Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)

by K. F. Breene

  “Great. Good work,” Tory said, stepping forward with another trophy. “This next award is for courage. There was a lot this weekend that wasn’t for the faint hearted. Paintballing, puzzles in the air, trying to fit in—this is hard stuff! For some people, even harder. This individual got over his shyness and made the best of all we had to throw at him. Give it up to Perry from Utah!”

  Perry went up and stammered out a speech about everyone being really nice and accommodating. Despite what Tory said, Perry didn’t completely get over that shyness.

  Next up was one for being inspirational. Some guy from Texas got that. Krista didn’t know who he inspired, but apparently he was nice to other people besides her. Then there was one for biggest funny man. Some guy from Chicago got that one. There were a couple more that were pretty stupid and made up, and they went to the other regions. All regions had gotten something at that point, which was probably Tory’s intention. Krista noticed Sean starting to tense. The awards he was waiting for must’ve been coming up.

  “Okay, just a couple more, everyone, hang in there. Have another glass of wine!” Tory joked. “Now for the best leadership award. This man knows his way around the company, and has been successfully throwing his weight around since his first days here.” Sean slumped slightly. He knew it wasn’t him. “People look to him for guidance in all things, big and small. This weekend was no different. He took his people through the various obstacles with a level head and vast experience. Ron from New York, come get your trophy!”

  Ron got up slowly, no stranger to winning. He made his way up, smiling and shaking hands. He took the trophy then took the mic. “Now, I couldn’t be a great leader, without a great crew. Give it up for my hard working team over there in New York!” Everyone cheered. “This weekend was a small slice of daily life, albeit a pleasurable one. I learned a couple things this weekend, and that is to allow more room for adapting and changing. I’ve been doing this a long time, with various titles and through various company restructurings,” there was some spattering of laughter, “and it’s great to still be a part of it all. Thanks!”

  Krista smirked to herself. It was a shout-out of sorts. Also, it made him sound worldly. You’re welcome, dude. Let’s see if you’ll follow that advice.

  “Great Ron. Good advice. Next is the trophy for the up-and-comer. Or shining star, as I think of him. I met him a few years ago in a smallish company that was trying to win an account with the big dogs. Us. He put together a team of people that, under his guidance, did great things.” Sean sat very still. Stone gathering moss type still. Obviously this was for him. “After he proved he could make the impossible possible, I decided to give him a chance. And this weekend, as in daily operations, he is showing he has a great idea of how to reach goals and fulfill his aspirations. This one is for you, Sean from L.A.!”

  Sean gave Krista a look of triumph and got up with a large smile. If he was nervous, no one could tell. He sauntered up and shook Tory’s hand. “Thanks everyone. And thank you, Tory, for giving me a shot. Like Ron said before me, I couldn’t have gotten anywhere without a hard working team to support me. Nor would I have gotten anywhere without excellence to look up to! Tory, Ron, and all the guys, you are all an inspiration. Thanks!”

  Sean came back to the table beaming. He didn’t win the one he wanted, but he didn’t do too bad.

  “Next we come to the MVP of the weekend,” Tory said. “This individual came to us full of fire and shook things up all weekend. Whether it was charging forward through opposition, gunning people down, changing the rules, or even threatening our sensibilities, this person never said die. And we hope we can house such fierce determination for years to come. Come on up, Krista from L.A.!”

  Krista froze. Faces were turning her way, many as shocked as she. Some angry. Sean was smiling and clapping, as was Tory up on the stage.

  “Unexpected,” Krista said quietly as she got up.

  She walked up to the stage, not trying to hide her surprise. She made sure not to fall going up the steps, and took her weird little trophy. It was plastic and had a star mold at the top. Tory stepped away so she could make a speech.

