by Tia Kelly
“Javier,” she whispered, before fully waking from her sleep.
His scent, a masculine citrus blended with musk, was still fresh in the sheets.
Then she heard the voices. There was a woman in the living room.
Teresa panicked, but then anger consumed her. She wondered about Javier, if he was too good to be true. There was no sign of another woman, but she heard about international men. Men like Javier had options, and she knew he had many to choose from.
While searching the room for her belongings, Teresa felt the tears burning her eyes.
“Crap,” Teresa muttered. All of her clothes were in the other room. Before she could come up with a plan to escape without her clothing, she heard a door slam and then silence.
Quietly, Teresa eased from the bed and walked to the door separating the bedroom from the suite’s living room. That was when she saw the balcony doors were open and Javier was standing outside.
Javier felt her presence before he heard her. He slowly turned around and stepped away from the railing, back into the room.
His eyes met hers and no doubt there were questions lingering in her eyes.
“I should go,” she said softly.
Javier tried to read the meaning within the depths of her eyes, but she closed him off. Reluctantly, he nodded.
He watched her chew in the corner of her lip before rushing out of the room.
He didn’t want her to leave, but he knew that he would ultimately hurt her, too, if she stayed.
Javier parked behind a late model Benz before stepping out of his rental. The air was thick, but he could smell rain. As he approached the front steps, he glanced up at the gray sky rolling in from the southwest.
Javier removed the sunglasses from his eyes that he wore out of habit and rang the doorbell. After some time, he pressed the button a second time and soon after an older African-American woman answered.
“Javier,” she gasped.
“Evelyn.”
“What are you doing here? Haven’t you done enough?” she started to say, but Alejandra’s appearance in the foyer stopped the woman’s tirade.
Javier stepped inside and walked toward the young woman, ignoring the other woman’s protests.
“We need to talk.”
“I think the papers I returned said enough.”
“Alejandra.”
She rolled her eyes and then stared up into Javier’s face. The fiery gleam in eyes that matched his made her stumble back.
She never noticed his eyes before. The eyes they shared.
Alejandra’s gasp forced the other woman to move and stand between them.
Evelyn tried once again to protect her daughter. “I think you should leave now.”
Javier glanced down at the petite woman. His upbringing reminded him that he needed to respect his elders, but Evelyn needed to learn how to finally respect him.
“Perhaps we should go somewhere to be alone,” he said, briefly staring at the woman interfering with the business he came to tend to.
“My daughter will talk to you when she is ready,” Evelyn replied adamantly. She refused to let the man standing nearly two feet taller than her intimidate her.
Javier hastily ran a hand over his head and rolled his shoulders to release the tension. He then looked over the woman’s head into Alejandra’s eyes.
“He loved you,” Javier began. When he moved forward, Evelyn placed a small hand up against his chest to halt him, but he swiftly dismissed the gesture. “He went to his grave regretting that he never told you himself.”
Allie looked away and wiped a tear from her eye, but it was Evelyn’s muffled cry that got Javier’s attention.
Evelyn pleaded one last time. “Please, just give Allie space to digest this news.”
Tired of her interference, Javier finally paid the woman the attention she sought from him. “She has gone long enough not knowing the truth.”
“If Alejandro wanted Allie to know the truth, then he would have delivered the news himself. He decided to walk away from Allie when she was a baby and there is nothing that can change that now,” Evelyn retorted.
Javier leaned back against the jamb behind him, his blue eyes darkening into a lethal glint as he pondered his response. “Just like you decided to walk away from me, mother?”
As soon as the words left his lips, he heard the woman gasp, but it was seeing his sister’s body lose its balance that made Javier reach out to keep Alejandra from dropping to the floor.
“Drink this,” Javier insisted, cradling his sister’s head in his lap. Her face was regaining some of its color, but she still appeared unstable.
Evelyn reappeared in the entryway holding out a damp washcloth. Her outstretched hand shook from nervousness and Javier wanted to say something to the woman that never claimed him as her own, but Alejandra was his main concern for the moment.
“Perhaps we should move her where she can be more comfortable?” Evelyn suggested anxiously.
Javier nodded, gently lifting the woman effortlessly when he stood. He followed Evelyn into a nearby room with a plush sectional and flat screen television. An enlarged picture of Evelyn and Alejandra hung on the wall and an open layout kitchen was behind them.
Allie’s eyes flexed tightly before she tried to open them. “What happened?” she finally asked softly to no one in particular.
Javier brushed the stray tendrils that fell out of her haphazard ponytail and recognized the face of the little girl he grew up envying. “You fainted.”
“Maybe you should get checked out at the hospital,” Evelyn suggested. She stood off to the side, keeping her distance from Javier, but her hovering was still obvious.
Tenderly, Javier stroked the woman’s face. He regretted she discovered the truth like she had. “Are you feeling any better?”
Allie shut her eyes briefly and exhaled soundly. Forcing herself to sitting, she felt him continue to hold her down.
