by Susanna Carr
“Please send her in,” Sebastian said coldly as the call of the hunt roared in his blood, “and then you may leave for the day.”
* * *
Ashley sat on the edge of the pearl-white leather chair as she watched the sun set over the Miami skyline. She felt a pang of homesickness as she saw how the tall buildings pierced the coral and dusky pink streaks in the sky. She felt uncomfortable surrounded by steel and glass, noise and people. She missed sitting alone in her favorite spot in the cove of her island and watching the sun dip past the endless turquoise ocean.
She may never see it again. Fear squeezed her heart, and her fingers pinched her white clutch purse. Bile churned in her stomach as she remembered the eviction letter. She still felt the same agonizing horror when she had discovered a Sebastian Cruz had bought her loan and now owned her family island because she’d missed two payments.
Ashley pressed her lips together and prayed that she could meet Mr. Cruz and come to an understanding. Get her island back immediately. What was she going to do if she couldn’t get the man to see reason?
She couldn’t think this way. Ashley exhaled slowly, wishing the panic that banded her chest would dissolve. Defeat was not an option. This was her last chance, but she was going to find a way to get back her family home.
Ashley glanced around the waiting room, noticing that it was quieter now that most of the office workers had gone for the day. It didn’t make the space any less intimidating. She almost hadn’t stepped into the building when she noticed the towering height and the aggressive sleek lines. It had taken more courage than she’d care to admit to stay seated on the chair throughout the day, feeling small and invisible, as she watched the employees attack the day with ruthless energy.
Her head jerked when she heard purposeful footsteps echo against the polished black floor. The tall man in the designer suit and prestigious school tie she’d spoken with earlier approached her. “Miss Jones? Mr. Cruz can see you now.”
Ashley nodded as her throat tightened with anxiety. Her hands went suddenly cold as she rose from the seat. She felt uncoordinated, her legs stiff and her borrowed heels heavy, as she followed the man in the suit.
You can fix this, she reminded herself fiercely as she nervously smoothed her hand over her hair. It had taken ages to coax her wild mane into a tight bun and she felt as if the waves were threatening to break free.
As she tried to keep up with the man who was undoubtedly an assistant, she tried not to notice the imposing features of the stark and colorless corridor. She didn’t know how this Sebastian Cruz had got Inez Key, but she knew it had to be a mistake. She couldn’t imagine why someone with this amount of wealth would want a run-down island.
Ashley glanced at the assistant. She was tempted to ask about Sebastian Cruz, but she sensed the man wouldn’t reveal much. She regretted not researching the man who owned Cruz Conglomerate. If the executive suite indicated anything, she suspected Sebastian Cruz was an older, formal gentleman who valued propriety and status.
Ashley tugged at the vintage white dress that had once belonged to her mother. She was glad she’d made the choice to wear it. It was outdated and restricting but she knew she looked sweet and demure.
Now, if only she could remember to speak like a lady. Ashley paused at the grand black doors to Mr. Cruz’s office. Everything went into slow motion as she watched the assistant knock and open the door. Just watch your mouth. Ashley swiped the tip of her tongue along her dry lips. She knew more than anyone how one reckless word could ruin everything....
Ashley barely heard the assistant’s introduction over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. She sensed the magnitude of the room but controlled the impulse of looking around. She placed a polite smile on her lips, stretched out her hand and froze when she saw Sebastian Cruz.
“You!” she blurted out as she instinctively snatched her hand back. Standing before her was the one man she’d hoped she’d never meet again. This was Sebastian Cruz? The man had turned her world upside down a month ago, had torn down all of her defenses and introduced her to a world of pleasure and promise.
Ashley gasped for her next breath as her body went rigid, primed to flee. What was going on? This could not be Sebastian Cruz. It was Sebastian Esteban. The name was burned into her mind forever. A woman never forgot her first lover.
But this man didn’t look anything like the mysterious guest who had arrived for a weekend getaway on Inez Key a month ago. The faded jeans and knowing smile were replaced with a severe suit and a stern mouth. Her gaze traveled from his short black hair to his large brown eyes and the hard thrust of his chin. He was attractive but forbidding. Menacing.
Sebastian’s raw power was barely concealed underneath the tailored lines of his black suit. His lean and muscular build hinted that he was sleek, swift and that he moved with stealth. This man could fight hard and dirty.
He smiled and a sense of unease trickled down Ashley’s spine. This time his smile didn’t make her heart give a slow tumble. His sharp white teeth made her think of a cold-blooded animal tearing apart his quarry.
Feeling a little shaky, Ashley took a step back. Sebastian was stunning, but her memories had muted the brutal power and raw masculinity he possessed.
“Ashley,” he said silkily and gestured at the chair in front of his desk. He didn’t look surprised to see her. “Please sit down.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked as conflicting emotions swirled ferociously inside her. She felt dizzy. Vulnerable. She wanted to sit down and curl into a protective ball but she couldn’t give the man any advantage. “I don’t understand. He called you Mr. Cruz.”
