He’d expected it to go better. And of all the reminders of Gael he’d wanted to avoid, the reference to those hellish weeks was at the top of his list. Because that was the time when he’d finally accepted his father was beyond redemption. That his mother cared more about steeping herself in the frenzied, dysfunctional state of her marriage than she did about her son.
Bitterness, awakened and rancid, dredged through him. His fist curled on top of the file on his desk as he fought it back down. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed that way, his gaze turned inward in memory.
The sound of the door opening and shutting, followed by the click of heels, finally dragged him from his unwanted musings.
She’d changed into a dress. Some sort of grey wool blend, high-necked thing that ended just above her knee and left her slender arms exposed. On her wrist a delicate bracelet drew his attention to her soft skin. He’d touched that skin last night. Tasted it.
Still hungered for it.
Reining in his unwanted craving, he watched her cross to her office. Alejandro found himself upright and following her before he’d fully computed the move. She was leaning over her desk, stretching for a file when he reached the doorway. Leaning against the frame, he questioned for the umpteenth time what it was about her that drove this unchecked compulsion within him.
She turned, and jumped. ‘Uh... I didn’t see you there.’ She thrust the file she held at him. ‘This is what I was working on this morning. I wouldn’t like you to think I was idling away the time while you were out of the office.’
He took the file. ‘I owe you an apology. Last night... I shouldn’t have reacted quite so—’
‘Ogre-tastically?’
Despite himself, a smile attempted to lift his mood. ‘I was going to say “unprofessionally”. My apologies.’
Her strikingly long lashes swept down for a moment. ‘And I would’ve been better advised to keep things f
rom getting too...personal.’
The reminder that there was something he needed to do had him striding forward to her desk to press the intercom.
‘Sir?’
‘Draft a memo to the marketing department. I want all contracts with Brian Grey’s company terminated immediately.’
Elise gasped.
‘Umm...yes, sir.’
He hung up. She stared at him, her parted lips trembling for a second before her gaze dropped. ‘I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Alejandro.’
‘And yet, it is done,’ he stated, the rage that burned in his gut threatening to erupt all over again. His emotions when he’d left Elise last night had skittered close to the edge. Returning to the restaurant to confront the bastard had been high on his list but he accepted that satisfaction from violence would be fleeting. But this...this was a good start. And he intended to pay the piece of scum back in many varied ways. As for what she’d said about her parents... His gut clenched harder. Parents were a subject he wasn’t yet willing to touch.
Her stunning eyes rose to his once more. ‘I...don’t know what to say.’
‘Then let’s move on.’
She nodded after a moment. ‘How did things go with your brother?’
His laugh was a touch self-deprecating. ‘As badly as I suspected they would.’
She smoothed back her fringe, a nervous tic of hers he’d noticed. ‘I’m guessing from that tight-jawed look you’re wearing that you couldn’t find any middle ground?’
‘You sound disappointed, guapa. Perhaps you expect too much for a first meeting in ten years.’
Her eyes widened. ‘That’s how long it’s been since you saw each other?’
Alejandro felt that twinge again. ‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘He reminded me of a past I wanted to leave behind.’
‘Reminded? As in the past tense?’