An Act of Persuasion(41)

“It wasn’t about getting out or away from them because they were bad people. It was just about knowing that if something happened, I could be the one to walk away. Nobody was ever going to place me again. That’s all I cared about.”

He looked at his feet as if he couldn’t meet her eyes. She realized he did that a lot when they talked about the hard stuff. The kind of stuff they’d never talked about before with one another. “You never told me any of this.”

“You never asked.”

He sighed. “I wouldn’t have. You were my employee and it wouldn’t have been my right.”

She nodded. It was hard to forget that’s how he had thought of her when she had thought so differently about him.

“Ben, can I ask you a question?”

“You can.”

“Why did that night happen? If you only ever thought of me as your employee, if you had all these rules about not messing around, then what made you break them? Honestly.”

Again, his gaze dropped to the floor and as she waited for his response she worried that he was formulating the perfect answer. What she wanted to hear, instead of the truth. She braced herself when he finally did look her in the eye and, at least, she thought, she would be able to see if whatever he told her was partially true.

“Yoga pants.”

“Huh?”

“Yoga pants. You were wearing these tight clingy pants and you bent over to get a book and...”

“And?”

“I got hard.”

Anna blinked. Then she tried to see through his words to whatever game he might be playing, but she didn’t think he was playing. He was answering her question as best he could.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

She could see the concern in his face that he might have done something wrong. But she couldn’t be unhappy with his answer. No, it wasn’t a confession that deep down he’d been pining for her for the years they had been working together. They both knew that wasn’t true.

This was something else entirely. He’d wanted her. He’d lusted after her. And that desire had been strong enough to make the great and almighty Ben Tyler break his hard-core rules.

All things considered, it was a pretty complimentary answer. Who knew she looked that good in yoga pants.

“I’m tired,” she announced. It happened this way sometimes. Suddenly. Just like the nausea. All of a sudden she felt as though she could lie down where she was and take a nap. Given that they were in the middle of a museum, she figured she needed to rally a little bit longer.

“Me, too.”

That was nice, she thought. That he’d admitted his fatigue rather than tried to hide it so she didn’t feel like the weak one.

“Let’s blow this Popsicle stand, then.”

“This is a great museum, not a Popsicle stand...but I heartily concur.”

* * *

BEN DROVE THEM to Anna’s place and didn’t ask before getting out of the car and escorting her all the way to her door. He waited while she opened it and, once it opened, he began to turn away.

“Do you want to come in?”

The offer surprised him. He knew she was exhausted. He could see the faint tightening around her eyes. And as much as the idea of spending more time with her—possibly even ending up with the two of them making out on the couch—appealed to him, he hadn’t lied when he said he was exhausted, too.

The truth was he hoped he had enough energy left to drive home. If not, he would have to find a place to park and rest for a while. He’d learned through his recovery process that if he went with his natural tendency to push his body too far, then he paid for it later.

This wasn’t like a cracked rib or a sprained knee where he could deal with the pain and muscle through. Hell, he’d once been shot in the shoulder and had continued to move over difficult terrain for three days before finding someone to take out the bullet. A cakewalk when it compared to battling this new postcancer body of his.

He knew if he tried to fight the fatigue, then he would relapse for a time and find himself achy and miserable for days after.

“As much as I’m intrigued by the offer—and, really, I can’t believe I’m about to say this—I simply don’t have it in me.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Seriously? You think that was an offer? You’re dead on your feet. Me, too. If I was ready to have sex with you, which I’m currently not, I don’t think either one of us would be awake for the climax. I was offering you a place to crash temporarily.”