lifted his glass and swirled the remaining whiskey. “Seems kind of underhanded, don’t you think?”
“And spying on us and feeding information to Jordan and Emilio Jefferies is aboveboard?” Stephen tapped him on his shoulder. “What do you think your father would do?”
John Garrison would have set her up and taken her down in a heartbeat. Business before personal feelings. Business before anything.
“Hey, if she’s innocent,” Stephen added, “then you find that out, too. Then you can seduce her for real.”
“Seduce whom?” Brittany strolled onto the veranda and sidled up to her two brothers. “Who’s your next victim?”
“No one,” Parker said dismissively.
His brother was right; they had to know the truth. The thing was, if he was wrong, and Anna realized he suspected her, he’d never have a chance with her. Ever.
But if he was right, then he’d be doing the very thing the patriarch of the family should be doing: protecting the Garrison brand.
When it came down to that, he really had no choice.
Seven
By five o’clock on Monday, Anna thought she’d jump out of her skin. Or jump onto her boss’s. She’d spent every moment at work next to Parker, at times so close you couldn’t slide a hair between them. He seemed to need—or want—her for everything. He had her in his office reorganizing files, requiring her to stay in the room during his telephone conversations so she could take down pertinent information.
He brought in lunch and while they ate, he discussed the possibility of launching an ad campaign for the brand, an idea she’d certainly heard him reject in the past.
Forget the ad campaign. Forget the sudden outpouring of business issues. When he reached over and took her pickle off her paper plate, grinned and asked seductively, “You don’t mind sharing, do you?” Anna almost melted into his plush leather sofa. Which she had no right sharing with him, but that was where he’d set up lunch… like some kind of impromptu picnic.
Every overheated cell in her body ached from the torture of being so close without being able to touch, her senses bombarded with the pleasure of seeing him lean over a piece of paper to sign his name, that lock of hair nearly kissing his brow exactly the way she wanted to. Slack-jawed and weak-limbed and awestruck, she watched him shed his jacket at two, loosen his tie at four and unbutton his cuffs to reveal his powerful, broad wrists at five-thirty.
One more minute and she’d start on his belt buckle.
How long could this go on?
“Anna,” he chided when his PDA dinged softly. “We forgot the business council meeting tonight.”
“We did? I did?” She shuffled through the papers for his calendar. “I don’t have a business council meeting on your schedule.”
He started lowering the cuffs and buttoning them, sending relief and disappointment colliding through her.
“This meeting was added at the last minute by the board to discuss the next election,” he told her.
“That must be why I didn’t know about it,” she said. That or the fact that she’d gone way past distracted and had slid right into useless ever since they’d gotten back from London.
Maybe she was trying to sabotage her job; if she didn’t work for him, then she could act on all the chemistry she was absolutely certain she wasn’t imagining.
If she didn’t work for him, she could meet him here late at night and… Her gaze drifted to the leather sofa where they’d eaten lunch, her mind already imagining the stamp of his body on hers; the heat of his hands under her blouse; the wet, warm feel of his lips suckling her breasts—
“But it has to be done by tomorrow morning, so I’m afraid you’ll have to finish it tonight.”
What in God’s name was he talking about? “Which will entail…?” She scanned his desk for a clue to what he’d just told her to do.
“The usual, complete the spreadsheets. It won’t take you long. I’m sorry you have to work late. You didn’t have plans did you?”
Not unless jogging off nine hours of sexual frustration and then spending the rest of the night fantasizing herself right back into that blissful state constituted plans. “No, not tonight.”
“Good. To make it easier on you, I’ve left the data on my computer, so you can just input the spreadsheets right here.” He indicated his desk. “You don’t mind that, do you?”
Yes, she minded. She had to sit in his chair, his spicy aftershave lingering in the air, his computer under her fingertips. But what she really minded was that she had no idea what he was talking about.
“Um, Parker, which spreadsheet again?”
He laughed softly. “You seem a little distracted today, Anna. You okay?”
“I… I just…” She smoothed her hair and squared her shoulders. “Missing the business council on your calendar kind of threw me.”
He waved it off and dragged the charcoal suit coat back on. “I’m referring to the monthly property report for the executive committee. All of the profits from Garrison companies are rolled into that report. My brothers and sisters will be in here tomorrow morning for the exec committee meeting and we’ll go over it first thing.”
“Oh, of course.” Still she frowned, not remembering a document they’d done like that in the past. Didn’t all the Garrisons bring their numbers to the meeting individually, and announce them that morning? Why were they doing it this way?
He slipped some files—she was so distracted, she didn’t even know what—into his soft-sided leather briefcase and gave her an unreadable look, almost as if he was a little disappointed. He probably was—she hadn’t really done her usual bang-up job this week.
Plus, she was getting far less adept at hiding her attraction. Maybe he knew she said one thing to him about their physical relationship, but dreamed of another. Maybe he could tell she was really regretting her decision to keep their relationship strictly professional. Because she was. Deeply. Daily.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Anna.” What was that expression on his face? Expectation? Hope? Uncertainty? Something was on his mind, but he wasn’t saying. Was he hoping she’d change her mind, or had he moved on?
No. She wasn’t imagining the sizzle between them.
“I’ll be in at eight,” she promised him. “And the meeting starts at nine.”
He came around his desk and paused in front of her. Inches away, she could feel the heat of him, the sense that he was trying to tell her something nearly buckling her knees.
“Is there anything else, Parker?” Did he hear that note of need in her voice?
“No. There’s nothing else.” He lifted his hand and brushed a single stray hair from her face, the featherlight touch sparking her skin. Had he noticed she’d been wearing her hair down? “I just… I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” She pulled back. “For what?”
“Sorry you have to work late.”
She let out a quick breath, almost a laugh. “I always work late,” she assured him. “And going to a business council meeting isn’t exactly a fun time for all.”
He smiled, cocking his head exactly the way he would if he were going to kiss her. Her heart walloped so hard, he had to have heard it. Had to have noticed her lips parting, her eyes half closing. He dipped a centimeter.
He was going to kiss her. Her fingers tightened on the papers she held; her gaze dropped to his mouth; her gut clenched in anticipation.