Well, she thought, two could play the game of ‘cold as ice’. “I slept perfectly, Mr. Anderson.
The beginning of the night I had this bad nausea and a nasty headache but then it went away and the rest of the night was perfect,” she said in a voice even colder than his.
His eyes turned into slits and if eyes could kill, she figured she would be a pile of ashes. She decided she would push her luck just a bit and smirked at him before turning away and ignoring him completely.
Joseph watched their little byplay, which they both thought they were being so sly about and wondered what had gone on last night. It looked to him like the kids may have gotten close and now were both running scared. Well, he wasn’t going to let them avoid each other.
“Eat up Lucas. You have a very busy day today. You need to take Amy out to get her car and shop for the apartment. You need to get an early start so it will be all ready for her to move into tomorrow.” He then looked at Amy, “I think you will be very happy there.”
“Mr. Anderson...” she began, when he stopped her.
“Now Amy, you are a guest in my home, don’t you think it’s time you started calling me Joseph.
I would really like that,” he added so she had no other choice.
“Um, okay, Mr. I mean Joseph, I was thinking Mr. Anderson,” she nodded towards Lucas, “was really busy and I don’t mind doing this stuff on my own. If it’s a matter of a signature they could fax you the paperwork. I could just take a cab to the car lot. I really, really don’t mind,” she pleaded with him.
Lucas hadn’t wanted to spend the day with her but her trying to get out of it just plain ticked him off. How dare she not want to be with him. They had some talking to do and she was damn well going to spend the day with him.
“Of course I’m not too busy to take you out, Ms. Harper,” he said with venom in his voice.
“Why don’t you go ahead and get ready so we can take off right away,” he said looking her up and down. He knew she was already dressed for the day.
How dare he look down his nose at her? She was fighting to keep her emotions in check. She looked just fine and she wasn’t trying to impress him anyway. She would go with him, just to show him she could be in his company without being affected by it.
“I’m ready Mr. Anderson,” she said in a voice of honey, dripping with vinegar. “You may want to clean that jam off of your face though,” she added with satisfaction. He simply glared at her, then got up from the table and walked into the house without another word. She quietly chuckled, enjoying the fact that she’d won that little battle. It felt kind of good to knock the all powerful Lucas down a notch.
“Well, you kids seem to be getting along rather well,” Joseph said with complete sincerity. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. He seemed to be. Maybe the two of them hadn’t been so obvious after all. She figured you could’ve sliced the tension between them with a knife but it was good that Joseph hadn’t noticed.
“He’s a great boss,” was all she said before looking down and picking at her breakfast. She didn’t see the amused grin on Joseph’s face.
Lucas came back out and stood there impatiently so she took a few more bites of food as slowly as she possibly could. She noticed him glancing at his watch a few times as she sat there taking her time.
“Now Lucas, quit being so impatient. It’s never polite to rush a lady,” Joseph spoke up.
“We have a lot to do today, Dad. I just want to get going since I have a date to get to tonight,” he added. He noticed Amy tensed up a bit in her seat. Good, he thought. She wasn’t as unaffected as she wanted him to believe. He was surprised with how good the thought made him feel. He didn’t take rejection well, even if he didn’t want the woman. He’d been completely wrong in thinking one time with her would be enough, because he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He still wanted her, even more now than ever before.
She finally got up and grabbed her purse off the back of her chair. “I wouldn’t want to make your young lady wait on you,” she said in a perfectly calm voice. “Thank you so much for breakfast Joseph. It was really good. Your company was even better,” she said and then followed Lucas out the door.
“Have a good time kids.”
“Joseph Anderson, what are you up to now?” came the voice of his wife.
“Good morning beautiful. I was just having some breakfast with a beautiful young lady and your grumpy son,” he said in all innocence.
“Now, we both know that’s bull. You’re match making and from the look of things between those two, it’s going very well,” she said with disapproval in her tone. “When that boy figures out what you’re up to he’s going to stop speaking to you,” she added.
“By the time he figures it out, he will be very much in love with his wife and thanking me,” Joseph came back with. He certainly hoped that was the case. Because otherwise his wife would be right and his son would be none too happy with him. It was a risk he was willing to take.
“Let’s go for a drive,” he said as he got up and gave Katherine a kiss.
Was it so wrong for him to want his sons to have a love of their own, like he had with his Katherine? He didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. He decided today was going to be a great day. It had started off wonderfully with Lucas and Amy on their way to a passionate relationship.
Chapter Five
Amy got in the car with Lucas, immediately becoming engulfed by his scent. Why did the guy have to smell so good? She could feel a fluttering in her stomach. How could she want to be with the man after the things he’d done? She was trying not to see the good things about him because it was so much harder to maintain her distance when she let down her guard.
They rode in silence for a while before he suddenly pulled into a parking lot. This wasn’t the car dealership. What was he doing? Maybe he was going to drop her somewhere and hope she got abducted.
“We’re going shopping first. That way the things can be delivered and the crew can finish up your apartment,” he said in explanation. He didn’t wait for her to answer. He stepped out of the vehicle and came around to her door and opened it. When he did those small things, like treat her as a lady it made her see the more human side of him, making it harder for her to resist his charm. She would rather he acted cold so she could justify her own distance.