by Jewel Allen
She sensed a painful story behind this. “He obviously liked it.”
He nodded. “The next day, a master painter came to our house, and I started my formal training as a painter.”
“At three?”
He nodded.
“Was that hard?”
“Not at first. The master painter made it a game for me. After an hour of work, we would go outside and look at insects. Or something fascinating. Like flowers. He would show me the details in everything. He also gave me candy when I finished a painting. Within a month, I had painted several large canvases. My father sold the first five for a lot of money each.”
“How much?”
He tapped the arm of his chair. “I don’t know. Papá didn’t tell me and I didn’t care.”
His hand stilled and balled into a fist. “Probably a lot though. By the end of the year, we were moving. Still along that beach, but in a bigger house.”
Isa almost prompted him to describe that house, but he said, “It was a gaudy house. Have you been to Barcelona?”
“Yes. Who comes to Spain without stopping there?”
“You saw the church, and Gaudi’s art?”
She nodded.
“It was like that except multiplied by five. So many colors that clashed. Huge balconies. The only good thing was that I had a studio all to myself. A white, spacious room that let in the light from the south. That may have been why my parents picked the house. Though I’m sure my father liked that it was so ostentatious.”
“Tell me about your father.”
His reaction was instantaneous. His expression darkened and his eyes flashed. “No.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Isa did a double-take. “No?”
Alejandro’s expression remained forbidding. “I don’t want to talk about him.”
Perplexed, she gaped at him. She needed to know more about his father to understand him. The story of Alejandro’s life wasn’t complete without that part of it. But she wasn’t going to push. “We don’t have to do that right now.”
“Ever.”
She said neither yes or no. She had long learned from her father that it was best to leave things open.
“Let’s talk about something else,” she suggested.
“We’re done for today.”
His bullishness worried her. Was he going to be difficult? With time, she hoped he would soften.
Speaking of time...
Her eyes flew to the gilded clock on the wall. “It’s one o’clock? Goodness. How fast time flies.”
He was already standing. “I don’t think this was a good idea.”
Her heart pounded and squeezed painfully. All this work, scuttled again. “This being...?”
“This book. It brings to mind unpleasant... memories.”
“Just think about it. Just...”
“Stop.” He held up both hands. “Just stop. I should have kept my answer as a no, like I did at first. I should have kept you out of my house to begin with.”
“What about... us?”
“What?” he said, snarling. “Those kisses? Was that not a ploy for you to soften me... for this?”
How could he accuse her of that? The insult burned and hurt.
Isa stood too, gathering her things. She jammed her computer in her bag the wrong way before taking a deep breath and being gentler.
She had to get out of there, from his presence. From his insults. She didn’t need him. If she had to take out a loan to pay for the shortfall, she would. And if her imprint collapsed upon itself, so be it.
He spoke. “What do you say?”
“What is there to say?” To her embarrassment, her voice shook. “I am just a manipulative publisher who should have just left you alone in the first place.”
She trembled as she unjammed her computer and put it in the bag the right way.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m leaving and never bothering you again.”
He flinched.
She continued like a runaway train. “I can find some other subject more honorable than you. Who will carry through what he promises he would do.”
Within two strides, he was toe-to-toe with her. “I’ll have my accountant draw up a check for two million and spare change. There! Satisfied?” His Spanish accent sharpened.
Her heart raced even as his breadth and width overwhelmed her with desire that made her dizzy.
“Is that what your father taught you?” she snapped despite the distraction. “Throw money at something and it should fix everything?”
His face loomed close to hers, his breath warm. His voice was low, menacing. “What more do you want?”
“I want...”
She almost said “you.”
Instead, she said, “...for you to just let me do my job and then we can part ways forever.”
Even as she said that, a pain filled her gut. She didn’t understand her physical response to the thought. Shouldn’t she feel an aversion for him? Just as she ought to now, as he lifted a hand to find her shoulder, her neck...his caress ending at her jaw.
She should pull away. She had just told him goodbye. She should...
“No,” he said.
No? To them being forever? To his book? Either way, why was she still here, waiting for crumbs?
She stiffened and pulled away. His fingers opened to let her go without issue, but her traitorous body rebelled. She couldn’t move away even if her life depended on it.
After this, they could live their separate lives. He could go on as before. She could move on to her next career. She may never see him again.
An involuntary sob racked her body. She raised a hand to her mouth but she couldn’t strangle the noise fast enough.
His expression softened. “Is this really adios for us?”
“Isn’t that what you want?” she said, sniffling.
“This is what I want.” He pulled her, unresisting, into his arms. She fell against his body, his warmth enveloping her as he kissed her with a ferocity that took her breath away.
A river of fire coursed through her. It cut a path through her defenses, consuming every sane thought that tried to stop it.
