by Maya Blake
‘Madre de Dios, how long was I away for?’ Luis slid into the seat and nodded thanks to the waitress who set the ice bucket and champagne flutes down. ‘Because I could’ve sworn it was only five minutes. And yet you two look like you’re about to come to blows? I’m surprised at you, little mouse.’ Although his tone was jovial, his eyes were shrewd as they slid from her to his brother.
Suki shook her head, unable to believe what was happening. ‘Trust me, I’m not—’
‘I was setting your girlfriend straight on a few things,’ Ramon interjected.
Luis’s eyebrows shot up, then he laughed. ‘My girlfriend? Where did you get that idea?’
Silence reigned at the table. Suki glared at her supposed best friend.
Ramon’s tight jaw eased a fraction before he shrugged. ‘Are you saying she doesn’t belong to you?’
Suki’s teeth clenched. ‘Excuse—?’
‘Sí, she belongs to me—’
‘Can you please stop talking about me as if I’m some ornament?’ she interrupted.
Ramon ignored her, his keen gaze fixed on his brother.
Luis’s lighter eyes narrowed. ‘Like a sister belongs to a brother who cares for her. Like a friend owns the entitlement of kicking someone’s ass if they so much as whisper a threat of harm her way. Like—’
‘Understood,’ Ramon said, his voice firm and grave.
‘Good, I’m glad that’s settled,’ Luis replied, then reached for the champagne.
Suki turned her head, met the newly gleaming gaze Ramon turned on her. ‘Is it? Is it settled?’ she hissed.
One corner of his mouth quirked, as if now his brother had explained he found the whole subject amusing. ‘I got the wrong end of the stick, it seems, gatito.’
‘Is that supposed to be an apology?’ she snapped.
A fleeting expression darkened his eyes. ‘Permit me some time to find the right words.’
Considering Ramon Acosta was lauded worldwide as possessing the Midas touch with every venture he turned his hand to, she found it impossible to believe he was lost for anything.
He’d single-handedly turned his parents’ half a dozen Cuban-based hotels into the world-renowned Acosta International Hotels chain while pursuing a private but deeply passionate artistic talent. When Svetlana Roskova had accidentally on purpose let slip during an interview that she was a muse for, and involved with, an artist, the media had clamoured to know who had won the heart of the Russian beauty.
After several sources had speculated that it was indeed Ramon, he’d given a single exclusive interview confirming himself as her lover and the man behind the wildly successful Piedra Galleries. Overnight, his already highly sought after paintings and sculptures had become priceless collectors’ items, with commissions from monarchs and world leaders placed on a waiting list that stretched into years, according to Luis.
But the man Suki had placed on a lofty pedestal was far removed from the one now watching her with wild, unsettling eyes. A fact his own brother noted as he peeled the foil off the champagne cork.
‘You seem wound up tighter than normal, Ramon. I can virtually see the smoke curling from your ears. It’s quite a sight to behold,’ Luis observed dryly.
Ramon’s mouth tightened. ‘Is this how you wish to spend the rest of your birthday, lobbing jokes at me?’ he asked without taking his eyes off Suki.
She suppressed a shiver, wondering what was going on behind the hooded green eyes.
‘I was just trying to lighten this heavier than normal mood, seeing as it’s my birthday and I can do what I want, but if you’re not going to explain yourself, at least answer that damn phone that’s been buzzing in your pocket for the last five minutes?’
Ramon shifted his gaze from her long enough to flick his brother an impatient look before reaching into his jacket. Extracting the sleek phone from his pocket, he barely glanced at it before powering it off.
Luis’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re actually turning off the power source to the empire? Are you unwell? Or are you ignoring someone specific?’
‘Luis...’ His voice held patent warning. One his younger brother didn’t heed.
‘Dios, is there trouble in paradise? Has the great Svetlana tripped over her stilettos and fallen from grace?’
Ramon Acosta’s face iced up, his eyes turning a shade of turbulent green. ‘I was waiting until later to share the news, but if you must know, as of this morning, I’m no longer engaged.’
He was no longer engaged.
As if his words had caused the planet to stop turning, silence descended on the booth. The three of them remained frozen in place, even as the words ricocheted through her brain.
He was no longer engaged.
Suki jumped at the sound of the cork forcefully ejecting from the bottle. Frothy, expensive liquid spilled. The sounds and smell of the pub roared back into her consciousness. But still the words pounded through her head.
Ramon was no longer committed to another woman.
She frowned at the giddy relief swirling through her, then started as a flute of champagne was thrust into her hands.
‘Drink up, little mouse. Now we have two...no, three reasons to celebrate,’ Luis said, eyeing her with even deeper resolution.
‘I’m glad my broken engagement brings you such sublime joy, hermano,’ Ramon replied, his voice arctic cold.
Luis sobered. ‘I chose to respect your relationship, but my views on your engagement never changed. She was the wrong woman for you. Whether the move to end it was hers or yours—’
‘It was mine.’
Luis’s smile returned. ‘Then either celebrate with me or drown your sorrows. Either way, we’re finishing this champagne.’ He poured two more glasses.
