Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 187: Incentive

Michael Sterling halted and half turned, though his face still looked upset he wondered If Andrew had actually changed his mind.

Did he realize a father was much more than his ego?

"Take all the trash you gave to her." Andrew gestured to Anne with his chin. She had just returned unaware of what was happening and they dumped piles of gifts in her arms, "Everything she wants will be provided by me and no one else."

Without waiting for a moment longer, Michael angrily stormed away leaving the staff they brought with them to take the gifts back.

Not long after, the entrance hall of the manor was emptied leaving no one but Anne, the butler who stood to the side, and Andrew. The distance between her and him was quite vast, but even from where she stood, she noticed how his lashes shadowed his eyes concealing something within.

That momentary fleet of emotion mainly lasted a few seconds on his face before he regained his composure.

"Butler Jones." He called, his voice softened now compared to the hard tone he used a while ago when his father was here.

"Yes master?"

"Have them buy the best items out there for ladies shopped from all the favorite stores women like, send them to her room to replace the trash that person and his wife called gifts." He once again gestured in Anne’s direction after giving this instruction to the butler.

"Yes master."

Anne realizing what he was doing and quickly spoke up,

"No, wait! There’s no need to do that butler Jones, I don’t want any gifts."

The butler stopped but only looked to Andrew who gave him a blank stare, as if tacitly understanding what Andrew meant without him even speaking up, the butler smiled apologetically at Anne and walked off to carry out the instructions he’d been given.

"I really don’t want the gifts." Anne insisted hoping he would stop the butler.

Even if she were given the gifts she would have returned them anyway, there were tons of unopened gift boxes in her room’s closet which had been given by elder Sterling but she hadn’t touched them because the old man didn’t know the marriage was only temporary but she did and she didn’t want to take any undeserving benefits.

However instead of listening to her, Andrew turned around with an indifference to his steps and walked away without taking back his instructions to the butler.

It made Anne stubbornly rush after him despite his long strides, standing in front of him to stop him.

"I said I didn’t want the gift."

His lips quirked up slightly, "Who are you married to?" He suddenly asked, completely off topic from what she just said.

"What?"

"I asked a simple question, shouldn’t be too hard to answer right?" He answered her with mild sarcasm.

Sighing, Anne replied, "You." Her voice low as if the word was something she didn’t want to say out loud.

"Who did you say?" As if to taunt her, he acted as if he hadn’t heard her at all.

"I said YOU!" She had no choice but to emphasize the word.

His smile showed his satisfaction.

"Good. You’re married to me, I will give you gifts whenever I feel like it and you don’t have to do much but quietly accept it without arguing."

"But..." Before she could even argue he strode past her.

"Dinner in the next ten minutes." He left these words and disappeared up the stairs.

Anne wanted to tell him not to waste his money or the butler’s efforts, but clearly he had no desire to listen to her.

After going upstairs to freshen up, Anne returned to the dining room and found Andrew already seated in his usual spot. He wore a black casual long-sleeved shirt, slightly open at the chest, paired with loose black lounge pants. His back was reclined against the chair, messy strands of hair falling across his forehead as he turned to look at her lazily. Their eyes met, and a queasy flutter stirred in her stomach, but she forced it down by quickly looking away, forcing the sensation down before it could overwhelm her.

"Took you long enough, any longer and I would have lost my appetite." He remarked.

What was he complaining about? She’d barely taken over fifteen minutes.

Why did she suddenly feel like he was beginning to grow the tendency to complain more and more lately?

No, it wasn’t just the complaint. Something about him had changed but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, and it had started since he came back home with that injury to his arm.

Did the gunshot awaken something in him? Anne wondered before realizing...

He hadn’t actually changed after the injury. She remembered how he’d even yelled at her to get out of his room when he was being treated.

If she remembered correctly, this sudden change in him seemed to have started specifically after she’d accidentally slapped him.

