Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)

by K. F. Breene

  “Yes, I see. Well, would you consider working out of the Los Angeles office? It would mean more traveling, but I would throw in a relocation allowance.”

  “Not to undermine myself or anything, but am I really worth all this fuss?”

  Tory smiled and stayed silent for a beat before he said, “Sean McAdams is a rare but excellent judge of talent. He put great stock in you. Relied on you heavily. I am also an excellent judge of talent, but I have had a lot more experience. I know how to wring the most out of someone, whereas Sean still stops with a squeeze.

  “You are an investment, Krista. I hope to guide and mold you. Some see inexperience. I see opportunity. You, unlike your more experienced counterparts, don’t have already established bad habits. You are still ready and willing to learn. Just so happens I am still eager and excited to teach. It is a good match, you and I.”

  “But what if I hate the work and leave?” Tory looked at her askew. “I mean, not saying I will or anything. It just seems like all your eggs are in one basket, you know?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully we’ll never have to. So. Do we have an agreement?”

  “I have to talk it over with someone first. There are some things I have to tie up. But you can stop chasing.”

  Tory nodded, “Sean will tell you that you should have upped my offer.”

  “I know. He went over how to sell myself and everything. But, your offer seems fair to me—any more and I’d suffocate under the pressure. If I agree, then we’ll give it a year. If it is no longer fair—well, then we’ll dance!” she laughed as she had a sip of wine.

  Tory laughed, too, “He has your best interests in mind. One might say he is more worried about you than himself.”

  “I don’t know about that, now. He has his chess board set up. I am an important piece, sure, but I am still but a piece.”

  “Poetic. And I would say you are the important piece that the player cannot do without. But sometimes you have to sacrifice the Queen early with the intention of reclaiming her later in the game.”

  She needed to take up chess. “Okay, let’s get back to work.”

  Tory laughed and they continued the rest of the dinner in amiable conversation.

  When Krista made it to Sean’s house she had her clothes ready for the next day. She was tired, but more so, she was anxious. With Tory’s offer on the table, she knew she needed to tell him sooner rather than later that she would be moving. She would need a long, long cry after this all seeped in, but she would wait until she was alone for that.

  Per his instructions, she let herself in and made her way up to his bedroom. As she opened the door she was met with soft music and candlelight. The floor and bed were covered with red rose petals.

  The room was beautiful! Something out of a fairytale. It made her heart ache.

  She walked to the bed and wondered where Sean was. Obviously he’d planned for her to see this alone.

  On the bed was a note and a shallow, long box. Under that was a larger box. On top of the boxes was an envelope. The note said, “Open the boxes first.” she complied.

  The first was a sapphire pendent surrounded in diamonds. It was absolutely beautiful. She laid it aside carefully and opened the larger box, and then nearly fainted. It was a silky Gucci dress! Gucci! He was giving her freaking Gucci! Her hands were shaking as she opened the envelope. Inside it said, “You said once that you got Michael Kors because you couldn’t afford Gucci. Since that day I’ve wanted to buy you a Gucci dress. Something to remember me by. You changed my life. I will love you always. Yours forever, Sean.”

  She’d said that to Marcus in the limo on the way to the company wine dinner. It had been a passing comment made in jest. Sean had cared enough even then to internalize and remember.

  With tears in her eyes, she felt hands on her shoulders. She bowed her head. “You know.”

  “That you are going to move? Yes,” Sean’s deep voice was next to her ear.

  “How?”

  “I think all your friends know you have to. There’s no use fighting the inevitable.”

  Krista still hadn’t turned around. She couldn’t face him. “What about you?”

  “I can’t leave, Krista. I want to. Lord knows I want to go with you. But I can’t leave just yet. I have my house here. I can’t leave my job yet—I need that VP title. And there is my sister to think about. I have to let you go.”

  Tears came harder then. So much for crying on her own. It felt like her middle was being extracted from her chest. “Are you pushing me away?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I thought we went over this? I thought we weren’t going to do that to each other?”

