Leah's Seduction: 3 (Gianni and Leah - Leah's Seduction) by Emily Jane Trent Page B

do. He didn’t know what would make the pain go away. The thought of finding another woman and placating his troubles with sex held no attraction.
    He wasn’t the type to drink away his sorrows. And he refused to talk with anyone. What could anyone tell him? That he had been an idiot? That he didn’t know a good thing when he had it? They didn’t need to.
    Because that was precisely what he had been telling himself.
    Yet no ready solution came to mind. Gianni couldn’t transform just because Leah wanted him to. It wasn’t that simple. He had been the way he was for so long, he didn’t know if he could change.
    And he wouldn’t lie to her. Going to her and professing love just to get her in his bed was out of the question. So what was he left with? Endless torment, and living life without the one woman who belonged in his bedroom?
    How could he have come this far, and conquered so much, only to be left in such an untenable situation? One day, after everyone else had left the showroom, Gianni locked his office door. He sat in his chair and stared out the window, seeing only visions of Leah.
    Something had to give. He couldn’t go on this way. And worse, he had a feeling it wasn’t any better for Leah. She wasn’t the type of woman to give herself to him so fully and then allow another into her heart.
    Gianni cherished her feelings for him. He really did. The trouble was that he didn’t know how to give back. Not in the way she asked him to. He didn’t know if he could, and admitting the weakness was frustrating. But he was going to have to figure something out. Very soon.

 
    Chapter 13
    Leah called in sick all week. The thought of facing Vadim and taking the chance he had seen the photos of her with Gianni was distasteful. But she wouldn’t have left her apartment anyway.
    She could barely get out of bed. The night she had left Gianni, all Leah could do was curl up on her loft bed and cry. The next day, she didn’t eat or shower.
    There was no other man but Gianni. There wouldn’t be for her. The loss was complete. Leah was destroyed, and her heart ached.
    She had given everything. She had let him guide her sexually, dressed as he liked, and even agreed to his relationship terms. But she couldn’t do it anymore. Leah loved him too much.
    That she hadn’t expected. Early on, she had thought she could abandon herself to the amazing sex, and it would be enough. But it wasn’t how she was made.
    Intimacy to that degree involved her heart, whether she wanted it so or not. Leah couldn’t be what he wanted, no matter how badly she wished she could. And Gianni couldn’t be what she wanted either.
    It was an insurmountable problem. Leah had thought she could crack the wall around his heart. But she had failed. Whatever had happened to him that made him that way would remain a mystery. Gianni hadn’t been willing to share it with her.
    And now there would be no opportunity to do so.
    In her grief, Leah considered going back, and telling Gianni she would play by his rules. But it wouldn’t be the truth. She couldn’t lie to him any more than she could lie to herself. Plus, now that she had told him that she loved him, she couldn’t take it back.
    The only relief she found was in writing in her new journal.
    I love Gianni. I always will. But he doesn’t love me back, and knowing that has ripped my heart to shreds. He is a good man, and he treats me well. I don’t understand why he won’t allow love into his heart.
    What must have happened to make him that way? I can’t imagine. It hurts to think that something so terrible occurred in his past that it stole his love. All I want is to be with him, to help him repair the damage.
    But he won’t let me in. If anything would have melted his heart, it would have been the weekend we shared together. I saw the truth in his eyes. I saw emotion, the very emotion he works so hard to deny.
    I know what I saw. I know what I felt. But if Gianni is blind to it, then it just