Ramon waited a beat, then raised his glass and recited another clipped birthday toast before tossing back the drink. Luis, his point made, proceeded to drink most of the bottle, while Suki sipped hers.
All the while tension reigned, heightened even further by the looks Ramon kept casting her way.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Luis rose just after midnight, his predatory gaze on a stunning redhead smiling at him from two seats away.
‘Time to make a significant start on my second quarter-century.’
Suki pushed away her half-finished glass. ‘I think I’ll head home—’
‘Stay,’ Ramon said. Before she could reply, he turned to his brother. ‘My limo is outside. Have the driver deliver you wherever you want to go.’
Luis clapped his hand on his brother’s shoulder. ‘I appreciate the offer but I’m going to tread delicately with this flower. We don’t want her overwhelmed and bolting at the sight of all those Acosta billions before I get the chance to close the deal, now, do we?’
Ramon’s jaw tightened before he shrugged. ‘Very well. I’ll leave you to serenade your paramour on the night bus.’
‘Dios, everything is such an extreme with you, isn’t it? There’s such a thing as a black cab, you know? And even with the lowly salary you pay me as junior marketing executive, I can still afford one.’
‘If you say so. Either way, I expect you to report to the office sober and whole on Monday morning.’
‘As long as you promise to deliver Suki home, safe and sound.’
She shook her head, grabbing her handbag as she rose. ‘There’s no need. I’ll be fine getting home by myself.’ Although she would be relying on the maligned public transport, the reason to keep a close eye on her spending casting a sudden grey shadow on her birthday. Her phone hadn’t rung in the four hours since she’d called the hospital to check on her mother so she must be having a relatively restful night. At least she hoped so.
‘Sit down, Suki,’ Ramon drawled, his tone throbbing with implacable power. ‘You and I aren’t finished.’<
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She ignored him. Or at least she tried. She cast a desperate look towards Luis, but her friend merely reached across the table and hugged her close, murmuring in her ear, ‘It’s your birthday, Suki. Life’s too short. Give yourself a break and live a little. It’ll make you happy, and it’ll make me infinitely ecstatic!’
Before she could respond, he was headed for the redhead’s table, smiling that smile that made women trip over themselves.
‘I said, sit down,’ Ramon pressed.
There was no way to leave the booth while he blocked her exit. With Luis’s words ringing in her ears, she slowly sank back into her seat. ‘I can’t imagine why you’d want me to. I have nothing more to say to you.’
His gaze gradually defrosted from arctic cold to heated green as he scrutinised her face with that unnerving intensity. ‘I think we established that I owe you...something.’
‘An apology. Is that a difficult word for you to say?’
He shrugged and opened his mouth, just as raucous laughter fuelled by hours’ long hard drinking erupted from a group nearby.
Distaste crossing his face, he rose and stationed himself at the mouth of the booth. ‘Come, we’ll continue this conversation elsewhere.’
Despite his imperious tone, Suki stood, telling herself she was obeying just so she could make a quick getaway once they were outside. Ramon Acosta had revealed a part of himself tonight that scraped her giddy dreams raw. She’d seen the ruthless man the financial papers wrote about, the insufferable deity-like brother Luis complained about. She’d also seen a bitter man turned lethally furious by his broken engagement.
Whatever had happened between Ramon and Svetlana still pulsed ill-feeling through his veins. Even now, she felt him loom like a dark lord behind her, quiet fury pouring off him.
The glimpse into his character was a timely reminder that Suki grabbed and held close. Her experiences of men, including her own father, had left her with a deeply ingrained distrust that, unfortunately, received further validation with each interaction with the opposite sex.
Thus far, Luis was the only one who’d breached that distrust. He was the reason why, believing there were other exceptions like him, she’d attempted, despite her mother’s bitter warnings about men, to date six months ago.
Stephen turning out to be a two-timing louse had left her hurt, but not surprised. The part of her that still stung now warned her that whatever was going on with Ramon, she wanted no part of it.
Exiting the pub into brisk October air, she breathed in deep. And started to walk away.
A firm hand caught her elbow before she’d taken three steps, dragging her to a halt. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Ramon breathed.
With the sounds of the pub now in the background, her every sense was filled with him. She took a step back, fighting the insane sensations that warred inside her. He tracked her move, crowding her with his smell, his overwhelming body, that ferocious look in his eyes.
Much too much. Despite the pathetic weakening in her limbs, she met his gaze. ‘It’s late.’
‘I’m aware of the time of night,’ he murmured, moving closer, brushing her legs with his.
The weakness intensified. ‘I need to... I should go.’
He took another step forward, bracing both hands either side of her head and trapping her against the pub wall. ‘Sí, perhaps you should. But you don’t want to.’
She shook her head, frantically calling on her common sense. ‘Yes, I do.’
He leaned closer, until she could see the tiny gold flecks in his eyes, feel the warm, faintly champagne-tinged breath on her face. ‘You can’t. I’ve yet to give you my apology.’
‘So you admit to owing me one?’
His gaze dropped to her mouth, spiky hunger that fused with hers flaring in his eyes. ‘Yes, but I’m not giving it to you here.’
