Chapter 4 CHA

Amara

Leo was always handsome, and that had not changed one iota. If anything, he had become even more delectable. He took a couple more steps and towered over her. Amara estimated he must be six feet two or three. His dark brown hair was styled in a sloppy, almost dishevelled manner as if he had just rolled out of bed or had been driving an open roadster. His brown eyes were as beautiful as ever, but there was absolutely no recognition in them.

He smiled, showing two rows of dazzling Hollywood-perfect teeth. "Would you happen to mind sitting back down for a moment, please, Ms. Denz?" His eyes sparkled.

Amara sat down hard, grateful to be off her shaky legs. Having seen Leo had thoroughly disconcerted her. She didn't know that he worked here. Had she known, she likely would not have applied for the job, and she was glad now, because she wasn't going to get this job.

Leo was as good-looking as ever, but there was something different about the way he looked. He was no longer the poor boy in hand-me-downs. His suit was certainly expensive, and he had an aura of power within this room. The three HR managers stood there silently now, looking at Leo awaiting him to speak. And that was when things clicked. Leo had changed his last name. Leo Pluo became Leo Joe. Her school bully was now the billionaire CEO of Baze.

Shit. Why was he here? Had he dropped by to take one last dig at her? Get her blubbing like he used to get her to blub in school again? Not on your life. Even if he did recognize her, which was doubtful at best, he wouldn't do it in his own workplace. Maybe he could not resist gloating over her terrible interview? Had he led the interviewers on to be such tough nuts to crack just to embarrass her? But she knew one was a flight of fancy on her part. She was just paranoid. She had been through worse interviews than this one before.

"Is something wrong, Leo?" Tyrant asked. He sounded defensive and looked as much in the dark as Amara was.

Leo grinned and sat at the head of the conference table. He reclined there like a man who owned everyone and everything in the room. "Not at all," he answered. "I just have some questions for Ms. Denz."

"Ok," Tyrant answered, trying to be as relaxed as Leo but failing miserably. His slightly flushed cheeks betrayed him.

The way the three interviewers glanced at each other again let Amara know this was not procedure. It was catching them off guard just as it was catching her up. Great. So Leo did recognize her, and here he was again to humiliate her once more, just as he had humiliated her that day in the cafeteria at Lyons College on what had been really not so great a day for her life.

Since roughly the instant she set eyes on Leo, Amara had been totally crushy on him, but it was never going to be. They were in different worlds. People thought she was this bratty, snobbish rich kid, but actually, she was a severely shy girl. She covered her crippling shyness by being aloof. Leo, meanwhile, the class's reigning pretty boy, bad boy, and show-off extrovert, with his own clique of ravenous devotees who revered him as a god. Boys like him did not date reserved little mice like her. They did not even know she existed. She was relegated to keeping an eye on him from afar and pretending as if she hadn't noticed how sexy he was.

He had no clue she was alive, and she pretended not to know he was alive. That should have worked, right? It did-until it didn't. On the day in the cafeteria when everything changed. She had been socializing with James, who had become her best friend at Lyons College, and a couple of other girls when Leo and his crew sat down at the table behind them.

She couldn't help but listen in on them as they talked. They were talking about a huge math project that they had. Leo was boasting about being almost done with his, and it would be no issue if it was due on Friday. She knew that it had to be in on Wednesday. She had no idea how or why, but her desire not to have him get caught was more than her own shyness. Although her stomach was in knots and her palms were damp, she turned and addressed his name.

He swivelled his god-like head and scowled at her.

He was so handsome she almost fainted. "The assignment must be submitted on Wednesday," she croaked out.

Instead of thanking her for saving him from being late with the assignment like she had expected him to, he rolled his eyes at her. "Ah, the teacher's sheep dog wants to corral all the sheep into the pen. News flash. I'm not a sheep. I'm a wolf," he growled.

His friends laughed.

She felt herself blush. She then tried to explain, which, of course, only made the situation worse. "I didn't mean anything. I don't care either way really, only that you'd said you were almost through and I didn't want you losing marks by turning up late with it. That's all." She confronted him once more then. She was shaking. The first and only time that she had ventured out of her own comfort zone, and she'd done it so badly.

Her friends told her to simply ignore him, that she had done her best to help him and if he did not value her help then screw him. She was hurt and depressed, but she thought that would be the end of it. She had spoken to her dream boy, and he'd callously teased her. Surely, that was enough pain for one day. But she was wrong again. That was not the end of it. It was far from the end of it.

You know what that was about, don't you?" Leo shouted over her shoulder. "Teacher's sheep dog is worried someone will play with her precious Mr. Sam."

Mr. Sam was their math teacher. And it seemed she was his pet in this little game.

"Yeah, teacher's pet has to patrol everyone for rule-breaking," one of Leo's friends added with a sycophantic laugh.

"Give the girl a break," Leo cried.

Her heart leapt. Had he realized that she was attempting to help him? Was he actually going to stand up for her?

"It's not that. Denz is likely getting wood from Dusty Sam."

She thought she was going to die right where she stood when not only his team burst out into laughter, but the kids in the other tables around them were laughing and snickering. She realized at that point, that he did know that she was alive, he even knew her name, but for some reason or another he didn't care for her and he had just discovered a way to cement her humiliation. He had managed to spread the rumor that she had a crush on her math teacher, who incidentally was ancient, wore a tweed jacket with elbow patches, and periodically smelled as though he hadn't bathed in weeks.