  “Wow,” she said stupidly, looking at the trophy then out at everyone. “This is unexpected. Umm.” She laughed nervously. “Thank you for this. I know it probably hasn’t been easy for the boys’ club to have a woman come through and reorganize everything. I’m sure you hate when your wives do it.” There was a spatter of laughter. “To put you at ease a little, I’m not trying to shake things up so much. It’s just that I don’t know your man rules. Like the dunk tank—I didn’t realize sitting in the tank was man-code for earning your stripes and showing off your plumage.” Ron smiled. “I wanted to win, so I figured I could help the best by harassing people. Sean, being the excellent boss he is, knew that and gave up his right to show his tail feathers so I wouldn’t be made a fool of.

  “And that’s the big thing. With Sean and Tory, and Phil when I was under him…that sounded bad, don’t start rumors…” more laughter that time, “but they all have been so supportive—or tolerant at least. They push me to better things. I tried as hard as I did this weekend because it meant something to Sean. My bosses give me room to be…different, and for that reason, I excel. Then of course, there is Janice and Marcus and all the support people to catch me when I fall. Which is often. So thank you to all those who are either pushing or catching!”

  Krista held up the trophy again and exited the stage. There was a lot more clapping than when she came up. Ron even stood up to clap for her, which surprised her even more than actually getting the trophy in the first place. She sat down in embarrassment and faced Sean’s beaming, proud smile.

  He was probably taking credit for her win, the douche.

  “Okay, now for the big finale,” Tory said, once again reclaiming the mic. “You know, of course, that usually we have best team trophy, then competition winner, but this year it is one in the same. Something of note, though, we did things a bit differently this year. Instead of just taking totals of the management team, we included points earned for the support staff. The total overall score is what counted in the competition.”

  Sean looked back at Marcus and his face dropped. He knew that he probably cost himself the trophy by having Marcus come. Marcus was friendly, but he was no admin.

  Sean looked at Krista next, his green eyes troubled. She shrugged then looked back at Tory. No one cared as much as him about winning. Everyone just wanted the money, except Krista, who just wanted to go home.

  Tory continued. “Each person on the winning team gets $100 American Express gift card. Their region gets a victory lunch on the date of their choice.” Everyone murmured. Pretty good prizes. “This year the winner won by one point! For that reason, I’ll announce the runner up, which did an outstanding job, and, I should add, beat the previous record for management points…New York!”

  Everyone clapped, including Ron. They didn’t get squat, though, so how happy could they be? They were second by one point, but they were still second.

  “And the winner, setting the new record for management competition points, and also the best team award, is…………….Los Angeles!”

  Sean’s smile took up his whole face it was so big. This was what he wanted. This is what they all worked so hard for. It did feel good that they got something for their achievement. They were the most screwed up region arriving at the competition and would leave as a unit. They won even though they were down an admin. That was impressive.

  Sean stood up, and beckoned for Janice to go up with him. She tried to refuse, but he was having none of it. The table could hear her telling him that she would stand up there with him, but would absolutely not speak.

  Sean took the stage and enthusiastically shook Tory’s hand. Janice did, too. Sean then said into the mic, “Thank you for this. Really, I should thank my team. They did an excellent job and I pushed them pretty hard to do it. Some so much so that they used a rope 100 feet off t
he ground as a restroom—“

  “Only a little!” Krista yelled at him.

  Sean laughed. “Anyway, thanks to my team. And a huge thanks to Janice. I didn’t push the administrative people to win—I let them do their own thing. Janice alone saw to it that she and Marcus kept up her high standard of excellence, and because of that, they did outstanding. Marcus knows I can crack a whip, but I doubt he saw it coming in Janice…”

  “She’s tougher than you! And more persistent!” Marcus yelled.

  “So a special thanks to Janice who runs L.A. support staff with an iron fist! I couldn’t do it without her.”

  Everyone stood to applaud Janice and the support people. The smile on Janice’s face was bashful, but also proud. She was finally getting some real recognition.

