Everywhere but him. Frustration tightened his jaw. She was the one who had sought him out, who had blazed her way into his brother’s anniversary party to talk with him and now couldn’t even look at him.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
His direct question seemed to startle her out of her uncharacteristic state. Her lips parted as she sucked in a breath and started to speak...
Only for the boom of fireworks to cut off whatever she’d been about to say. Alejandro turned just as sparks burst above them, a shower of green and silver streaks that lit up the sky.
Below him, Adrian drew Everleigh into the circle of his arms, resting his chin on her golden head as she snuggled into his embrace.
A vise tightened around Alejandro’s heart. The possibility of a long-term relationship, let alone marriage, was off the table. He’d sworn off long-term anything the day he’d walked into the library and discovered that his father wasn’t an emotionally distant taskmaster with a fondness for rule following. No, he was much worse—a sanctimonious bastard who deserved to rot in hell for his selfishness.
It had nearly killed him to keep that secret all these years. But Madre was happy. He couldn’t bear to shatter the illusion that Javier had somehow managed to maintain all these years. So he’d taken to punishing his father the one way he could—by engaging in the activities Javier loathed. The vices he indulged in had the added benefit of suspending the pain of rejection. Temporarily. Which was why he sought them out again and again.
He glanced at Calandra out of the corner of his eye. Her flight had added insult to injury, ripping off the bandages he’d been slapping over his wounds with reserved tables at the most exclusive clubs across Europe, casual sex and luxury cars.
But he’d also invested, scheduled the construction of two new ships to bring Cabrera’s cargo freighters into the twenty-first century. Now, the first project that was truly his and his alone,La Reina, bordered on the brink of disaster, brought there by Javier’s machinations. He wouldn’t back down, though.
“Alejandro?” Calandra appeared next to him, a small V between her brows. He’d never pictured her as the emotional type. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Got lost in my own thoughts. It’s been an interesting couple of months.”
A breathy laugh escaped her lips. “You have no idea.”
He turned to see her face lit up by the constant stream of fireworks bursting overhead. Shades of blue, red and gold caressed her skin. His depressing thoughts faded away as he remembered just how good they’d been together, how tightly her body had wrapped around him as he’d moved inside her, the flare of emotion in her eyes when she’d looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time.
He’d always shied away from bringing emotions into sex. Hard to remain a bachelor when feelings got involved. But with her, the unexpected tenderness he’d experienced had added a heightened pleasure that had burned inside him long after she’d fled.
His groin tightened.
“Let’s go inside where it’s quieter. This sounds like a serious conversation.”
She hesitated, then nodded. Triumph emboldened him as he reached out, grabbed her elbow and steered her toward the balcony doors that led into the library. He gestured for her to enter and closed the doors behind him. A quick tug and green velvet drapes fell over the glass, throwing the room into darkness, save for the dim light filtering in from the windows up above.
Something clicked. A lamp blinked on as Calandra looked around the room. Alejandro quelled his irritation. Light wasn’t suitable for seduction. Although, he amended as the light shone through the fabric of her skirt and illuminated the curves of her legs, maybe it wasn’t a bad thing.
Calandra circled the room, arms wrapped around her waist. Her eyes took in the books crowding the floor-to-ceiling shelves.
“Reminds me of the library fromBeauty and the Beast.”
“Singing teapots and a magical rose? Doesn’t seem like your kind of movie.”
A bitter smile twisted her lips. “Ice and snow and a beast with a cold heart. Seems just like me.”
Normally he would have responded with a witty joke or some pithy comment about her remarkable resemblance to the ice sculptures that had often stood guard over the food at his brother’s events. But the pain in her voice stopped him, as did the hurt that tightened her jaw as she pulled a book off the shelf.
“I beg to differ,” he replied as he walked toward her. “You remind me of the candelabra that’s always ordering everyone about.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder, her prim expression somehow sexy. “I can’t recall ever being on fire.”
Oh, but I can.If she realized what she’d said, she gave no indication as she looked back down at the book in her hands. He walked toward her, each step upping his desire. His fingertips burned at the memory of how hot her bare skin had been beneath his touch. Excitement and lust heightened his senses as he stopped just a foot away.
“What did you want to talk about?” he whispered into her ear.
Her head snapped up and she turned, her mouth so close to his all he had to do was lean forward and claim her.
Her lips parted. He leaned in, ready to kiss her.
“Your child.”