He might have grown attached to her very quickly, but he knew what he wanted, knew what Stellan wanted without his sub telling him so, and what they desired was Blythe.
After thirty minutes and she still hadn’t come down, he stood to go to her. They needed to talk, needed to clear the air so she knew this wasn’t a one-time thing. They only had a short time left in Portugal and both Stellan and he needed to tell Blythe what they wanted from her.
The sound of a car had him walking to the windows. He could see Miranda’s BMW pulling up to the front of the house and seconds later heard Blythe coming down the stairs.
Before she left, she stood in front of him but didn’t meet his eyes.
“Blythe.” Had he already fucked this up? He shouldn’t have used his belt on her, even though he knew she enjoyed it, and had felt how wet she was afterwards.
“I have my phone if you need me for anything, Mr. Moore.”
He should have stopped her, but he didn’t because, for the first time in his life, he didn’t know how to proceed.
* * *
Dietrich walked into the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz in Lisbon. It seemed the only place Angelina Santina ever wanted to meet when she was in the country and needed to discuss a business proposition.
Her father, Ricardo Santina, owned a multi-million-dollar hotel franchise, and Angelina was the new VP. She ran the business with an iron fist, the same as her father, but her priorities were fucked up.
It didn’t matter that this lunch meeting was about discussing a merger between the companies that would benefit both corporations globally. Any time he was in Lisbon, she was always searching for a little backroom romp. He may have grown weak where Blythe was concerned and bent the rules for her, but that was Blythe.
Angelina was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He wouldn’t put it past her to cut his balls off while they fucked and wear them around as earrings.
He spotted her instantly. The red dress she wore was like a stop sign and short enough to cause car accidents. He was used to it. She rose from her seat and showed him a wide, shit-eating grin.
“Amor.” She instantly clasped his biceps and pulled him close to her. Two air kisses later and an all but grope in front of the restaurant manager, they were seated. “It has been too long.”
Her accent was thick, but her perfume was thicker. The red lipstick she wore matched the dress, but it was the neon whiteness of her teeth that made the whole look seem trashy instead of classy.
“Good afternoon, Angelina.” The waiter came and took their drink orders.
Dietrich was already in a foul mood from the way things had unexpectedly played out between him and Blythe. He would not be fucked with today by Angelina.
“I thought Ricardo was coming as well?” Seemed the old man was growing less and less interested in the dealings of his business.
He had to be nearing seventy, so it was only a matter of time before Angelina became CEO.
“He has not been feeling very well I am afraid.”
Their drinks came, and Dietrich quickly drank half of his scotch. He needed the fire the alcohol brought inside if he was going to get through this lunch.
He’d been dreading this day since they touched down.
“No?” This was news to him. “I’m sorry about that. Please send him my well wishes for a speedy recovery.” She smiled at him over the rim of her wine glass.
After their order was taken, he cut right to the chase.
“The merger I spoke with your father about is already underway. We have blueprints being drafted for a new set of hotels, one in California and another in Oporto—”
“Amor, do we really need to discuss business?” She pouted, and it had him tensing. He expected this, of course, but damn she moved quickly. He also hated that she referred to him by that endearment.
“Yes, Angelina. I won’t be in Portugal for much longer, and this needs to be wrapped up. That is the whole purpose for this lunch. Documents need to be checked to make sure everything is on schedule for next year’s ground-breaking.” Dietrich gritted his teeth at the clearly bored expression on her face.
“Dietrich, Amor, this is why we have people working for us. They can make sure all of this is completed. We are at the top.”
He chose not to comment on her asinine theory. He may be wealthy and have countless people working for him, but he had built his business from the ground up. He took care of the things that needed to be done.
Why put it off on others when he could just as easily do it? She leaned forward, and the scent of her Chanel perfume suffocated him.