“Give yourself some more time,” he quietly warned. When she slowly nodded, he relaxed. Finally, Javier looked across the room at the woman he grew up despising. “Do you mind leaving us alone now?”
When she quickly nodded and backed out the room, Javier knew the woman probably needed space to regroup, too. Evelyn obviously didn’t know that Javier knew the truth about her being his biological mother.
“Please tell me I just had the craziest dream,” he heard Alejandra ask, returning his attention back to her.
With a small smirk, he shook his head. “I’m afraid not. If you like, we can try this again without the flamboyancy.”
Their eyes met and she slowly sat up. Allie turned her body to face Javier on the couch and accepted the glass from him.
When she stopped sipping her water, he offered her an outstretched hand. “Hello Alejandra. Once upon a time, our father fell in love with your mother and along came you.”
Chapter Four
Teresa heard her phone ringing in her sleep and debated getting up to answer it. Knowing her son was out with friends and she hadn’t seen her daughter in a few days, Teresa suddenly panicked and answered the call.
“Teresa.”
Teresa couldn’t help but smile when she heard him say her name. She glanced at her alarm clock and noticed the late hour. If she were up, the nightly news would have just ended and no one ever called to be social at that hour.
A booty call.
Disappointment crept in and suddenly Teresa fell back against her pillows.
“Teresa?”
“Yes, Javier.”
“How are you?”
She wanted to scoff at his pretend concern for her welfare, but there was something in his voice that worried Teresa.
“I’m good, Javier. You?”
He sighed, but recovered quickly. “Just a long day. Did I disturb you?”
Now she was fully awake and so was her body after hearing his voice. “No. Is everything okay? You know, after that woman left?”
She heard a dry chuck
le, but it wasn’t filled with humor. He finally said, “As good as it will be for now.”
After some silence, Teresa said, “I see.”
“She was upset about business news she discovered. I’d like to see you,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Not tonight, unless you want to, but tomorrow perhaps?”
“Look Javier, I love spending time with you, but I need to catch up on sleep at night. I’m not used to being up all night.”
He laughed again, but this time it was sincere. “You misunderstood. I want to see you, but not just in bed. Lunch, perhaps?”
Teresa felt her cheeks warm and squeezed her cell close to her ear. It had been years since anyone had asked to spend time with her. “You want to go on a date?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like that.”
Teresa didn’t want to be one of those women. The type that rang a man’s phone until his battery died and once he was able to get it fully charged, enough texts appeared to rival any novel’s word count. That was a way to push a man away, she was certain, and if that didn’t work, several lengthy voicemails until the automated voice indicated that the mailbox was full.
No, she could not be one of those women.
Unfortunately, Javier was tempting her.
Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she noted it was a quarter after eleven. She only called him once and text him twice. It was not like him to completely ignore her.
Teresa pressed the remote’s volume button to increase the sound. Perhaps hearing the latest weather report would distract her from worrying. They weren’t even a couple, but his absence stood out immensely.
“And tonight in Center City, the Mayor presented an award to Fernández Technology Corporation for their sustainable energy efforts here in Pennsylvania. The Spain-based corporation’s chief executive officer and president Javier Fernández was on hand tonight to accept the award and help the Mayor unveil plans to…”
Teresa didn’t hear anything else the broadcaster had to say after seeing Javier with the Mayor shaking hands. Then another media clip showed a familiar looking woman on Javier’s arm, smiling up proudly at the man’s face before placing a kiss on his cheek.
It wasn’t his usual friendly kiss on both cheeks that she had grown accustomed to. That kiss represented something else.
The ringing of her cell was not a welcomed distraction. Whoever was calling would probably question the cracking sound of her voice and hear her sniffling from the tears.
When it rang once more, Teresa answered. “Hello.”
“I’m on my way to see you.”
Javier.
A flutter in her stomach brought a timid smile to her face until she remembered the pain she just felt ten minutes before - the reminder that they were not exclusive. They weren’t even dating and she was not on his arm at the ceremony.
“I’m in bed and have to work tomorrow.”
“Answer the door.”
She heard her doorbell ring and looked out of the second floor bedroom window spotting a stretch limousine blocking several cars in the parking lot. “What do you want, Javier?”
“I’m waiting, querida.”
“And I am sleeping.”
“Your bedroom light is on.”
Teresa hung up the phone. Two minutes later, Teresa flung open the door. “What do you want, Javier? And where is your date?”
Teresa’s breath caught when she stopped questioning his unexpected appearance and noticed how good he looked in his dark tuxedo standing under her porch light. The camera lied; he looked even better in person. Javier turned to nod at the driver and then watched the vehicle drive away.
Stepping inside Teresa’s townhome, he pulled off his tie and jacket. “My date?”
Jolted back to the present, Teresa marched up to him. “I suggest you call your driver back because you’re not welcome here tonight.”
Arching a brow, Javier studied the angry woman. He then pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “What is it, Teresa? It’s late and I’m tired.”
“Excuse me? Did you explain the reason why you’re here in the first place and I missed it?”
