His brows knitted. “You weren’t bothered by it?”
“Bothered? Do you mean hot-and-bothered? Are you fishing for complements? Asking if I noticed your shirt was unbuttoned last night?”
He frowned harder. “That’s not what—”
“Yes, Mr. Gherring, I noticed. It was hard to miss.” She scrunched her left eye closed in an exaggerated wink.
He leaned forward and planted both hands on her desk. “Anne, I think it’s time for us to have that talk.”
“Aren’t we talking now, Mr. Gherring?”
“You know what I mean. We need to talk about what happened between us.”
Ah-ha! That’s what he’s after—he’s afraid I have expectations of a relationship, just because he kissed me. How do I set his mind at ease so he can move on without feeling guilty?
She was still trying to form an answer in her head when the elevator doors opened and Michelle stepped out.
“Steven!” With a sob, she scurried to him and threw her arms around his neck. “Steven, it didn’t work. You have to help me. Please! Can we talk in private?” She cast red-rimmed eyes in Anne’s direction.
He peeled Michelle’s hands from his neck as he glanced toward Anne. “Michelle, this isn’t a good time. Anne and I were talking about something important.”
“But you’re the only one who understands me.” Michelle hooked his arm and dragged him toward his office door.
He halted at the entrance and turned back to Anne. “This conversation isn’t over.”
That was all the warning Anne needed. She had to find a place to hide for the rest of the day.
She called Jared and arranged to spend the entire morning training with him in the CMA department. Sending him off to lunch at twelve, she hid herself at Shanna Matheson’s unoccupied desk.
She tried to concentrate on work, because thought of Steven kept invading her brain. What was she going to do about him? Whatever happened, she absolutely, positively couldn’t let herself be alone in a private place with Steven Gherring again.
The only logical conclusion to a physical relationship with Steven was to either stand by her convictions and experience frustration, or give in to temptation and experience temporary physical pleasure, followed by guilt and self-condemnation. She’d made her decision. Now she just had to learn to live with it.
When Jared returned from lunch, he brought something for her to eat. She thanked him profusely for the thoughtful gesture and pretended to eat something. But the thought of actually swallowing food made her gag.
When she asked Jared to check her work, he whistled.
“You did all that today? If you keep this up, they’ll fire
me and Shanna, both.”
“So it looks correct?”
“It looks perfect. Why don’t you take a break? You look a little tired.”
“No, I want to tackle the yearly estimates, taking the tax changes into account.”
“We usually let the Accounting Department do that.”
“I’m not sure. But I think my new department is supposed to cover that as well. Anyway, I’m going to try—”
“No, you’re not,” Steven's voice rang out behind her. “You’re not expected to do that report. And it’s time you took a break to eat something.”
“You were right, boss—she didn’t touch the lunch I brought her.”
Anne glared at Jared, but he grinned, shrugging. “Sorry, Anne. Us guys have to stick together. Besides, he pays me.”
“Did you even have breakfast?” Steven demanded.