An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,2

sex he’d found it unsatisfying.

No one was exactly what he wanted. Meaningless sex with strangers for the sake of a few minutes of pleasure was not worth the trade-off in his mind. He had to deal with either the awkward next morning when he knew he had no plans to ever see the person again, or the game of trying to leave immediately after the sex was over without sending the woman into a fury...or, worse, tears.

Then he’d gotten sick and any thought of sex had been relegated to the furthest reaches of his mind.

Only now his death was a specter standing in front of him and the idea of doing something so completely life affirming had appeal. Doing it with someone so completely alive as Anna had even more appeal.

You could do it. You could have her.

He wasn’t exactly sure where the certainty came from. But it made his dick swell even more. He watched her as she moved to the couch to sit next to him. Watched as she folded her legs across one another Indian style and opened the book to the first page. Watched her lick her lips before starting to read.

Ben tried to imagine how she might react to a sexual advance from him. If he tossed the book aside, tugged on her hand and brought it down on his lap, would she pull away? If he let her see his erection, let her know what he wanted from her, would she reciprocate?

He could see it so clearly. He would pull her onto his lap, he would cup her face in his hands and lower her mouth to his so he could finally, finally know what she tasted like.

“What?”

Again, he blinked. “Huh?”

Anna closed the book and carefully set it on the edge of the couch. She looked at him as if somehow she knew what he’d been thinking. Like she could read his wicked sexual thoughts. She licked her bottom lip again and he almost groaned against the near painful swelling of his penis. He adjusted the robe over his lap hoping it didn’t draw her attention down there.

Or hoping it did.

“You’re staring at me,” she accused him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I was looking at you. You always exaggerate.”

Her eyes dropped for a second to where his hand was trying to casually bunch the material in his lap.

She met his gaze and he knew he was caught. He thought about leaving, going to bed. They would ignore this awkward incident as if it never happened and she would continue to be nothing more than his assistant. As it should be, his rational brain tried to convey.

Instead he sat there and said nothing.

He watched her swallow and wondered why she hadn’t gotten up and pretended to need something from the kitchen.

You know why. You’ve seen the way she looks at you.

It was an insidious thought. One he’d stifled for months as Anna extended her duties from being his employee to his primary caregiver. Or maybe she had been looking at him like that for years. He didn’t want to think about that.

She unfolded her legs and he thought that was a good thing. She would leave now and end this uncomfortable moment so he didn’t have to. Because, in truth, he didn’t want to. Instead she shifted so she was on her knees on the couch directly facing him.

“Ben.”

He stared straight ahead. He couldn’t answer her. He was too conflicted. If he looked at her, he might act on these impulses and he knew intellectually that doing so could only end in disaster. There was no future in this. Hell, there was possibly no future in him.

“Look at me.”

Typical of Anna. She made everything so damn messy. Not at work. No, in that arena everything was neat and efficient. But everywhere else around her there was clutter. The way her hair swept across her eyes. The way she was always smiling. She made him feel...not like himself. He didn’t care for it.

He turned his head to look at her but still he said nothing.

She was the one, the bold one, the courageous one, to cup his face in her hand. She leaned over him and pressed her lips against his.

On a sigh his mouth opened and he felt her tongue slide inside and rub against his. It was such an awful pleasure. His whole body lurched at the unfamiliar contact and then his decision was made.

He would never say he allowed his body to dictate his actions.