Her mother closed her eyes, trailing off from what she was about to say. Esme had always wondered what her mother thought of whenever she recalled her relationship with Patricio. They’d been together for almost five years when he left her for Carmelina and in the years since, her mother rarely mentioned her time with him. It was like Esmeralda and that Cartier watch were the only proof there had been anything between her mother and Patricio Sambrano. Esme couldn’t even recall ever seeing them in the same room together. When her father was done with Ivelisse it was like she’d ceased to exist. Esmeralda had never been able to wrap her head around how she’d coped with that kind of rejection. And still her mother had maintained her goodness, and raised her in a home full of love and optimism.
“Your father...” Her mother’s voice cracked like thunder in their quiet kitchen. “Was a man who never learned to love himself. Even with all he achieved. Patricio built an empire from nothing. His mind was a marvel, so fearless, a real visionary. You remind me of him in that way.” Her mother’s smile was bittersweet. She focused on the window that gave them a view of the river, her eyes fixed on something in the distance. “But he never could shake off the demons of his past. He never let anyone get close enough. Not me, not his wife, his kids. He was so afraid of losing what he had, he never let himself enjoy it. But that has nothing to do with you and the right you have to be there. Patricio made so many mistakes in his life, but I think what he did with his will was his way of trying to make amends.”
Esme shook her head at that. “Except he put me and Rodrigo at odds, and how fair was that for either of us?”
“It forced you to be together,” Ivelisse quipped, and Esmeralda had to take a moment to think that bit through. “Patricio could be a real jerk, cruel even. But he rarely ever made missteps with his business.”
“I don’t know how this is going to end, Mami,” Esmeralda confessed.
“You already belong in that boardroom. You’re a Sambrano. Whether they agree or not. You have the means now to forge your own way, mija. If you don’t want the shares, sell them. Start your own company. But if you want to stay, don’t let anyone take that from you.”
Her mother’s words buoyed her, but still there was Rodrigo. Her pushing for what she wanted would hurt him, and she hated that her father had put them in this situation. “Me getting the CEO position will oust Rodrigo.” That didn’t mean he couldn’t stay on, but she didn’t think he’d want to if it wasn’t as CEO.
“That’s something you both need to figure out together, how to forge forward.”
“I told him it was over.”
“Then go back in there and tell him you were wrong,” her mother said as she brought her in for a hug. “Tell him you were scared. Tell him you want to try again. Rodrigo’s not your father, baby. He’s not perfect,” Ivelisse conceded. “But that boy is loyal and he doesn’t give up on the people he loves. Maybe what he needs to hear is that you’ll be there for him, too. But first, breakfast.”
Esme sat down with her bowl of oats fragrant with the cinnamon and lime zest her mother put in the milk and decided to maybe take her advice.
Nineteen
“I need to talk to you,” they both said in unison when Rodrigo rushed into Esmeralda’s office. He’d been waiting for her to get in for almost an hour, practically bursting with anticipation. The meeting with the board was set for noon and since his conversation with Jimena and Marquito he’d done nothing but work out the details of how to keep his job and the woman he loved. It was now 11:00 a.m., an hour before both their fates would be decided, and he was pretty certain he’d found the solution.
But of course, the moment he walked into her office, Esme had yanked them off script. He’d expected her to send him packing, so he’d prepared to beg. To his surprise, she seemed as eager to see him as he was her. And it appeared she also had something to say.
“I don’t want one of us to lose in this, Rodrigo.” She sounded conflicted but determined, and that only increased his hopes that things could work out. He was convinced that what he had in mind was the answer. And if she agreed with him, they could walk into the boardroom as a united front.
“Me, either.” He ached to touch her, had to put his hands in his trouser pockets to keep from doing it. “We deserve this chance, both of us do, and I think I have a way to make it work, but first I need to say something.” His voice almost gave out with those last words.
“You don’t have to, Rodrigo, I—”
“Please, Joya. Let me say this to you,” he pleaded. This felt like the most important moment of his life, the weight on his chest cementing that this conversation was the one that he must get right. He’d lost too much time by keeping what he felt locked inside. He’d let this woman who meant everything to him think he didn’t care for her out of misguided loyalty. At the time he hadn’t had many choices, but he had them now. He needed to make sure Esmeralda understood she’d never been anything less than essential. That he’d felt her absence in his life every single day of the past ten years.
“There is something I should’ve said about what happened at that meeting with Global Networks. What I did, I didn’t do that for me, for Sambrano or even just for you. I did it for us. Mi amor.”
Those two words, my love. They fell from his lips so naturally, as if they had been on the tip of his tongue for years and were now rushing to be spoken. To her.
“In these past few years I lost my passion for the work. I have doggedly stayed on at Sambrano because I couldn’t think of what else to do. But in the few days you’ve been here...” he said, taking her hands in his. Unable to hold back, he clutched them to his chest. “You’ve reminded me of the reasons I fell in love with this business. Of how even during those times when I wondered if I could continue dealing with the intrigue and the scheming, I couldn’t walk away. And now I know why.”
