CHAPTER THREE
IT FELT LIKE an eternity to Leah before Jason Pollack let her hand go.
But maybe that was just her imagination. Time seemed to have slowed down since she came out of the ladies’ room and found her new boss standing just inside the main door, looking over at her.
His photo hadn’t done him justice. But then, how could a two-dimensional head-and-shoulders shot capture the essence of such a man?
Yesterday, Leah had thought his dark, deeply set eyes had exuded magnate material. In the flesh, they exuded something else, a powerful magnetism that had pulled at her from across the room.
She’d been unable to breathe for a moment. Unable to move. But then her pride—and a measure of pique—had come to her rescue, snapping her out of her fatuous state and propelling her towards him with cool eyes and creditable composure. She even managed to observe—and ruefully admire—his taste in clothes.
His black, single-breasted business suit was sleek and expensive, tailored to complement his tall, elegantly lean body. He’d matched it with a deep blue shirt that highlighted his olive skin. His silvery grey tie was classy, and nicely understated. So was his watch, also silver, with a black leather band.
By the time she reached him, Leah imagined—mistakenly, as it turned out—that she could shake his hand and come away unscathed.
But the moment his hands—both of them—enclosed hers, she’d been totally rattled, reduced to stammering when he asked her name.
Yet she never stammered. Or felt swamped by the kind of feelings that had overtaken her.
Within moments, she’d wanted to forget where she was and who he was. When he’d stared deep into her eyes, she’d dissolved inside. When he’d glanced down at her left hand—rather pointedly, she’d thought—she’d wanted to blurt out that, yes, she was free, free to do whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.
The wanton submissiveness that overwhelmed her had been mind-blowing. And totally shocking. Leah had never experienced anything like it. Not even with Carl, whom she’d loved.
But this had nothing to do with love, Leah realised shakily after he released her hand.
His no longer touching her helped Leah gather herself a little. Now, if only he would stop looking at her the way he was looking at her, she might be able to pull herself totally together. But he continued to gobble her up with his eyes.
Leah knew men found her attractive. What was on show, that is. Jason Pollack might not be so interested if she revealed her left thigh to him.
Thinking about her scars did what it always did to Leah. Brought her sharply back to the real world, reminding her also that Jason Pollack had once married an older woman for money, a crime on a par with marrying a girl for her physical perfection alone. The last man on earth Leah would want to become involved with was another cold-blooded, conscienceless devil who had a computer chip for a heart.
Even if he was the sexiest man she’d ever met!
‘I must get to my desk, Mr Pollack,’ she said, her manner and tone suitably frosty. ‘It’s gone eight thirty.’ And, turning her back on him, she walked with stiffly held shoulders to her work station, not looking back at him as she settled herself at her desk.
But she could feel his eyes still on her, burning right through her clothes. Jim Matheson charging down the hallway into the reception area was a godsend.
‘Mr Pollack! So there you are! They just rang from the factory to say you left some time ago. Leah, why didn’t you let us know Mr Pollack was here?’ Jim snapped at her.
‘I’ve only just walked in,’ came the new boss’s smooth reply before she could defend herself. ‘And, please, make it Jason. I don’t stand on ceremony. And you’d be?’
‘Jim. Jim Matheson. I’m the national sales manager here at Beville Holdings.’
And the biggest creep in the place, thought Leah. Matheson had made a pass at her on her very first day, but she’d soon put him in his place. Still, he hadn’t forgotten and was never nice to her.
‘Jim,’ the new boss said warmly, coming forward to shake his hand. ‘Nice to meet you. And you too, Leah,’ he added, throwing her a look and a small smile that carried several subtle messages which Leah understood only too well.
One—I’m interested.
Two—You don’t fool me for a minute with that cold-shoulder act.
And three—I’ll get back to you later.
A shiver ran down Leah’s spine as she watched the two men walk together down the corridor that led to the sales and marketing divisions. He was going to ask her out. She could feel it. He was going to ask her out and she wasn’t going to have the willpower to say no.
But by lunchtime that day, events hadn’t developed quite as Leah had expected. For one thing, she hadn’t set eyes on Jason Pollack again that morning. He’d stayed down in Jim’s office, having meetings with the various section managers. She’d been informed of this by the general office girl who relieved Leah at the reception desk at eleven every day so she could have her morning tea break.
Mandy hadn’t met the great man herself, but she’d already heard on the grapevine that he was a hunk of the first order. All good-looking men were hunks to Mandy, who was eighteen, a slightly plump, rosy-faced girl with an infectious smile and a happy manner.
