Treasured Past (12 page)

I just laughed. Then our eyes caught and held, and the laughter was replaced with the thick tension.

“So what are we going to do about this?” she asked.

I contemplated her for several moments, wanting nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and pull her close. But something told me that would be the wrong approach.

“Would you like to go out on a date?” My eyebrows rose hopefully.

“I thought that’s what we’ve
been
doing.” The sound of her laughter sent a little shiver down my chest. I could hardly believe that we’d gotten this far.

“It kind of feels that way, doesn’t it?”

She wrinkled her nose and agreed with me.

“How about we make a real date? For Friday,” I suggested.

She was shaking her head. “No good. I’ve got to come over here every night to see how the workmen are doing, and the tension would be nearly unbearable.” She was clearly joking now, confident.

“Okay,” I stammered while my mind searched for a quick and witty solution. But I came up with nothing. Shrugging my shoulders, I lifted both hands in the air, palms upward. “Do you have any suggestions?”

Her brows pulled together and she frowned briefly before lifting her eyes back to mine. They were almost sultry.

“Why don’t you just come over here and kiss me?”

I thought a dart had pierced my chest. Stomach fluttering, I tried my best to hide my nervousness.

“Command performance, eh? That’s kind of tough.”

“I’ll bet you do quite well under pressure.” Her grin was something close to wicked as she slowly pushed herself away from the window and covered the few steps between us.

I was aware that my smile had faltered as she drew within inches of my face. Her smile too had vanished, and I wasn’t sure if the beating heart that I heard was hers or my own.

With careful, purposeful slowness, she raised a hand to the side of my face. With two fingers, she tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before letting the palm of her hand come to rest against my cheek.

Instinctively, my lips turned and found the soft center of her palm. Our eyes locked as I continued to let my lips caress her skin. A moment ago I hadn’t thought that I’d be able to kiss her, but now the familiar ache was settling in my belly, and the tension in our locked gaze was mounting.

My left hand covered hers, and I slowly lifted her hand from my mouth as my other hand slipped behind her waist. I didn’t have to urge her any closer, because before I knew it she was in my arms, her soft, moist lips seeking mine. Surely I had died and gone to heaven.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I did something the next morning that I don’t think I’d done since college. I called in sick. After waking up to find Annie curled around me, I knew that there was no way that I was going to leave her to go in to the office.

We lounged in bed until midmorning, kissing and touching and exploring each other’s body as if neither of us had ever been with another woman. Our kisses were slow. Delicate and delicious.

“If I had known this would be so good, I wouldn’t have waited so long to seduce you.” Annie murmured the words against my ear as the softness of her body pressed down into mine.

“You
seduced
me?”
I placed my hands on her shoulders and pushed her away playfully. I’d taken the pins from her hair early the night before, and now the heavy curls created a sheet of darkness against the bright sunlight that shone in the room.

Now she rolled to her back and I followed, lying beside her and propping my head up in one hand.

“I had to,” she shrugged. “You were taking so much sweet time that I figured you’d never get around to doing it.” She was grinning. “I had no idea you were so shy.”

“I’m not so shy anymore.” I grinned.

“No, you’re not,” she agreed. Her smile grew more serious as she lifted a finger and traced around my mouth. “I can’t tell you how badly I wanted this to happen.”

“Really? When did you decide all of this?”

She didn’t have to think about her reply. “The night at your parents’ house, during the auction. I’d always thought you were attractive before that. But you’d been my adversary on so many occasions.” She pinched my backside gently for emphasis, making me grin. “But that night I knew that I could really grow to care for you if I had the chance.” She was tracing my collarbone with one finger. “What about you?”

I smiled, remembering. “I’m not sure, exactly. But Beth knew I was attracted to you long before I was willing to admit it.”

“Beth?” Annie seemed surprised.

I nodded. “She was the one that kept pushing me toward you.”

“Really?” Annie was grinning. “Remind me to thank her.”

“I will. But I don’t know if I can take her saying
I told you so.”

We both heard rumbling from the floor below, and we picked up our heads. It took me a moment to recognize the sounds. “Oh my god. The construction crew. So much for taking the day off.”

Annie just laughed and glanced at the bedside clock. “I should probably get into the shop anyway,” she sighed. “Why don’t you come with me? I could use your help with a few things. You could help me move a few things around and create some new displays.”

The thought actually sounded fun. “You just want me for my brute strength,” I teased.

Annie gave me a smoldering look. “If that’s all I wanted you for, honey, I’d hire me some big burly men. I have many other plans for you in mind.”

Her words sent a chill down my spine. I could hardly wait.

