Seduced By A Steele (Forged of Steele #12) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,54

Steele’s son. Don’t forget Dad almost lost Mom because he was convinced he was not ready to love her or any woman. But look at him now. If Drew hadn’t come to his senses, there would not have been any of us. Hell, can you imagine being born to any other parents? Parents like Sloan’s?”

Mercury cringed at the thought. “No.”

Then without saying anything else, Gannon opened the door and left.

Seventeen

Sloan stood back and admired her work area. She had a new laptop, a new printer, a beautiful green plant—compliments of Gannon—on her desk, and all the office supplies she needed to start her new job, although she wouldn’t officially begin working for a few weeks.

Tomorrow she had a mobile conference call with the pageant committee. They wanted to get to know her and wanted her to get to know them. The thought that they’d hired her so quickly based on Margaret Fowler’s recommendations meant a lot to her.

It was just a little past eight and dark outside already. She had taken a bubble bath and changed into a pajama shorts set. Next on her list of things to do was to enjoy a glass of wine, compliments of Tyson and Hunter. Jonas and Nikki had given her a beautiful set of wineglasses, which she couldn’t wait to use with the wine. Galen and Brittany had given her a starter kit of every spice that existed. Since she wouldn’t begin work for another month, she figured she could take Mercury’s advice and enroll in a cooking class.

Mercury...

Hadn’t she told herself she would not think about him today, tomorrow or any other day? The fact that he hadn’t called said a lot. She’d been tempted to ask Eden about him, but had talked herself out of doing so.

She was about to go into the kitchen for a glass of wine when her phone rang. She checked caller ID and saw it was Eli. When she’d seen him at Galen’s on Sunday, he’d told her he had spoken to Charles Rivers’s personal assistant, who said Rivers was out of town and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday. Hopefully that meant Eli had talked to him today.

“Yes, Eli?”

“Hello, Sloan. I made a connection with Charles Rivers and I need to discuss with you what he shared. Are you free tomorrow morning? I can drop by your place on my way to the office.”

She knew from Stacey that she and Eli lived in a community not far from there. “That would be great. I’m in apartment C240.”

“Okay. Will nine o’clock work?”

“Yes, that will be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks, Eli.”

Sloan had just disconnected the call when she heard the sound of the doorbell. Immediately, there was a pounding in her chest, hoping it was Mercury. Hadn’t she just convinced herself that it hadn’t mattered if she saw him or not? So why was she having such an intense reaction at the possibility it was him?

Moving to the door, she inwardly told herself that even if it was him, he’d probably only dropped by to deliver the documents for her car and the payment sheet for the loan since she was yet to get them from him.

“Yes? Who is it?”

“Mercury. May I come in?”

He was asking to come in and she hadn’t opened the door yet? Erring on the side of caution, she looked out the peephole to verify it was him, although she’d recognized his sexy voice. Releasing a deep breath, she opened the door.

“Hello, Sloan.”

She wished he didn’t say her name in that strong, husky voice. And more than anything, she wished he wasn’t standing in front of her door looking the epitome of masculine beauty in his business suit. Why did he have such chiseled good looks that looked even more so when half lit by the moonlight?

“Mercury,” she said, stepping aside. No matter what, she would not ask where he’d been the last four days and what he’d been doing...or with whom. He was the one who’d put distance between them, which meant he had a