Leah had spent her morning tea break in the canteen, listening to the gossip from the factory girls who were there, having their lunch break, as their hours were from seven till three. Leah got sick and tired of hearing how drop-dead gorgeous the new boss was.
Leah had returned to her desk, resenting Jason Pollack all the more because she knew he was being gushed over, mainly because for his looks. She’d learned to hate that kind of superficial attraction, yet there she was, suffering from it herself.
Trays of coffee and food had appeared from the canteen around twelve thirty, delivered to Jim’s office by two of the female kitchen hands who’d been literally swooning as they hurried back past reception.
‘He’s so hot!’ Leah heard one of them say. ‘And he smiled at me.’
‘He smiled at me too, honey,’ the older woman said. A bit more drily. ‘He’s a charmer all right. But don’t get your hopes up. Men like that don’t take out waitresses,’ she added as they both swept out the door.
Or receptionists, Leah realised with a perverse rush of disappointment.
What a fool she’d been, getting herself all het up over nothing. He hadn’t been coming on to her earlier. He was just being his so-called charming self. Hadn’t her father said Jason Pollack had originally been a top salesmen?
Since working here, Leah had met quite a few salesmen and most of them had the gift of the gab. Most of them were good-looking men, too. And outrageous flirts. There wasn’t a sales rep at Beville Holdings who hadn’t asked her out. And that included the married ones.
Except for Peter. The one with the sick wife. He’d never asked her out. That was why Leah liked him so much. He was a really decent guy. Honest and hard working, unlike some of the others around here. If Jason Pollack even thought about making Peter redundant, she would have something to say about it.
No, she would have a lot to say about it. After all, what was the worst that could happen to her? Okay, so she could lose her job. Not a total disaster, since she didn’t rely on her salary to survive. Unlike poor Peter.
But she wouldn’t go quietly. She’d take Prince Charming to the unfair dismissal board if he dared do that. She’d take him to the unfair dismissal board if he sacked Peter as well! She’d make him wish he’d never bought Beville Holdings before she was finished. That’s what she’d do!
‘Would you come and have lunch with me, Leah?’
Leah’s head snapped up to find Trish standing there, looking anxious. Trish was Jim’s secretary, an attractive redhead in her late twenties who deserved better, in Leah’s opinion, than to be sleeping with her married boss.
Of all the women who worked at Beville Holdings, Leah liked Trish the most. They often had lunch together out on the lawns, and Leah usually sat with Trish when they all trundled down to the local pub for drinks after work every Friday night.
Trish claimed she wanted a husband and children of her own, but wouldn’t listen to Leah’s advice to break it off with Jim and find herself someone who was free. The last time they’d had a woman-to-woman chat over lunch, Trish had confided to Leah that Jim promised to leave his wife when his kids were older.
Famous last words!
Leah didn’t really want to hear more of the same today, but Trish was Jim’s secretary, with whom Jason Pollack had been installed all morning. Much as Leah despised her own ongoing curiosity and breathless interest, she jumped at the chance of finding out more about the man.
‘Be right with you,’ she returned. ‘Just let me turn on the answering machine. I have to stop at the loo on the way as well.’
‘Me, too,’ Trish said.
Five minutes later, they were sitting at one of the wooden tables under the clump of willow trees behind their building, a lovely shady spot for eating outdoors on a summer’s day. The humidity of January had finally gone—as had the summer storms—February so far having the kind of beautiful weather that brought tourists to Sydney in droves.
Trish had her lunch with her—sandwiches and juice brought from home. Leah hadn’t quite got into that kind of budgeting as yet, and had a standard order with the canteen for a no-butter salad sandwich, low-fat muffin and black coffee, which she collected every day right on one.
‘The new boss keeping you busy?’ she said as soon as they sat down.
‘I’ll say,’ Trish told her as she unwrapped her ham and tomato sandwiches. ‘Under those disarming smiles of his, he’s a regular powerhouse, and very clued-up. He’s had Jim answering some sticky questions, I can tell you. I think Jim’s a bit worried.’
‘And so he should be,’ Leah said wryly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean, Trish. There’s been a lot of money wasted around here. That very expensive Christmas party last year, for instance. Not to mention the sales conference at one of the most expensive resorts in Australia. Then there was the total refurbishing of the offices. To top it off, the whole sales fleet of company cars have just been replaced after only being on the road one year, with all the managers getting more expensive models.’