“That is my name,” he said as he sat down behind his desk.
“Since when?” She winced when her voice rose. Ashley tried desperately to hold back. “You introduced yourself to me as Sebastian Esteban.”
“That is part of my name. Esteban is my mother’s family name.” His dark eyes were intent as he watched her closely. As if that name should mean something to her. “I am Sebastian Esteban Cruz.”
That was his excuse? She stared at him, waiting for more. Instead, he sat in his chair that was as big as a throne and watched her with an air of impatience. He wasn’t going to apologize for anything.
“Why did you lie to me? Is that part of your routine?” A woman only had to look at Sebastian Cruz and know he was a heartbreaker. She thought she could remain unscathed by limiting their encounter to a one-night stand. She had been wrong.
But she hadn’t been thinking during that sensual weekend, she thought as regret pricked at her. Instead, she had followed a primal call and fallen into Sebastian’s bed.
She had known better. Expected more from herself. After being raised by a philandering father, Ashley had recognized the signs of Sebastian’s tried-and-true routine. She should have remembered the devastation that immediately followed the promise of paradise.
“When a wealthy person is interested in buying property, it’s in their best interest not to reveal who they are,” he said unrepentantly. “Otherwise the sale price goes up.”
“Inez Key wasn’t for sale,” she said hoarsely as the anger whipped through her. Now she understood why he’d chosen to visit her island. He had intended to steal her family home from the beginning!
“So you kept saying.” He gave a dismissive shrug. “I had approached you through several of my representatives, but I kept getting the same answer. The offered price was extremely generous. I made a personal visit in the hopes that I could convince you to sell.”
She had thought it was strange that a man like Sebastian had arrived at her island for rest and relaxation. He was the kind of man who thrived on challenges and conquering uncharted territory. “Instead, you stole it from me,” she whispered as her stomach churned. “This is all making sense.”
“I didn’t st
eal it,” he corrected her. “You missed the deadline to repay the loan. Inez Key is mine.”
Ashley didn’t like the triumph she heard in his voice. She clenched her purse tighter as she choked back the fury. “That loan is none of your business! It was a private agreement between Raymond Casillas and me.”
“And I bought the loan from Casillas. You shouldn’t have put up your island as collateral.” He mockingly clucked his tongue and shook his head at her poor judgment.
“It not like I had a lot of choices,” she pointed out fiercely. How dare this man question her decision? Her father’s finances had been a shambles when he died. Sebastian had no idea what she’d had to do, what she’d had to sacrifice, to keep Inez Key. “It was the only thing I have of value.”
He tilted his head and captured her gaze. “Was it?” he asked softly.
Ashley stiffened as she sensed the danger lurking beneath that question. How much did this man know? She needed to take control of this meeting. Her legs shook and she felt jittery, but she forced herself to remain standing. “Inez Key suffered a lot of damage during the hurricane, and the insurance wouldn’t pay for all of it.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care how you got into debt.”
She wanted to claw at his bored expression. Ashley curled her fingers into her palms as she felt her temper flare dangerously. “I didn’t make an agreement with you,” she said roughly. “I had a payment plan with Raymond.”
“Which you couldn’t pay,” he said. “You took a gamble and you lost.”
Ashley gritted her teeth. It was true and she couldn’t deny it. She had taken many risks when she’d accepted the loan. She’d had difficulty finding the money to repay, but she couldn’t let it end here. She had to get Inez Key back.
“Raymond understood why I was having trouble making the payments,” she said, her voice shaking as emotions ran wild inside her. “He was giving me more time since he had been best friends with my father.”
“I’m sure he was the epitome of understanding and compassion. But it was smart of you to keep it out of the banking system.” He wagged his finger at her. “I would have found out about it earlier.”
Did he think this was funny? That this was a game? Her future was at stake here. “And then you wouldn’t have had to sleep with me to get that kind of information,” she retorted.
Sebastian’s gaze slowly traveled down her tense body, resting briefly on her gentle curves. “That isn’t why I took you to bed.”
Her skin burned. She couldn’t stop the fragmented memories flooding her mind. She remembered his hot masculine scent and the taste of his golden skin. Her dress felt tight as she recalled the sharp hiss between his teeth and the bite of pain when his strong fingers had tangled in her hair.
Ashley abruptly looked away. She had a tendency to remember that night at the most inconvenient moments. Her heart was pounding against her chest and her body was flushed. “You didn’t have seduction in mind the moment you stepped on Inez Key,” she mumbled. “I find that highly unlikely.”
“I didn’t know that you would indulge in pillow talk after sex,” he drawled as he leaned back in his chair and steepled his long fingers together. “I certainly didn’t expect you to reveal your agreement with Casillas. That was a bonus and it was impossible for me not to use that information for my benefit.”
Ashley stared at Sebastian as her chest twisted painfully. How could he be so callous about that intimate moment? Didn’t he realize that she never confided in anyone? But she had felt close and safe enough to tell him her worries. She had been interested in his opinion and valued his advice. It was only in the light of day that she realized she had been lulled into a false sense of security.
