Bet On It: An Age Gap Billionaire Office Romance(32)

She gave me a wan smile. "I know." Her smile faltered. "We're going to have to try harder to resist."

Irritation flared deep in my gut, but I worked to keep it under control. Getting upset wasn't the answer. "I don't know about you, but I felt like I was trying pretty hard tonight."

She shifted, and I stepped away, allowing her to slip off the table. She picked up my robe and put it on. "It's my fault for coming over tonight. You had a plan to avoid each other, and if I had stuck to it, this wouldn’t have happened."

I ground my teeth together again, holding back an angry retort because that statement sounded like regret. This woman was killing my ego. I had to remind myself why she was acting like this. She didn’t want to be the woman sleeping with her boss.

But more than that, I had to find a way for her to accept what was between us. The chemistry was off the charts. And despite the way she acted after we had sex, I believed there was mutual respect.

"You know, we have another option here,” I said as another idea came to me.

She looked up at me with hope in her eyes. "What's that?"

"We give in to it."

Her head was shaking before I finished my statement. I held my hand up to stop her from speaking. "Hear me out on this. I think it's clear that this thing between us is stronger than we are able to resist. So we give into it in secret. At work, I'm just your boss and you’re one of my employees. We stick with the avoid each other plan. But away from work, away from anyone who could possibly see us, we allow ourselves to indulge in this."

"It's dangerous."

I reminded myself that she was the one with all the risk here. She was the one whose reputation could be ruined if an affair between us was discovered.

"We can be careful. Discrete." I knew she wanted me, otherwise she wouldn't have touched me or kissed me, and yet I still couldn't help myself from asking, "Unless this thing has already burned out for you. Maybe you're not feeling the attraction anymore."

Inwardly, I kicked myself, hating how pathetic I sounded.

She didn’t roll her eyes, but she was probably thinking it. "I think you know that's not true."

Taking a chance, I stepped toward her, my hands rubbing up and down her arms. "Before you came back to town, that night we spent last month stayed with me. You have brought something into my life that I'm not ready to let go of yet. But something this intense generally burns itself out. All I'm asking is that we take advantage of it. Go with it. Let it run its course."

"I know what you're saying, Reed. And I feel it too. I really do.”

I had a moment of happiness fill my chest. She admitted to what was going on.

“But I don't think I can do that."

"You don't have to decide right this minute. Think it over." I hated how desperate I sounded. Why was I fighting so hard knowing I was asking her to risk so much? Maybe I needed to cut and run. I'd made my pitch, and she didn't want to do it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to hear no just yet.

She gave a single nod. "Okay. I’ll think about it."

I grabbed my lounge pants, slipping them on. "I'll walk you back to your room."

Her lips twitched upward slightly. "Good, because this house is so big, I'm not sure I could find it."

I laughed, knowing she was eager to move away from the topic of our affair.

"Why do you have such a big house, anyway? Were you married once and your family was here?"

I stopped short at her question, realizing we hadn't talked in great detail about our history. I knew she had jerk of a former boyfriend, and I thought that I had told her I'd been unlucky in love, but maybe I hadn’t.

"I've never been married. I wouldn't mind being married and having a family, but that hasn't been in the cards for me."

"You talk like that option is unavailable to you anymore."

"I've given up trying too hard. You can't force someone to love you." I looked down at her, and for a moment I thought I saw her in this house with me, children running up and down the hallways. I gave my head a quick shake. I couldn’t even get her to give me a chance. The Reed love ’em-and-leave ’em curse continued. "Have a good night, Analyn."

"You too, Reed."

I waited until she entered the room and shut the door, then I made my way to my own bedroom. Let her go, let her go, ran through my mind like a mantra. But it was so clear to me that ignoring this chemistry between us wasn't going to make it go away. We needed to give into it and let it run its course.

Analyn didn’t want to do that, and I had to respect her reasons for it. I wished I could come up with another solution. One in which we could indulge this crazy attraction. Interesting that I didn't wish for the desire to simply vanish. I wanted to be with her. And it wasn't just the sex. Analyn was an intriguing woman, smart and creative. More than that, she was real. There were so few people in my life who felt truly authentic to me. Pierce was one. Analyn was the other.

Knowing I wouldn’t have any relief from this difficult situation, I went to bed. Maybe she’d change her mind once she had a good night’s sleep. Yeah, right.





18





Analyn