‘When you put it like that, things could look bad.’
Leah could have also added that the new field sales manager hadn’t gotten her job because of her experience in the position. The only positions Shelley had experience in were those in the Kama Sutra.
Trish wasn’t the only little dolly bird Jim had on the side. How Trish didn’t know about Shelley constantly amazed her. All the reps knew. Heck, just about everyone here knew. Except Trish.
Leah didn’t have the heart to tell the girl herself. She’d find out what a rat Jim was soon enough.
‘A man like Jason Pollack is going to put it all together like that in no time flat,’ Leah said, snapping her fingers.
Trish looked worried. ‘Jim might get the sack.’
Now there was a satisfying thought. Leah believed in bastards getting their comeuppances.
The trouble was, they rarely did. From what she’d heard, Carl was as happy as Larry with a new fiancée, some stunning, up-and-coming actress who no doubt didn’t have a single physical flaw.
As for Jim… He was a clever and consummate liar. He’d probably worm his way out of things. Or end up with a golden handshake, plus another top sales job somewhere else. Jim was only in his early forties, a good-looking man who could be very impressive when he wanted to be.
His silly wife adored him.
No, bastards didn’t always get their comeuppances in life, came Leah’s cynical thought. Take the new boss himself. He’d have to be a right bastard, marrying a much older woman for her money like that. And what happens? She conveniently died after no time at all, leaving him scads of money, plus the freedom to do exactly what he liked for the rest of his life.
How convenient!
‘It’s all very worrying,’ Trish said, having not yet touched a bite of her lunch.
A wave of sympathy pushed aside Leah’s sarcastic thoughts.
‘You don’t have to worry,’ Leah said, reaching across to touch Trish gently on her arm. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘Haven’t I?’ Trish’s eyes suddenly filled. ‘I’ve been sleeping with a married man, Leah. Trying to take him away from his wife and family. That’s not right. I know she loves him. And so do his kids. My mother would be utterly ashamed of me, if she knew…’
Leah handed over the paper napkin that came with her lunch, shaking her head as Trish made a right mess of her makeup with her tears.
‘Break it off with him, Trish,’ she advised. ‘Give yourself a chance to find someone else.’
‘It’s all very well for you to say that, Leah,’ Trish said with a flash of envious eyes as she mopped up her tears. ‘You could get any man you want. Just look at you. You’re utterly gorgeous, and you’re not even wearing much makeup.’
‘Skin-deep beauty is not all it’s cracked up to be, Trish. Or a recipe for success with men. My first husband dumped me.’
Trish blinked her surprise. ‘What? I didn’t even know you’d been married!’
Leah had carefully avoided mentioning Carl. When she’d filled in her application form she’d put single as her status. And when she chatted with the girls at work, she always carefully steered the conversations round to their lives, not hers.
When they occasionally asked her about her love life, she always said she was between boyfriends. When any of her coworkers asked her on a Monday morning what she’d done that weekend, she say she’d gone home to visit her widowed father. She had admitted she’d lost her mother in a car accident not long back, but had never mentioned her marriage. Or her hated scars.
‘How long were you married for?’ Trish asked.
‘Six months.’
‘He left you after six months!’
Leah smiled a dry smile at Trish’s bug-eyed surprise. ‘Why do you think I’m a bit cynical at times?’
‘I don’t think you’re cynical. I think you’re very nice.’
Leah laughed. ‘Scratch the surface and you’ll find a bitter divorcée.’
‘Really? Well, at least that explains why you don’t have a boyfriend. I was beginning to think you were having an affair with a married man too, and didn’t want to admit it. But I can see now that that’s not your style.’
‘Certainly not,’ Leah said. ‘And, Trish, please don’t mention my marriage to anyone.’
‘Why not? People wonder about you, you know.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Because you’re clearly too good for this job, Leah. It’s not just the way you look, but the way you talk, and walk. You went to one of those schools, didn’t you? The kind that does deportment and stuff. I’ll bet you were an aspiring model at one stage. Or an actress.’
‘I…er…yes, I did do a modelling course once,’ she admitted. Her grandmother had given it to her for her sixteenth birthday.
Dear Gran. She was gone now, too. Along with her mother.
‘Eat up,’ Leah advised, not wanting to think about sad things any more. ‘And give that Jim the flick.’
‘I’ll try,’ Trish said, but didn’t look too sure.