“Why?” Esmeralda asked breathlessly, as she pressed herself to him. If she was seeking his closeness then things could not be too far gone. Maybe there really was a chance for them. For a future together.
“I needed a partner. I needed someone who shared my vision of where we can take your father’s legacy. Someone who understands what this company can be. I was waiting for you.” He saw her eyes fill with tears, but there was a smile on her lips and a small ember of hope lit up in his chest. “I think we should both get to run Sambrano Studios.” He watched as his words registered, and her smile grew a little bit wider.
“Both of us? But the board said they would pick. That only one person could have the job. How?”
He nodded at her questions, and with every passing second he was further convinced this was the path forward. That this was the only way they could have it all. The only way to ensure that the company was run in a way that honored Patricio’s vision while giving their relationship a fighting chance.
“We split the position.”
“Split it?” she asked, leaning back but never letting go of his hands.
“Yes.” He nodded, hoping she’d agree. “President and CEO could very well be done by two people. The CEO is the person who manages operations, who has a handle on the business. I can do that. I’ve been doing that. But the president is all about vision, about keeping us looking at the bigger picture. That’s you, Esmeralda.”
Her brows furrowed in concentration, head tilted to the side as she considered his proposal. He knew this would mean asking her to trust him, and he hoped he hadn’t shattered that completely. She hummed, and he smiled knowing this was the sound she made when she was lost in thought. She let go of his hands, but her expression wasn’t forbidding—she was analyzing.
He felt the urgency under his skin. That electric feeling he only got when he knew he had a winner in his hands. In television these days it seemed like everything had been done. So many networks focusing on reboots and revivals of past hits. But every once in a while, something came acros
s his desk that he knew could change the game. He had that feeling now.
When she finally looked up at him, there was a glint in those beautiful whiskey-colored eyes he hadn’t seen in what felt like an eternity. Today she’d forgone the suit for something that was more Esmeralda. A dark green knee-length dress that managed to look professional and also highlight every luscious curve of her body. Her honey curls cascaded over her shoulders and when he looked closely he smiled at the sight of her lucky hoops dangling from her ears.
She stepped up, her eyes boring into him. “Before I agree to anything there are a few things I need to be very clear on, Rodrigo Almanzar. One...” She held up a finger, her other hand on her hip. “I will not be a silent partner. I want us to both have the same authority.”
“Of course, I expect you to run this place with me.”
“Two. I will have opinions, and I will have plans. Some of those will be different from yours or push against what you’re envisioning and we will have to find ways to compromise. To figure out what works best for the company.”
“A partnership,” he agreed, his heart beating in his chest and a smile already tugging at his lips. He was usually careful, never one to count his eggs before they hatched, but it was hard to hold back when he was so close to getting everything he’d ever wanted.
“I refuse to just be a convenient warm body with the last name Sambrano that you trot out for photo ops.” She was trying very hard to sound mad, but her lips were fully pulled up in a hopeful smile he could almost bet was a mirror image of his own.
“I expect you to be at the office across from mine every day and to help me build a network that we can both be proud of,” he told her, and he tugged on her hand, bringing her a little closer.
“Are you really willing to take a pay cut?” she probed, this time her expression much more serious. He was. He’d thought about it and the reality was that going from making fifty million to twenty-five was almost an absurd thing to be upset about. And he barely spent on anything. Because he had no life. He’d paid cash for his house and the other properties were investments that essentially paid for themselves. It was a good thing, too, since most of the wealth he’d accumulated had gone into a stake in Sambrano. It had been worth every penny.
“Getting half of what I get now isn’t exactly a hardship, mi vida.” He was running fast and loose with the endearments, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. She was all that: his love, his life, his jewel. And it was about time he started saying it.
He brought her into his arms and she pressed into him like he was her harbor, her body relaxing against him. Soft and warm...and perfect. He would spend the rest of his life earning the right to be the shoulder she always leaned on. “Can we really do this? What if the board doesn’t go for it?”
He pressed kisses into her hair, just because he needed to be as close as possible. “This board is interested in preserving the core values of this company, and once they see your presentation and hear our plan they won’t be able to deny that this is the most logical path forward.”
“But what about Carmelina?” He could not help the growl that rose from his throat at the mention of the woman.
“She’s lost her power. Now she needs us to dictate what happens with Sambrano. The two of us together have more power than she does.”
Esme looked up at him, her eyes bright with something that looked very much like his future and pushed up until their lips were pressed together. “I want this to work,” she confessed against his lips.
“We will make it work. Because the most important part of this plan is you and me, and we already have that.” They pressed their foreheads together as their mouths met again. Soon he was holding her tight. Deepening the kiss. Every cell in his body attuned to the woman in his arms. The only person on earth who could bring him back to himself. Who was able to remind him who he’d always wanted to be. The woman who brought into perfect clarity for him that success wasn’t just about power—it was about turning that power into purpose.
Someone knocked on the glass door to his office, and when Esme went to step away from him he pressed her closer. He would die before hiding what this woman meant to him ever again.