Well, it wasn’t exactly an accident, perhaps a little lapse in judgement but...

Had her slap awakened a slightly friendly, less cold yet complaining part of him?

Then could it also be said that, her slap had knocked some sense into him?

As she thought of that, she almost couldn’t stop a burst of laughter but she clamped her hand over her mouth.

When she raised her head, Andrew’s brow was raised in question,

"What’s so damn funny?"

She quickly cleared her throat and took her seat. "Nothing."

He looked at her doubtfully but Anne didn’t pay attention to his doubtful look. If she were to tell him she was laughing at the fact that she’d slapped him, wouldn’t she be reminding him of it, and most likely awaken his dormant rage towards her. Tsk, she didn’t want that.

Anne was just serving a few dishes onto her own plate when she felt his gaze relentlessly on her and stopped to look up at him again. "Is... something wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing, just wondering how you would manage to feed me from so far away." She halted her movement of placing a dish on her plate.

"But that was a one time thing." She blurted recalling the teasing look in his eyes whenever she fed him a spoonful from the last time. She wouldn’t want to be made to do that again.

"Oh was it? But last I checked I’m still not healed." He raised his right hand which Anne thought looked so easy for him to do for someone who couldn’t use that hand to feed himself.

Anne looked for a point to use and argue her way out of having to feed him but none came to mind, in the end she moved a seat closer to him and started to place dishes in his plate.

As she fed him, he accepted the food with the such ease as if it wasn’t weird for him to be fed by someone else, while she on the other hand was feeling slightly awkward.

After several bites, he refused to open his mouth to accept the next bite she’d held up to him.

"What?"

"You’ve been feeding me, but I have no intention of starving you, so eat."

"I’ll eat when I’m done feeding you." She said persistently holding the spoon to his lips, but he gave her a blank look without moving his lips indicating clearly that he wouldn’t eat another bite.

Anne suddenly felt like she was dealing with a fussy kid.

Rolling her eyes she opened her mouth and ate the bite she’d held up to him and chewed.

"There, I ate. Happy?"

His gaze dipped to her lips, and then the fork she was holding with a small smirk playing on his lips.

She stiffened, realization dawning on her and she quickly wiped her mouth but that didn’t wipe the smirk on his lips.

Why did it feel like along with knocking some sense into him, her slap had also awakened a slightly playful side to this giant tornado? Right now he seemed nothing like the person she used to associate with an uncontrollable tornado wth an unpredictable temper.

Could her slap have been that effective?

Dinner ended not too long after, but since Andrew didn’t make a move to leave the table, Anne remained as well. Due to the heavy silence in the room, Anne decided to ask him a question that she’d been wondering about,

"Your father..."

He looked at her sharply from the screen of his phone immediately she uttered that word.

"Don’t call him that, he’s not my father." He warned with neither harshness nor anger directed at her in his tone, it felt like a gentle reminder.

Wanting to respect his words, Anne nodded softly and silence reigned again. Maybe it was the silence that prompted her to speak again after a while.

"What happened to you a few days ago?" It was something she’d been meaning to ask.

His gaze raised once more and she clarified,

"How did you get shot?"

Calmly, he looked down at his phone again.

"Talking too much are we? Acting like a curious little cat. If you want me to answer all your questions, I’ll do it after I get an incentive."

"What kind of incentive?" Anne asked experimentally and he calmly placed his phone on the table before focusing on her.

"Come here." He said gesturing she come closer.

Anne leaned over on the table thinking he was going to say something but he remained impassive.

"I meant get up and come here."

Frowning curiously, Anne hesitated for a few seconds before standing up and walking towards him.

He suddenly tugged her by the wrist causing her to fall towards him, he trapped her around the waist with his arm, securely locking her in his embrace as she fell into his lap, and he laid his chin on her shoulder in a light harmless hug.

"Stay here for a while, that’s my incentive." His husky voice breathed close to her ear causing fluttery tingles.