Add that to the fact that she would have to deal with Sean more, and the attraction, and the constant desire to smile and then strip—she wasn’t sure she made the wisest decision. She could not afford to unravel. She was supposed to be growing up, getting stronger, and really coming into her own. With that clown around all the time, she would find life a constant struggle.
She, again, wished fervently for an easy life. Was that so hard?
~*~*~*~
On the other side of the table, Sean saw Krista sullenly listening to Ray go over the information she came up with in barely contained resentment. He shouldn’t be doing it--Ray had warned him against it--but Sean needed to test her a little. He wanted to see how she would handle Ray giving her presentation. He also wanted to keep her a mystery. So far the rest of the company, including Ray and John, thought he’d picked the new Researcher because of her looks. They thought Sean wanted an excuse to work her into his bed.
And yes, that thought had crossed his mind. But this decision was solely based on what he knew she was capable of. He would let people talk now, because it would make Krista look better when they had to eat their words. And Sean was positive they would. Ray, an experienced salesman, and even after having practiced the presentation a few times, was still stumbling over some of her information.
She was also looking good today; professional. Ray must have been right about the state of her yesterday. She’d felt she’d bit off more than she could chew. Today, though, she was fresh, well dressed, and eager to prove herself. It was what Sean needed.
Next thing he needed was to get her to trust him. They would have a hard time working together if she didn’t want to be in the same room.
Chapter Eight
When Ray was through doing a hack job on Krista’s material, Sean told everyone they’d receive further information the following day via email. They were dismissed.
“Krista, stay behind, please,” Sean said as everyone else headed toward the door. Monica looked at her with daggers in her eyes.
Krista turned back to Sean, who was still sitting in his chair. He was leaning back, his arms folded over his chest, his biceps bulging in the confinement of his jacket.
“Sit, please.” Long shadows from the afternoon sun played across Sean’s strong features, glinting across his eyes. He had a bemused expression that gave Krista the feeling he was toying with her.
She just didn’t know why. Or how. Or what to do to get the upper hand.
Krista organized everything in front of her, still disheartened by the meeting, in an attempt to avoid Sean’s eye contact. She needed to find the best way to tell him she’d made a mistake—this group wasn’t for her.
When she had nothing left to move around, and he still hadn’t said a word, she reached for her mug. The silence stretched. Getting awkward.
Finally, defiantly, she met his eyes.
Strikingly green. Fiery. Hungry. The silence lengthened as she watched him, watching her. The atoms in the room sped up. The electricity crackled. Krista felt a fresh burst of sweat under her armpits.
“We need to clear the air if we’re going to work together,” Sean finally said with all traces of flirt gone. He was somber and sophisticated. The atoms started racing around even faster. Krista was doing everything she could not to fan herself.
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
“I think it best you get whatever answers you need. So ask. Please.”
Krista shrugged petulantly. Her brain, past realizing how hungry it was, was starting to short circuit. She couldn’t think clearly through the fuzz.
After a lengthy pause, in which Krista couldn’t get her thoughts clear enough to say anything, Sean asked, “Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, I didn’t get anything to eat for lunch and my body doesn’t do all that well with low blood sugar. No big deal. Uh... let’s see...” She tried desperately to stay on topic, but her stupid brain was jackknifing.
Sean jumped up gracefully. “Easily remedied. Come with me, please.”
She never really noticed how polite he was, even when giving commands. Guy said please more than anyone else she knew.
How had she missed that?
Why did it matter?
Without realizing it, she was following him out through the rows of empty conference rooms to the elevator. He pushed the button for her floor. When the doors opened, he gestured for her to go ahead of him.
“I didn’t bring a lunch--I have to go grab something,” she said, not leaving the elevator when the doors opened again.
“I figured. Grab your purse and we’ll go.”
“I have money on me.”
“Humor me.”
Krista shrugged and headed toward her cube, him following behind. She noticed bored eyes looking up, as usual, but this time they stayed up as they saw Sean. With her.
She needed to tell him she was pulling out. This was a bad situation for her. First the gossip in the break room, then the terrible intro, followed by Ray’s hack job, now the cube tabloid circuit. This was not the way she wanted to branch out her resume.
At her cube she grabbed her purse and turned back, coming face-to-face with a pair of seductive, penetrating eyes.
“Oh!” she breathed as she looked up, his mouth mere inches from hers. She could smell the ocean/musk of his body and the fabric softener of his shirt. The heat radiating from him fell around her in waves. His chest was so close, she could just lean in and—
Don’t touch his pecs!
~*~*~*~
Krista flinched backward.
Sean examined with a hunger he couldn’t remember. He looked down at her, watching her within her space, surrounded by all her knick-knacks and pictures of her and her friends, and nearly reached for her. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so strongly. He wanted her with raw ferocity.
“I think I m-made a mis-stake,” Krista stammered, backing as far into her cube, and away from him, as she could go.
She was flushed and jittery, which meant she was thinking the same thoughts he was. Sean nearly took a step to close the distance.
“With what?” Sean asked slowly, looking at her br**sts, then her mouth, then down to her bare legs.
“This group. Your team. I wasn’t feeling great yesterday—I didn’t have all the info. But now, after meeting everyone, and seeing how th-things run…I think I made a mistake. I think I’ll respectfully decline the opportunity.”
It took Sean a minute to understand her words, but as soon as he did, he took an immediate step back. The haze that had settled on his mind cleared instantly. He had been worried about getting her to trust him, and then he leans into her space like a goon. It wasn’t like him, especially not when business was on the line. This lack of self-control was a foreign thing. He didn’t usually have to try so hard to keep a level head.
He physically backpedaled even as he verbally did. “I’m sorry. Please, I’m so sorry about that.”
