Alejandro’s eyes glinted with a mixture of satisfaction and disillusionment, as if he’d found a prize that had turned out to be only semi-precious.
He threw the car into gear and accelerated down the dirt road.
She cleared her throat. ‘Alejandro, I need to explain what happened with Jason—’
‘No,’ he cut in coldly. ‘I don’t wish to hear it. You’ve told me the only thing that matters. It may be six months longer than I anticipated, but I’ll have you in my bed, Elise. You’ll come to me. You will enjoy it. And when we’re done, we’ll walk away from each other. But I never want to hear you utter his name again. Is that clear?’
CHAPTER TWELVE
SHE WAS IN deep trouble. Elise had thought she’d sorted through her feelings in the six months Alejandro had been out of her life, but she found out very quickly that being around him was tantamount to living in emotional chaos. And a determined Alejandro only made things worse.
The first exhibition of the juggernaut that was Alejandro’s sheer willpower came her way even before she’d stepped on his plane. The second she responded ‘no’ to having a place to stay, he nodded.
‘We don’t have time to find you an apartment. You’ll stay with me.’
He’d taken the same dominating path to his discovery that her one suitcase only contained clothes fit for ranch work and work boots. Clothes had arrived in her suite in his multimillion-dollar penthouse displaying designer labels that made her gasp. Her hasty, ‘I can’t accept these!’ had been met with an inflexible, ‘You can and you will. If it eases your sensibilities, donate them to charity when you’re done with them.’
Of course, the reminder that their time together was finite had robbed her of breath and an adequate response. She’d fallen back into the routine of being his eyes and ears. Only this time, Alejandro demanded her stronger participation with client liaisons; had taken to touching her hand or arm to gain her attention when her focus strayed for even a second; his trips into her small office were more frequent, and his gaze lingered long and hungrily on her body when they were alone. Most evenings they dined out, although conversation during their meals was stilted, with Alejandro barely eating more than a few mouthfuls while she wasn’t allowed to leave a meal unfinished.
But there’d been no kisses, no attempt to take her to bed.
And more than once, she’d encountered his harsh, disillusioned stare that dragged icicles across her heart.
As she slipped her feet into four-inch heels and smoothed her hands down her black pinstriped dress in readiness to join Alejandro for breakfast before they headed in to work, her heart squeezed painfully, even as she admitted the wait was driving her slowly insane.
It had disturbed more than a few nights’ sleep, which had in turn fuelled a frenzy of sketches. It hadn’t surprised her when she’d noted that all the stories charted a tale of heartache and loss.
Pushing the state of her turbulent emotions aside, she caught up the matching jacket and her handbag and left her bedroom.
The scent of freshly ground coffee drew her to the dining room, and she smiled as she passed Alejandro’s butler, Sergio.
‘Buenos días, querida,’ Alejandro drawled, his hard gaze skimming over her before returning to the paper in his hand.
Breathing through her escalated heartbeat, she returned the greeting, sat down and helped herself to a cream-cheese-spread bagel and coffee.
‘Anything of interest in the paper?’ she asked.
‘Surprisingly, not even a whisper,’ he replied, a hard smile doing nothing to soften his sculptured features.
Speculation had been rife for the past week, with financial pundits going wild with what the rumours of the SNV/Ishikawa/Toredo deal would mean if it went ahead.
Alejandro’s in-house PR department, with her supervisory input, had kept a tight leash on all press releases. But by day’s end, the Aguilar brothers would make history.
Because today, two weeks after dragging her back to Chicago, Alejandro and Gael would finalise the merger.
Her blood thrummed in anticipation of what tonight would bring, her excitement unable to be suppressed despite the quiet pride and awe she felt in being part of this financial-landscape-changing merger.
‘Are you ready for the ride?’ he asked.
Despite the casual nature of the question, there was an edge to his voice, one that made her hackles rise.
She knew what he was asking.
She’d sensed that Alejandro was waiting for the merger to be signed before making his move. Whereas she’d been ready to take the insane leap back on that dirt road in Montana.
She raised her head and locked eyes with his narrowed ones. ‘Yes.’