She managed the almost impossible feat of laughing. ‘You know what birthday I’m celebrating so you know I wasn’t born yesterday.’
One hand left the wall, his fingers drifting down her cheek. ‘I can tell you what you want to hear right here and you can walk away. Or you can let me take you home as I promised Luis I would while giving you that apology. Surely you want to give your friend that peace of mind?’
She shook her head against the magic he was weaving with his low, husky voice and sizzling touch. ‘I’m a big girl. Luis will understand. All I want is that apology,’ she insisted.
‘You want more than that. You want to give in, reach out and take that forbidden thing you’ve been craving for a while now. Don’t you, Suki?’
No.
She opened her mouth, but the word stalled in her throat.
Ramon pushed away from the wall, took a bold step back, then another, robbing her of his closeness, dangling the possibility of loss in her face.
No.
This time the word was in objection of the temptation she knew she shouldn’t surrender to. Suki wasn’t aware she’d followed him to the edge of the kerb until a sleek black limo rolled to a stop behind him. Reaching for the handle, he pulled the door open, his eyes not leaving her face. ‘You will get in the car and I’ll take you home, Suki. What happens beyond that will be up to you. Only you.’
CHAPTER TWO
INSTINCTIVELY SHE KNEW her path was set the moment she murmured, ‘Okay.’
Life’s too short. Give yourself a break and live a little.
Suki knew that there would be no turning back the second she let Ramon help her into the car and he slid along the soft leather bench seat after her. The door slammed behind them, cocooning them in silence and edgy lust.
‘Your address?’ he rasped.
‘167 Winston Street, Vauxhall.’
He relayed the information to the driver, then his mouth firmed. ‘There are two dozen pubs between where you live and Luis’s residence in Mayfair. Why do you choose one so far outside of the city?’ he asked, casting an irritated glance at the establishment that stood on a quiet street in the middle of Watford.
‘A uni friend of ours just inherited it from his parents. Luis promised we’d stop by for birthday drinks,’ she said, a little relieved at the harmless tone of the conversation.
He’d activated the privacy partition and tinted the back windows, and now, trapped in the dark expanse of the luxurious car, his scent once again sliding intimately over her senses, she needed something to alleviate it.
Unfortunately, the reprieve didn’t last long. ‘And do you always do what my brother says?’ he asked, a different type of edge lining his voice.
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag. ‘Are you about to pick another fight with me? Because if I recall, we haven’t resolved the last one to my satisfaction yet.’
In the space of one breath and the next, he closed the gap between them. Her bag was plucked from her fingers and tossed onto the adjacent seat. Firm fingers speared into her hair, the grip firm enough to direct her gaze up to his.
Electricity vibrated from his body, the dark, purposeful gleam in his eyes rendering her mouth dry. He stared down at her for an age, their breaths mingling.
‘Lo siento. I’m sorry for my less than admirable assumptions. I am not in the best mood tonight, but that was no excuse, so accept my apologies.’
The words were deep and genuine, momentarily silencing the voice screaming a warning at her. ‘I... Okay,’ she mumbled.
His fingers moved, slowly massaging her scalp in lazy, masterful rotations, triggering a low heat in her belly. ‘Are you satisfied?’ he asked.
‘That...that depends.’
One eyebrow rose but the rest of his face tautened with expectation. ‘On what?’
‘On whether or not you’re about to start another fight with me.’
‘No, querida,’ he
breathed. ‘I’m about to start something else entirely. And you know it.’
‘I don’t...’
‘Enough, Suki. I told you what happens next is up to you. But I get the feeling I need to move things along before one of us expires from impatience. So the only word I want out of that delectable mouth right now is yes or no. I want you, gatito. Do you want me? Regardless of my sub-exemplary behaviour tonight. Yes or no?’
Her heart leapt into her throat. For three long years she’d harboured a growing crush on this man. But nowhere in that secret longing had there been a possibility that he would be here, in front of her, saying these words to her. She’d always believed she would wake up one day to find herself cured. She’d dated a handful of men like Stephen who, even before they’d proved themselves faithless, had fallen victim to not being dynamic enough, confident enough, tall enough or dark enough—hell, even Spanish enough.
Stephen’s betrayal had triggered a numbness of her emotions, had finally pressed home every warning her mother had relayed since she turned sixteen. A desperate part of her wished for that numbness now, yearned for a clap of thunder to deliver her from the ferocious lust threatening to swallow her whole.
Because, staring into Ramon Acosta’s eyes, she didn’t think she was anywhere near numb. Anywhere near cured of her foolish crush.
And now that he was free...
Oh, God.
She shook her head; the voice whispering that this was the worst idea she’d ever had grew into a scream. Swallowing, she slicked her tongue over her lower lip.
His fingers convulsed in her hair and a strangled sound escaped his throat. About to utter the word that would free her from this madness, she dropped her gaze. His velvet-smooth lips were so close. And good heavens, she was so hungry for a taste.
One. Just one.
Then she would satisfy herself that he was no god, that the lofty status she’d afforded him in her mind was nothing more than dreams spun from loneliness and long-forgotten fairy tales.