Our lives began to fall into a pattern. Annie continued to show up on my doorstep every evening, where she would inspect the work done during the day before joining me for dinner and long conversations. Occasionally, she would leave at the end of the evening to return to her home. But more often than not, we ended up curled around each other in bed, and she wouldn’t leave until after daylight.

On Saturdays, I joined her at the shop where I learned more and more about the business and the world of antiquing. I learned even more on Sundays, when we would often go to the shop and take care of all of the things that couldn’t be done during the week — bookkeeping and inventory and rearranging displays. Then we reviewed upcoming auctions and events and went through the local newspapers in search of potential bargains. I’d had no idea that there was so much work involved.

We came close to having our first argument when it was time to reconcile the books for Treasured Past at the end of June. After spending hours trying to understand the scribbles in the inventory and sales ledger that Annie kept, I finally convinced her to let me put it all on a computer.

“I hate computers,” she insisted, lifting her chin defiantly.

I stared at her, unflinching. “Do you have a computer?” I asked.

“No.” Her tone was firm.

“Have you ever worked on one?” I asked.

“No.” Again her tone was
adament
.

I wanted to giggle, but held back and tried the logical approach. “What if I could put all this information into a simple database that would let you maintain your inventory all in one place?”

“It’s all in one place now.” She tapped her finger on the green-lined ledger book that I had been fighting with for many hours.

“Okay,” I began slowly. “But what if I could make it easier to manage. What if I could put your entire inventory in a database and put all your accounting into a single system.” I tried my best to reason with her. “You wouldn’t have to spend so much time at the end of each month trying to reconcile everything.”

She seemed to hesitate, so I took the opening and continued. “You would know every single day exactly where you stand financially, what seems to be selling, what you need to add to your inventory ...”

“But I don’t know anything about computers.” Her voice had given way to anxiety and frustration. “I can teach you, Annie.”

She was wrinkling her nose. “My accountant would certainly be happier.” She sighed. “She’s been after me to automate everything for at least two years now.” She dropped her eyes and pouted. “I hate change,” she growled quietly. “And what if I’m an idiot and can’t learn this computer stuff?”

“I’m very patient, Annie.” My smile was slow. “And a good teacher, I promise.”

Annie lifted her brow. “I imagine you are,” she grinned.

So I set about the task of buying a computer and printer and setting it up in the shop. My mission was first finding the perfect software to handle everything we wanted, and converting all the inventory and bookkeeping to the new system. Our evenings shifted as I came straight to Treasured Past after work each day, picking up where I’d left off the day before.

Annie complained that I’d become no fun, but I kept telling her it was temporary. But from the little ways she would look over my shoulder or answer a question when I couldn’t decipher the scribbles in one of her ledgers, I could tell that she was thankful. She was also catching up in other areas, no longer glancing through the auction announcements and dealer inventories, but actually going out and making purchases to bring back to the shop.

Along with the construction of the great room moving full-steam ahead, life had become full. So much so that my work at the office was suffering. I knew that I was only doing enough to get by, and knew I also that I didn’t even care.

But Donald Gold cared.

“What are you working on these days?” His voice startled me as his large frame filled the doorway to my office.

I assumed he was really inquiring about his son’s case, and responded in kind.

“I’m still working on your son’s case. I’m meeting again with his attorney next week to try to reach a settlement one more time.”

He seemed to chew on this and frowned.

“Working on my son’s case is very important to me, I assure you,” he began. “But it’s certainly not a full-time job.” His voice was flat and sarcastic. “What else are you working on?”

He had succeeded in scattering my nerves. “I’m finishing up the petition for the Pritchard case,” I stuttered.

“That should have been done two weeks ago,” he snapped. His nostrils were flaring, and I could feel his anger from across the room. “You need to start putting whatever it is that’s got you so occupied aside and get your head back in the game.”

He just stared at me, and I swallowed hard, unable to find a reply. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” I managed to squeak the words out and knew they did nothing on my behalf at all. Donald’s frown deepened before he turned and walked away. The silence was deafening.

He had managed to shock me into alertness. He was right, of course. I hadn’t accomplished much of anything in weeks. Everything had changed so much, what with the construction, the shop, the bookkeeping. . . and Annie. That was the difference. Annie had made a tremendous difference in my life. But it was already a little crazy. Both of us seemed to be running full-speed ahead, immersing ourselves in each other’s lives.

I rubbed my eyes. The really crazy thing was that I had no idea where all this was heading. For all the time we spent together, I really had no idea how she felt about me, or about us. Not that I’d volunteered many feelings to her, I reminded myself. But it did feel strange to be rearranging my life so much when I had no idea where it was all heading.

And I still knew so very little about her. She never spoke of the past, and while I was admittedly curious, there never seemed to be the opportunity to ask her about anything specifically. So I decided that there would be plenty of time to get to know her better, to understand how she’d become the woman that she was.