to you tonight. Do me a favour and let’s keep things strictly business from now on, shall we?’
He didn’t deign to utter a response. Cold eyes raked her from head to toe. Then he strode out with arrogant indifference.
Elise slammed the door hard. And even before she turned the key, she was cursing the hot scald of tears choking her.
ELISE SLEPT THROUGH her alarm and woke up at seven-thirty. The ominous start to the day thankfully didn’t earn her Alejandro’s scorn because he wasn’t in the office when she hurried in just after quarter past eight. She breathed a sigh of relief when Margo informed her he would be out of the office all morning.
She got on with putting finishing touches to the work she’d left unfinished yesterday. As she recalled the unfortunate end to the evening, her heart dipped with disappointment and hurt.
Enough! Knowing she would always be in some way tarred with the same brush when it came to her parents, she’d learned to toughen up at an early age. Alejandro had merely lucked out and cornered her in a weak moment after coercing her to spill her guts about Brian.
Nothing more.
When the words continued to echo hollowly at the back of her mind, Elise decided to use her free time for the head-clearing run she hadn’t managed that morning. She struck out for nearby Millennium Park, the exertion and the light April breeze doing an effective job of clearing her tension and lending a little perspective.
Last night, she’d got carried away. She’d glimpsed sympathy that had been sorely lacking on all fronts following Brian’s assault and had grasped it with both hands. Then she’d followed it by falling into a web of sexual attraction while ignoring the accompanying pitfalls.
But she had put on the brakes. There was nothing to feel guilty about. If anything, Alejandro’s attitude was what should be causing her grief. And yet, all through the night of tossing and turning, that fleeting expression on his face had haunted her. Continued to haunt her. For a single moment, just before he’d accused her of comparing him to Brian, she’d glimpsed a sharp pain, felt an alignment of her own hurt. As much as she wanted to dismiss it, the notion wouldn’t die. Nor could she deny his sympathy and comfort had been genuine.
But afterwards...
Was she attributing more humanity to him than was warranted? Accepting her thoughts were going around in futile circles, she completed her run, performed her stretches, and returned to SNV.
She walked through the doors and was crossing the foyer to the drink fountain when she saw Alejandro.
Except it wasn’t Alejandro.
The hair, stature and innate confidence that were imprinted on him were almost identical. But apart from the visual confirmation when the man turned from calling for the lift, her stomach didn’t quite dive and clench the same way it did in Alejandro’s presence.
This was Alejandro’s brother. The resemblance was uncanny. All the way down to his lifted eyebrow when he realised he was the object of scrutiny.
Her very blatant scrutiny.
A very male, very confident smile curved his lips as he abandoned the lift and sauntered towards her. His return scrutiny didn’t make her skin prickle the way Alejandro’s did, but nevertheless Elise grew conscious of the cling of Lycra and sheen of sweat coating her skin.
‘A beautiful woman who shows dedication in taking care of herself is a sexy thing to behold.’
His voice, so much like Alejandro’s, but also so different, made her smile emerge a little weaker than usual. ‘You don’t know me from a lamp post, so what makes you think I’m in any way dedicated? For all you know this could be the start of a very late New Year’s resolution.’
His gaze drifted from her head to the tips of her trainers and back again. ‘Then I commend you for the excellent, decidedly non-lamp-post-like framework you’re building on.’ His words held the same Spanish intonation that curled around Alejandro’s.
Laughter bubbled up, easy and unexpected, providing a touch of relief from her roiling thoughts. ‘I’m not sure whether to thank you for the compliment or roll my eyes at that smooth line.’
‘Gael Aguilar.’ He held out his hand. ‘And you wound me.’
She shook his hand. ‘You’re Alejandro’s brother,’ she confirmed.
A shadow crossed Gael’s features. ‘For my sins, yes.’
A sixth sense warned her his words were meant literally. The lift arrived and she stepped into the small space beside him. She couldn’t help but notice with every floor that passed, his tension escalated.
This brother wasn’t anticipating an amicable meeting.
And with Alejandro, was there any other kind?
Elise cleared her throat. ‘I hope you can sort things out with the Japanese deal.’
His eyes hardened for a moment, before he smiled. ‘That outcome would depend entirely on my brother.’
She frowned.
‘You look shocked. What has my brother been telling you about me?’
‘Nothing, save that he expects the same thing from you.’
A smile, icy but tinged with a hint of bleakness, tweaked his lips. ‘What can I say? We’re not known for giving quarter,’ he rasped.
The doors opened and they stepped into the hallway. ‘It was—’
‘Elise!’
They both turned at the thunderous summons. Heat and ice invaded her body, both bringing equally painful awareness, as Alejandro’s incandescent gaze slashed over her, dashed to his brother, and then remained fixed on Gael.
* * *
Alejandro had never experienced possessiveness about anyone or anything in his life. Sure, he was attached to the success he’d worked hard for, but he possessed nothing in life that would cause him physical pain to part with. He’d learned at a very early age that affection or material things given one day could be taken away the next with no rhyme or reason. Every occurrence in his life as a child had revolved around whether his mother had decided to be happy, or whether she was locked into playing the wronged wife, visiting her misery and pain on everyone around her. And that had solely depended on whether his father was in the mood to reprise his role of philanderer or not.
Everything in his life had been coated with a transience that had forced him to create a bubble around himself. Because if he get didn’t attached in the first place, he wouldn’t feel the loss. The logic was absurdly simple.
But for some reason, right from the very beginning, he’d detested the interest Elise garnered from every single person she came into contact with. Acknowledging the curious problem privately to himself hadn’t seen it diminish. Getting a taste of her last night and then being forced to walk away, after realising just how transient she was, had done something to him.