He groaned and pulled her closer. His hands explored the small of her back and the length of her neck. Their kiss kept time with the ticking of a nearby clock.
They surfaced to him murmuring her name and reaching for her once again. But that split second was enough to bring her to her senses. Enough to recognize what a dangerous path they were hurtling towards.
A path to heartbreak. A path to betrayal. He touched and kissed her like he cared, but his words relayed a different message.
No.
He had said no to her work and she had no reason to stay.
She pushed him away, their breaths ragged. Confusion crossed his face. He reached for her but she sidestepped him.
She mimicked him in a final act of irony. “Adios, Alejandro,” she said, before wheeling away.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alejandro stood there, trying to not feel. He wasn’t about to make a fool of himself, chasing the girl. Not only because it would have been physically challenging for him.
When the pain did come, he thought he was ready. In reality, he wasn’t. It was as though his chest smashed against concrete. He sucked his breath in.
Don’t go don’t go don’t go
He should have said something. Should have explained that he had said “no” not to him doing the work, but of her leaving him forever.
He had just found her. And now she was gone.
Someone knocked on his door, rousing him. Could she have returned?
Alejandro said, “Yes?”
The door opened. “Good afternoon, sir,” Horatio said.
“What is it?”
“The miss has arranged for a taxi, sir, and is now waiting downstairs.”
“All right.” Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“I wondered if you’d prefer that she be taken in a limo,
or...?”
“Oh. Yes, yes, that’s fine.”
Horatio didn’t answer.
“What is it, Horatio?”
“Does the master mind telling me what happened?”
“Yes, he minds very much. As you should mind your own business.”
“Very well, sir.”
“Horatio,” he thundered.
“Yes, sir?” His voice seemed to come from somewhere down the hallway.
“She can take my car.”
“The Bugatti, sir?”
“Yes. She’s been in it before. Just remind her to program it for self-driving, and then it can come back to us by remote.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“If I wasn’t, would I have suggested it?” he growled.
“As you wish, sir.”
After Horatio left, Alejandro leaned against the door jamb, massaging his temples.
He needed to release his pent-up energy. He would go down and swim.
Yes, that’s what he would do.
Or he could paint.
But the thought of taking up the brush pained him. So instead, he sat in his lair, nursing his wounds as only a beast could.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Isa was surprised when Horatio offered for her to take Reina. “Are you sure?” Isa asked.
“That’s what the master wanted you to do, miss.”
“How would she return here?”
“I can help you program her. You would simply need to push a button on the pre-programmed map feature.”
“Very well. Thank you.” They spent the next few minutes doing that, until Isa felt confident about taking the car.
“This is important for you to know, miss,” Horatio said, pointing at a button under the dash. “If you have an emergency, this will alert the master...”
Isa couldn’t think of a single reason why she would bother Alejandro, even for a flat tire.
“That’s good to know, thank you.” Isa smiled. “I hope I won’t need it.”
It was time to go. She had no other reason to delay.
Isa looked back into the cavernous castle. Such a beautiful place but cold and forbidding. She was glad to leave. Glad to be rid of... him.
Her throat constricted at the memory of their kisses. Her emotions were all jumbled up inside.
When the car was ready and waiting at the curb, Isa almost expected Alejandro to show up to stop her from leaving. She looked back at the door, hoping for it to open.
The door stayed shut.
Of course. What else did she expect? He didn’t care about her; never did. He even sent Horatio as proxy, helping her load her luggage into the trunk. Was she just an amusement for him?
“Thank you so much,” she told Horatio. He hefted the suitcase smoothly. He was much stronger than she expected.
Horatio blinked, and for one moment, he almost had what she’d have called a warm expression.
“You are welcome, miss,” he said.
She slipped into the driver’s seat and Horatio gently shut the door after her.
She raised her eyes to the façade of the castle.
No one stood at the windows, listening for the car engine to come to life. Alejandro certainly couldn’t be bothered.
Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked them away.
As the car hummed and made its way smoothly around the circular driveway, Isa admired, once again, the grand gardens that made up this place. Too bad it was all a mirage.
She was returning to America empty-handed. Beaten. Her father predicted this much, not in so many words. She had proven him right.
The car sped down the long estate driveway, until it came to the gate where it stopped. Max came out of his little stone house, motioning for her to lower the window.
Funny, she’d have thought the gate would just zip on open for the master’s Bugatti.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said, flashing her his All-American grin. “Horatio messaged and told me that you were leaving.”
“Yes.” She couldn’t help but smile back. He had become much friendlier since that first encounter He was cute, too. If she were looking for a rebound relationship and if he weren’t so young-looking ...
“That was a pretty quick visit,” he said, glancing towards the castle.
