Breene, K F - Growing Pains 01 (14 page)

“I’m still not sure why I did that,
to be honest …” Sean paused as he looked at her, his eyes roaming her face. A
second later he cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly, before going
back to leaning on the bar as he said, “It was a last-minute decision that
seemed right. Ray disagreed, but…I think I might leave you as the secret weapon
for a while. They all have to work with you, so they’ll figure out you’re
likable sooner or later. Until then, hopefully they’ll trip up somewhere and
I’ll hear what’s going on behind the scenes.”

“Trip up, how?”

“Cut corners when the boss isn’t
looking. Slack off when they think they can get away with it.”

“What makes you think I’d rat on my
co-workers?” Because I won’t.

Sean slowly turned to her with his
whole body. He leaned in slightly, his smell wrapping around her head
dizzyingly, and said, in a soft, intimate voice, “By me taking very good care
of you. I know how to inspire loyalty.”

Krista tilted her head at the
change. He had always been trying to get in her pants, but she’d never heard
him talk this sleazy before. To anybody. It was such a turn-off that she
actually thanked him for the answer. It might as well have been cold water he
dumped over her head.

“Yeah, okay, look,” she said with
renewed confidence. She turned her body straight toward the bar, answering his
body language with her own. “Here’s the thing. If you’re going to keep up the
sexual innuendos, I don’t think I’ll be able to work with you. I certainly
won’t be on your side. I’m hoping working with you is beneficial to me, but if
you keep it up I’ll hate it. I would rather take my chances on my own if that’s
my only choice.”

Sean’s head snapped up and he met
her eyes. There was no boyish humor or sultry heat in his look. Not now. He was
reading her; checking to see if she was serious. Amazingly, he seemed to think
his sideshow act was irresistible. The ego on the man was astounding! If it
could be compared to an iceberg, it would sink the Titanic all over again.

When he met unflinching resolve,
his confidence shattered. His eyebrows drooped, like a scared twenty-something
playing at being a businessman rather than a powerful player on his way to the
top. His shoulders hunched as he turned back to his beer, his humor completely
dried up.

It was freaking deserved, but now
she felt like a huge bitch! It went against everything she had known about him
thus far, but he looked forlorn. Plus, she had to work with the guy—maybe—she
didn’t need to create an enemy, especially one as powerful as he was.

“Sean, I--”

“You are going to have to bear with
me on that point,” he said, cutting her off as he turned to her. His face was
unreadable. “Sometimes it is habit. Most times, I should say. Just as most
times it is habit to play the big, egocentric young guy amongst all the top
execs. Dress the part, you know? But I’ll work on it. Give me some patience,
and I’ll work on it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to use the chastised
little boys’ room.”

He gave her an adorable, lopsided
but insecure smile before he headed off to the restroom. It was genuine. What
he was feeling right then was legit. Her heart squished as it sank into her
boots. It wasn’t fair—he did deserve it. But still…meh!

When he came back, he seemed in
better spirits. “You know,” he started off, “just because you won’t let me
seduce you, doesn’t mean I won’t seduce others in your presence.”

An-nd, he was back.

“I couldn’t give two rats about
others,” Krista said with a smile, feeling the guilt slip away. “I’m looking
after number one, here. Oh, and should you ever run into my friends, they
count, too. We are all cynical bitches, so I doubt you would have any effect,
but all the same.”

“Ah, so it’s the cynical bitches
that are impervious to my charms?”

“Exactly.”

“Got it.”

“But I should warn you, you should
stop peeing in the company pool.”

“Look--” he looked into the
mystical waters of his beer. “I’ll make you a deal. You keep out of my sex
life, and I’ll keep out of yours. Okay?”

Krista nodded. She’d deserved that.
“Deal.”

They shook on it. Krista felt like
she’d just made a pact with the devil. They’d see how this would go. In theory,
she could relax around the guy. If he wasn’t trying to get her into bed, then
she wouldn’t have to constantly have defenses from following him like a mouse
to a flute. Then again, he would stop trying to seduce her. Hot guys trying to
seduce a girl always gave her a confidence boost.