“Sir, the board is ready for you,” his assistant informed him and discreetly slipped out again.
“Are you ready for this?” Esmeralda asked as she gripped his hand and headed to the door. He looked down at her, overwhelmed by the rightness of the moment. The certainty in what they were about to do. “It feels like we’ve been waiting half our lives for this,” she said, almost dreamily.
“Our future’s waiting, mi amor. Let’s go claim it,” he said, as he walked out of his office with the love of his life by his side.
Epilogue
One Year Later
“Mmm... I love starting a workweek like this.” Esmeralda gasped as Rodrigo trailed kisses down her body, his lips parting so he could lap at her heated skin.
“Technically we’re off today, amor. Travel day,” he reminded her before sucking one of her hard nipples into his mouth.
“Right,” she responded, voice reedy with need. They were supposed to fly to Las Vegas in a few hours. They had a big week ahead of them, which had Esme a bit jittery, but Rodrigo’s hands and mouth on her always had the power to make everything else feel inconsequential. Especially when his lips hovered right at her heat. She pulsed with need, desire coiling up inside her tighter and tighter until she was trembling from it.
“Mmm, here it is,” he whispered as his fingers explored her. His tongue flicked her clitoris, making her cry out. “I love it when you scream for me, mi vida,” he told her, voice low and dirty as he sucked and licked Esmeralda into a frenzy.
“I need you,” she pleaded, widening her legs to make room for him, and soon he was sliding up her body, cock in his hand and about to enter her.
“Is this what you want?” he growled against her ear as he pressed the tip into her.
She gasped as pleasure threatened to obliterate her. “All of you, baby, please.”
“I love you,” he groaned as he pushed in slowly. He was a big man and even when she was burning for him she needed time to accommodate all of him. Sometimes she wanted slow, sweet lovemaking, and Rodrigo would do that. He’d keep her on the brink, pleasuring her again and again for hours, but this morning, she wanted it fast and hard. And he seemed to always know exactly what she wanted. In a couple of thrusts he sheathed himself in her. Filling her to the brim.
“You’re perfect,” he whispered against her mouth as he started to move. His hips circling in that way that made every nerve inside her spark. The heat of him always managed to melt her.
“We’re perfect together.” She gasped as she moved to meet him thrust for thrust. They’d come together a year ago and started building the life she’d always wanted and thought she would never be able to have. They were true and equal partners in everything. Even their home. As he moved in her, she pressed kisses to his skin, grateful for this man and this life she now had.
“Where did you go, baby? Am I not keeping your attention?” he teased and a pool of heat spread at her center as he brought his thumb to her mouth. “Get it wet for me, sweetheart.” She shuddered out a shaky breath then sucked on it as he asked. Once he was satisfied he brought the pad of his finger down to her engorged clit and circled it exactly how he know she liked. Within seconds a frantic, electric wave of pleasure was crashing into her. He doubled his efforts, pistoning into her ruthlessly, and soon he was stiffening over her in a silent cry as his own climax took him.
He gathered her into his arms, as if she was something precious. As she burrowed into Rodrigo, Esme once again marveled at how different her life was now than it had been a year ago when she’d crashed into the Sambrano boardroom to claim her inheritance. After they’d walked into that meeting together and presented their plan to the board everything had fall
en into place, almost as if fate had been waiting for the two of them to finally figure it out.
The board had not only approved splitting the president and CEO position, they thought it was the ideal solution. And once that had been sorted out, Rodrigo and Esme began working on their relationship. And that had been a wonderful adventure, too. Last month they’d moved into their new home—a renovated brownstone in the Upper West Side that they’d bought together. And now she was lying in their master bedroom, which had a gorgeous view of the Hudson. She had everything she’d ever dreamed of. Including the man who had stolen her heart at twenty-one.
A kiss on her temple brought her out of her thoughts and Rodrigo’s raspy morning voice in her ear made a shiver run through her. “What are you thinking?”
“That I’m happy, and nervous as hell for this week.”
That earned her another kiss, this one deeper and hotter, the kind that made her toes curl and her heart flutter. “We got this, baby,” Rodrigo whispered in her ear, as he shifted them so she was lying on top of him.
In her heart she knew they would be fine, but she was still nervous. Today they were headed to the International Broadcasters Trade Show, where Sambrano Studios would be unveiling their newest product: a streaming service package with four new networks solely producing Latinx content. Food and travel, history, music, and film and documentary channels celebrating every Latinx culture from Mexico all the way to Argentina. Rodrigo and the board had let her run with her vision this past year, and now they were ready to make it public. The response from the beta trials had been wildly successful, but now her baby would be out there in the world.
“I hope people like it.”
“It’s brilliant,” he said as he put a hand behind her head and brought her down for a kiss. His handsome, beloved face was open and bright as he smiled up at her—Rodrigo smiled so often now. “You’re brilliant, and this is going to put the Sambrano brand on another level. You were what we needed. You were what I needed. The future is bright, mi cielo. And I can’t wait to spend it with you.”
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