She somehow knew that rare slip of the tongue would come back and haunt her. He had used that moment of weakness to his advantage. “I will not allow you to take this island from me!”
Sebastian was unmoved by her heated declaration. “It’s too late.”
“Why are you being so unreasonable?” Her voice echoed in her ears. She lowered her hands firmly against her sides and tried again. “Why can’t you give me a second chance?”
He seemed genuinely surprised by her question. As if she was more naive than he had given her credit. “Why should I? Have you done anything that would suggest you deserve a second chance?”
She saw the way his eyes darkened. There was something about his choice of words. Suspicion slithered and coiled around her weary mind as she crossed her arms. “Is this because I kicked you out of bed the next morning?”
Ashley wanted to bite her tongue the moment she spoke without thinking. She knew she had to be careful with her words. She cringed as she heard his husky chuckle.
Sebastian’s smile was a slash of white against his dark skin. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
She knew she had caught him off guard when she’d refused his offer to continue the relationship. Sebastian would never know how much the idea had both delighted and scared her. If he had seen her resolve weaken, he would have gone in for the kill. Her answer came across cold and unfeeling and she knew the rejection had stung.
To think she had felt bad about it! She had spent hours reviewing that moment and wishing she had refused more gracefully. And more than once she wished she had the courage to have accepted his offer.
But she realized that even after one glorious night, she was in danger of becoming the kind of woman she hated. A sexual creature. A woman who was driven by her emotions and needs. She had pulled away to protect herself.
“I can’t help but think this is all personal,” she said, glaring at him.
He arched a dark eyebrow. “How is that possible when we had not met until I arrived on Inez Key?” he murmured.
Ashley felt as if she was missing something. She knew they’d never met. One would never forget the briefest encounter with Sebastian Cruz. “You lied to me about your name, you had a hidden agenda and you seduced me. I was right to follow my instincts and get rid of you.”
“And I’m right to follow my instincts and remove you from the island immediately,” Sebastian said, clicking his computer keyboard as if the discussion was over.
Immediately? Panic gripped her chest. Before she’d walked in here she’d had two weeks to leave the island. She was making this worse. “Inez Key is all I have,” she said in a rush. “Without it, I have no home, no money...”
He didn’t glance away from the computer screen. “That is not my concern.”
She marched over to his desk and braced her hands on the edge. She would demand his attention if she had to reach over and grab him by the throat. “How can you be so cruel?” she asked in a low growl.
He lifted his gaze and held hers. “Cruel? You don’t know the meaning.”
She leaned forward. “I can’t lose Inez Key. That is my home and my livelihood.”
“Livelihood?” He scoffed at the word. “You haven’t worked a day in your life. You rent out your home to wealthy people for the occasional weekend.”
She let that criticism slide. She may not have a traditional job, but that didn’t mean she didn’t work hard to hold on to everything that was dear to her. “They pay good money for privacy. You did. What makes you think others won’t?”
He reached for his pen and uncapped it. “There aren’t enough rich celebrities looking for privacy to pay back your loan.”
“I haven’t been doing it long enough,” she insisted. She needed to buy a little time. “Raymond understood that.”
Sebastian shook his head. “Raymond Casillas wanted you to dig a deeper hole. He knew you were never going to be able to pay back the loan. Why do you think he offered in the first place?”
Ashley straightened and took a step away from the desk. “I don’t know,” she muttered. She didn’t want to talk about it. Her skin felt pr
ickly as the nausea swept through her.
“He hoped you would pay back in another way. And I think you knew that. Which is why you had requested a contract. Under most circumstances, it would have been a smart move.”
“A lot of good it did me,” she said under her breath. That contract now put her right in the hands of the ruthless Sebastian Cruz.
“You didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding. You would offer Inez Key as your collateral, not your body.” Sebastian paused. “Or your virginity.”
She flushed bright red and refused to meet his gaze. “You knew?” Ashley whispered. She had done everything to conceal her inexperience. Out of pride, out of protection. She couldn’t allow Sebastian to know how much advantage he had in that moment. But how did he know? How did she give herself away?
He set down the pen. “You should have told me.” His tone was almost soft. Kind.
Ashley took another step back. She felt exposed. She wished she could walk right out of the office, but her unfamiliar heels felt like shackles. “I had already told you too much. And how did you know that Raymond wanted...” She swallowed roughly as her voice trailed away.
“Casillas has a reputation for liking innocent girls,” he said with distaste as he leaned back in his chair. “And once he found out that you and I had been together, he was no longer interested in helping you out.”
She closed her eyes as mortification weighed heavily on her shoulders. Sebastian had discussed their private moment with Raymond? He was just like her womanizing father and his raucous drinking buddies. A wave of disappointment crashed through her. She had expected better of Sebastian. “You’re disgusting,” she whispered.
“I do what is necessary to win.”