Tears threatened to spill. Isa was mortified when a tear did escape, trickling down her cheek.
“Oh dear, ma’am. I am sorry to upset you.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “It’s not your fault.” It’s your beastly employer’s fault.
“The master is just out of practice, ma’am.” Then he stopped talking. “I mean...”
“Don’t worry about it. I know what you mean. Thanks Max.”
“You are welcome.”
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
She sniffled. “You can open the gate.”
“Oh!” He leaned away. “Of course.”
Max waved as Reina drove on out. Isa leaned back, closed her eyes, and let her body relax. After that ordeal, being alone in this car was a tender mercy.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. She had quickly made good time into Sevilla proper. Reina suddenly made an alarming noise. To Isa’s relief it was just the gas gauge indicating she needed gasoline. Reina’s robotic voice asked if she wanted to stop and fill up.
“Yes,” Isa instructed the car. It made its calculations, and pulled off into an exit. They slid beside a pump. An attendant came to Isa’s window and asked her how much gasoline she’d like.
“Full tank, please,” she said.
The attendant, an old man with a weary face, gazed at her helpless. Of course. He only spoke Spanish. She made hand gestures which she hoped he would understand.
He nodded and pulled the nozzle out.
She left the window down, to let the fresh air in. There was a bit of chill in the air, but she liked it. It cooled her feverish body. She closed her eyes and opened them again at the click of the pump. The attendant was done.
But she wasn’t looking at him. She was gazing at the bikers straddling their motorcycles next to the station, eyeing her back.
Uh oh.
Isa locked the doors and tried to lower herself into the seat hoping her face stayed obscured.
But it was too late. They had obviously seen her. Now they were talking among themselves and glancing at her over their shoulders. One, a blond man with long wavy hair, even punched his fist into his hand.
Great.
She handed the attendant her credit card to pay, willing him to be quick, but he took his time taking out the nozzle. When he finally did, she resisted tearing out of the station as he was capping her gas tank. As soon as he was done, she closed her window and started the ignition.
Just as the biker gang headed her direction on their hogs.
She could freak them out by lowering herself to the floor. She was going to have to pass them, and what would they think of a car with no driver? No, best to sit calmly behind the wheel.
As the car rolled out, Isa could sense Reina trying to figure out her obstacles.
Did a biker gang bent on mayhem count as an obstacle?
Reina stopped.
Keep going, missy!
The bikers surrounded and pounded on the vehicle.
She groaned.
Some tried her doors.
Isa looked around hoping other customers or station employees would come to her aid, but that would have been like individuals trying to fight an army. A man came out of the convenience store, took one look at the commotion, and went right back in. The pump attendant who helped her earlier was too busy watching and wiping his hands on a rag.
Someone, the dude with the wavy shampoo-ad hair, jumped on Reina’s hood and peered down into the driver’s seat, looking straight down at Isa. He grinned.
She jammed her hand on the horn and he jumped off. She had seen Alejandro segue before from self-driving to manual, but couldn’t remember how he’d don
e it. Which button did he press? Did he give Reina a voice command?
Was it this one?
She pressed a button and the hood came up. Great. How would she be able to see to drive? She pressed the same button and the hood came down.
Perfect.
It meshed with an idea that began to form in her mind. If the bikers were to come close, it could work.
A different biker with curly hair came close, all right. For a biker, he looked scrawny, like all his nutrients went to his locks. He loomed over the hood and leered at her.
She pushed the hood button and hit him right under the chin. He fell like a ton of bricks. Knocked out cold.
The others swarmed the car like zombies in leather jackets.
Where was that manual-drive button?
Her hands shook as she searched the words on the dashboard while the hair guy’s army tried to infiltrate the car.
Manual.
Bingo.
She pressed it, and the steering wheel became more supple. “In manual mode,” Reina’s soothing voice came on.
Isa might have hit one or two bikes as she tore of the station with squealing tires. She didn’t know where Sevilla was exactly, so she just started to head down the road the same direction that she’d been going before she had to pull over for gasoline.
From there, she felt comfortable switching back to self-driving. She pushed the button once again and Reina calmly announced, “Self-drive.”
Isa closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
But she’d sighed too soon. Behind her, the bikers weaved in and out of the roadway traffic, aiming for her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alejandro climbed out of the pool, spent. He’d swam countless laps until he felt like he was going to cramp if he continued. He felt good though. Exercise always did that for him.
He made his way upstairs and got in the shower, standing under the hot spray. He tried to fill his mind with other things, but all he could think about was a brunette with an exquisite face and a mesmerizing voice.
A loud honking noise engulfed the bathroom.
It was his emergency alert system. The one he’d paid extra to be rigged in his car. If someone were to push the button on the dashboard, it meant they were in trouble.