  As Sean and Janice were leaving the stage, Tory got back on the mic. “Okay gang. As dinner is coming out, we put together a little video for you of your achievements over the weekend. The first clip is our favorite of team work. The rest are just exceptional things we managed to pick out along the way. Enjoy!”

  When the stage was clear, a 1-2-3 image was displayed, and then it went into the video. It was of the L.A. region’s puzzle on the ropes course where they had to get through the holes. It looked like they did some editing, thank god, because there were a couple instances when Krista wasn’t all that nice to Bob.

  Krista was held up by Sean, being thread through the top hole. The rest of her team had a hold on some of her extremity so she didn’t fall. Her body was rigid with strain, perfectly still. She looked like a rock star holding that pose—it looked as hard as it felt.

  Sean’s body was rigid, too. His whole body was flexed and bulging, his arm muscles looked like it was sculpted out of marble. His oh-so-broad shoulders bunched, his cut arms glistened as the sun bounced off his sweat, and his butt wouldn’t quit. More than a few young admin were looking back at him with lust. Krista was thinking along the same lines.

  Her mind dipped back to that first puzzle when he rubbed her in exactly the right spot. She felt herself getting wet just thinking about it. Even her mouth was salivating as she looked at him on the screen.

  She risked a glanced at him in his expensive tux and saw that he was looking back. They caught each other’s eye and held. Sean’s hunger was plain, as was Krista’s. His body was brimming with desire, hers was begging to be taken, making her breath heavy, making her pant; her chest heaving, her breasts straining against the confines of her dress.

  Sean’s eyes slowly lowered to her open mouth. He licked his full, kissable lips. Then his eyes went lower and caught her cleavage bursting out of her dress, the jewels sparkling within their depths. His hands balled and his legs tensed. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. And finally she decided, if she got a chance to have sex with him that night, she was going to take it. She’d deal with the repercussions tomorrow.

  The crowd around them laughed, catching their attention. The screen finished showing the VP of Utah dangling from the plank after he fell off. He was the first of a montage of images surrounding the weekend. There was Dean giving Krista instruction on how to get up the big tree. Perry climbing the rope ladder. A guy from Chicago knocking down Ron in the dunk tank. Blake diving off the platform into the air on the zip line. Some were funny, some were inspiring. There was some admin stuff, but mostly it was various managers or VPs.

  Krista had no idea there were that many cameras! She’d never noticed them. Not one! But judging by the footage, most of the area was covered. It was a little too Big Brother for her taste!

  Besides the lack of privacy, there were two things that caught Krista’s eye. One was when Sean was throwing at the target for the dunk tank. He was looking out to his left at something, got tapped on the shoulder for his turn, turned toward the tank (and the camera), did his heart stopping smile and a wink before casually winding up to throw the ball at the target. He hit it, of course. The way the light hit his face and body, he could have been an A-list Hollywood star. The younger girls were looking his way in longing again.

  Before she could look his way in longing, she saw herself on the screen. She was in paintball gear and was running at a good speed while looking to her left. Suddenly, she looked right. Her left hand reached up and grabbed a branch from a nearby tree, swung to the left and dropped in a bush in one move. She was hidden for a second before she popped up and fired three shots. Without pausing to notice her handy-work, she took off running again. She had to admit—she looked pretty awesome. It didn’t feel super cool at the time because she was just reacting, and also tumbling into a bush and some dirt, but she definitely looked like a rock star on the screen.

  Krista looked at Sean, who was staring back with an expression she had never seen before. It was incredulous mixed with desire mixed with wonder mixed with determination mixed with something else. Resolve, maybe? Each emotion was flying by as he looked at her intently. His mouth slowly bloomed into a smile before he turned back to the screen. Krista followed suit, just in time to see Janice standing over Marcus with her hands on her hips before the video ended. Everyone clapped and the lights came up.

  “Thanks everyone for a wonderful evening!” Tory said. “Please enjoy your dinner and an open bar for the duration of the evening.”

