Pure Heart: Anything for You Series - Book 1 (5 page)

She just smiled and continued eating. It wasn't hard to keep doing so, because the food was really good and the wine complimented everything. Before she knew it, she had already downed 3 glasses of white wine, and because she wasn't much of a drinker, she knew she had reached her limit. Gabriel was surprisingly fun to be around, but she knew it would be improper to stay all night talking to him. He was still her boss after all. She looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly 11 PM.

Gabriel saw her checking the time. He raised his hand to call the waiter and signaled him that they were done for the night. After paying the bill, Lydia kissed her on both cheeks and wished her good night. She squeezed her hand as if telling her that she would like to see her again. Juliana promised her that she would come and visit again next time. The waiter let them out of Lydia's, but as soon as she started walking out, she started feeling woozy. She felt like her legs had gone wobbly and weak for a bit. Gabriel noticed this and supported her as they both walked to his Bentley. He opened his car door to the passenger seat and let her in.

As soon as he saw that she was already seated, he closed it and moved to the driver's seat. This was embarrassing, but she felt like she had no control over her body right now.  She closed her eyes and heard Gabriel willing her to wake up.

“Ms. Austin, I don't know where you live. Where do I bring you home?”
He asked.

She nodded and grunted, which was very unladylike of her, but she just couldn't tell him properly. She was tipsy and wanted to go to sleep. She just didn't care anymore. The seat she was sitting on was too comfortable. She heard him curse under his breath as he drove. Where he was headed she no longer knew.

Gabriel should have asked her where she lived earlier. He never should have let her drink this much if he knew she would be this way. But seeing her sleeping peacefully so close to him made him sigh. He wanted to reach out to her and caress her face, her hair, her lips. These thoughts were going nowhere. He had to concentrate. But how? He decided to take action with the matter at hand. He called the head of his security staff, Mario, to tell Mrs. Donovan, his housekeeper, to arrange one of the rooms for a guest. He realized that if he did not know where she lived then this was the only way. After an hour of getting caught in traffic, he was even more exhausted and somehow, flustered. Stealing glances at Juliana as she soundly slept in the car next to him made him think of bad things.

It did not help that her dress revealed more of her skin whenever she moved and changed her position as she slept next to him. Seeing the creamy expanse of her legs made him pull his coat off to cover them. When she shifted to face him, he got a glimpse of her tempting cleavage, which made it hard for him to concentrate on the road. He groaned as he felt his shaft harden, forming a bulge inside his pants. This was bad! When he reached home, he parked his Bentley in the garage and hurriedly went to Juliana to see if she was already awake.

Unfortunately, she was still passed out in the passenger seat. Mario and Mrs. Donovan welcomed him inside the house but were both surprised to see him carrying a woman by the doorway. They both exchanged curious glances at each other before looking at him again before he spoke.

“Did you prepare a room for her?”
He asked Mrs. Donovan.

“Yes, I did, Sir. This way please.”
Mrs. Donovan responded.

She led the way as he continued to carry Juliana to her temporary room. He could not believe he was holding her in his arms. She looked so tiny and so fragile in his arms. He looked at her with his furrowed eyebrows as his thoughts and emotions continued to run wild deep within him. He held her tighter, smelling her hair in the process. He knew it would take every ounce of concentration he had in him to stay away from her tonight.

Mrs. Donovan opened the door to one of the guest rooms. He was glad that she picked out the guest room closest to his, however he knew this was also a bad idea, especially if he gave in to his weakness who was sleeping in his arms right now. He carried her to the bed and laid her there. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, but he knew he had to let Mrs. Donovan take over from here.

“Take care of her. Once she's clean and is wearing more comfortable clothing, take her dress and wash it. Bring it back tomorrow before she wakes. Understood?”
His command was curt. He wanted to linger there but he knew he couldn't. He shouldn't.

