that
myself,” Krista said in a small voice.

The power play had shaken her.

“Do you have reason to believe he
is reading your emails?” Sean asked, bending to catch her eye.

“I told Kate yesterday that I was
having second thoughts about Paul. He shows up today. In the past he has only
shown up to ask me out. You do the math.”

“Have you ever mentioned anything
in emails about our project?”

“To me, all the time,” Marcus
chimed in gleefully, mentally taking notes on the conversation, adding it to
the story in progress.

“To Ben, getting help on format, to
Kate and Jasmine about a couple of statistical issues. There was never anything
in there about the client’s name or anything. It was just numbers or colors.
Ben or the girls wouldn’t know anything beyond that.”

Sean nodded, thinking. He turned to
Marcus. “Get some gossip. Find out who else Jacob has been spying on. Get some
proof if you can.”

“I can talk about this?” Marcus
asked with one foot theoretically out of the office, ready to sprint down the
hall and find the first ear he could.

“Go crazy. This though…” Sean held
up a finger. “Not anything else.”

Marcus’s face lit up. “This is so
much better than anything else!”

And he was gone.

“You didn’t need to do that, Sean,”
Krista said uncomfortably.

“That wasn’t really about you,
Krista,” Sean replied sincerely, trying to catch her eye again. Embarrassment
was covering her like a blanket.

“Him and I—you were just the
catalyst. I’ve wanted to get him fired for years. Now I get the green light to
try. You, unfortunately, were just the modem.”

“Okay,” Krista deflated. “I need to
get to work.”

“You won’t get written up, Krista.
None of his grudge matches ever do.” Sean reached to put his hand on her arm,
but resisted at the last second, landing limp at his side. He worried she’d
flinch again, or worse, that tears would spring up.

“I need to get to work,” Krista
said again, still avoiding his eyes.

Sean sincerely hoped it was the
thing with Jacob that caused her face to point at the floor, otherwise he
didn’t get it. The woman licked him, for God sakes. How could she go back to
acting like she didn’t want him?

Although, maybe she’d thought he
rejected her. He had gone still. Not even a playful remark. Certainly no
encouragement. Maybe she felt she’d stepped over the line and no one was there
to catch her. Or play with her.

Sean closed his eyes, ignoring
those who said hi to him. Oh holy God, he would love to play with her. With his
tongue. Until she was writhing, tangled in his sheets, begging to come.

He slipped into the bathroom to
hide his hard-on. He had on boxers and slacks. Not a winning combo in this
situation. He needed to start wearing boxer-briefs when she was around.

When he finally got back to his
desk, something occurred to him. Two seconds after the bite, after she’d softly
moaned and stroked his chest while breathing on the wet skin from her lick,
she’d jerked and swore. Like she hadn’t meant to do it, but did it anyway. Like
she’d lost control there for a minute.

Which meant…she liked him. She
liked him, but didn’t want him. She felt it, but didn’t want to give in to it
because of his reputation. A reputation she was convinced he deserved.

How do you compete against your
other, more experienced half and win?

With a girl like her, friendship
was the pits. It was like being in a race car and slowing down for a yellow
light. It wasn’t his style.

Game on.

An hour and a half later, Sean saw
a pair of troubled blue-gray eyes looking at him from over a packet of paper.

“Done already?” Sean asked,
surprised.

Krista stayed in the doorway. She
still looked extremely embarrassed. He tried to keep the smile from his face.
“Passable, right?”

“Right. Come in.”

She hesitated.

“Are you expecting me to go to
you?” Sean laughed, trying to get Krista comfortable again. It was a little
disconcerting how seriously she was taking that physical slip-up. It didn’t
bode well for Sean’s chances in getting her to go out with him.

“No, of course not.” Krista
gingerly entered the office.

“I don’t bite,” he said without
thinking.

Her face flushed a furious shade of
red. Sean immediately reached for the paperwork to try and hide the moment. He
couldn’t stand up too far, though—not without a barrel to hide his once again
raging hard-on.

Krista nearly threw the packet at
him and backed up toward the door. “I put it together the best I could,” she
said quickly. “But Ben will probably change it.”

Sean looked through her materials.
It was nearly ready to go as it was. “Did you put in different images?”

Krista nodded, looking out at the
hall. “Now that I have access to the art database I can look for images that go
better. Art and Research need to communicate more often or all the
presentations will continue to be disjointed.”

“Fat chance.”

Krista shrugged.

“Okay, let’s get going. Do we need
to call Ben before we leave?”

“You want me to go?” Krista’s face
drained of color again. She didn’t want to be alone in close proximity with
him. She probably felt she owed him an explanation. She wasn’t aware that he
didn’t need it.

“I think that would be best, don’t
you?” Sean asked casually, leaning back and putting the packet on his desk. “I
don’t know where you live and I’ve never met your roommate.”

Krista sighed. “I guess. When?”

“Now-ish?”

“Okay.”

Sean moved from around his desk,
closed and locked his office door, and then he was ready to go. They took the
elevator down to the basement level parking garage.

“You pay for parking?” Krista
asked, surveying all the fancy cars.

“No. Perks of making the company
money.”

Sean led her around a candy-apple
red Corvette to his BMW.

“Who does the Corvette belong to?”
Krista asked as she eyed the shiny sports car.

“One guess.”

“John.”

“Correct.” He opened her door and
waited until she was comfortably inside before closing it softly.

“Where are your driving gloves?”
Krista asked after Sean climbed into the driver’s seat.

Sean reached over her bare knees,
making her flinch back slightly, as he popped the glove compartment open.

“Shut up,” Krista peered in the
little cubby, trying to find the driving gloves he alluded to.

“What must you think of me?” Sean laughed,
flicking the glove compartment shut. “Of course I don’t have driving gloves!
Who am I, John?”

“He has’em, though, doesn’t he?”

“He does. Black leather ones. He
wears them when he drives fast on the freeway or windy roads, supposedly. I’ve
never seen it myself.”