that’s probably the source of most of your problems.”
“It’s probably also why we’ve lasted as long as we have,” she said stiffly.
“Until now. Now you need change. I’m bringing it. I’ve been over the expense reports from the past five years, and you might be interested in knowing that there was a sharp decline in sales and production the year before you took over. So it isn’t all your fault.”
Vanessa bit her lower lip, forcing herself to hold back a string of colorful and inventive expletives. “I know that. I told you changing markets have …”
“Made it difficult to compete. The fact is, Vanessa, if you want to keep the bulk of your production in the U.S. you won’t be able to compete. But you can change what you’re offering.”
“Change what, exactly?”
“The future is in environmental sustainability. Responsible waste-disposal practices, using recycled materials. You might not be able to offer the cheapest product, but you can offer the safest, the most ethical.”
“It would require some fairly aggressive campaigning.” She started looking around the desk for a pen.
“In your teacup.”
She felt the blush creep up her neck and over her cheeks. “I’ll just get a new one.” She opened her desk drawer and rummaged until she found a non-soggy pen.
“It would require some changes to the factory, to materials, to a lot of things actually. And it will cost.”
“I’m not exactly swimming in resources.”
“You could take a loan from your future husband.”
Lazaro watched as Vanessa’s cheeks flushed with angry color. “No.”
“We have an agreement, Vanessa. I intend to honor it.”
And he intended to let Michael Pickett know just how much control he was assuming of his assets. That he didn’t have just his daughter, but that he’d played the part of savior for the venerable Pickett family business.
“I am not getting myself into that much debt. Not with you.”
“Not a loan, an exchange. A fair one, I think.”
“Hardly. I feel like you’re … buying me.” She spat out the last words as though they were distasteful.
“Do you want to back out?”
She snapped her mouth shut, tightened her jaw. “I don’t …”
“Because if you do, make no mistake, I don’t make idle threats. I will push the board to appoint a new CEO of Pickett, Vanessa.”
She curled her fingers around the pen she was holding, angry color spreading from her cheeks down to her collarbone. “Are you always going to hold your power over my head? For the rest of our lives? Because that might be the one thing I just can’t deal with.”
A stab of regret hit him hard in the chest. Making threats wasn’t really his style. But something about the Pickett family, about the whole situation, brought things out in him that were normally dormant. Rage, a reminder of what it was to feel truly helpless, to feel as though his life wasn’t really his own, but belonged to those with power over him.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Vanessa, provided you don’t back out of our agreement.”
“I won’t,” she said tightly.
She looked at him, her dark eyes hard, her lush lips thinned into a tight line. He wanted to kiss her until her lips softened, until she was as desperate as he was. Until she begged.
Later. There would be time later. He wasn’t about to let her manipulate him with his desire, even if she was doing it unknowingly. And he was certain she didn’t know. She didn’t give him any coy looks, no knowing smiles or flutters of her thick, dark lashes.
She blushed easily, her skin turning pink with nerves, embarrassment or anger. Her reactions seemed honest. He wasn’t used to dealing with people who possessed Vanessa’s straightforward manner. He was used to games, had gotten very good at playing them, at holding his cards close to his chest. Vanessa stripped that ability from him. She brought things to the surface, emotions, he wasn’t used to dealing with. He wasn’t about to allow her that sort of control. She’d turned him into a blind fool twelve years ago, a stupid boy who’d let the Pickett heiress walk all over him.
He was past that now. He would not be manipulated.
“You’re right, querida, you won’t. Because if you do, I will seize control of everything. I have that power.”
“I believe it,” she said, her words clipped. “But right now you’re in my office. So I think the power might be in my favor.”
Pride, unexpected and unwanted, made his chest expand. Pride and a strong measure of lust. He liked it better when she stood up to him. Liked it better when he saw a spark set fire to her dark brown eyes. It made his blood run faster, having her challenge him.
“Going to call security on me?” he asked.
“Do I have to?” She pursed her lips and cocked her hip to the side.
“Only if you can’t handle me yourself.”
“I’m more than capable. I’m not a little girl.”
No, she wasn’t. Not even close. His heart thundered heavily in his chest, the desire, the need to reach out and touch her almost overwhelming. But he couldn’t afford to feel anything. Not now. Not when he was so close.
He forced his thoughts back on his goal, on his reason for being there. “Good. Busy tonight?”
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “I don’t know. Am I? Do I have a choice?”
Annoyance surged through him. “Do you think I’m taking total control of your life?”
“I don’t know what you expect from a little wife,” her words taunting, arousing, infuriating.
His heart thundered hard in his chest. She was making him out to be some kind of a tyrant. She was making him feel like one. He didn’t like it, he didn’t want her to see him that way, and he had no idea why he should care. When she hadn’t seen him as the enemy, she’d seen him as beneath her.
He rounded the desk and she stood, hands on her round, shapely hips, a deadly glitter in her eyes.
“I expect you to attend events on my arm,” he said. “I expect to use your connections to make advantageous business deals. And I expect this.” He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her to him.
She was breathing hard, her breasts rising and falling against his chest. He realized he was breathing hard too. To hell with fighting it. She was his now, no longer off limits to him.
See. Want. Have.
He put his hand on her face, cupped her cheek, touched her soft
