solution; after living alone for so long, she needed her space.
She shrugged. “What’s the use of owning a house if you never use it.”
“I will send Maria over to make sure it’s clean and ready for you,” her grandmother said.
“That’s not necessary,” Selena said. Her grandparents were the caretakers of the old Florida house while she was in New York. It was the house she’d lived in with Raul while they’d both been in school at the University of Miami. There were a lot of memories in that place.
“I can clean it out if I need to,” Selena said.
“No. We will make it ready for you. You concentrate on Luna Azul and Justin Stern,” Grandfather said.
She shook her head. “He’s a very charming man, abuelita. Have you met him?”
“No, but abuelito has, several times. You find him shrewd, right?” her grandmother said, turning to her husband.
“Si. Very shrewd and very … he watches people and then he makes an offer that is exactly right for you. He’s like the devil.”
Selena laughed, thinking that her grandfather’s observation was spot on. “He is silver-tongued.”
“Si. Watch yourself, tata. You don’t want to fall for another man like that,” her grandfather said.
She wrapped an arm around her own waist as her grandmother got to her feet and yelled at her grandfather in Spanish, telling him to let sleeping dogs lie. Selena quietly left the kitchen, going into the backyard and finding a seat on the bench nestled between blooming hibiscus plants underneath a large tree covered with orchids.
She’d stayed away for so long because of Raul and everything that had happened between them. But now that she was back she was going to have to face her past and really move on from it. Not run away as she’d done before. And she liked the thought of focusing on Justin Stern. He was just the man she needed to forget the past and start to live again here.
Justin signed a few papers that were waiting for his signature and then sent his administrative assistant out for lunch. An injunction. Selena Gonzalez with her sexy body and big eyes had filed an injunction against the company to keep them from beginning with their construction work until they proved that they were using local vendors. Now their plans for a ground-breaking in conjunction with the tenth anniversary gala was going to be slowed down if not halted. “Got a minute?”
Justin glanced up to see his older brother Cameron standing in the doorway. Cam was dressed in business casual, as was his way. He was the one who ran the club and made sure the business there was on track. Unlike Justin, who always wore a suit and spent the majority of his time at his office here in the downtown high-rise complex.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“How’d things go at the zoning office?” Cam asked, coming inside and sitting down in one of the leather armchairs in front of his desk.
“Not so good. The Gonzalez family filed an injunction against the building. I’m going to spend the afternoon working on the paperwork we need to file in response. I’m hoping to speak with their lawyer later and see if we can negotiate some kind of deal.”
“Damn. I wanted to have the ground-breaking at the tenth anniversary celebration. I was also hoping we could maybe sign up some new, high-profile tenants, but this could put a damper on things.”
“I will do what I can to make it happen. Don’t get your hopes up, the neighbors and existing tenants in that market don’t like us.”
“Use your charm to convince them otherwise,” Cam said.
“I’m not charming.”
“Hell, I know that. You should send Myra.” “My assistant?”
“Yes, she’s friendly and everyone likes her.”
She was nice, but she didn’t have the right kind of experience to talk to the current occupants of the strip mall and make them understand what was needed.
“I’ll head over there after I talk to Selena.”
“Who is Selena?”
“Tomas Gonzalez’s lawyer.”
“Sounds like all the opening you need to get them on our team.”
“Stop trying to manipulate me into doing what you want,” he warned his brother.
“Why? I’m good at it.”
Justin threw a mock punch at Cam who pretended to take the hit.
“Go. I have real work to do,” Justin said. “I will.”
Cam left and Justin leaned back in his chair. He had plenty of business to keep him occupied but instead he was thinking of Selena Gonzalez—the lawyer and the woman.
His intercom buzzed. “There’s a Ms. Gonzalez on line one.”
Speak of the devil. He clicked over to the correct line. “This is Justin,” he said. “Hello, there.”
“Hi. I must be remembering our conversation wrong,” he said.
“I know I said I’d let you call but I’ve never been one of those women who waits for a man.” Her voice was just as lovely over the phone as it had been in person. He closed his eyes and let the sound of it wash over him. She was distracting. And he needed to keep her from shaking him from his target.
“I’m glad to hear that. I thought you might be difficult given that you filed an injunction against me.”
“That wasn’t personal, Justin,” she said. And he liked the way his name sounded on her lips.
“Yes, it was, Selena. What can I do for you?”
“I didn’t realize we had mutual interests,” she said. “When we met, I mean.”
“I know what you meant … by mutual interests do you mean we both want to ensure that the Latin market is a vibrant part of the community?
“I want to make sure that some big-deal club owner doesn’t take the community heritage and bastardize it for his own good.”
“I guess you’re not coming in here with any preconceived notions,” he said wryly.
“No, I’m not, I know exactly what kind of man I’m up against. My abuelito said you are a silver-tongued devil and I should watch myself around you.”
“Selena, you have nothing to fear from me,” he said. “I’m a very fair businessman. In fact, I think your abuelito will be very happy with my latest offer.”
“Send it to me and I will let you know.”
“Come down to my office so we can talk in person. I prefer that to emails and faxes.”
He leaned back in his chair. He knew how to
