Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) by K.F. Breene Read Free Book Online

anymore. There aren’t enough hours in the day to harass Art and
Research for better work. I have to have my hand in everything to
keep our company going and I am exhausted. Physically and mentally
exhausted. You did me a favor.”
    “I probably could have been a little nicer
about it, though.”
    “You? Nice? I have heard about you over the
last two years. More so over the last year. No, I didn’t expect
nice. I expected insightful and fair. That’s what I got. Poor Larry
had another thing coming, though.”
    “Poor Larry, my butt! He’s a clown!” Krista
laughed. So he had heard about her. She wondered if it was from
Judy telling others, or from someone else. She wondered if he ever
asked or just wandered into it. She wondered what his reaction had
been to her Bad Bitch persona. She asked about the latter.
    Sean leaned back and laughed deeply. “Well, I
heard about that at the same time I heard about your promotion. I
had to ask if they were talking about my Krissy. It didn’t take
long to convince me. You shaped up our team in no time flat.”
    His Krissy? Krista knew he was just
talking about his past team member, but she flew at the words. If
only he knew how truly correct they were.
    “You created a monster.” Krista laughed.
Waves were coming and going around them. She could have taken a
dozen already, but she didn’t want to miss this time with Sean. The
two of them alone, away from the world, was a treat she would
probably never get again.
    “I discovered an insightful, hard worker. I
think it was Tory that made the monster.”
    “Yeah, true. He said he would mold me and he
wasn’t kidding! You could learn a thing or two from that guy.”
    “I have.”
    Before Krista could ask about that comment,
he was paddling. “See you down there!”
    Sean smoothly got to the sweet spot and
perfectly grabbed the coming wave. He hopped up on his board as if
he’d been doing it forever, and away he went. It looked easy when
he did it. His body cut and sliced through the water, his arms
keeping balance. He got to the end of the wave and hopped off his
board into the water again.
    Apparently that meant it was Krista’s turn.
And she was no pro! She saw a wave coming and started paddling. She
gave it everything she had for a quick burst of speed as the wave
started to get ahead of her, and then she caught up just in time.
She jumped onto her board, nearly lost her balance, but stuck it!
Her mind went into sharp focus as she fought for balance.
    Near the end, she crashed into the water,
tumbled a second, and then came up sputtering. Sean was there to
help her up.
    “Nice work, Marshall! You look great out
there!” Sean said, light infusing his eyes.
    Krista smiled like a kid that got a gold
star. It meant a lot coming from him. He patted her on the back
like they were buds, and he headed back out to the water. With a
groan, Krista followed.
    For the next couple of hours, they didn’t get
to talking again. Sean was a machine once he got going. He paddled
out, caught a wave, rode it, then paddled out again. Krista could
see where all his arm strength came from.
    In contrast, she paddled out, sat on her
board for a while to catch her breath, caught a wave and fell as
many times as she made it, sat on the beach for a second, then
started paddling again. Toward the end, her arms were rubber and
she was exhausted. She got out beyond the waves, sat on her board,
and decided to give up.
    Sean caught up with her—not that it was
hard—saw her immobility, and sat up on his board as well.
    “What’s up?” he asked, not even winded.
    “I’m tired. I give up.”
    “You going to surrender to the sharks?”
    “Yes, if they’ll have me.”
    Sean smirked and looked around. The sun was
well up and more people lined the beach. It was still an ugly, cold
day. Krista missed the sparkle off the waves on the clear mornings
in L.A. It was the one part of her new life, besides her job, that
she loved. Except for the new life