He was so...bossy, Emily thought, and part of her wanted to object to his high-handedness. To tell him she’d prefer to start working straight away and check into her hotel later, but that would have been a lie. To be honest, she didn’t think she could concentrate on anything right now, especially not on the closely written notes she’d made when he’d first given her the contract. Her brain felt fuzzy and her limbs were as heavy as lead, after being stuck in the middle row of a crowded plane between two women, one of whom had crunched on boiled sweets for the entire flight. Hopefully a quick shower and change of clothes would turn her back into her usual efficient self.
Because she was good at her job, she reminded herself fiercely. That was why she and Marybeth had taken the decision to leave the big agency they’d been working at and go it alone. She might be a complete disaster where relationships were concerned, but at least her career was going somewhere. And this was the chance to prove it—to herself and to the world at large. Because if she could single-handedly turn around Alejandro Sabato’s bad-boy image, wouldn’t that bring in a whole stream of new contracts and catapult their company onto the next level? Wasn’t that what she’d been striving for all these years?
So she nodded and smiled at him. ‘Okay,’ she said politely. ‘That’d be good.’
It felt weird having someone carry her bag for her. She’d been on her own for so long that it seemed like a luxury—and a poignant one at that. But deep down she knew it didn’t mean anything. Outwardly Alejandro might be acting like a gentleman but there was no denying his underlying hostility towards her, which no acts of chivalry could disguise.
They made their way to a car park, where mouth-wateringly expensive vehicles were sitting in gleaming rows. Slinging her suitcase into the boot of one of the most luxurious, he punched out the postc
ode she’d given him and powered the car out of the park like a restless animal which had just been released for the day.
It quickly became clear that he was driving in an unfamiliar part of the city because he cursed several times in Spanish as they drove past a series of giant business parks before reaching a downmarket residential area, where graffiti was daubed on boarded-up shop windows and litter drifted in slow motion through the streets. Although a relatively short distance away from the racetrack, it seemed like a world away from all the glitz and glamour Emily had glimpsed there. As he pulled upside a motel with dirty windows and two letters missing from the sign, she saw him scowl before slamming his fist against the steering wheel and turning to look at her, undisguised irritation darkening his rugged features.
‘Don’t tell me,’ he said. ‘This was the cheapest hotel you could find?’
‘Actually, it’s five-star—just very cunningly disguised.’
‘Cut the sarcasm, Emily,’ he snapped, before twisting the key in the ignition again so that the engine powered into renewed life. ‘You’re not staying here.’
‘That’s just where you’re wrong, Alejandro. I am. This is where I’ve booked to stay and my room is paid for in advance. I’m perfectly prepared to rough it for a few days and my accommodation is my concern, not yours.’ She put her fingers on the door handle. ‘Besides, I don’t have anywhere else to go.’
‘Yes, you do. Don’t you dare move. You’re not going anywhere.’ His no-nonsense tone brooked no argument as he turned the car back towards the city.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Taking you somewhere which will have easy access to the race ground.’
‘I’m not spending all my budget on a fancy hotel—’
‘Let me worry about the budget, Emily. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.’
Enjoy the ride? He was definitely crazy. Yet somehow...somehow...Emily found herself doing exactly that. She blamed the accumulated jet lag of recent back-to-back flights across the globe for her compliance, because why else would she have settled back into the squishy comfort of the seat, secretly relieved not to have to stay in that ghastly motel, which looked nothing like it had done on the website?
And wasn’t she secretly enjoying watching Alej manoeuvre the powerful car through the city streets? It felt like something of a voyeuristic and guilty distraction to observe the thrust of his muscular thighs as he deftly weaved in and out of traffic, and before long he was drawing up outside a beautiful hotel in the historic part of the city. Ornate spires soared up into a cloudless blue sky and window boxes of bright pink flowers added splashes of colour to the gracious façade. Emily glanced up at the sign. Even if her research hadn’t flagged up this as one of the most exclusive places to stay in the city—she could have worked that out for herself.
‘No way. I can’t possibly stay here,’ she objected. ‘This is one of the best hotels in Melbourne.’
‘You have no choice. Everywhere else will be full because of the race.’ His voice was underpinned with the steely certainty that here was a man used to getting everything he wanted. ‘I have a suite. There’s plenty of room. Don’t worry, Emily—there’s no cause for concern.’
No cause for concern? A low laugh punched its way out of Emily’s lungs as she stared at his olive-skinned profile, where once she used to run a gentle fingertip along the shadowed edge of his jutting jaw. Had he become the master of understatement in the intervening years or was he just oblivious to the glaringly obvious? ‘You really think I’m going to share a suite with you?’
‘What’s the problem?’ He turned his head to look at her, his green eyes hard and flinty. ‘I know we never made it to the hotel stage in our relationship but surely you’ve shared accommodation with a man before. And most women manage to rent in mixed houses these days, don’t they—without it resulting in some kind of orgy?’
‘But we’ve—’
‘Had sex?’ he supplied baldly. ‘Yeah, in theory we did. Though in reality it was just plenty of foreplay and a single night of romping amid bales of straw before you ran out on me next morning, which hardly qualifies for the deepest and most meaningful relationship of all time. Unless you think I won’t be able to stop myself from leaping on you because you’re just so damned alluring?’
As he spoke, his gaze was raking over her with undeniable mockery and suddenly Emily felt foolish in her cheap dress and flat sandals. ‘I wasn’t implying—’
‘Yes, you were.’ His voice lowered. ‘Believe me, Emily—I prefer women who take a little more care with their appearance than you do. But most of all, I like them willing. You, of all people, should know that.’
She could feel her flush deepening and the palms of her hands growing even clammier as she wiped them down the sides of her dress. It was an unkind and unnecessary comment to make. But it was true, wasn’t it? She had made it clear that she’d been his for the taking when she’d fallen in love with him. He’d been six years older and had tried to do the honourable thing, but that hadn’t deterred her. At the age of seventeen it was as if all the scales had fallen from her eyes. Overnight, it seemed, their platonic friendship had changed and she had looked at him with a hunger she hadn’t known before, or since. She had been ready, willing and available whenever the opportunity had arisen. All those snatched and stolen moments had only added an extra layer of excitement to their secret relationship. And then, when he had given her what she’d wanted, she had walked away with nothing but a few cruel words lingering in her wake.
She had done it because she’d been backed into a corner by her stepfather, who had made all kinds of horrible threats.
But hadn’t a tiny part of her been relieved to walk away? To be free of all that compulsion and desire and obsession, which had made her fear she was too much like her foolish mother? That she would end up becoming weak and dependent on a man?
‘There are two bedrooms,’ Alejandro was saying. ‘You can have your own space if that’s what you want—’