Page 1 of Guarding My Love

PROLOGUE

“Stop acting like a child, Charlotte.”

She turned to look at Landon, wanting to wipe the smirk from his face. “I’m not a child,” she said, barely glancing at him.

“You’re not leaving and you know it.”

She hated his smug expression. “Looks like I am,” she said calmly as she put more clothes in her suitcase. She wasn’t going to be told what to do anymore.

“You’ve been threatening to do this for a year and never go through with it. I think it’s just drama. You love creating that.”

“No,” she said, not being bated. “I don’t care for drama.” He hadn’t been wrong about her threats to leave. This time she was doing it!

“Is it because I was out with the guys tonight?” Landon asked.

“You’re with them all the time,” she said, shrugging. “What was so different about tonight?”

Landon had the gall to laugh at her. “Exactly. I’m networking. It’s for business and you know it. It’s how you get to stay in this apartment with me.”

She ground her teeth. He’d owned this place long before she came into the picture. He made it sound like it was a privilege and he had to bust his ass to keep it and she was lucky he’d picked her to grace the place with him.

“Now you can have it all to yourself,” she said, turning to look at him.

He frowned at her smile. “Is it the ring that you want?” Landon asked. “I said in time.”

It’d been over a year with the same comment from him.

“Nope, not the ring,” she said.

He marched over and grabbed her by the arm and stopped her from putting more clothes in her bag. “Cut the shit.”

The smile was gone. She snarled and he took a step back. He wasn’t used to her standing up for herself. He better get used to it.

“Get your hands off of me,” she said, dead serious. “I’m leaving. I mean it.”

Landon stepped back. “You were nothing without me. What are you going to do? You wouldn’t have gotten your job if I didn’t introduce you to the right people. I can make sure that goes away as quickly as I got it for you.”

She took a deep breath in and let it out. She hoped he didn’t stoop that low.

“Then it’s a risk I’m going to have to take,” she said, lifting her chin.

“Are you going to fucking tell me what is going on?” Landon snapped. Yep, she pushed his last button for him to start swearing. He put this facade up for everyone but her. She always saw this side of him.

Charlotte turned and looked at him. She hadn’t seen him since yesterday. He was up at five and out the door when she got in the shower. It was eight at night and he walked in the door as if he was only gone for ten minutes.

Not one word from him all day and it’d been like this for months. It wasn’t even as if they were living together but more like roommates passing from time to time and she was more of a convenience.

She wanted more out of a relationship, but every time she brought it up, he laughed at her and gave her the same lines as always.

“It’s my birthday,” she lied to see if he knew the truth to that. Or if he remembered he’d bought her a diamond bracelet less than six months ago after he’d forgotten it and someone else reminded him.

“Shit. I forgot. I’m sorry, baby. Come here. We’ll go pick out some nice diamond earrings for you.” He was reaching to hug her as if that and a few thousand would make up for it.

She shook her head and put her hand up. “No,” she said firmly. “It’s not about gifts. I’ve said that to you before. It’s about acknowledgment and respect and knowing what is going on in my life. Last month you threw a fit because I went to visit my sister for three days and said I didn’t tell you when I’d not only told you, but emailed it to you, and texted you.”

“I’m busy,” he argued. “I don’t pay attention to those things.” Or the fact that he didn’t remember he’d sucked up to her about actually forgetting her real birthday not that long ago. That bracelet was sitting on the dresser and he didn’t even realize it.

“You’re not too busy to go have a drink with a friend when he texts you and you drop everything. You’re not too busy to go help Pierre two floors down when he calls to see if his new furniture matches the floors just right.”

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