Guarding His Heart

Chapter Fourteen

Hannah



It had been a week since I’d heard Leo and his father talking about his deliberate plan to take me to New York in an attempt to get Rob Martin to make a move and ruin the deal, so they could get a lower price for the company. To say I was devastated was an understatement. I’d been in such shock that I hadn’t even wanted to go back to the office, but I had. I’d gone back to my desk and waited for Leo to come out and tell me some lie about how he’d never intended for any of it to happen, but he never did.

     
I think that hurt me more than anything. He didn’t even try and explain it to me. He didn’t even try and make me feel better. He’d been successful with his plan and he’d gotten some sex out of me and now that he’d been found out, he was cold and uncaring.

He looked at me with such dismissive eyes that I wanted to slap him. I hated him so much. I wanted to quit so badly. I had applied to several other jobs already, but hadn’t heard anything from anyone yet.

“Hannah, please come into my office.” Leo’s voice sounded cold through the intercom.

“Coming.” I grabbed my pen and pad and walked into his office silently. I stared at the desk we’d made love on the week before and looked away. How had everything gone south so quickly? How could he have used me like that?

“I need you to go and get some sandwiches for a picnic I’m going on tomorrow.” He stared at me unblinking.

“What sort of sandwiches, Sir?” I asked politely, while screaming inside. He’s been giving me menial tasks since that day and I hated him for it.

“You can decide. I know you like to have a sense of power.” He said snidely.

“I guess that’s all I’m good for.” I responded tightly. “Sandwich orders and short skirts.”

“That one could be a little shorter.” He stared at my legs. “Pull it up.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said pull it up a bit higher.” He paused. “Or do you need to go and get a tape recorder first? Will you hear me if I say it into a recorder?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I bit my lower lip to stop myself from crying. How had I ever thought he was a nice guy?

“Get your tape recorder and I’ll you let you record all the things you want to hear.” He stood up and walked over to me. “I’ll tell you that I’ll give you a $100 if you sit in my lap. A thousand dollars if you take your top off and push your breasts in my face. Better yet, I’ll give you ten thousand dollars if you let me f*ck you in my chair. What do you say to that?”

“You’re a pig.” I gasped. “How dare you?”

“Sorry, would twenty thousand work then?” He shouted. “I’ll pay you twenty grand to give me a blow job right now.”

“How dare you.” I slapped him across the face. “You son of a bitch.”

“Me?” He laughed. “Me? I’m the bitch?” He pushed past me. “Get out.”

“I’m going, you don’t have to ask me twice.” I left the room close to tears and ran down the corridor. What was his problem? Why would he treat me like this? He was the one that had hurt me. He was the one that had used me. I hurried into the elevator and a girl stopped and looked at me.

“Hannah?” She surveyed my face and paused.

“Yes, do I know you?” I frowned and looked at her in confusion.

“Not yet.” She walked back into the elevator. “Can I go down with you?”

“Whatever.” I sighed as I stared at the pretty girl in front of me. Who was this? If she said she was Leo’s girlfriend, I was going to scream.

“You look upset.” Her voice was soft. “Has Leo been rude today?”

“So you know Leo?” I looked at her long curly hair and searched her first.

“Yes, I’m afraid I do.” She smiled. “I’m Lucky, by the way.” She held her hand out for me to shake.

“I’ve heard your name before.” I tried to remember from where.

“I’m Zane’s wife. Zane is Leo’s best friend.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “And when Leo’s down, Zane feels like he has to be there for him.”

“Well bully for him.” I gave her a weak smile. “Can I help you? I have work to do.”

“I was hoping we could chat.” She paused. “I shouldn’t be here. If Zane knew I was here, he’d kill me and Leo too.” She reached out and touched my arm. “But I think that I can help.”

“Help what?” I shook my head. “Are you here to ask me to quit?” My voice rose as we left the elevator.

“No, no, no.” She looked at me horrified. “I think I need to explain some stuff.”

“Explain what?”

“Sorry, I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I?” She sighed. “Let me start from the beginning. When I met Zane, my husband, he was a player. He was literally dating several girls in front of me. He wasn’t interested in love. He was alpha. He was protective. He liked me, but he didn’t want to admit it and he didn’t want a relationship and he told me several times.”

“Okay?” I waited for her to continue. “And?”

“Leo’s the same way. He was hurt when he was younger and now he’s being an ass. You know how guys are. They get hurt once and then they act like it’s the end of the world.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I was starting to get annoyed.

