‘De nada,’ he responded, aware his voice was gruff. Flicking his cuffs, he attempted to thread the links through again. Realising his hands shook, he slammed the studs on the dressing table. ‘I’m still waiting for an explanation.’
‘It’s my grandmother’s birthday this weekend. I always spend it with her. She expects me to be there.’
Alejandro noticed he was rubbing a precise spot on his chest where his heart thudded dully and transferred his fingers to the equally insistent throb at his temple. He had to tread carefully. He knew that. The last thing he wanted was to be drawn into an argument with Elise. But... ‘She’s in Hawaii, correct?’
She nodded warily.
‘And I...’ He searched for words that wouldn’t make him feel so raw...so exposed. In the end the words poured out regardless. ‘I need you here,’ he rasped.
She crossed the dressing room and stopped in front of him. Her hand slid up his chest to curl around his nape. ‘I’m sorry I can’t come with you to Seville. But you were always going to make this final journey on your own anyway.’
His jaw clenched. ‘Sí, but not while you were on the other side of the world!’
‘Alejandro—’
He whirled away from her, unable to stand having her in front of him and knowing it was only for a short time. Striding through the bedroom, he stepped out onto the warm terrace.
On the horizon, the sun was setting over the hills just outside Barcelona. During one of their recent and increasingly frequent talks, Gael had spoken of his estate outside Barcelona and the neighbouring property that had just come on the market.
Alejandro had bought the fifty-thousand-acre estate, sight unseen. When Gael had thrown in the offer of his architect and interior designer, Alejandro had agreed.
His first visit to his property three days ago had been a pleasant surprise, especially when Elise had seemed to love the estate, too.
The whitewashed villa was vast, with staggered floors on three levels, each with a wraparound terrace that overlooked a private beach. It was a house that had a potential to be a home.
From a personal standpoint, it had been a place to pause and regroup before taking the final step back in time.
Because as Elise had counselled, he had to revisit the past in order to move on. Some aspects of his childhood had left scars he was certain would never heal, but he needed to find out if other building blocks he’d thought were eroded were in fact merely shrouded with bitterness.
Things like love and trust...
Alejandro knew he most likely wouldn’t find those two components in his childhood home, but perhaps freeing himself from other entanglements would open his eyes to new experiences.
New emotions?
But how could he see his way to finding answers when Elise was leaving? Dios. He rubbed at his chest when he sensed her behind him.
‘We’re going to be late to the dinner with the vintner.’
‘We’re not going.’
She sighed. ‘Why not?’
He turned and leaned against the terrace wall, his back to the view. Right now the only view he was interested in was the one before him. ‘Because he’s another fat cat hoping to get fatter by riding on Atlas’s coattails. He can wait one more day. Whereas you...’ He stalked to where she stood, her stunning face glowing in the evening light.
‘Yes...me?’ she invited huskily.
He wrapped his hands loosely around her throat, sliding his thumbs under her chin to tilt her face up to his. ‘You are making me extremely unhappy with your impending departure,’ he said.
Her breath hitched and her arms slid around his waist. ‘And you mean to punish me?’ she asked.
Alejandro was marginally satisfied with the raw anticipation on her face. She wanted him with almost as much intensity as he craved her. It wasn’t anywhere near enough, but that would have to sustain him in her absence.
‘Yes, I do.’ He pulled on the ties to her dress none too gently, and tugged the material from her body, leaving her clad in scraps of black lace. Alejandro wasn’t worried about exposing her to unwelcome eyes. The position of the terrace guaranteed them complete privacy. As he stepped back his knees nearly buckled at her beauty. ‘Your punishment will be very specific, guapa. And very, very thorough.’
He dispensed with foreplay, his need soul-wrenchingly acute. He left her only to locate a condom. When he returned, he placed her on her knees, dispensed of his clothes, and took her hard and fast. Groans turned to earthy demands, moans to cries of ecstasy. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Alejandro acknowledged that he would never get enough of her.
Hours later, he tucked her close, his fingers teasing through her hair as sweat cooled on their bodies.