She didn’t bother revealing the details about her awkward encounter with Simon in the elevator. Linda seemed trustworthy, but there was enough office gossip about her relationship with Simon and Heather didn’t want to fan those flames.
“I know asking for Simon’s help might be difficult, but the alternative is worse,” Linda said gently. “You might have to deal with the police. Plus, you explained the situation about your ex-husband trying to get custody of your son. If the police decided to question you, or worse, police involvement wouldn’t be helpful for your court case.”
Heather sighed. She had made her feelings very clear when she rejected Simon’s help. Even if she approached him now and asked him questions, there was no way to know that he’d help her.
Her heart clenched because she knew that wasn’t true. Simon might have broken her heart, but he’d never refuse to help her. Which was why she was so reluctant to ask for his help in the first place. He would agree to help and get inside her head again. Weaken her defenses and sweep her off her feet one more time. It wasn’t Simon’s fault that she found him so irresistible she had to put five floors between them to get on with her life. But opening that door again was such a risky move that she was almost willing to refuse to ask for his help. Almost. She’d do anything to protect her son. Even risk her heart getting broken again.
“Fine,” Heather said. “I’ll ask Simon for his help.”
Chapter 5
She was standing right in front of him in the lunch line. Try as he might to tear his gaze from the arch of her delicate neck, he couldn’t. It was probably best to get the hell out of line and wait for her to be done, but he was starving. He’d been so busy he hadn’t made time to eat breakfast, and last night’s dinner had consisted of a block of cheese and not much else. Except for maybe that bottle of wine.
And on top of not eating well he’d been up late last night, trying to upgrade his cyber security system. Now more than ever, he needed to protect his work from potential hackers. His late-night work had led to restless thoughts of Heather, because he was still worried about her getting fired or arrested for hacking into his home system.
He was standing right behind her and she probably had no idea he was right there.
When she got to the counter to pick up her lunch, the purse she was holding slipped out of her hand onto the floor. Acting purely on his protective instinct, he reached for her it just as she did.
Her eyes widened when she saw him, the gold flecks in her eyes mesmerizing him.
He picked up the purse, but she took it out of his hand.
“Thank you. I’ve got it,” she said firmly. From her tone, they might as well have been complete strangers to each other. She obviously wanted nothing to do with him.
Simon merely nodded and stood up again before he got the chance to stare at her like a crazy person. The tension in his shoulders hadn’t subsided in the week since she had switched departments. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, and worse, he kept bumping into her. Most of the time he’d spot her and duck into a nearby office before she saw him. But yesterday, she had gotten into the elevator with him and he couldn’t avoid it.
Standing in the elevator had made his insides knot up at their proximity. She had been close enough to touch. To kiss. But then she had flown out of the elevator like she couldn’t wait to get the hell away from him.
Her hasty exit had been like a dull blade between his ribs. A childhood friendship had been yanked out from under him because of his own anger and fear. Fear that he had let someone get close enough to potentially make a fool of him. And he couldn’t be made a fool of.
Not after he’d proven his intelligence. His work ethic. His ability to build a technological empire out of nothing. On top of all that, his own ego couldn’t accept that yet another assistant might have outsmarted him.
Somehow a paradoxical combination of ego-driven arrogance and fear had gotten him to ruin the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Best thing...
That thought was like someone setting his heart on fire. Did Heather really mean more to him than Dover? Yes. She did. Heather was the best thing going in his life and he’d ruined it. Losing her was his own damn fault, and he had no idea how to undo the damage that he’d done. Didn’t know how to unsay the cruel things he’d said to her.