  “We don’t have a choice, Krista. I can’t go with you, and you can’t stay. I don’t want to know where you go because I don’t want that crazy ex of yours following you through me. I think we need to make a clean break. Move on.”

  Krista started crying so hard it felt like her spleen was coming out of her mouth. Sean turned her around and held her tight. He picked her up gently and set her in the bed.

  “We still have a few weeks.”

  She nodded mutely as she cried into his chest. He lifted her chin and kissed her tenderly. She fell into the kiss with abandon. She felt his fingers deftly stripping her of her clothes and felt wetness on her face from his cheeks. Once he had her clothes off, he quickly removed his own. Without further ado, he covered her body with his, whispering that he loved her, and moved between her legs.

  Where he would usually pause to take care of protection issues, this time he didn’t stop. Krista jerked to try and stop the proceedings, knowing how adamant he was about condoms despite the pill, but this time he softly cooed to her, and shook his head. “You said we were protected.”

  Krista nodded.

  Sean leaned down onto her again, rubbing the tip of his shaft along her slit. With a small movement, he broke through slightly until just the head had purchase.

  “Ohhhh Lord, Krista,” Sean sighed, coming back out again. He stroked a breast, then slowly pushed his hips forward, his large manhood plunging deeper. He sighed the whole way to the hilt, pushing harder to go as deep as he could.

  “Oh Krista, heaven. I can’t believe how good this feels--”

  He was right, it did. It was comfortable, but erotic with nothing between them. The soft candlelight bounced off his rippled back as she ran her fingers over him. He slowly withdrew, feeling the sensations for as long as possible before he dove back in, still slow, still revering.

  “This feels unreal,” he sighed again.

  She smiled into the soft light as he pulled himself back out, ever so slowly. The glorious friction sent spirals of pleasure echoing through her body, but it was nothing compared to feeling sex without a condom for the first time in his life. Sean was in his glory. His face said so.

  Krista wrapped her legs around him as she moved her body with his. She met each of his thrusts with her own, her wetness wrapping him tightly. He moaned as he crashed into her, unable to think of anything but the feeling. Krista, loving his intensity, threw herself into him just as hard. Their passion was burning brighter until they were in a fervor, nothing mattering but each other. All they were aware of was their partner’s body. All she smelled was his musty scent; the salty sea on a crisp summer day. All she saw were his deep green eyes, slightly infused with gold by the candle light. He filled all her senses and he set her aflame.

  He was thrusting harder and faster now. They were riding the wave together, higher and higher, faster and faster. And finally, when the pleasure reached a height that made time bow, the wave broke, crashing down around them. All Krista’s nerve endings were ablaze. Her senses flaming white hot. She clutched onto Sean and fell back to earth.

  The next day at work Krista made a decision. She wanted to give the women in the company a gossip enema. From what she’d heard, she was still largely an anomaly. The word got around that she rebuked Sean, which just w
asn’t done. She was looked down upon for that as a snob, but grudgingly accepted because she had some sense.

  Well, she was leaving anyway, so she was about to shove all their talk right up their asses.

  She and Sean rode to work together. No way would Krista take Muni if she didn’t have to. She was leaving in a month—everything was arranged. She had enough money to buy a cute little Honda when she got there. It was practical, it was trendy, and it would hopefully run forever.

  She also rented a cute little two-bedroom out by the beach. The rent was more than she was paying in San Francisco, but it was her own place! By the beach! With a car! And truth be told, the commute was shorter than she was facing every day, so win-freaking-win!

  Except she was losing Sean. And her friends.

  Overall, yes, she was losing. But she chose instead to focus on the perks of the move. Emily, through Tory, said that was best. She concurred.

  Sean and Krista hit their floor together. They separated at Krista’s office. Normally, she would start her coffee pot and pour herself a cup as she started her computer. Sean would take his dirty cup from the day before, head down to the break room to wash it, and then fill up while he was there. On the way back up, he would refill Krista’s sugar and creamer stash. It was a great system, especially since Krista was lazy.