Leah returned to work in a depressed mood. Talking about relationships was a real downer, especially ones which had no chance of working out.
Jason Pollack remained incognito, having moved on the human resources division for the afternoon, according to Mandy when she stopped for a chat of her way to post the day’s mail. By four, Leah was living in nervous anticipation of his walking by on his way out. But he didn’t, even though she lingered a few minutes after her normal knock-off time of four thirty.
‘I can get any man I want, can I?’ she muttered irritably to herself as she finally made her way to the almost empty car park.
Only a couple of the managers’ cars remained, plus the dark blue sports car.
Not that she really wanted Jason Pollack, she told herself. She’d have to be crazy to want a man like him, except perhaps on a purely physical basis. He might be all right for a wild fling. If she was the kind of girl who had wild flings. Which she wasn’t.
Never had been, really. There again, sex had never been a driving need with Leah.
She’d had awful trouble with her early boyfriends, fighting them off and finding all sorts of excuses not to sleep with them. Some of them had called her frigid. Others had tolerated her saying no to their advances, perhaps because they had their eye more on her money than her body.
And then Carl had come along.
Leah had fallen madly in love for the first time and been more than happy to go to bed with Carl. He’d been intrigued by her virginity—to begin with.
In hindsight, Leah wondered if her lack of sexual experience had been a contributing factor in his eventually leaving her. She had to confess that she wasn’t the most adventurous person in bed.
As she opened her car door and just stood there, letting the heat out for a minute, Leah found herself thinking that Trish probably stayed with Jim because they had great sex together. Every single time.
She hadn’t thought of that.
But was that kind of sexual pleasure and satisfaction so damned wonderful that it made you lose your head, that it made you let yourself be used, even though you knew the relationship was going nowhere?
‘Are you waiting for me?’
The heat escaping from the car was nothing to the heat that filled Leah’s face as she whirled to face Jason Pollack.
He looked just as good as he had that morning. Maybe even better.
‘Of course not!’ she denied even as her eyes drank him in. ‘I was waiting till the car cooled down.’
His eyes narrowed on hers, as though he was trying to gauge the truth of her statement. ‘Pity.’
What could she possibly say to that?
He closed her passenger door, which was blocking his entrance into his car, gazing at her over the rather low roof of her hatchback.
‘So I’d be wasting my time if I asked you out to dinner tonight?’ he said, his eyes remaining locked with her.
She stared back at him, willing herself to say no.
‘Just dinner, Mr Pollack?’ she managed to throw at him in a wonderfully haughty fashion.
‘But of course, Ms Johanssen,’ came his suave reply, those dark, sexy eyes of his telling her an entirely different story. If she agreed to dinner with him, she was definitely on the menu for afters.
‘If that’s all you want,’ he added.
That did it! That tipped the scales back in favour of reason.
‘What I want, Mr Pollack,’ she said sharply, ‘is for you to leave me alone. Please do not ask me to go out with you again, or I will report you for sexual harassment. Do I make myself clear?’
She didn’t wait for him to answer. She climbed in behind the wheel, slammed the car door and gunned her engine.
Thank goodness the car park was nearly empty, because she probably would have crashed into something, so recklessly did she reverse out of her spot and accelerate away. The last she saw of Jason Pollack, he was standing by his car, staring after her with an annoyingly unfathomable look on his face.
During her longer-than-usual drive home—the traffic along Victoria Road was extra heavy, due to an overturned truck—Leah was besieged by mixed emotions.
Regret that she’d now never know what it would be like to be made love to by Jason Pollack, hunk extraordinaire. But relief also that she would never have to face the dilemma of taking off her clothes for him and exposing her scars.
Leah could not bear the thought that he might look at her the way Carl had looked at her that last humiliating time.
But her most overriding emotion was resentment over the man’s utter arrogance.
He’d just assumed—because he was the new boss and a billionaire and good looking—that the blonde bimbo receptionist at Beville Holdings would go out with him if he asked. He hadn’t even enquired if she had a boyfriend. He probably didn’t even care!
Of course, by the time Leah arrived home, worry had set in. Would he find some excuse to sack her? Going to work the next morning suddenly held all kinds of hazards.
‘He’ll be sorry if he tries to fire me,’ she muttered as she went straight to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of Verdelho, which was chilling in the door. A soothing drink was definitely called for tonight. ‘He has no idea who he’s dealing with here,’ she muttered as she reached for the bottle opener. ‘No idea at all
22-10-07, 01:30 PM
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