“And he isn’t?” Judy interrupted indignantly, starting to walk again. She now had a lot of work to do, thanks to that young workaholic. It was too bad she was sweet in a sarcastic kind of way because Judy would love to hate her.
“My darling, you seem stressed. I am not sure if you noticed, but Mr. Boss wasn’t expecting so much work out of that darling nerd. Yes, you should probably work a teensy-bit harder, but there is no reason to trot back to your desk.”
Judy just shook her head.
“Anyway, as I was saying. That young stud has his head so far up Geek Girl’s skirt he has truly lost his way. I absolutely love watching it!”
“You think so? I didn’t notice anything.”
“You didn’t see him going three shades of red every time he looked at her?”
“Oh God, Marcus, you want to gossip so badly you make it up. I swear.” Judy walked quickly back to her desk, intent on emailing Krista immediately so as to start fiddling with Marcus’s ideas. She didn’t care what Marcus said, she needed to get her stuff in gear if she wanted to stay on this presentation.
Chapter Fifteen
Krista waited as Ray gathered up all the information.
When everyone was gone and the door closed, Sean said, “That took you a month?”
“Um. Yes?” she said in a small voice. And then she started babbling. She couldn’t help it.
“I’m sorry, you just had so much on your list. It was a lot—you know?—and if I didn’t organize it and categorize it then no one would’ve been able to make heads or tails of it. Plus, there is so much information—smaller parts of the larger—that I had to make sure it was kept together or it would have been lost. And I thought you wanted everything I could find so I did the work catalog stuff, but then the library stuff to give it more body, you know? And I hadn’t seen you so I just moved on after...”
Krista, shut up already!!
But she couldn’t. Her mouth wouldn’t shut off. “I mean, I probably should have checked in, I know that. If I had more experience I would have. That is my bad. You live, you learn, you know? And I’ve learned. But I thought I should just forge ahead. And Marcus really is a genius when I have a clue how to work with his stuff, so I just…um, but, I can go any direction you want. I can—“
“Krista,” Sean said to stop her tirade. He had a smile on his face, but still an unreadable eye stare going. “It appears you think me disappointed in your work?”
Krista shot a harried look at Ray, meeting an encouraging smile. Back to Sean’s stare. “Um...uh...what?”
Sean leaned back and grabbed a book with Marcus’s ideas. “Genius. Unbelievable. All of this. This is more information than I have ever had to work with. Ever. I looked at the table of contents. Everything I can possibly think of is in here, plus some I’d missed.”
“Well…yeah. That’s what you asked for. Isn’t it?”
Sean switched his stare to Ray across the table then shook his head in disbelief. “I’m not your boss. I’m not even liked by your boss. I didn’t expect to be followed to the letter.”
“Oh. I thought you were my acting boss for this?”
“Sean expected you to do the minimum on each bullet point, and then he would tell you where to research further,” Ray said to explain.
“Oh. Should I have done that? I thought about that when you called the meeting. I should have checked up—got clarification. Or asked for deadlines.”
“No, you dumb-ass. You’re not in trouble.” Sean laughed. He sounded like the guy she had lunch with. Easy and friendly.
“Oh?” She perked up. “Well why didn’t you say so? But it is a bit of overkill, though, huh?”
“Yes. Very much. Which is exactly what we need.” Sean’s eyes fell to the books, littering the table top. “And who did you get to help you with Marcus’s ideas? I have often heard him shoot out some great stuff, but we could never get anything from Research to help us. We usually just had to try it blindly. It usually works. Almost always, actually. But it is always a risk.”
“Yeah, I can see how Research failed to figure out what he was talking about. I have a friend who helped.”
“Your roommate?”
“Yeah.”
“When can I meet him?” Sean was leaning forward in predatory mode.
“He has a job. And he goes to school.”
“When can I meet him?”
“Let’s get the account first, and then we’ll talk.”
Sean just smiled and shook his head. “You can’t protect him forever.”
“Oh yes, I can. He needs it.”
“What do you bribe him with to help you?” Ray asked from across the room.
A glint game to Sean’s eye. He obviously hadn’t thought to take that route in questioning.
“I help him with his finances and he helps me with this or whatever I need. Or else one of us buys the other dinner.”
“Help with his finances? Money trouble?” Sean asked, leaning forward again.
“No, he makes a ton of money. He just has a problem with budgeting it. And paying bills is beyond him.”
“Hmmm,” Sean looked at Ray, forming a plan of the silent variety.
“Alright guys.” Krista stood up. Sean and Ray stood up with her. “Marcus told me I am going to drinks with him tonight. You all are welcome to come if you want.” She looked at Ray more than Sean. It felt weird inviting Sean for some reason.
“I guess the secret’s out,” Sean studied her with his clear gaze.
“I think it was out when Marcus found out Krista got an office and a raise,” Ray said, getting ready to heft the books into his arms.
“How did Marcus find out I got a raise? I didn’t even know that until I got my paycheck! And, what secret?”
Sean chuckled. “Marcus makes it is business to know the gossip around here. He must be friends with someone in payroll.”
“You as a viable team member secret,” Ray said with a kind-hearted smile.
“Ray, are you ever mean?”
“I leave that to my wife. Or Sean.” Ray laughed. “I remain the sugar, they remain the vinegar.”
“Huh. Anyway, I’m off.”
“Krista—“
Krista turned back at Sean’s voice, her face nearly bumping off his neck. She hadn’t realized he followed.
“Great work,” his voice was deep and quiet. “Really. It beats my expectations. You were a solid choice. John doubted my faith because you have no experience. I like being right. Thank you.” He gave her an adorable boyish smile that melted her heart.
