An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,71
inside her apartment with her. Hell, maybe she’d intended to do the asking herself but he’d cut her off.
The idea brought a smile to his lips. If he’d left her a little...deflated...then that might be a good change for them. He’d made his feelings regarding sex known. Maybe it was time for Anna to start admitting that she wanted him, too.
The way she’d looked at him...then at that large bed...
Of course, Sharpe had interrupted them and removed all thoughts of bed-sharing. Ben walked over to his desk, deliberately holding off succumbing to the couch and its temptation for now. He saw the folder on his desk, the one he knew contained Anna’s birth certificate.
He had to believe that whatever business Sharpe wanted to discuss with him revolved around Anna and her missing parents. Maybe Mark had found something and wanted to let Ben know about it first, as a courtesy.
Ben doubted it, though. He had firm suspicion that Mark’s first loyalties were to Anna. Whose wouldn’t be? The woman practically inspired it with her spirit. In seconds she’d managed to make a connection with Mark’s daughter that he doubted Sharpe had been able to do in weeks of communication.
Ben looked again at the birth certificate and thought about the woman who had come from a childhood like Anna’s. He thought about the heartbreaking stories she’d told him of her time in foster care. Stories she didn’t see as heartbreaking, instead simply accepted them as something that had happened to her. Even now a surge of rage bubbled in him when he thought of some punk-assed kid who was bigger than she was, holding her down and hitting her face so hard he broke her nose.
Ben took a breath and controlled the urge to seek out that kid and return the favor. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate it.
Now she wanted to go further into her past. She wanted Ben to take her deeper into where her life had truly started and where it all went wrong. It was probably time to admit, at least to himself, that it wasn’t a place he wanted her to go.
Especially now. With so much of her life in turmoil between him and the baby. The house had been the first step to giving her the security and comfort he wanted her to have in life. Unraveling the truth about her past now might shake that foundation of security at a time when she needed it most.
He was supposed to protect the mother of his child. Not upset her. It was self-serving logic. He knew it, but he didn’t care. He would talk to Sharpe tomorrow about stopping the search for Anna’s parents.
Ben opened a drawer and put the certificate away where he couldn’t see it.
Then he made his way to the couch and released a deep sigh as he laid down. His body would finally get the rest it needed. Fatigue was still his mortal enemy, sometimes sneaking up on him and hitting him like a fist in the gut. The doctors told him it would most likely be a year before he was truly back to normal. He could see how right they were.
Hell, the sad truth was if Anna had wanted him to make a move today, he doubted he could have made the event very memorable. No, this was better. Let her wait for it, the way she made him wait for it.
Letting his arms and legs relax and his eyes close, Ben’s last thought was that it was good to be alive.
And better than being alive was wondering what might happen the next time he saw Anna together with the king-size bed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“NICE OFFICE,” MARK COMMENTED as he sat in Ben’s guest chair. “But why here and not in the heart of the city where all the action is?”
“I don’t need the flash of Center City. This is a nice, growing community and it serves its purpose.”
Right, Mark thought. Ben was always about efficiency. He’d never had much use for the extras. That included small talk.
“So I’ll get right down to it. Anna told me that she gave you her birth certificate.”
“She did. I’m glad you brought that up. I know I asked this of you before, but now I’m being serious when I say I would like you to stop your investigation. She’s trusted me with the task. I’ll take it from here. There is no point for you to waste your time.”