  That day, though, Krista would create some waves for the pure fun of it. She grabbed her mug, waited a beat to allow Sean to pass back by with a wink into her office, and then she followed him. She took the stairs, just to allow a bit more time, and then purposely sauntered in for all she was worth. She was quitting—sauntering was expected. Plus, she made this company a crap-load of money, and they did the bare-minimum to keep her.

  Oh yes, sauntering was definitely due!

  She walked into the break room with a hop in her step. Sean was standing by the coffee machine, chatting with Mable, who was exactly the gossipy jerk Krista was hoping to meet. He looked cordial as always, but Krista could read the irritation in his eyes. He wanted to be away, but he didn’t know how to disengage from the conversation. He was way too polite. Always had been in K-Jaz’s eyes, which was the term Krista used to refer to the dynamic duo.

  Krista walked in briskly. Sean glanced up, caught sight of her, and his eyes widened. He barely stopped himself from smiling. He was doing damage control.

  “Krista,” Mable said, half-turning to see what Sean was looking at. “I haven’t seen you down here in a long time. You’re leaving your office, huh?”

  “Well, I did land the big account, after all. I figured a coffee break was due,” she walked up next to Sean, who was a puppet in this whole thing, slid her hand along his lower back and winked at him. “Hey babe.”

  He did smile then.

  Krista turned to face the disbelieving Mable. “Just came down for some free java.”

  “Oh?” Mable said, looking at Krista’s arm as it disappeared around Sean’s back. Her eyes darted up to Sean, and then settled back on Krista’s, a crease forming in her painted on eyebrows.

  Krista rubbed Sean’s back again, smiled at him with Bambi-eyes, then got some coffee. Go big or go home, right?

  “So, uh, I heard you got a job offer?” Mable said, clearly on shaky ground. She didn’t like Krista—so the gossip said—but she also didn’t want to miss a chance for excellent gossip no one else had.

  “I did, yes. I’ll be changing jobs. A higher level with a better title and more money.”

  “Oh. Great.”

  Sean waited patiently as Krista straightened up and came to stand next to him again. She slid her arm through his.

  “Ready?” he asked her.

  “Yup. See ya Mable,” Krista said as Sean gestured her in front of him. He guided her out of the room with his hand low on the small of her back, almost on her butt—much lower than was professional.

  It brought tears to Krista’s eyes that he was openly admitting to being with her. He hadn’t done that with any other woman in all the time he’d worked there. It meant he was serious, that he really liked her, and as long as she was okay with being the villain, he would be open about his choice.

  “You could have warned me,” he said with a laugh as they entered the elevator.

  “I just thought, why not, you know? Those gossipy ladies can all go to Hades if they think I’ll bow down to them because they are jealous ol’ hags!”

  “Yikes.”Sean said, cupping a butt cheek and squeezing lightly. “Krista is on fire, watch out!”

  “Well? I don’t want to spend our last month together hiding our mutual, uh, thing.” She turned to him with a devilish grin, cupping his balls. Obviously they were alone in the elevator.

  “Our mutual thing?” Sean asked as he got closer, bending to kiss her neck. “Love, you mean?”

  “Does your office have shades? I forget.”

  When the elevator chimed, Sean put more room between them, then let her lead the way out.

  “I still have to work here. But yes, it does.”

  Krista got a thrill as they halted in front of her office. Sean was looking at her with equal parts love and desire. “Dinner tonight?”

  “Of course.”

  He did a quick scan, and then he kissed her. When they broke apart, he winked, and turned toward his office. Even if Krista hadn’t felt his wood, she could tell by the way he walked that he was in need of a quickie.

  Too bad he wasn’t quitting, too. She could finally get that fantasy checked off the list!