No-win situation on that one.

“You know...” she said, wanting to
change subjects. “If you’d just told me where the weaknesses were, I could’ve
easily danced around those issues. On the presentation, I mean. That guy
would’ve never even seen it.”

Sean’s business look was back. “How
would you have done that? I mean, besides lie and change data?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of companies
showing this result or that result for some study, then another group does the
same study but with different parameters and finds a totally different result?
All I would’ve done was add vagueness in the right places, and accentuated what
would help the cause. Easy.”

“What if you were up against
someone who speaks your language, like your boss?”

“If he was to catch it, and by
catch it, I mean see that it could be refined and want more information, I
would have to give it verbally in a meeting. Verbal recital leaves something to
the imagination.”

“Okay, but what if someone smarter
than you was asking the questions?”

“Are you implying that I am not
functioning on genius level?”

“Forgive me, this is all theory.”

Krista smiled, “Someone smarter
would be used to thinking everyone like me is an idiot. They would cut me some
slack and assume I didn’t highlight the right data like the idiot I was/am …You
know what I mean.”

“Okay ... what if you were up
against you?”

“Ah. Some cynical bitch who knew
all the tricks because that was the quickest way to get an ‘A’ in school, and
who was only a math geek because it paid more than a hair and makeup
specialist?”

Sean chuckled as he studied her,
“Exactly.”

“Then I would be well buggered, I
think. I would be as up front as I could, as truthful as I could, and we would
have to use all your sales know-how when we were told to get them a report with
better findings. It’s all about parameters and the way it is divulged.”

“Good answer. Unexpectedly good
answer. I am suddenly extremely glad I found you for this team. I think you
could do quite well in sales if you really wanted to.”

“If I really wanted to.”

“And you don’t?”

“Correct, sir.”

“Duly noted, senator. What’s next
on the grudge list?”

“That’s it. Sexual part was the biggest
gripe.”

“That’s it? There’s nothing else?
Nothing else that you might’ve been promised or expecting, but since this
change, haven’t heard anything about? Nothing like that?”

“Uh ...” she wracked her brain.
“Oh. Promotion? Pay raise? Respect?”

“Just so. Do you no longer need
those things?”

“Mr. Montgomery said he would work
that into the deal with being on your team. Well, all except the respect part
...”

“Mr. Fatty, as you call him, has
about as much clout as you do. And forgive me, but that is about, uh … none.”

She felt her face turn red at the
nickname, “So umm, that’s bad news then.”

Sean laughed again, undoing the
buttons on his coat. “It would be bad news … if you weren’t paired with the top
salesman who does have clout. Stop by my office tomorrow morning and I will go
over the specifics.”

“Nice doing business with you Mr.
McAdams—no, wait; don’t take off your coat!”

Sean froze with his suit jacket
half off. She could make out his meaty shoulders and the stronger man smell.
His deodorant was working, but he was probably under the impression that if he
kept the jacket, it wouldn’t last for long. He was probably right, but ...holy
Lord, she didn’t know if she was strong enough to sit this close to the guy and
not…do something.

He looked at her in confusion,
wondering what the problem was. He didn’t suspect her, thank God.

“I was just going to say…you might
get ketchup on it.”

Sean looked at the bar.

“See?” Krista pointed to a tiny
droplet of red thickness. It was a terrible cover.

Sean followed her finger, saw the
offending substance, and looked back at her, still confused. Then a beautiful
smile lit up his face. He’d guessed the problem.

“I’m roasting, Miss Marshall. I
have to. Shall I get a glass of cold shower for you?” Sean finished removing
his damned jacket, his smile turning devious.

“Cold shower?” Krista scoffed,
getting a freaking grip! “Hardly. What’s that jacket worth? I just figured you
wouldn’t want to smear it on the bar and drape it over a nasty chair.”