Her friends tried to convince her to simply ignore him, even going so far as to inform her that he was only acting that way because he liked her and wanted her attention. Yeah, she knew that was just bull. If he liked her, then he wouldn't have humiliated her like that. It soon became apparent to anyone with eyes that he already got her attention. He didn't need to be an asshole too.

The rumor that she was crushing on Mr. Sam circulated quickly around school, and she spent the rest of her time there being known as the girl who had a crush on a crusty old man who was old enough to be her grandpa. It was hell. But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that that was only the beginning. From then on, whenever she met Leo he devised some new way of humiliating her.

Her crush had turned to disgust, and she avoided Leo as much as she could. It was hard to do, though. He might have been cruel and a bully, but he was smart, and he was in a few of the same classes that she was. She was just glad when school was over and they went to different colleges and never had to look at him again.

Until today.

It was like history repeating itself. Of course, Leo would be at one of her most humiliating moments. He was probably going to go around telling everyone that she had a crush on Tyrant McKinney or something.

She was still staring at Leo. She couldn't help it. Though she hated him, she couldn't help but react to the raw, animalistic pull of the man. She could feel herself clenching her thighs together in a desperate bid to stop the thrumming sensation in her clit. Clenching her thighs together only served to make things worse, and she relaxed slightly on her muscles, trying not to gasp.

"Ms. Denz," Leo cut in, pulling her squarely back into the moment. "I'm Leo Joe, the CEO of Baze. You'll be working directly for me if you get hired, so I just want to interject if that's okay with you?"

Leo----

Leo watched as Amara Denz's eyes widened in shock. He had caught the flash of recognition in her eyes when he walked into the room, but she had been quick to conceal it. He had changed his name when he left school, and he had hoped that would give him a fresh start. But seeing her again brought back all the memories, good and bad.

He had always been attracted to Amara, even in high school. She was the girl from moneyed family, the girl who had it all handed to her, but she had fought for it. He was the poor kid, the bad boy, the boy who had picked on her. But he had always admired her determination and her fearlessness.

He had seen her name on the list of candidates and had been surprised. He had thought about her many times since then, and he had wondered what happened to her. When he had seen her resume, he had been impressed. She had a good business background and had been a personal assistant to a CEO. She was perfect for this job.

But to behold her again, close up, was a shock. He had pictured that she would be different, but she was the same Amara he had known. Gorgeous, smart, and stubborn. He had to admit, he was curious.

He sat down at the far end of the conference table, trying to be calm and professional. "Not at all," he told Tyrant McKinney. "I just have some questions for Ms. Denz."

Tyrant looked relieved, but Leo caught the confusion in his eyes. This was not procedure, and Leo knew it. But he needed to know that Amara was right for the job. He needed to know that she would be able to handle working for him.

"Okay," Tyrant said, trying to sound casual.

Leo's focus went back to Amara. "When did you realize the previous company you worked for was going to collapse?" he questioned.

"Approximately eight or nine months before it actually did," she replied with a calmness that contrasted with the tension in the room.

"Interesting," he replied. "Did you ever express your opinion to your CEO?

"I gave him the facts. More than once. He wouldn't listen to them. That's where I should have left it, I suppose, but although he wasn't prepared to take any of the advice that was given to him, I didn't want to bail out when the company needed me most."

Leo nodded in respect at her dedication and loyalty. "You start on Monday, eight am. Don't be late," he stated.

Amara's jaw dropped and then fell again, clearly shocked. "Mr. Joe, we have still got other people to interview, and." Tyrant trailed off.

"And what?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tyrant sympathetically regarded Amara. "And there are other candidates we are considering from earlier interviews.".

Leo shook his head. "The personal assistant job is not hard. It needs someone who is organized and can be flexible and has technical industry experience. Anybody who has reached this far in the process has all that. What I need is loyalty. Ms. Denz has shown that she was loyal to her former firm, and I can think of no reason to doubt that she will be just as loyal to my firm.".

Tyrant nodded, obviously understanding. "Got it. I'll take care of that right away."

"Thank you," Leo said curtly. "Amara, do you have any questions for me?"

She sat and watched the exchange between Tyrant and Leo, trying to understand what was happening. She did not want to work for a man who had bullied her in the past, but she could not afford to turn down this job. She needed the money and benefits too desperately. "No, I don't have any questions," she replied slowly.

Leo got up and walked over to her, his hand outstretched. She got up and took his hand in a businesslike handshake. Sparks shot up his arm where their palms touched, and he held back for a moment longer than he ought to have. So did she. And that told him that she had no idea who he was. That was okay. He could manage this.

"Good. See you Monday, Amara. We look forward to having you work here," Leo said. He flashed her one final smile and left the room.

Amara was frozen for a second, unsure what she was supposed to say to Ama Locks and Pete Sky, but knowing she couldn't just turn around and leave without saying good-bye to them. "Umm, thanks for your time," she stuttered.

Welcome to the company, Amara," Pete replied, his voice as amazed as hers. He stood and shook her hand.

Ama reciprocated with a likewise phrased welcome from Pete.

Amara finally left the room, not knowing if she was on a high or a low. She had just made possibly the best professional decision of her life, or possibly the worst, and only time would tell which one it would eventually be.