“So, you’re aware of the full job specifications?” His eyes flit back to mine, and they’re darker, darker with the type of desire that almost makes me forget why I’m here.
“Yes… I am.”
“Did you sign the consent forms?”
“I did.” Yes, I signed my body away. It was part of the cost to save my father. There were two forms. One for my interview, and one for the job should I get it.
He rises to his feet, and my breath hitches in the cavity of my chest when I realize just how tall he is.
My body heats up again, and suddenly the temperature in the room spikes like someone has closed the window and turned up the heating. A quick glance to my left at the opened window confirms nothing of the sort has happened. And this is São Paulo, not New York in the winter, so there wouldn’t be any heating in this office.
That fire is coming from him. From us. From the inappropriate chemistry I’ve never felt before. Chemistry I’m not sure I should be feeling considering I’m a lie.
Alejandro walks around to me and leans against the edge of the desk as he gazes at me.
His gaze intensifies when I crane my neck to look at him, and I find I could get lost in that stare. Completely lost in the way he takes me in with a mixture of fascination and lust.
I can’t remember the last time anyone looked at me like that. If at all.
My last relationship is one I don’t want to remember. Ever. I’m only accessing parts of those memories because the way James looked at me when we first met was close enough to the look Alejandro is giving me now.
I don’t need to know Alejandro Ramírez to figure out he’s nothing like James or any man I could ever dream of being with, and if not for this situation, I would never meet a man like him.
“Put your bag down and stand up,” he mutters in a slow, almost sensual voice.
His smooth baritone glides over my body like warm honey, and my heart lodges in my throat as the mood shifts.
I do as he says and try to steady the trembling in my hands.
Standing next to him is like being next to the Hulk. He’s over a foot taller than me, and his body could make up two of mine, and then some, with all those muscles.
“What do you know about me, Lucia? I assume you wouldn’t apply for such a role without looking up your potential employer first.”
Quickly, I access the information I remember about him. The first thing that comes to my mind is the cartel, but I can’t talk about that. No way. Even amongst the mind-fucked addicts I used to associate with, discussions of organized crime and criminal groups were spoken about in hushed whispers. I know to be careful.
So, how do I answer the question?
Apart from being the cartel king and the things we’ve talked about already, the other things I know about Alejandro Ramírez are that he’s forty-eight, recently became the guardian of his niece after her parents’ death, and he owns a majority of property development businesses. He practically owns this hemisphere. God knows what his net worth must be. Perhaps it would be safer to talk about business.
“You own Equibras and a number of other companies in Brazil and Argentina.”
“That’s correct. Anything more?” He leans closer and smiles wider. It’s a toothy smile. The kind I could imagine on a shark before it consumes its next meal. I’m enveloped by the sandalwood scent of his cologne and the scent of him—it’s power, control, dominance.
Attraction. He’s attracted to me, and I am to him. The moisture beading between my thighs is evidence of that and the knowledge terrifies me.
I’m attracted to him, but I’m also afraid.
“Anything a little more sinister, Lucia?” he adds.
He’s looking at me now like he knows I know about the cartel, and he wants me to talk about it. If so, what the hell do I say?
I take a moment to think about how I’m supposed to broach this. If I dance around giving an answer, I could lose this chance.
A farfetched thought hits me that this could be the first step of getting close to him—by being upfront where I can and not taking him for a fool.
Now that I think of it, it doesn’t seem that farfetched. So, I pull in a shallow breath and brave the task of telling him what I think he wants to hear.
“I did a Google search and, um…found some details about you and the cartel.” Good thinking, Lucia.