An Act of Persuasion(67)

“That’s such crap.”

“The point is now the deed is done. You are no longer my employee. You are, instead, the woman carrying my child and the woman I’m attempting to court. The fact is I think about taking you to bed quite often. So when you take me furniture shopping and you ask me which piece I prefer, I imagine making love to you on said item and that helps in my decision-making process.”

Anna tried to wrap her brain around the concept of him wanting her like this. The way he said what he was thinking blew her mind.

“It is the craziest thing. If you were any other guy on the planet, I would know to take this as flirting, perhaps with intent to seduce. But you are actually dead serious.”

He closed the distance between them so that less than an inch remained. Less than a breath really. “I’m deadly serious about wanting to take you to bed. I have been since I had my first erection after my treatment. I would not be lying if I told you it occupies many of my day-to-day thoughts. Does that answer your question?”

Anna caught her hand around her throat as she tried to calm her breathing. This man was seriously getting to her. First on the desk in his office. Now today with this completely honest admission of what he wanted from her.

“Let’s get the bigger bed.”

His smile was more wolfish than anything she had ever seen before.

“Hey, Anna, Tyler.”

They turned at the greeting. Mark approached them with a seemingly reluctant teenager in toe. The girl wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that read Music Is My Life, What’s Yours? Her expression let anyone looking at her know how unhappy she was with her current circumstance, whether it was shopping or the company she was with was hard to say.

“Sharpe,” Ben said, glancing at the recalcitrant teenager. “Can we hope you didn’t kidnap her?”

“Don’t let the I-would-rather-be-anywhere-else-than-here look fool you. We’re having a great day.”

“Whatever,” the girl muttered.

“Anna, Ben, this is my daughter, Sophie Warren. Sophie, this is Ms. Summers—I told you about her. And this is Mr. Tyler. We used to work together in the CIA.”

“Oh, did you abandon your children, too?”

Mark’s smile was big and tense. “Fun. We’re having fun. Sophie is helping me pick out the furniture for her room, which I’m setting up in my condo.”

“Which I’m never going to visit, so I don’t really know why we’re bothering.”

“Look, can we hold the snarky commentary for five minutes? I wanted my friends to meet you.”

Anna smiled through the awkwardness, remembering exactly what it felt like to be fourteen and on display for people. While Jan and Larry had been terrific with her, they did like to show her off her to any first-time visitors as an example of their good deed.

“Oh, and look, we’ve taken in a foster child. See what we’re trying to give back to the world.”

That was when Anna developed the bad habit of rolling her eyes that irritated Ben so much.

“Hey, can I give you some advice?”

The girl wanted to say something, but caught herself. She clearly had no problem expressing an attitude with her recently reunited father, but she’d been raised well enough to know it wasn’t acceptable to behave rudely in front of other adults.

“He’s going to buy the furniture anyway. Don’t pick out the stuff you hate just for spite. You’ll kick yourself later.”

The girl seemed to flush a little with guilt.

“I knew you didn’t like that green chair,” Mark said. “I mean it’s really foul green. Now we’re going to return it. Which means we accomplished absolutely nothing today.”

“Don’t let us hold you up,” Ben said.

“Yeah, hey, Tyler. I need to talk to you.” Mark’s face was suddenly serious.

“Regarding?”

Mark shook his head. “Not here. Can I stop by your office tomorrow?”

“Yes. I’ll be in after ten.”

“Great, see you then. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

The two walked off with Mark still muttering about the green chair and Anna smiled. “What do you think he wants to talk to you about?”

Ben didn’t answer. Instead he shrugged and only said he’d learn that tomorrow. They found a salesclerk to take the order for all the items they selected. Anna paid for them all with what she’d called her house savings. Now that she actually had the house, it was time to put that money to good use.