HANNAH (Silicon Valley Billionaires 3)

Lauren looked miserable. “But you haven’t exactly ever been serious about a guy before. This all seems very sudden. You went from casually dating to both being traumatized, and now you’re about to lose it because he’s buying a new house?”

I scoffed. “I’ve never been serious about a guy before because I hadn’t met the right one. Wesley is the right one.” Now that I said it out loud, I knew it was true.

“I care about Wes, too, but I don’t want you to make him a promise because you feel like you should.”

I stood to go. “I’m not—I wouldn’t hurt him like that. And yes, I think I will take the weekend off. Think about what I said about Li Na’s employee. It’s about time you started taking me seriously.”

Chapter 17

Wes

“I can’t do that again.”

I looked up at Ashley, miserable.

She squatted down near me and tucked a dreadlock behind her ear. “You’ve been out of your wheelchair for over a week. Over a whole week and you didn’t even tell me. And you didn’t have permission. So now that you have permission, and you’ve been semi back at the office and out to dinner and doing God only knows what else, you bet your sweet ass that you can do it again.”

She sprang back up. “Now move.”

I grabbed the resistance bands and stood up. “If I die, it’s on your conscience.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “I’ll blame you. At your gravesite. Now like I said, get moving!”

I cursed, adjusted the bands, and got moving.

Later, as the driver took me to my therapy appointment, my cell phone rang. My arms were so sore, I could barely lift the phone to my ear.

“I need you to get Hannah out of here for the weekend,” Lauren said by way of a greeting. “She’s been working too much, and with everything that’s happened, I think she needs a break.”

“Are you sure she’ll be okay with that?”

Lauren sighed. “I told her to stay out of the office until Monday—the only way she’ll unplug is if you keep her busy.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“I really appreciate it. I know I’m interfering.”

I chuckled. “What else is new?”

“Wes, I need to say something. I’m sorry about what I said, about the couples’ therapy.”

She caught me by surprise. “Oh?”

“I didn’t mean to minimize your relationship with Hannah. I know how much she cares for you. It’s serious.”

Lauren struggled to get the words out—talking about personal stuff was not her style.

“She does? It is?” I asked.

I couldn’t help it—the words got out before I could play it cool.

“She really does. Do you…are you…is it…reciprocal?”

Big sister, ever protective, was looking out for Hannah.

Luckily, Lauren and I were on the same team. “Yes, it is. Completely.”

She sighed in relief. “Okay, good. Great.”