An Act of Persuasion(61)

“I don’t know what...I don’t what to say.”

She smiled then. Considering how evil that smile was he really should have seen it coming.

“I do. Screw you.”

With that she stood and marched out of the living room with her head held impossibly high. Not so many minutes later the faint sound of a door slamming from above could be heard.

Okay, he thought. So she was a teenager after all.

* * *

“YOU’LL HAVE MY REPORT tomorrow, but overall I think Davis was pleased with the negotiations.”

Ben looked across the desk at his colleague Greg Chalmers and thought that it felt good to be back in this seat. Listening to Greg break down his last assignment as a consultant for Davis Industries felt like old times. Like things in his life were finally returning to normal.

“Was anyone lying?” Ben asked. Greg’s particular talent was being able to identify the physical tells when people were lying. He’d been a hell of a psychologist in his day until he screwed up his practice and career with a gambling addiction. Now his talents were used for more commercial purposes.

“Hell, they were all lying. But only one of them paid us to tell them who and when. Mercer is completely overstating the value of his company. I recommended to Davis he either walk away from the deal or drop his asking price significantly.”

“That’s his call. Ours is simply to provide the information they need.”

A knock on the door had him frowning. Joyce Mellon was the assistant handpicked by Anna to replace her. She wasn’t quite the partner Anna had been. Mostly Joyce kept occupied with the more menial tasks of what he required from an assistant. But she was prompt, hardworking and efficient.

She’d been an executive assistant for years and had only reentered the workforce after losing a large chunk of her retirement savings in the recent financial collapse on Wall Street. For her this job was only temporary until she could rebuild some of what she had lost, but Ben was grateful to have her for as long as she wanted to stay. Good help was hard to find, after all. The Annas of the world didn’t happen very often. In fact, the Annas of the world only happened once in a lifetime.

So it wasn’t like the very efficient Joyce to break protocol and interrupt him while he was in a meeting. If she was doing so, it was because she had a reason.

“Come in.”

Joyce opened the door wearing a concerned expression. “I know you said not to disturb you but you also said—”

“Relax, Joyce, he’ll realize why you interrupted him once he sees it’s me.” Anna breezed past the woman and instantly Ben stood. Like his body simply rose from the sheer excitement of her presence. She’d come to see him. Purposefully. Without him having to ask her.

She wore a sleeveless pink dress that flared out around her. The color should have clashed with her red hair yet it didn’t. It made her look youthful and fun.

More youthful and fun than he had ever been in his life.

Greg also got to his feet. Lanky and tall, it was more like he unfolded himself rather than stood.

“She’s back!” Greg said gleefully.

“She’s not back.”

“I’m not back,” Anna corrected Greg, moving forward and stretching to kiss the tall man’s cheek.

Ben noticed she didn’t kiss his cheek. Sure, the desk was in the way...but still.

“You’re not back, but you’re here.”

“To see Ben.”

“To get your job back? Which he will not be so stupid as to deny you.”

“No,” Ben snapped. “She’s not here about work. Greg, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Anna and I are...well...we’re engaged in a...um... What are we doing? What am I supposed to tell him we’re doing?”

“We’re dating.” Anna smiled at Ben’s discomfort he was sure. But he still nodded to her in recognition of the lifeline she had thrown him.

He’d never talked about his personal life with his employees before. Certainly he never told anyone of his feelings regarding Anna, although he had a suspicion Madeleine had guessed there was something between them. To tell people who had never known them outside the context of work that they were now dating felt awkward.

Like people would suddenly see something in him they had never realized was there before. However, he had to admit it also felt good. Like he wanted Greg to know someone like Anna would choose to be with a man like him.