Rule's Addiction (21 page)

As she stared down, slowly moving the chocolate around, avoiding his eyes, he began again, his fingers trailing over the hand he still held caught in his. “Why don’t you stay here . . . with me?”

Her fork fell from her fingers with a clatter as she glanced up. “I’m sorry . . . what?”

“It would be good—there’s plenty of room for both of us at the lake house.”

“You want me to move in with you?” No way. Well, sure, maybe,
if
he loved her. But the ‘L’ word hadn’t come up between them, and she wasn’t about to throw it out there first. What did she want from him, exactly? Surely it was too soon to expect a declaration—but without one, she needed to get home, back to the hotel.

“Why not?” He shrugged, and a look came over his features as if the conversation meant little to him. His dispassionate reaction gave her no confidence.

“Because I live in Miami,” she said. “And run your hotel there, that’s why.”
Give me something definitive to build on, please.

“Shit changes, Maria. Nothing ever stays the same. We can get somebody else to run the hotel.”

Shit changes?
That was hardly the declaration of love she was only now admitting to herself she was looking for, although she had to give him points for using the ‘we’ pronoun, as if the hotel belonged to them both. “I can’t just pick up and move here, Garrett.”

“Why not?” he asked again, his expression set in stone.

“I think a better question would be . . . why?”
Please, please, please
.
Just say it, say something
.

“Why?” He repeated as he released her hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “Because distance sucks, that’s why.”

God, that was romantic
. “That’s why airplanes were made,” she said defensively.

“I don’t want to get on a goddamn plane every time—” He stopped himself as if he was about to say something that was too crude.

Maria held his eyes for as long as she could before looking away. She swore to God, she wasn’t going to let a single tear fall.
Wasn’t going to happen
. She steeled her spine and composed herself, and then looked at him once more. “Well, I don’t see any other way. You could move to Florida, I guess.” Right. Like that was going to happen.

“I can’t move to Florida, Maria,” he said sharply.

“Well, I can’t move to St. Louis, Garrett.”

A sudden rush of anger sent a flush of heat over his face. “You could if you fucking wanted to,” he accused.

“That’s undoubtedly true. If I had a good enough reason—but I don’t think hot sex is a good enough reason, you know?” There.
Take that.

He stared at her but had no comeback. He began drumming his fingers on the table as if pissed, and when the waiter passed by, he raised his hand and signaled for the check, making her stomach plummet in disappointment.

****

Two weeks later

Maria walked through the lobby on her way to her office. Why in the hell couldn’t she get her mind off of Garrett and back on her job where it belonged? Could it possibly be because every day since she’d boarded the plane that had brought her back to Miami, she’d received a text from him? A text that read the same thing, day after day.
Nobody touches
.

Always short and succinct. She’d never bothered responding. He knew where he could find her if he wanted to see her, but she had to admit, just that one small form of communication from him every day was reassuring.

“Maria,” Beth whispered and caught her arm as she rounded the corner of the reception desk.

“What’s up?” Maria stalled in her tracks at the flushed look on Beth’s face.

“You know Garrett just arrived?” the girl whispered, looking around as if they were telling top secrets.

A whole mess of crap emotions exploded in Maria’s head. “When?”

“About fifteen minutes ago. I texted you,” Beth said, frowning, letting her know she hadn’t bothered answering.

That was sort of true. Maria hadn’t bothered looking at her phone. “Is he upstairs? Or in the offices?”

“Upstairs,” Beth answered. “There’s another thing,” the girl went on, whispering again. “That man is waiting for you in your office.”

Maria stalled in her tracks again. “What man?”

Beth looked as if she’d seen a flesh-eating zombie. “That guy from the Keys. Maximo Villareal.”

“He’s here?
Now?”
Maria asked, dumbstruck. Two arrogant men in one day? Great. Lucky her.

“Yes,” Beth hissed in a whisper, jerking her head toward the back offices.

“How long has he been here?”

“Maybe three minutes.” Beth answered, still in a whisper. “I sent you a text,” Beth said again, accusingly.

Maria ignored that. “Did he ask for Garrett?” she asked uneasily.

In answer, Beth began shaking her head, her eyes wide.

“He asked for
me?”
Maria heard herself all but screech.

“Yes,” the other woman said firmly.

“Why?” she asked, although Maria knew the other woman probably wouldn’t have the answer.

Beth bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders, a perplexed look on her face.

“Okay.” Maria said, taking a breath. “No time like the present, I guess. Look, if we’re still in there in ten minutes, knock on the door and make up an excuse to get me out of there, okay?”

“You got it.” Beth agreed, her eyes lighting with a fire that told Maria the girl would protect her if she could.

“Thanks.” Maria turned away and ran her hands down her skirt, smoothing a wrinkle as she walked to her meeting on low-heeled shoes. As she glanced inside her office, the office Garrett had used, she saw the man sprawled in one of the chairs that faced the desk.

“Hello,” she announced as cheerfully as possible as she entered the room, leaving the door wide open.

Maximo Villareal stood to his feet and a smile appeared on the hard planes of his face. But for whatever reason, the smile didn’t seem to touch his eyes and Maria felt her stomach drop in reaction. “Miss Alvarez,” he said, inclining his head.

Maria stopped to shake his hand and felt a slight trepidation run down her spine. When he released her, she sat behind her desk and asked, “How may I help you, Mr. Villareal?”

“Max, please.”

She inclined her head infinitesimally. “Max,” she agreed, lifting her hand to indicate he should take his seat.

When he walked around her desk and leaned against it, not a foot away from where she sat, Maria felt her heckles rise. “The chair is uncomfortable?” she asked in challenge.

