Page 147 of From Rivals to I Do

“Thank you,” I reply. “That guy Mick that you met at my apartment, if you’re still looking for a tour guide or anything, I’m sure he’d love to help you.”

She giggles when I suggest that. I assume she must have taken notice of him when she was there.

We have our dinner together, chatting about the business and what she likes to do for fun in Germany. We both realize how late it is by the time we finish

and leave the restaurant. I hug her goodbye and agree to give Mick her phone number.

Even though I’m not going to date Janice, I was glad for her company. It was a nice distraction from everything else. I pull my phone out to call for my car

and I see a message from Mick with an article attached.

“Please not right now,” I sigh when I look at it.

The title of the article read “Playboy Leonard Kaponi Finally Settling Down?” Someone took a picture of me, and Janice holding hands and sent it to a

tabloid magazine.

Chapter nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

No matter what I do to try and forget about it, the kiss is still on my mind. My mom had Charlee for the night, so I didn’t even have her there to help distract me.

He kissed me again. And I really enjoyed it. If Leonard hadn’t run off as quickly as he did, I might have been able to tell him that, but instead, he freaked out and

left. He acts like we have never kissed before. When we were in LA, he seemed so much more relaxed and comfortable with me.

I understand where he was coming from. He is my boss and if anything were to continue, he could have a lawsuit on his hands, so he wouldn’t want to

jeopardize the company especially when he had recently been entrusted with so much.

I lay back in my bed with a smile on my face, rethinking how the night had gone. My fingers softly trace where his lips touched mine and I fall asleep, prepared

to tell him how I felt. Certainly, there must be some kind of office relationship protocol?

When I wake up in the morning, I am still buzzing from the night before. That is until I get a text message from Leonard telling me he has to take the day

off. He was totally fine last night so I know he isn’t sick all of a sudden. I sigh. He doesn’t want to be around me.

As if that didn’t hurt enough, when I open my newsfeed, I see an article about how he was on a date with some German socialite last night. So, that’s what

he did after he left here?

I feel like I have been punched in the stomach. It hurts. I had kissed him and convinced myself everything with him would be fine, and we could even

potentially date. But I now realize I am not the type of person he wants. He wants jet-setting billionaire models and socialites. Not the single moms with a lot of baggage.

I feel like a fool for even thinking it could happen. With a long sigh, I sit up in bed and text Leonard back telling him I would hold everything down just fine.

When I get to the office there isn’t anything on the calendar and I don’t have much to do as far as work. Normally, when the days were slow, I could at least

joke around with Leonard, so his absence is deafening all day long. I wait around for the phones to ring until they switch off to go straight to voicemail. Even

though I know it is unprofessional, I spend the day practicing the lines for the audition.

I can hardly focus on the lines and my audition is the next day. I hate the way all of this makes me feel. Every five minutes I tap the screen on my phone to

see if there are any messages from Leonard, and every time there are none. I feel like I am fifteen, waiting for my crush to call me all over again.

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