“Let’s not play games,” he said calmly. Unbuttoning the top of his shirt, he then removed his cuff links and placed them in his pocket. “I am obviously here because you called me.”
Stepping back, Teresa frowned at him. “Just because I called you does not mean I want you to come over. And all of that is irrelevant when I saw you on television with Allie! You both looked pretty intimate for boss and employee.”
Javier’s eyes hardened and she noticed the tic in his jaw. “My business with Alejandra is not your concern.”
“Oh, it’s like that?” Teresa argued. Reaching for his discarded tuxedo jacket, she tossed it at his chest. When he refused to catch it, the black garment fell to the floor between them. “You have some nerve! I don’t do scandalous affairs. What we had is now over. Goodbye Javier. Lose my number.”
Javier stepped closer to her, moving his face inches from hers. “You don’t want this to end and neither do I.”
“Are all men in Spain as arrogant as you?”
His half smirk and narrowed eyes warned her, but it was not enough time to prepare for the kiss he bestowed upon her lips.
“You don’t have to worry about Alejandra, querida. Just some old family ties between us. I’m here because I want you. I couldn’t go another day without being inside you.”
Chapter Five
She watched Javier turn toward the windows as the pouring rain increased.
“Está lloviendo muy fuerte,” he started absently, then corrected himself. Pulling her close, he said, “It’s coming down pretty hard out there.”
Teresa nodded and curled up in his arms, brushing her fingers through the soft sprays of dark hair on his chest. He decided to rent a home for the rest of his stay. The en suite living room was where they started to spend their weekend afternoons lounging around in his pajamas when they weren’t in his bed. She wore his shirt and he donned the pants.
Their one night together had evolved into five weeks. Now she couldn’t imagine spending another night in bed without him and that frightened Teresa. She knew he would soon be leaving. Did that mean they would go their separate ways? He always balked when she insisted they define what they had. Parameters made her heart feel safer and with a man like Javier, she needed to protect herself.
“Tell me about your life in Spain.”
“What about it?” he asked, visibly tensing from her question. She watched his brows furrow and jaw tense. His heart even beat faster against her hand. Javier was still vague, keeping intimate details to himself.
“What do you do? How do you spend your time?”
“It’s no different,” he said vaguely, relaxing against her touch but he was still reserved.
She watched him shut her out, as he turned his body toward the television, pretending to have an interest in the movie they were watching.
“Why can’t you tell me? No different because you spend your days with someone else like we do here? Is there,” she started to ask, but panic gripped her. “Is there someone else?”
Javier tensed and shook his head.
“Javier,” she said, begging for a response. There was no way she spent the past five weeks being the other woman.
“My life is no different in Spain than it is here and that’s all you need to know,” he finally replied. Coolly, he added, “You are the one that insisted on the rules, remember? Who we are inside these walls is all that matters. I am committed to no one once I step outside of them.”
Emptiness crept over her, but before she could say another word, he got up and walked into the bedroom. Hearing the door close, Teresa looked back out at the storm raging against the window. She wished she was not so upset or she would have driven herself home despite the torrential downpour. There was no sex in the world worth the pain her time with Javier could cause her, especially when she knew she was f
alling for him. Instead of risking her life by leaving, she curled up into the corner of the sofa hoping to wait out the rain and cried herself to sleep.
Teresa woke, feeling her body being lifted into the air. She panicked, trying to pull away, but solid arms held her tight to his chest.
“Put me down.”
In the dark, she saw the outline of his bedroom. The curtains were drawn and the moonlight cast a calm glow around them. The rain had stopped.
“I said, put me down.”
He didn’t speak, instead placing her body in the middle of the bed. When she felt the mattress beneath her, it was his arms that continued to hold her.
“Javier, let go,” she insisted, trying to pull away and let her eyes adjust to the darkness. He was not being forceful with her, but his grasp was much stronger than her fight.
“I apologize,” he said softly.
Hearing his calm voice stilled her, but she did not speak.
“I never had anyone ask me questions like you have. No one has cared like you,” he began. When she said nothing, he continued, “I will tell you whatever you want to know.”
His answer was too late. He told her everything she needed to know when he declared he would never be committed to anyone. Including her.
“My father raised me after my mother left. He taught me early how to fend for myself, not depend on anyone other than myself.”
Teresa searched his eyes in the dark. Their clarity offered her a glimpse into the pain living within his soul. She reached out to hold his hand and he allowed her comfort.
Javier continued, “I watched him work with his partners to build Fernández Corporación Tecnológica and then one day buy out their shares when they couldn’t agree on their direction. Within eighteen months, he expanded into natural resources and turned FCT into one of Spain’s biggest renewable energy companies. My father came from humble beginnings and died a very wealthy man.
“He let nothing get in the way of success, not even love. Or so I thought. He told me love was for foolish men and I believed him, especially after growing up without my mother. I didn’t know her as a child or at least I didn’t think I did. Then one summer, she came to visit my father. He claimed she was an old friend, but I overheard them argue over me. That’s when I found out the woman didn’t want me.”