“No, it’s fine. Seriously, it’s not that big a deal, but—“
“No, Krista…” Sean’s back bumped the wall opposite her cube. He couldn’t get any farther away and still see her. “Look, that was unprofessional just then. That was my fault. That’s not how things would run. Please. I need you on the team. You were a conscious choice based off of performance. Solely performance. Please don’t assume—please give me one more chance.”
Krista hesitated. She was fighting with something, he could see it. He pushed his advantage.
“If we land this account, Krista, it would look great on your résumé . They are a giant company. They are well-known. You won’t get another chance like this where you are. Please, I can be an ass—I know this about myself—but I’ll try harder. I’ll steer clear of you in everything that isn’t strictly work related. Please. I need you for this account.”
~*~*~*~*~
Krista took stock of the situation. She thought about what he’d said. About her own issues. She still wanted to say no, but it was solely because of Sean. The rest of the job sounded pretty good. It sounded like there would be a challenge. It also gave her the chance to work in a real team.
But she would have to fight the desire with Sean constantly.
She laughed to ease the tension, still undecided, and deflected: “That’s where Mr. Montgomery always stands when he talks to me.”
Sean looked around him, then back at her. He was still as serious as a heart attack.
Krista sighed in thought. “Okay,” she looked back up at Sean, so serious, hands at his sides, palms pushed against the walls along with his back, flattening himself to be farther away. He meant it—he wanted her in a work capacity. For this, at least. “You get one more chance.”
Relief flooded his expression.
She threw her pointer finger at him. “But you are on probation.”
Sean sighed hugely, “I am sorry about that, Krista. I—there’s no excuse.”
“You’ll probably get a Thump-Bird if you keep going with the sighing. Anyway, I need to eat.”
“Of course. Shut down your computer and we’ll go.”
“It’s only 3:30. We’ll be back, right?”
“Why bother? Shut it down. You’re on my schedule now,” he said it softly, careful to stay near the far wall.
On one hand, was the second chance a good idea? On the other hand, she got to get out early.
Early it was.
She shifted gears quickly and emailed in her report. The deadline was five, so if she wasn’t coming back, she had to send it before she left. Hopefully Fatty isn’t pissed I’m sending it a couple hours early.
Just in case, she put in a note explaining, in so many words, that it was all Sean’s fault. If she could have electronically sent an eye roll, she would have. It would have helped her cause.
There were no messages on her phone, so she shut everything down and grabbed her handbag and jacket. She turned back to Sean, who had a puzzled expression on his face. The expression immediately cleared as he stepped further away to let her by.
When they were in the elevator, with a man who said ”Hi,” to Sean briefly, then looked at Krista in interest, Sean said, “Sorry to intrude, but why are you worried about sending in your report early?”
“What?” How did he know that? She didn’t write that in the email—or did she? Did he read the bit about it totally being his fault?
As if in answer to her mental freaking out, he continued with, “Sorry, but I couldn’t help but hear you muttering. Do you not like turning things in early?”
“Oh, uh, no.” What else did I mutter?? “Mr. Montgomery doesn’t like things before deadline. He’s afraid he’ll lose them.”
Sean was quiet for a minute as the guy hit his desired floor and exited. Another couple of people got in, said ”Hi,” to Sean, ignored her, and then started talking about their work for the Dell account.
Sean said, “Why doesn’t James just turn it in instead of hold onto it?”
Krista shrugged. “Million-dollar question. If I wasn’t afraid of that scowl of his, I’d ask.”
“So you finish your work right on time to keep him happy?”
“No, I finish really early because the deadlines are too long, and then hold on to it until the last minute. That report was due by the end of the day. Ordinarily I would wait until 4:50 or so. Hopefully he won’t be too mad. But I am fully prepared to blame you if he is.” There. She admitted it.
Sean laughed as they reached the lobby. “Understood.”
Once out of the building, Krista let Sean lead. He had a lunch spot in mind, and since she needed suggestions on good places to eat, she didn’t say anything.
He didn’t say much, either, as they walked, probably thinking about their episode earlier. She couldn’t help but notice his walk, though. He walked with purposeful, powerful strides, eating up the ground easily with each step. He held back for her, because though she was normally a fast walker, her four-inch heels weren’t conducive to sprinting. His body moved with the symmetry of an athlete. Nothing was out of place when he moved.
Once they got to the restaurant, Krista’s stomach felt like it was imploding she was so hungry. When they walked in she realized that it was an Irish pub, but a different one than she was in last week with the girls. The bar was long, covering the entire right side of the restaurant. Aside from a walkway along the bar, the rest of the space had tables and chairs, with three booths in the back left corner. At the back of the restaurant was a large kitchen with cooks busily getting orders out.
Instead of sitting at a table, and there were more than a few available, Sean led her to the far end of the bar. They took two stools and settled in.
“The waitress is completely indifferent,” Sean said, folding his hands in front of him patiently. “The bar has much quicker service.”
“Why come here if the service is bad?” Krista said, looking around.
There were two waitresses in their mid-thirties moving around the tables. Krista couldn’t tell their indifference by looking at them. In fact, they seemed to gab to their patrons as they took orders, asking if everything was alright, and moving on. They weren’t bustling by any means, but they didn’t look lazy, either. The place was large—she could imagine the waitresses having their work cut out for them if the place got packed.
In the awkward hours between lunch and dinner, most restaurants and bars in the financial district were slow. There weren’t many tourists this far from downtown to fill the off-hour void of the workforce. This restaurant, however, was still humming. It had a used, worked-in sort of feeling, lacking the gloss and shine of the other Irish pub she’d been in last Friday, but people seemed all the more relaxed for it. It wasn’t pretentious, but it wasn’t dirty. It fit somewhere in between. Krista felt comfortable here. And judging by how relaxed Sean was, leaning idly against the bar, he was, too.