Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)

Growing Pains, Book
2

Website:
http://kfbreene.com/

Blog:
www.kfbreene.org

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/authorKF

Twitter: @KFBreene

Smashwords Edition:
September 2013

Copyright © 2013 by
K.F. Breene

Other Titles by K.F.
Breene

Skyline Series
(Contemporary Romance)

Building Trouble, Book
1

Uneven Foundation, Book
2

Solid Ground, Book
3

Jessica
Brodie Diaries (Contemporary Romance)

Back in the Saddle,
Book 1 – FREE

Hanging On, Book 2

A Wild Ride, Book 3

Growing Pains
(Contemporary Romance)

Lost and Found, Book 1
- FREE

Overcoming Fear, Book
2

Butterflies in Honey,
Book 3

Darkness
Series (Paranormal Romance)

Into the Darkness,
Novella 1 - FREE

Braving the Elements,
Novella 2

On a Razor’s Edge,
Novella 3

Demons, Novella 4

“True love doesn’t happen right away; it’s an
ever-growing process. It develops after you’ve gone through many
ups and downs, when you’ve suffered together, cried together,
laughed together.”

--Ricardo Montalban

Overcoming Fear

Prologue

“Krista, we meet again.”

Krista looked up from a book as she crossed
the parking lot, spying the speaker immediately. It was hard not
to, eyes found him whether they’d intended to or not. Jim was
six-foot-four and built like a football player, standing with
complete confidence in his body, owning space like Elvis owned the
stage. Hulking shoulders stretched his shirts, his thick arms
corded with muscle hung loose at his sides.

“Hi, Jim,” she breathed, not stopping the
smile that was curling her lips.

When he’d walked across the bar to talk to
her the other night, she’d been the envy of every woman there. His
flashing eyes had caught and held her, marking her as his, and not
bothering to notice anyone else. He was dashing and handsome, and
had that bad boy flair in need of taming.

There wasn’t a woman out there who wouldn’t
raise her hand to the challenge.

“Can I walk you?” he asked cordially,
stepping to the side to allow her to pass.

“Sure,” her stupid face turned red as she
slowed her step, falling in line with him.

“I wondered why you didn’t call,” Jim said
easily, his rough voice smooth and silky, tugging at her groin.

She broke out in a nervous sweat, her stomach
flipping and turning in this handsome man’s proximity. “I
know—
sorry!
I haven’t had a chance. We’re in the middle of
finals and I have so much work to do! I was planning on calling you
tomorrow.”

“Hmmm. Well, in future, make time, huh? I
like talking to ya.”

Krista’s face got hot as she burst with
pride. A man like Jim wanting
her?
How the hell had she
pulled
that
lucky ticket?

“Kris, we’re—
oh
…” Kate stood in front
of the restaurant with her mouth wide open, staring at Jim. “Hi,
Jim!” she said with a breathy voice.

Jim smirked, seeing the look. “Hello, Kate.
How are you?”

“G-good,” Kate gulped and nodded.

Jim turned to Krista with his back to Kate,
bending down to catch her eye. “Alright, call me. It’s not a
request.” He gave her a tantalizing stare filled with heat,
capturing and claiming her spirit.

Tingles crawled up Krista’s legs as wetness
burst into her panties. He winked, then left.

Krista watched him walk away with stars in
her eyes, his powerful body moving along the sidewalk with
grace.

“You are one lucky bitch, Krista Marshall!”
Kate said in awe. “That man is too hot for his own good.”

“I know!” Krista gushed, fanning her face.
“And he went out of his way to talk and make sure I called!”

Kate shook her head. “Lucky fucking bitch
indeed.”

Chapter One

Krista sat in Sean’s office, turbulent with
the emotions she was trying to suppress. She was wanting to keep
her distance, stay firmly in the friend zone, but having a problem
with the resolution. He had just asked her if they were okay;
loaded question.

He was just too much fun, smart, charming and
personable. She didn’t even care about his startling good looks
anymore. She was beyond that. She was beyond external beauty and
body.

In theory, anyway. It wasn’t like she was a
saint or anything, and he
was
HOT.

Sean sat at his desk, looking at her,
wondering if they were still okay after what happened at the
winery. After she allowed him to feel up her thigh. After leaning
in, desperate for him to kiss her.

After he chose Monica over her and had just
walked away.

Yeah, they were good in a work setting, but
everything else needed to stay…somewhere else.

“Good,” he said, “I like working with you. I
didn’t want anything to get in the way.”

“Ditto. These things happen. No big deal.
Now, stop getting all sappy on me.”

He smirked, the corners of his lips tugging
upward to give more smile, but he resisted.

She needed to get out of the room. It was
too small all of a sudden. Too hot. His musty scent too powerful.
Her limbs too weak. Stuff was all messed up in her head.

As she got up to leave, however, he said,
“Ray is having a barbecue on Saturday.” Sean was looking at her
thoughtfully. “He lives in the East Bay. I wondered if you would
come, and bring your friends so I can meet them? No promises, but
if they are any good maybe we can work something out with them
rather than hiring unknowns.”

After landing the huge account Krista, Sean
and their team had been working on, they needed more bodies to do
the task. With the rest of Krista’s Research cronies being lazy and
incompetent, Sean thought bringing on Kate and Jasmine, Krista’s
longtime friends and college buddies, would really benefit all. But
first, he had to get to know them, talk, since other than their
only other chance encounter at the pub a while back, he didn’t know
them other than what Krista had to say about them; which was all
good. .