  Sean took her to an upscale steakhouse on the other side of town. It was definitely a man’s eatery. The whole place was wood: wooden tables, wood bar, wood walls, wood stairwell. Granted, those things were usually made out of wood, but this place showed it off. It had a cherry finish instead of paint. You could see that it was made of wood, and even sort of smelled of wood. The place was packed, but probably 75% of the clientele were men. Tables of men, guys with their wives or girlfriends, and even male waiters.

  “This your favorite place, then?” Krista asked Sean. He was transparent.

  He smiled that secret smile, but spilled the secret by kissing her, “I love you, baby.”

  “Love you, too. But seriously, your favorite place?”

  Sean laughed and pointed her to the bar. “Busted. But it has a mean steak. Go meet your friends while I check in.”

  It took a moment of confusion before Krista spied Kate, Jasmine and Ben waiting by the bar. She found her way to them quickly, was delighted to see they got her a drink without her having to ask, and blurted out, “What are you guys doing here?” She wiggled through the crowd to stand next to Kate. Between the three of them, they’d only managed to procure two seats.

  “Your man invited us, naturally. Marcus is running late. Some boyfriend threw a tantrum so he had to deal with it before he met us,” Kate replied.

  Sean leaned up against Krista’s back. There wasn’t enough room for him to get side-by-side. “Our table’s ready. Marcus is on his way, you said?”

  “Yeah, and Ray is in the bathroom. Mary couldn’t come—their sitter was busy,” Jasmine informed them as she finished her drink and swiveled her long legs around.

  “Really, Jaz? Need any more space?” Kate scoffed as she nearly fell off the stool. Ben staggered back, pushed out of the way.

  Ray met them with a large smile. He had on jeans and a pressed, white suit shirt.

  “Almost formal, huh Ray?” Krista asked with a smile, putting her hand in Sean’s.

  Ray just shrugged, “If I could work in jeans, you bet I would!”

  Everyone agreed, and they all filed up the stairs behind the waitress.

  When they were all seated and orders for drinks were placed, Sean held up his glass, which was water. The orders were placed, but they hadn’t arrived. “A toast.”

  “Dude, wait for the wine,” Jasmine said.

  “We’ll do another one. This is just to fill the gap,” Sean answered.

  They dutifully raised their glasses, “T
o the new…”

  “You can’t have a toast without me!” Marcus interrupted as he pulled out a chair. He was looking sleek and glamorous. Some guy probably tried to throw himself off a bridge when Marcus broke up with him. “Who do you think you are?”

  Sean laughed, waited patiently for Marcus to take off his trendy jacket, sit his trendy butt in the chair, put his trendy satchel under his feet, and stall with just enough trendy goings-on for the waiter to show up with drinks.

  “Okay, let’s try this again,” Sean raised his glass of wine. Everyone followed suit. “I hate to see our team splitting apart, but glad to see some of our members are moving on to bigger and better things. To new opportunities.”

  They all smiled as they clinked glasses. It was a bittersweet toast, and judging by Sean’s slightly shaking hand on Krista’s thigh, that was how he meant it.

  “Great toast,” Marcus said, dismissing it. “But let’s talk about important things, shall we? For example, the new gossip that you two are doing the nasty!”

  “Yeah!” Kate said, laughing. “I nearly shat myself when that crone Louisa said you were a slut. That you probably got the position on your back! I asked her if the job was a down payment, since you waited until you were leaving to ensnare the hot salesman. Sorry, Sean, but to them you’re just an object.”

  Sean laughed, “I didn’t get any warning, either. She walked into the break room when Mable cornered me and made a show of…our status.”

  “Oh! You were going to say I made a show of myself, weren’t you?” Krista said, slapping Sean’s arm.

  Sean laughed and mock cowered from her, “I didn’t know how far you planned to go.”

  “They call that improv, honey,” Marcus said with a wink at Sean.

  Sean and Krista both went on point. No one was supposed to know about Sean’s little acting secret. Krista had never heard gossip on it, so it couldn’t have been around the company. But one look at the mischievous twinkle in Marcus’s eye was enough—he knew.

  “How’d you find out?” Sean asked casually. He didn’t seem perturbed.