After instructing Mrs. Donovan, she nodded before he walked out of the room. She closed the door on his face even before he could take one last look at her in bed. She was here. He couldn't believe it! He knew he needed to take a long cold shower fast. He walked to his room in a hurry. As soon as he reached his room, he undressed himself and stepped inside the bathroom to take a cold shower with thoughts of Juliana still running through his head. Why did she have to be in a relationship when she affected him this bad? It took him thirty minutes to calm down while taking a shower. He dried himself and got dressed in more comfortable cotton wear, but despite being exhausted he couldn't sleep. He figured working late tonight was the only cure for this kind of feeling.

Juliana opened her eyes and found herself in a room which was not her own. She frowned as she sat up on the bed and realized she was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of garter shorts. She did not know how she got there and how she got changed. She frowned as she tried to recall what had happened earlier, but she could only remember a few bits and pieces. She was having fun eating dinner with Gabriel because Michael canceled their date. She panicked as she remembered Michael. She looked for her bag, which she found inside one of the bedside drawers. She pulled out her phone and looked at the display to see if he had contacted her.

He sent her a text message saying he was sorry and that he would make it up to her next time. She knew he was sorry but reading the words he would make it up to her next time just didn't cut it anymore. She knew if this kept up, she'd end up breaking up with him because she needed someone to be there for her. If only she could.

She threw the phone on the bed and stood to check the room she was in. It was spacious, clean and unused. It had a bathroom next to it and an empty closet near the bed. Her head still hurt, but at least she was no longer sleepy. This was bad. She did not know where she was. She decided more investigation was needed to find out where she really was. She carefully opened her bedroom door and when she saw no one around, she stepped out to explore in the darkness. She took careful steps, not knowing what she would find outside her bedroom door.

Michael wanted to call her all night, but he knew he messed up. Tonight was their anniversary and he knew that Juliana had been busy planning everything for tonight. He did not mean to ruin everything. He just did not expect something like this would happen. He sat there in front of his computer, still wondering what could have happened this night if he had not canceled his date with her.

Thoughts of their romantic dinner two years ago made him smile. If only things could go back to that time. He suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder, interrupting him of his random musing. When he turned around, he saw Joana Stewart, his girlfriend's long time friend, who also worked in the same office that he did for several years now.

“Hey!”
She greeted him as she sat on the edge of his worktable.

“Hi Joana! I didn't know you were still here. I thought my team are the only ones still working on this project because of the deadline.”
He said.

“I thought I would be able to enjoy my Friday night but just like you, I'm stuck here working.”

She pouted and sulked like a spoiled little brat. He looked at her and thought that she looked so cute whenever she did that. He berated himself upon realizing that he found another woman cute despite the fact that she was his girlfriend's friend. Joana was pretty. She was petite, with a cute face and a sexy body, but she was not as curvy as Juliana. He knew how different they were physically, yet he did not know how different they were when it came to their personalities, for he had never been close to Joana before.

He knew her based on what Juliana told him about her, and based on her stories, she was a good person. Michael also found out that many of his co-workers actually liked her, which made her popular at work. Just another reason for him to avoid her. He did not want everyone to think he was cheating on his long time girlfriend for her best friend. That would be humiliating.

“I'm tired, but I can't leave this behind, especially since all this needs to be submitted tomorrow afternoon. With all this, dinner has been forgotten.”
He complained as his stomach growled. His face turned sour. He really wanted to eat something now.

“How about we ditch work for an hour and grab something to eat first?”
She offered. He accepted. There was no point denying the obvious now.

Joana smiled. Her plan of getting closer to Michael was working. Although Juliana had been his girlfriend for a long time, she could not help but still love him from afar. Sometimes she even wished that their relationship would not work out so that she could seduce him and steal him away from her. She smirked as she realized that if Michael would continue working late nights with her in the office then she might just get what she wanted. The thought would have disgusted another, but she did not care. Her friendship with Juliana had been okay through the years; she just felt like she needed him more than Juliana ever did.

As they got out of the building to go to the convenience store across from their office, she looked at Michael, who was looking at the screen of his phone as if deep in thought. She wondered what was wrong, but she knew he would just talk about Juliana, and that was the last thing she needed to hear from him right then. They bought some snacks and paid for them before eating them there. Like them, there were also plenty of other people working late in other offices who were eating quick meals there. The place was not relaxing. It was crowded and noisy. Joana leaned closer to Michael as both of them stood there looking for empty seats.