“Uh…” Her brain went to her
calendar. “
Clear.
Oh wait, poop. I’m supposed to go to the Folsom Street
Fair.”

“You’re going to that?”

The way Sean said it made Krista tilt her
head. “Yeah, why?”

“Have you ever been?”

“No. Jasmine, or was it Kate? Well, they are
dragging me. They say there’s nothing like it.”

“They’re right. But that’s next weekend. I
think. I don’t keep track. But definitely not this weekend.”

“Oh. Well then, consider me there. What do I
bring?”

“Yourself. Your friends. Uh…your
boyfriend—Paul—if you want.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ll just bring
the girls.” She wanted to ask who he was bringing. Monica? Or
someone else? Hopefully not someone from the company—she was sick
of watching him overlook her.

Even though she shouldn’t have been. He was
a womanizer and most definitely off-limits. Still …

He nodded. She nodded. Suddenly, things were
awkward. She was about to step from professional to personal with
Sean. She sincerely hoped her friends were on their best behavior.
She also sincerely hoped she didn’t mess up and accidentally unzip
his delicious fitting jeans!

~*~*~*~

Sean watched Krista go.
He’d just taken the plunge. He shouldn’t have. He knew that.
But…
screw it.

He picked up the phone.

“Sean.” Ray, his good friend and now
co-worker, waited patiently on the other end.

“Hey. Listen, thought you should know—I
invited Krista to your barbecue on Saturday. And her friends. I
want you to meet them.”

There was silence. Sean sat with his eyes
scrunched up, awaiting judgment.

“Did you invite anyone else from the team?”
Ray finally asked.

“No.”

Another pause.

“Is this wise?” Ray asked slowly.

Sean sighed. Then laughed to himself.

“What’s funny?” Ray asked, wary.

“I just had the thought that on Saturday I
might sigh in front of Jasmine and see if she’ll Thump Bird
me.”

“Thump
Bird? What?”

“Never mind. Look, I don’t know if it’s
wise, okay? But I want her. Something fierce. I want to invite her
to a social thing with my friends and her friends and see what
happens. See if outside of work she is just as irresistible as
inside. See if she feels the same. If it’s burgers you’re worried
about, I’ll bring more.”

“You know it’s not burgers that bothers me,
Sean. We are so close to a huge career boost with this
account.”

“We’ll close that gap with Tory. As a team.
This weekend won’t mess that up. I won’t be able to beguile her—not
with her friends looking over her shoulder, and not with Ben’s
soft-spoken judgment. I’ve already talked to him and he’s
going—he’s agreed not to mention it to Krista unless she mentions
it first.”

“Sabotaging her friends? That’s a new one
for you.”

Ray sounded disapproving. He thought Sean
was trying for a ploy, trying new ways to get her into bed. It was
true, but not in the way he thought. He wanted her for more than a
night. He didn’t care if it was breaking the mold on his normal
routine, he was curious and he just had to know. He wanted to know
her better.

“Her friends are her chastity belt,” Sean
answered, pushing commitment worries out of his brain. “They trust
me less than she does. Ray, this isn’t like that. I’ll be under
your nose the whole time. If I am not 100% genuine, you have my
permission to tell Mary, and have Krista escorted from the
premises. You can give her a tour of all my past failures.”

Another long pause. Then, “Sean, you know
that generally I trust your decisions 95% of the time. I have
always believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself.
But this…she’s different. There’s a real change in you around her.
A good change. I truly believe that you do feel something. The
problem is that you’ll go in with guns blazing, get her hooked, and
then run out just as fast. You’re playing for keeps in this one,
and you are never the one that gets hurt.”

Sean hung his head. “I
know. I know all that. But…Ray,
Christ—
I can’t get her out of my
head. I
can’t
. I
haven’t told you a few things that happened between us,
but…
I’m
hooked,
okay? I’m hooked and I just want to see. I want to see if her
friends would mesh with my friends. If she would be comfortable
with my people. That’s all. It’s not a date—I didn’t even sell it
as a date. I sold it like a work function. I just…I need to
see.”

“Did you talk to Cassie?”

Cassie was Sean’s younger sister. His other
brain. His walking stick some of the time. All big decisions went
through Cassie or Ray. This time, both.

“It was her idea.”

Yet another long pause. Ray was not
comfortable with this.

“Do you not like her?” Sean asked, suddenly
uneasy.

“Of course I like her, Sean. You know that,”
Ray said testily. “Somehow she is the uncommon glue that brings
this whole team together. Everything is starting to revolve around
her. Even the art people—even Judy. Everyone is looking to her
because she’s setting the standard, and it’s a damn high standard.
She charmed me seconds after I met her even though I didn’t believe
in her work yet. Tory only took us on because of her brain power,
ambition, and trust in you. Liking her isn’t the issue. Or maybe it
is, because I’m worried about what’ll become of her when you lock
in your sights and then walk away like you always do. I don’t want
to see her crumble. I don’t think she deserves it.”

The ball dropped. It was Sean’s turn for
silence. He didn’t realize Ray was not on his side in this. It was
a first. It was yet another disconcerting issue where Krista was
concerned.

“I don’t know what to say, Ray,” Sean
finally said. “I invited her. I want you to meet her friends—for
work purposes. I want Mary to meet Krista. That’s about the gist of
it.”

Ray sighed, “Well, I won’t let you lead that
young lady around by the nose, Sean, whatever you might think. Even
though she’s well able to look after herself, I won’t let you lead
her on. I thought you should know. Other than that, I don’t mind
the extra company on Saturday.”