The Elliotts: Mixing Business with Pleasure: Billionaire's Proposition / Taking Care of Business / Cause for Scandal

She could feel him studying her face and she refused to meet his gaze. “I could probably be better. Getting dressed wouldn’t hurt.”

He moved to lock the door. “It’s okay. No one walked in on us.”

“But they could have,” she said, jerking on her clothes. “I’m in here bonking the boss and—”

“I’m not technically your boss,” Gannon said. “I made sure of that when you returned to Pulse.”

She sent him a withering glance. “That could have been anyone behind that door. And what if they hadn’t knocked?”

“Everyone knocks on my door before entering.”

“What about your father? What about one of your brothers or your sister? Or one of your thousands of cousins?” She tried to keep the hysteria from her voice.

He pulled up his pants and fastened them. She noticed it took him about one-tenth the time to pull himself together, while she was still dressing herself with hands that refused to steady themselves.

She struggled with the zipper on her boots and he brushed her hand away. “You need to calm down, Erika. Nothing happened. I would protect you. This thing between us …” he said and shrugged. “We just got carried away. We need to keep it private.”

“I’m not sure we should keep it at all,” she told him. “I already bought the T-shirt for this ride one time.”

“But you want my baby,” he said, meeting her gaze dead-on.

Her throat closed up and she looked away. “I want your genes. Otherwise you and I know it’s not the right time or I’m not the right woman.”

Silence followed, swelling between them, creating an unbearable tension inside Erika.

“Do we really know that?” he asked.

His question made her heart stop. It gave her a crazy kind of hope that she didn’t want to buy into for her sanity and emotional safety. “We know it’s not the right time. And if I were the right woman—the really right woman—then any time would be the right time.” She successfully pulled up the zipper on her other boot.

“Erika,” he said, putting his hand over hers.

She closed her eyes at the strong tug she felt, the wanting to be with him. “No, Gannon, for you this is just about the crazy chemistry between us and some amazing hot sex. And I’m hardwired differently.” She glanced at the clock. Seven-fifteen. Her head clearing, she felt a nudge from her brain. What—

Remembering her late date with Gerald, she swore and began to gather the rest of her belongings. “Oh, great. Just great.”

“What is it?”

“I have a dinner date in forty-five minutes.”

Gannon went completely silent.

“You’re not really going to meet him after we—”

She bit her lip and waved her hand. “I’ll handle it. I’ll take care of it. I’ll, uh—” She swallowed over the terrible distraught lump in her throat. “I guess I’ll see you Monday.”

He reached for her and she stumbled backward. “No. Please don’t touch me right now. I need to leave.”

Nine

“Yes, Jessica, I had to cancel the dinner date with Gerald. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t make it. Something happened at work at the last minute.” Something stupid happened at the last minute and she’d bashed herself the entire weekend for letting Gannon happen to her again. In his office.

Erika rolled her eyes at herself in disgust. The one good thing she could say about this Monday morning was that she hadn’t crossed paths with the human object of her insanity.

“But you’ll go out with him some other time, won’t you?” Jessica asked. “I had to work to get this guy to do a blind date, Erika. You need to take advantage of this opportunity. He’s a doctor.”

Erika couldn’t muster any enthusiasm about going out with Gerald and she feared that every time she looked at him, she’d be reminded of the reason she’d broken the date with him and subsequently reminded of what an idiot she’d been.

“I don’t know, Jessica. I’ve just made a big change at work and it’s going to be very demanding and—”

“Oh, Erika, don’t pull the work excuse. Gerald is already thinking you’re not interested. And really what’s not to like about him? He’s TDH with brains, a sense of humor—”

The light for her second line began to flash. “I know, Jessica, but—”

She heard a tap on her door, and her assistant poked her head inside. “Sorry to bother you, but a woman on the line said something about you being her niece’s mentor and she sounded upset.”

Erika felt her chest constrict with concern. “Jessica, I gotta go. I’ll call you back when I can.” She switched lines. “Erika Layven.”

“Miss Layven, Tia’s been hit by a truck,” a woman said in a broken voice. “She won’t be able to meet you.”

Erika’s heart stopped. “Omigod, what happened? Where are you?”

“It happened this morning on her way to school. I’m at the emergency room. I don’t know what’s going to happen. No one will tell me anything.”

“Tell me where you are and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Gannon learned Erika wasn’t in the office when he sent his assistant to deliver a feature article proposal to her. “How long will she be out?” he asked, wondering at the reason for her absence.

His assistant shrugged. “I’m not sure, but Rose said she thought she might not be back in until tomorrow.”

He nodded, feeling a prickle of concern. Erika rarely missed work for any reason. After a meeting with a monthly columnist, he gave in to his curiosity and dropped by Erika’s office.

“I’d like to get Erika’s input on a feature proposal. Do you know when she’ll be back in?” he asked Erika’s assistant.

Rose shook her head. “No. When she left for the E.R., she told me to hold her messages and she’d check in at the end of the day if she could.”

Alarm shot through him. “E.R.?”

“I’m a little sketchy on the relationships, but someone named Tia was apparently hit by a truck and was taken to a hospital.”

Gannon recalled that Tia was the young teen Erika had been mentoring. He shook his head. “Do you know her condition?”

Rose shook her head sadly. “No, but how can it be anything but bad?”

Gannon frowned. “Did she mention which hospital?”

“Yes, I have it here somewhere,” she said, rustling through some papers on her desk. “Here it is. St. Joseph’s.”

“Thanks,” he said and tucked the information in his mind.