Sean paused again, his eyes
surveying the scene. He’d fallen for it—the jacket must have been worth a
pretty penny because she was no actress. In the meantime, there were those
arms. And that chest. Luckily it was all still contained in a long-sleeved
shirt, but now it was Krista’s deodorant that was under pressure.

“Getting back to what we were
saying, we have a lot more business to do yet, Miss Marshall,” Sean said,
placing his jacket on the back of his seat with care. “You think you’re working
hard now? Wait until we get into the thick of it.”

“I don’t.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t think I’m working hard
now. All I had to do today was a report on sports cars. I had the whole day to
do it. It took me four hours from start to finish, and that was with lengthy
email pauses and shopping sprees in between. I am earning money, yes, but the
internet shopping is killing me!”

Sean’s eyebrows shot up to his hair
line as he looked at her. She shook her head at him and said, “Before you pat
me on the back, you should know my department’s best kept secret. And if you
hope to have my loyalty, you will keep this a secret from everyone--John
included. John especially I should say.”

Krista gave him a stern look. He
gazed back, deciding if he wanted to put himself in this pot of hot water.
Actually, he was probably wondering if he could find out the secret with that
tip alone.

Apparently deciding he’d have to
hear it from her, or seduce Trisha, he nodded for her to go on.

“We have excellent catalogers.
Excellent. Always have had, actually. As far as I can see, anything our company
has ever worked on has been stored in the archives. When electronic cataloging
became available, all paper copies were uploaded. Most companies wouldn’t
bother. The time and manpower it takes to do that sort of thing is usually not
worth it. Ours apparently thought it was worth it, very much so.”

“So...what you’re saying is, all
your department has to do in most situations is just search for the information
then write it down?”

“Not even write it down most times.
Pull up an old report, presentation, slide show, how about a speech? It’s
probably in there. I gave my presentation slides from Friday to the catalogers.
They’ve been stored for future reference.”

“But you did the slides on your
own?”

“I looked up all the information
for that topic in our databases, and created a report on historical
information. The report was mine, but the information was from the past.
Thinking on it now, I probably gave you shitty information—please excuse the
language. I should have balanced our company’s information with other research.
But…shit, sorry. There’s no excuse. I screwed up.”

Sean was looking at her with a
mystified expression. “You… no. You didn’t screw up. That you thought of it at
all—because I sure didn’t, is something. Incorporate that work ethic into this
next chunk of research. Don’t worry about what you just did, though. That went
over perfectly. But this database…it’s for the company?”

“What do you mean?”

“Reference information. Is it
available across all departments?”

“Um...I don’t know, actually.
Apparently not Sales, since you don’t know about it. But we would certainly
have information on all clients we’ve worked for. But how we got those clients,
I don’t know. We probably have a similar cataloging situation for the art
department. I couldn’t imagine they would throw away designs. I would think the
company would want to keep those for future contemplation, but I don’t have
access to those systems.”

“What if you did?”

“Well...uh, I don’t need it. I just
need numbers.”

“Now you just need numbers. But you
have an eye for art. You also have a desire to use info in a new format. If you
had access to art files, you could combine that with what you have, and go from
there.”

“Not following.”

Sean’s head was visibly whirling,
but Krista couldn’t tell in which direction. The guy was Morse code to a deaf
person.

“No. Hmmm. I’ll have to think about
this. But I will get you access. Count on that.”

“Oh good,” she said sarcastically.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“No. You shouldn’t have. Because
now I am going to want all kinds of historical information on anything and
everything to do with our big fish. Everything. And reports, graphs,
summarized… I don’t know…” He was using his hands in wild circular motions with
an air of excitement. “…lists. You just gave yourself a load of extra work,
Marshall
.
A load of extra work.”

They passed into silence for a
while, each sipping their beers. Krista checked the time and saw that it was
5:30 p.m.
Workday was over by a half hour. The
bar was starting to get crowded again for the after-work crew.