Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (54 page)

Inside, she was being torn apart. Her world
was being ripped to shreds, and the memories were bleeding down her
core. She wanted to crawl into a corner and cry herself hoarse.

Outside, she was a cool breeze. A little
ruffled maybe, but not a big deal. She had mastered professionalism
to hide her bitch persona until question time, so she was an old
pro at hiding all her inner feelings from her audience.

When the presentation was done, they opened
it up for questions. Krista’s team, unlike Sean’s, was a well-oiled
machine. The Ivy Leaguers asked their questions, which were
generally easy to answer in Krista’s opinion. The amount of people
that struggled with the answers, though, made their questions
essential. Krista gave them a hard time as a rule, just because
they were ridiculous boys, one and all, but they did do their job
well.

Unlike some companies, Sean seemed ready
for, and expecting, every one.

Marcus asked his questions, which were
preceded by a “ridiculous” ping message. Ben didn’t have any
questions, which was unusual, and probably meant this company’s
ideas weren’t good enough to get his creative juices flowing, and
Krista’s turn was last.

When she had the floor, Sean slowly inched
his eyes up until they met hers. His face was guarded. It was
unreal how bad that hurt. Absolutely indescribable the pain that
surfaced with the ripping and tearing going on in her guts from
seeing that cautious look on his face, after so long, after all
they had. After what they’d been to each other. After what they’d
endured as a team.

Intense hurt turned to anger. Thankfully,
anger turned to cold determination.

Tory was about to step in when Krista said,
“I have a couple questions.”

Sean nodded slowly. Deliberately. But he
didn’t say anything.

John said, “Great! Fire away.” Krista didn’t
miss his nervousness.

“Mr. Smith.” Larry looked at her, sweat
beaded on his forehead. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
Fool
. “I noticed your standard deviation chart was built
using data pulled from a different product. Can you talk about
that, please? I am interested to see how it relates.”

Sean immediately stepped forward to do
damage control. Krista held up a hand. “Sorry, Mr. McAdams. If you
don’t mind, I would like to hear from your Researcher.”

Sean looked at her levelly. Then, slowly, he
smiled.

It was on like Donkey Kong.

Krista wasn’t so naïve anymore. Tory was
right. He could wring the crap out of people, then fill the void
with excellence. She wasn’t nearly done learning, but she had been
an apt pupil so far. She could play the game. Where once she
couldn’t keep up in the ring with Sean McAdams, now she was more
than comfortable going t
ȇ
te-a-t
ȇ
te. What’s more, she
was confident she would come out the winner if a victor needed to
be chosen.

Larry got red in the face and started pawing
through his notes. He sputtered out a load of irrelevant
information until he sort of fizzled out and extinguished. Krista
didn’t know what she’d expected, but she didn’t expect that. She
very nearly laughed. Instead, she hid her mouth behind busy
fingers, pretending to think.

When she was under control again, she said,
“Thank you, Mr. Smith. Okay, Mr. McAdams, you’re up. Same
question.”

Sean smiled again, and answered flawlessly.
It didn’t meet her standards, though.

Which he expected.

They took off. It was a duel between Sean
and Krista, occasionally interrupted by one of the Circus or one of
Sean’s incompetent team members. To every hole she found, Sean was
there with dirt and mortar to plug it up. For every fact that
didn’t check out, Sean had a viable explanation and steered them
away expertly. He was the yin to her yang. He was the swim-up bar
to her pool party. She got hit with pangs of loss each time she
recognized it.

When she had exhausted the great many holes
and problems, there was a collective sigh. Krista’s team were all
sitting back, watching the show, and now they straightened
themselves up again, feeling a little sorry for the presenters. It
had been a long time since she’d dealt with a company so ill
prepared. Sean did exceptionally, considering what he had to work
with. Better than exceptional, actually. He didn’t belong there. He
was too good by half, and it was glaringly obvious.

Butterflies in
Honey, Book 3

***

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