  “Uh oh,” Sean said as he turned back to his plate. Salad had been served. “Open bar. Am I going to have to peel you off the floor again?”

  “For your information, no. I don’t plan on drinking much tonight.”

  Sean looked over at her. He was searching for something. “Why not?”

  Krista shrugged. “Had enough last night. I don’t want the night to be over too quickly. I want to remember everything.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Krista wondered if he caught her meaning. “You?”

  “Ditto.”

  They passed the dinner talking to the table. Marcus kept looking at Krista and winking, or making a weird face. She wondered if her lust was obvious. She assumed it probably was. She also didn’t much care.

  After dinner she found her way to the bar without Sean. He got delayed talking to Ron. She was getting a glass of wine when Marcus came up next to her.

  “Geegee, you did well this weekend. Talk of the town.”

  “I’m the only female manager, Marcus. Did you think it would be any other way?”

  “Janice likes you, you know. So do all the other older admins—they think you are giving the men a run for their money. But Janice likes you because she thinks you’re good for Sean.”

  “I’m good for Sean? Why?”

  “Apparently you stick up for yourself, don’t take crap from him, and keep him grounded. She says you’re the only one, man or woman, that does it.”

  “Backhanded compliment?”

  “You mean, is she calling you a Big Bitch? In so many words, yes darling. But that’s what Sean needs, I guess. I agree, actually. I wish he needed a male big bitch, but you can’t have everything.”

  “Can’t have everything, true,” Krista said dryly.

  “I used to think Sean had her around because she was no threat to you, but—“

  “What?” Krista interrupted.

  “Well doll, Sean hired her. If he hired someone like those little admins you see around here, everyone would have thought he was, you know…”

  “I wouldn’t have.”

  “Bull. You would have wondered. The whole region would have wondered.”

  Krista thought about it for a second. It was true, she would have wondered.

  “See?” Marcus said, laughing. “Anyway, not the case. Or not only the case, I should say. That woman can type, like, 800 words a second! She is super human when it comes to all that administrative crap! Seriously. She put all those other admins to shame! I don’t know where he finds the people he hires.”

  Krista shrugged and sipped her drink. “What do they say about me?”

  Marcus sighed and looked around. “Well, not great things, doll. Not great
things. Aside from giving the men hell, you know. They all agree there, but then their beastly woman-side takes over, and they start hating on you. The young ones hate you because you have the young stud’s eye. The old ones hate you because they think you are trying to get above yourself. Most think you are sleeping with Sean, some think you are sleeping with Tory. Some don’t believe you are all that great, some think you are some sort of spy. That’s all the admin gossip, though. They obviously don’t know much, and I’ve told them nothing. ”

  “Sounds stupid. What do the managers think?”

  “Bob has led the ‘Krista is a useless sack’ campaign up until today. I assume the whole impotent thing turned off his crusade. You’re welcome. For the rest, as the only woman, you aren’t taken all that seriously. But you’re starting to win votes from what I can see. A few people are your big supporters, like Georgie, Donald, and Perry. But anyone else who thinks you’re good news is keeping tight-lipped about it, including Phil. For now. Ron is leaning in your direction—word is he wants to get you to New York. He sees the value in hiring a woman, and why not start with onewhohas already proven herself? When Ron is on board, the winds will change.”

  “They don’t want to go against the grain until it’s safe.” Krista sighed. All this wasn’t very fun. She just wanted to do her job and do it well. It was bullshit she had to fight for the privilege.

  “Except for Sean,” Marcus said as he looked at Krista closely.

  “Sean’s never really been a pack follower.”

  “No, he hasn’t. But with you, he’s doing everything he can to try and make it easier for you. If anyone has a bad word to say about you, they do it away from him. He and Blake almost got to fighting over it when Blake was shooting his mouth off about—“

  “I don’t want to know,” Krista interrupted. She had a pretty good idea what types of things Blake was saying to protect his ego.