“What do you say we just take our food to the office instead? I don't think we will be able to eat here with everyone here.”
Joana suggested. Michael was so preoccupied thinking about Juliana that he just followed Joana around.

They ate their meal in silence in the pantry. He looked around to see that everyone in the office was taking a break from work. He did not know how he would be able to finish his work, but he had to. His promotion depended on it. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing sound of a phone, Joana's phone to be exact. She excused herself and stood up to take the call in the corner of the pantry.

“Can't you understand that it is over between us? How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me? You've been harassing me for weeks now, Carl. You should stop this, or else I'm telling the cops.”

She looked stressed out and ready to cry. Michael looked on as she ended the call and turned her phone off. This was awkward. He did not want to get involved, but as Juliana's friend, he knew he had to, and she would be happy if he did.

“Boyfriend?”
He asked.

“More like ex-boyfriend! We've been seeing each other for almost a year when I found out that he was married. I decided to end everything before things got more intense between us, but he did not want to let me go. He kept on promising me that he would get a divorce soon and that I should stay with him. I did not want to be the reason for a family to be broken. That's just not right.”

Joana acted like she was really hurting when deep inside she was lying to him. Her ex-boyfriend, Carl, was married but he did not go into a relationship with her because he wanted to. She seduced him, and when he was already too caught up with her, she broke up with him, making him nearly lose everything. But she would never admit her devious ways; not when she was already setting her traps for a new victim whom she felt would fall for her fast. She only hoped that once she had him trapped, he would love her, because she did not want to let him go even if getting him would cost her the friendship she had with Juliana.

“That's horrible! I'm sorry to hear that.”
He moved closer to her to pat her back as she continued to share her story to him.

“Now, he keeps on calling me, sending me messages and even waiting for me to go home every night. It is exhausting! I can't avoid him even if I want to. Sometimes I am afraid to go home alone at night because he knows where I live and what if he's waiting there for me and then he does something to me? I'm scared, Michael.”

Joana reached out for his arms to snuggle to him. Michael let her, and even stretched his arm around her shoulder as he patted her as if to comfort her. She sounded paranoid, but she knew Carl well. She knew how obsessed he truly was with her, and if he was still as lovesick with her as he was before then there was a high possibility of him doing so. She shuddered at the thought. Carl was handsome, but since he was already married there was no point in being with him. She did not want to be his mistress or anybody's mistress forever. She kept on telling herself that Michael would be different, however deep inside she knew that she was stealing him from someone. She was going to do something bad again.
Will this be another mistake?
She wondered.

“Why don't you just report him to the police? Can't they give him a restriction order or something?”
He asked.

“I want to but if I do, I might just end up scandalizing myself. I don't want anyone to know I had an affair with a married man. They might think of me as easy. It was a mistake. A mistake I intend to forget.”
She said.

“I understand, but if you don't do something, how can you keep on evading him and his advances?”

Suddenly, Joana thought of the perfect plan. A plan that would only work if Michael cooperated. It was a plan that would launch her first steps to making him hers. She wanted to grin, but she had to continue to pretend she was hurting.

“Can you help me, Michael?”
She looked at him with sad eyes.

“How can I help you?”
He asked sincerely.

“Can you pretend to be my boyfriend for the time being? Only until he stops stalking me. Please.”

Michael wanted to refuse, but he was too kind to do so. He knew if he explained this to Juliana she wouldn't mind. She would probably even tell him he was doing a good job, but what was this guilty feeling he had deep inside? He ignored it and continued to speak to Joana instead.

“I don't understand how that's going to be possible, but I can try.”
He said, finally making her smile.

“Thank you, Michael. You won't regret this, I promise. Just follow my lead and everything will be okay.”
Plan to steal Michael from Juliana had begun and there was nothing her friend could do about it, especially if she didn't know her real motive behind it.