“No, it’s fine,” he said as his gaze raked over her.

Even though his face was couched into a smile, his eyes were cold and distant, and Maria got the unwavering impression that whatever he was feeling, whatever he was doing here, it had little to do with her. “Might I suggest you take your seat then?” she asked with a saccharine smile.

In answer, he lifted himself from his indolent position and sauntered a couple of feet away, but remained standing. Turning to face her, he announced, “I’m sure there’s no need for me to beat around the bush—I’d like for you to come work for me.”

Surprise and an arrow of disbelief had her wondering about his machinations. “You hardly know me.”

“Yes, but what I do know of, I appreciate,” he answered precisely. “Good employees are most difficult to come by, I’m sure you’re aware.”

“Yes, I am.” She stared straight at him without blinking. “I sincerely appreciate it, but I like my position here—I’m content.”

He studied her, almost knowingly. “You seem very loyal to the Rule Corporation.”

There was something in his tone that was sending a chill down her spine. “I’d say I’m loyal to the hotel, although the Rules seem like a lovely family, from what little I’ve seen.”

It was as if an arctic blast hit his features. “Yes, three brothers who are quite close, I believe.”

Christ, he was making her antsy. How soon could she get rid of him? “Yes, and a mother and younger sister whom they love very much, as well.”

He seemed to freeze where he stood. “A younger sister?”

The question that should have been innocuous somehow sounded threatening, coming from him. Damn, she should have told Beth five minutes, instead of ten. Taking a deep breath, she stood to her feet, preparing to usher him out. “Thank you so much for your kind offer—”

Her words were cut off when he reached out and took her hand. “I assure you that I’d pay you quite well—I think you should hear me out.” As he smiled down at her, Maria heard a sound at the door, but he continued, “I’d really love to take you to the Keys with me.”

Silently thanking God that Beth hadn’t listened to her and had interrupted early, Maria relaxed slightly, about to turn him down once again, rising from her chair to dismiss her unwanted visitor.

She never got the chance.

In two seconds flat, a masculine, brawny arm wrapped around her from behind, pulling her away from Villareal. Maria recognized the touch and scent instantly, even though she hadn’t seen his face. Garrett yanked her back and placed her behind him and confronted Max. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

From her position, Maria recognized the look of malice on the man’s face as Garrett confronted him. His spine seemed to stiffen and his muscles tensed.
Shit.
These two definitely weren’t friends. “Putting a proposal to Miss Alvarez,” Villareal enunciated clearly, his words deliberately taunting.

Garrett’s shoulders seemed to grow a mile wide. “I told you to stay away from her, motherfucker—”

A look of loathing directed at Garrett came over the other man’s face and Maria was more than alarmed by it. “I don’t want to sleep with her, Rule. I want her to come work for me.”

“Work for you?
Bullshit
. Get the fuck out before I break every bone in your goddamn body.”

Villareal raised a single eyebrow as he stared Garrett down. Maria held her breath, expecting violence at any moment. And then finally, to her relief, the other man glanced at her, and with a small hint of respect in his eyes that hadn’t been there when he’d looked at Garrett, he dipped his head in her direction, turned and walked out of the room.

Maria let out a ragged breath and sank into the closest chair, one that faced her desk. Feeling lightheaded, she dropped her head down and began breathing slowly and evenly.

Garrett strode to the door and flipped the lock and then came back to her, going down on his haunches in front of her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so.”

“Did he hit up on you? Tell me the truth . . . I want to kill the motherfucker—just give me a reason.”

Still hanging her head low, she shook it. “I didn’t—”

“Didn’t what?”

“I didn’t feel any sexual interest coming from him . . . I think he honestly just wanted me to come to work for him.”

“There’s nothing honest about that guy.”

“I didn’t get the feeling that any of it was about me,” she elaborated. “It almost seemed as if he wanted to inconvenience you by taking me away from the hotel.” She lifted her head and looked into Garrett’s eyes. “He hates you.”

“Yeah?” he asked as if unconcerned. “I don’t care what his problem is with me. As long as he didn’t make a move on you—”

“He didn’t,” she assured, running her eyes over him, drinking him in.
Two weeks was too long
.

He took a breath, his hands clenching on her thighs through the material of her skirt. “This shit wouldn’t have happened if you’d been with me.”

A helpless feeling of remorse landed in her stomach. “I can’t be with you all the time.”

His features hardened. “That’s bullshit. All you have to do is make a choice—”

Her body jerked reflexively. “What choice? To be your travelling sex doll?”

An offended look immediately encompassed his features. “My sex doll?” Without waiting for her to speak, he pulled her from the chair and backed her up against the wall.
“My sex doll?”

She hung against the sheetrock, breathing so rapidly she began to feel lightheaded again.

“That’s what you think, Maria? That’s what you think this is all about? You think I just want to get my rocks off? Has it occurred to you that I can get laid anytime, anywhere?” His hand sank into her hair.
“I love you, goddammit.”

The words hit Maria in the solar plexus, and her breathing stalled for a moment. When she sucked in a breath, a rush of joy bled through her veins that landed solidly in her heart. “You love me?”

He pushed out a bitter laugh. “Have you been blind, baby?”

“That’s not nice,” she whispered, her emotions in upheaval.

“I don’t feel
nice.
I feel pissed. I feel like I want you with me all the fucking time and all you give a shit about is this fucking hotel.”

She swallowed harshly. “That’s not true.”

“Then why the fuck won’t you come live with me in St. Louis, travel me with, be with me?” he asked, fire in his eyes.