“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**ked 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.