“Oh, not a problem, Cap’n. That’s my job, after all.” She backed up, uneasy with the fire consuming her body. His musky scent was intoxicating her, his hard chest so close.
He continued to look down at her, inside of her, his lips a foot from hers. “Give my regards to Marcus, will you? I have to work late.”
“On a Friday? ‘All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.’” She quoted as she turned and left. She wasn’t about to talk him into it. She didn’t know how long she could stay good with the mood she was in.
~*~*~*~
Sean watched her go, the elegant sway of her h*ps inspiring a sheen of sweat on his brow. He thought back to when he first walked into the room. She’d been looking at him with a hunger he hadn’t seen from her before. It appeared she’d lost her nervousness.
Strangely, it also appeared he’d found it.
He had to admit that it wasn’t abnormal when a woman stared at him like he was naked, but it wasn’t often she had a wild magnetism behind her eyes that made him think she’d prey on him, and then rip him apart with her lust. It wasn’t often a woman would have him completely at her mercy.
Or that he wanted it that way.
He turned to Ray. “This account is going to sap all the time from my life, I can already see it. And we don’t even have an in yet. What amazes me is that Krista was terrified the whole time. She thought, without a doubt, that she didn’t do enough. It’s…she’s crazy. She must be.”
Ray sat in a chair with the first of Krista’s books in front of him. His eyes monitored Sean steadily as he said, “I owe you an apology.”
Sean, slightly taken aback, sat down opposite him. “What for? Did you date my sister at one time and never tell me about it?”
Ray didn’t smile at the jest. “I one-hundred-percent doubted you. I met the young—I met Krista, I worked with her presentation, I’ve seen some of her previous reporting, but I still believed the rumors the whole time. I thought she was on the team so you could get closer to her. I’m sorry.”
Sean had to consciously keep himself from fidgeting. He didn’t want to show how troubled he was. He didn’t even know why he was troubled in the first place! Ray had doubted him many times, sometimes so much so that he refused to follow Sean’s leadership. But this time…it seemed personal, somehow. It seemed like an attack on Sean’s vitals.
He shrugged it off. “You aren’t going to apologize for Marcus?”
Ray continued to gaze steadily at Sean for one more beat before he dropped his head to continue examining Krista’s work. “Nope,” he said, “Marcus requires constant attention to keep on track. He has great ideas, I will admit, but as far as a viable asset to this team, he is only as good as Krista makes him.”
“But look at how far he’s come in two short weeks. Since the day Krista met with him to go over his ideas, and actively started working with him, Marcus has turned on, has he not? He looks at the big picture more, he cares about the presentation, he is interested in new ideas—the man is transformed.”
Ray hesitated before he said, “He’s less slow, I’ll wager, but only where it concerns working with Krista. Everything else you’ve asked for has been half-assed. I’d call that waking up slightly, rather than transformed…”
“All I’m saying is that when he’s intrigued he is motivated. He will come a long way yet, you wait and see.”
Ray snorted. “Now you’re just being cocky.”
“He is high maintenance, though,” Sean conceded.
“He’s not the only one that’s high maintenance…”
Sean shifted uncomfortably. He knew where this was going.
“Monica.”
And then it did.
Sean stood and paced to the large window overlooking the bay. “She needs validation to do her best work. I told you that.”
“You didn’t tell me how low you were stooping to give her that validation…”
“It’s not stooping. It’s par for the course with this company.”
“Maybe when you were twenty and didn’t know any better. Or when there weren’t any better options to focus your attentions…”
“What other option is better for my focus than this mammoth account? My sole motivation is landing this account. She is integral to that. If I dangle the bait, she’ll do anything I ask, whenever I ask it. It’s not pretty, but it’s a means to an end.”
Ray’s fabric rustled in the quiet room. “I don’t agree. I don’t think selling your soul is necessary to keep that woman on the hook. I think you are just stroking your ego, and I also think it will come back to bite you. In more ways than one.”
Sean blew out a breath as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I will make sure to keep it going until we have the account. After that it doesn’t matter. She’ll get over it.”
“Who will? Monica, or the bright young woman who lets you be yourself?”
Sean turned back in confusion, “What are you talking about?
Ray shrugged, flicking pages. “How many double dates have we been on?”
“Wha—double dates? What does that have to do with anything?”
Ray closed the book and swiveled his seat toward Sean. He had a grave look. A worried look. “How many double dates?”
Sean shook his head in frustration. He wanted to hash out this account, not talk about his failed attempts at dating. Finally, seeing that Ray was digging in his heels, he said simply, “Lots.”
“Yes. A lot. I’ve seen you with a lot of women. I’ve seen you with women you thought you really liked, with those you were using, much like Monica. Through every one of them, you had a false bravado. None of them so much as got you to stay interested for more than a night. None of them, not one, ever had you flustered.”
Sean put his hands on his h*ps much like Ray’s wife Mary when she was tired of waiting for him to make a point. Sean must have learned it from her. “Yes, I’m not great in a lasting thing. Mary’s berated me enough for the both of you. What’s your point?”
“I’ve never seen you blush. Not once. Not even when you’re teased. Your ego won’t allow embarrassment.”
“I am embarrassed plenty, I can assure you.”
“Maybe, but not enough to show it. Until now.”
“Despite your weird attempt at seduction, Ray, I am not embarrassed at present.”
“Not at present, no. But I saw you blush twice today. From just a look. From just a meeting of eyes.”
Suddenly Sean knew exactly where this was going, and he was more uncomfortable now than when they were talking about Monica.
“See? You’re blushing again. You must know who I’m talking about.”
“I think I’ve lost the plot,” Sean muttered, turning back to the window. He heard Ray turn around, also.