His voice, so much like Alejandro’s, but also so different, made her smile emerge a little weaker than usual. ‘You don’t know me from a lamp post, so what makes you think I’m in any way dedicated? For all you know this could be the start of a very late New Year’s resolution.’
His gaze drifted from her head to the tips of her trainers and back again. ‘Then I commend you for the excellent, decidedly non-lamp-post-like framework you’re building on.’ His words held the same Spanish intonation that curled around Alejandro’s.
Laughter bubbled up, easy and unexpected, providing a touch of relief from her roiling thoughts. ‘I’m not sure whether to thank you for the compliment or roll my eyes at that smooth line.’
‘Gael Aguilar.’ He held out his hand. ‘And you wound me.’
She shook his hand. ‘You’re Alejandro’s brother,’ she confirmed.
A shadow crossed Gael’s features. ‘For my sins, yes.’
A sixth sense warned her his words were meant literally. The lift arrived and she stepped into the small space beside him. She couldn’t help but notice with every floor that passed, his tension escalated.
This brother wasn’t anticipating an amicable meeting.
And with Alejandro, was there any other kind?
Elise cleared her throat. ‘I hope you can sort things out with the Japanese deal.’
His eyes hardened for a moment, before he smiled. ‘That outcome would depend entirely on my brother.’
She frowned.
‘You look shocked. What has my brother been telling you about me?’
‘Nothing, save that he expects the same thing from you.’
A smile, icy but tinged with a hint of bleakness, tweaked his lips. ‘What can I say? We’re not known for giving quarter,’ he rasped.
The doors opened and they stepped into the hallway. ‘It was—’
‘Elise!’
They both turned at the thunderous summons. Heat and ice invaded her body, both bringing equally painful awareness, as Alejandro’s incandescent gaze slashed over her, dashed to his brother, and then remained fixed on Gael.
* * *
Alejandro had never experienced possessiveness about anyone or anything in his life. Sure, he was attached to the success he’d worked hard for, but he possessed nothing in life that would cause him physical pain to part with. He’d learned at a very early age that affection or material things given one day could be taken away the next with no rhyme or reason. Every occurrence in his life as a child had revolved around whether his mother had decided to be happy, or whether she was locked into playing the wronged wife, visiting her misery and pain on everyone around her. And that had solely depended on whether his father was in the mood to reprise his role of philanderer or not.
Everything in his life had been coated with a transience that had forced him to create a bubble around himself. Because if he get didn’t attached in the first place, he wouldn’t feel the loss. The logic was absurdly simple.
But for some reason, right from the very beginning, he’d detested the interest Elise garnered from every single person she came into contact with. Acknowledging the curious problem privately to himself hadn’t seen it diminish. Getting a taste of her last night and then being forced to walk away, after realising just how transient she was, had done something to him. He couldn’t place his finger on what it was, save for the knowledge that she’d stirred something so powerful and turbulent within him, he hadn’t been able to concentrate worth a damn all day.
Seeing her standing next to his brother, Gael’s barely disguised interest in her visible even across the space between them, Alejandro wanted to breach the distance, claim her by branding his name on the skin she didn’t have any qualms about exposing, in the most blatant way possible. That bubble of self-denial he’d existed in was gone, leaving a stone labelled Need in his gut, which seemed to grow heavier with each second.
Dios. This was beyond unacceptable.
‘Did you want something, Alejandro?’ Elise said, her chin lifted in challenge.
‘Other than to request that you be at your desk where you’re supposed to be?’
Her eyes darkened, her gaze flickering to Gael with a touch of embarrassment. A second later, her lips pursed. ‘Sorry, my bad. I thought the shackles attached to my desk were for decorative purposes only. Let me change out of my running gear and I’ll get back on the workhorse.’
He caught Gael’s low chuckle, but he couldn’t look at his brother. Not when the sight of Elise approaching ripped his senses wide open with voracious hunger, reminding him of her scent, her responsiveness beneath his touch.
He dragged his gaze from her hips, forced his scrutiny u
p past her luscious breasts, her slender neck, to her face, and locked his knees to remain upright.