An Act of Persuasion(22)

“You mean, if she doesn’t return to work for you? Do you really see that as a possibility?”

No, Ben didn’t. Regardless of what happened regarding her job here, he doubted she would ever agree to work for him again. They were beyond that now. Trying to blend their relationship as both parents and coworkers would be too complicated. In one area they had to be equals, in the other area they wouldn’t be.

Besides, that’s not what he wanted. His thoughts on having sex with his employees hadn’t changed. His thoughts on having sex with Anna had. He wanted her. So he had to let her go professionally. If she had to leave his company and work for someone else, he could think of worse things than it being someone he knew and ultimately trusted. As long as he knew what her responsibilities would be.

“What are your plans going forward for her?” Ben asked, again refusing to answer Mark’s question.

“She has aspirations to be an investigator. I’m going to train her, help her get her license and give her cases to work.”

Ben crossed his right leg over his left and smoothed out the material of his pants. “The hell you are.”

“She’s got a knack for research.”

“She will not be investigating criminal cases. Cold or hot.”

Mark smiled. That blasted smile that had Ben’s knuckles itching to remove it from his face. “You really don’t have any say over that, do you?”

“Maybe not, but I can make sure she knows the type of man she’s working for. A man who doesn’t see a problem putting other people at risk for his own ends.”

“You’re never going to get over that, are you? No one forced you out of that helicopter. That was your choice.”

There had been an assault on a suspected al Qaeda leader’s home. Mark had done most of the work gathering the intel and wanted to be with the SEAL team when they raided the property despite Ben’s protestations. The agency’s job was to collect the information, pass it over and let the military do the work. However, in this instance, the team hadn’t been opposed to having Mark with them in the helicopter to provide specific detail about the small complex before they attacked. Ben had accompanied them to oversee his operative.

A good thing he had, too, because not a minute after the team deployed, Mark broke protocol and followed the SEALs onto the ground.

“It wasn’t a choice. You were being fired upon.”

“Yeah, good old Ben to the rescue. Because there was no chance I would have made it out of the situation on my own like I had countless times before.”

As far as Ben was concerned, he wouldn’t have. “I’m not here to rehash the past. I’m here to tell you how it’s going to be with Anna. Beyond any history you and I have, she’s carrying my child. I will not let you put her in harm’s way.”

“I’m putting her in harm’s way? You knocked her up. You didn’t even know about it until a few days ago. Tell me, Ben, which one of us is the bigger jerk in this scenario.”

The accusation hit Ben directly in the gut. What was worse, he couldn’t refute it. “My relationship with Anna is none of your concern.”

“And my relationship with her and her future career here is none of your concern. I can tell you this, she’s one stubborn girl. That’s easy enough to see. Push her to quit this job and you’ll only be playing into my hands.”

Ben waited a beat until the rush of anger he felt subsided. “You’ve known her eight weeks. I’ve known her six years.”

“But you know I’m right.”

He did. He also knew that Mark Sharpe was a risk taker and, as he said, the bigger the challenge the bigger the high for him. She would be taking on cases that involved potentially dangerous people and the idea of her out there alone, unprotected by Ben, sent a chill through him he wasn’t totally willing to acknowledge.

“We’re done with this conversation. Stay out of my way.”

It was an old command. One he’d used with many operators working under him when he was on a particular mission. He didn’t want their help, he didn’t want their input, he wanted them out of his way so he could do what he did best.

Before that meant hunting down known terrorists.

Today it meant hunting down Anna.





CHAPTER SIX



ANNA LEANED AGAINST the passenger door of Ben’s car waiting for him to exit the building. Not much past six o’clock and the afternoon rush was nearly finished in the city. Everybody was already heading home to the burbs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Only a few cars passed by occasionally and Anna had no doubt Ben would see her immediately upon leaving the building.