“You hurt him, Hannah. I don’t know the full story. I don’t know what you planned to do with those emails, but something tells me you weren’t going to go to HR with them. Or if you were, you changed your mind. I refuse to believe you would sleep with him because you wanted to get him fired that badly.”

“What are you talking about? What emails?” My head started pounding.

“The emails Leo sent you. The flirty ones about wanting to sleep with you. The ones he sent to your personal email. The ones you forwarded to yourself to hand it to HR.”

“Oh.” Something went off in my brain. “How do you know about them?” I froze. “Oh my god, does Leo know about those emails? That I sent them to my work email? Oh shit.” My heart dropped as I realized what he must have thought if he’d seen that email.

“Yes, Leo knows.” She sighed. “And he’s been getting drunk every night and taking my husband out with him. Now, I love Leo, but I like to have my husband at home at night.” She smiled. “We have two babies and I want him to change some of those dirty diapers.”

“Leo’s been getting drunk?”

“He’s really upset that you would set him up like that.”

“But, I didn’t intend to send them anywhere.” I sighed. “I’m not even sure why I forwarded them to my work email anymore.” I looked at her with an anxious face. “No wonder he thinks I’m a bitch.”

“You really hurt him.” She nodded. “He feels like you were just using him.”

“But he used me.” I wailed. “He took me to New York and…” My voice trailed off as I realized how stupid that sounded. I knew in my heart that Leo had not set me up on that trip. He had tried to warn me to stay away from Rob. Oh why hadn’t I listened?

“Leo would never do that, to you or any other girl.” Lucky shook her head. “He’s one of the good guys. He might talk a good game, but he has a heart of gold.”

“He must hate me.” I sighed. “I can’t believe he thinks I would try and use him and then report him to HR.”

     
“You know men, sometimes they think with the wrong head.” Lucky giggled and slapped her hand across her mouth. “Sorry, that wasn’t appropriate.”

“Don’t worry.” I smiled. “You’re right. What am I going to do?” I sighed as I realized how badly I’d f*cked up.

“That’s why I’m here.” Lucky beamed. “I was hoping you would come to a picnic at my house tomorrow in Los Feliz. It’s just a small affair, but Leo will be there and I’d love for you to come.”

“I don’t know.” I said thoughtfully. “I don’t want to ruin your party if he starts shouting at me.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t shout.” She smiled. “I’d love for you to come and feel free to bring a friend.”

“I’m not sure bringing my friend Lisa would help much.” I laughed.

“Did you just say Lisa?” She grinned at me.

“Yeah, why?”

“My best friend’s name is Leeza.” She grinned. “It’s like fate. You and Leo are meant to be together.”

“I don’t know about that.” I sighed and smiled at her. “Even if he forgives me for the mistake, he still only wants to be friends with benefits.”

“Trust me, a guy who’s this upset and getting drunk every night wants to be more than that.” Lucky squeezed my hand. “I know you don’t know me, but I like you already. I have a good feeling about you and Leo. I’d love, love, love it if you came tomorrow.”

“Well, if it means that much to you.”

“It does.” She nodded and pulled out a pen and pad from her handbag. “Here’s my number and my address. The picnic will start around noon, but feel free to come earlier or later.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at her gratefully. “I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” She gave me a quick hug and grinned at me. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. I should leave now. I left Zane with the kids and I’m sure they’ve messed up the house by now.”

“Okay,” I laughed. “It was nice meeting you Lucky.”

“It was great meeting you as well, Hannah.” She nodded. “Tomorrow will be great.”

“I hope so.” I mumbled.

“I know so.” She smiled. “Trust me, I know so.”



I walked back into the office to find that Leo was gone. I sighed as I waited at my seat. I needed to talk to him before the picnic. I needed to explain to him that I had never meant to send the email. I needed him to know the truth. I walked into his office and sat at his desk and opened his notepad so that I could leave him a note. I was about to write, but I didn’t know what to say. What I had to say couldn’t be written down in a few words. What I had to say had to be done face to face. I needed to look into his eyes when we spoke. I needed to look into his eyes and figure out how he truly felt about me. The time for games was over. I understood why he was guarding his heart, but he either needed to let me in or we would both just have to move on. I walked back to my desk and sat down, suddenly feeling sad. I was scared that Leo wasn’t going to let me in. I was scared that I’d fallen for a man that would never be able to let me get close to him. I was afraid and I didn’t know what to do.