Seducing His Opposition (13 page)

“Just please…”

“Please what?” he asked.

“Make love to me,” she said at last, looking into those clear blue eyes of his.

“My pleasure,” he said. He started moving his hips again and the movement this time was more purposeful. He wasn’t teasing the both of them now. The beast
within him had been woken and he held her hips with the strong grasp of his hand as he drew in and out of her body.

He did it slowly, letting her feel each inch as he pulled it out, then plunged back in until he was buried inside of her.

“Is that what you wanted?” he asked, his raspy voice sending chills down her spine.

“Yes, but more. Yesss…”

“Selena, you feel so good to me,” he said, then lowered his head and kissed her deeply, his tongue thrusting into her mouth with the same rhythm of his hips. She held on to his shoulders to lift herself more fully into his embrace.

Every particle of her being was crying out for release but he was keeping her right on the edge. So that little climaxes feathered through her, making him thrust faster and harder. Plunging into her and driving her over the edge. She tore her mouth from his and screamed his name as her orgasm rushed through her.

Justin held her hips and drove into her three more times before shuddering in her arms and emptying himself in her body. She lifted herself against him once more to draw out the exquisite feeling of pleasure.

He leaned off her body to the side but still held her close and she liked it.

She turned her head to look up at him. “I…”

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t say anything.”

“Is this a mistake?”

He rolled over and pulled her into his arms so she rested on his chest, right over his heart. It beat loudly under her ear. “You don’t feel like a mistake to me. But I think objectivity is gone.”

She knew he was right. “We can’t pretend we are just vacation lovers.”

“No, we can’t. I’ve never been good at lying, even to myself and you feel like more than a temporary affair.”

It felt the same to her. She wanted more.

A
week later, Selena still hadn’t made sense of anything with Justin. He was keeping his distance and on some levels, that worked for her. Her grandparents and the other vendors had all had their meetings with him at Luna Azul. Selena had participated in some of them but for the most part had stayed back.

She needed to read every contract that was offered and go over the details very carefully. She’d also spent a fair amount of time at the zoning office and realized that Justin already knew that as long as he hired a local contractor he was within his rights to start construction.

Selena advised everyone of this fact so that they realized at some point they needed to concede some of their dream-list demands.

Her cell phone rang just as she was driving away from her grandparents’ store. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Justin.

“Hello.” She put him on her Bluetooth speakerphone.

“Put on your dancing shoes tonight, I’m taking you out.”

“Really? Don’t you think you should ask me first?”

“Nah, you’d just debate about it and then agree. I’m saving us a little time.”

“Okay, then I guess I’ll agree to go out with you. Where are we going?”

“Luna Azul. It’s celebration time and you and I have never been to the club.”

“Celebration?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I finished the last of the appointments ten minutes ago and everyone is on board. Thank you for your hard work in making this happen.”

“Not a problem. It is as important to you as it is to me.”

“I know,” he said. “That’s why we need to celebrate. I will pick you up at seven and we can have dinner at my favorite restaurant first.”

“Wait a minute. I can’t do this,” she said abruptly.

“Why not?”

She realized she was shaking and pulled the car over. “We were just a vacation fling, remember? We can’t mix business and pleasure. We just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if we do, I’m going to lose myself. I’m going to fall right back into the girl I used to be. I can’t do that.”

“You aren’t going to turn into the girl you used to be. You’re a woman now, Selena, successful and sure of yourself. There is no way you’d ever fall for a con
again. And I’m not conning you. I’ve been nothing but honest with you.”

That was true. “You have. But I haven’t been honest with myself. I can’t pretend that you mean nothing to me and I know we have no future. I can’t stay here.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have a life that I enjoy.”

“Fair enough. Let’s talk about this over dinner. I want to celebrate what we both worked so hard for. At least give me that,” he said.

She realized that if she saw him again she was never going to be able to leave. He wouldn’t let her and she was weak where he was concerned.

“Sounds good,” she said, knowing that it was a lie. She wasn’t going to meet Justin. In fact, if she played her cards right she’d never see him again. A clean break and she’d be back in New York in the heart of her safe life. Staying here…that wasn’t an option no matter how tempting it might be.

She disconnected the call. She already knew about her grandparents’ agreement with Luna Azul. There were only a few things left for her to do and then she could head home.

It was beyond time for her to leave. She was beginning to forget she had a life somewhere else. She’d fallen back into her old Miami routines but it wasn’t the way she’d been before. She was eating breakfast with her grandparents, spending the afternoons with her brother and enjoying an idyllic life. But that wasn’t realistic. If she moved back here, she’d be working all the time like she did back north. And why would she move here…for her family or for Justin?

She shook her head as she drove up to her hotel. It
had helped her keep her perspective that she was here temporarily, or had it? It was hard to stay because Justin had changed the way she looked at life here.

Granted, she was no longer the twenty-year-old woman who had left home with her tail between her legs. Helping her grandparents reclaim their grocery store and have a say in the new Mercado had helped resolve her leftover feelings of guilt.

She pulled the car over as the emotions she’d been burying for so long came to the surface. She started to cry.

She put her head down on the steering wheel. The flood of tears was gone and she felt vulnerable now. Justin had done this to her. He’d helped her make things right for her grandparents and for herself. She knew no one had blamed her for what Raul had done. But his actions had been a black specter over her for too many years and finally she was free.

She wiped her tears as she lifted her head. She had to get back to the hotel and get changed if she was going to actually go through with it and be on time to meet with Justin.

Justin
.

He made her feel things she’d never experienced before. Not just sexually, she realized. Sex she could handle because that was lust and hormones—she could explain her attachment sexually to him. But the other bonds. The way she’d missed sleeping in his arms after only doing it one night—that wasn’t right.

She was falling in love with him.

Love.

Oh, God, no. She wasn’t ready to be in love with Justin Stern. She wasn’t ready to face the future with
him by her side…if he even wanted that. And what if he didn’t?

She needed to get away. She drove to her hotel and handed her keys to the valet. Telling him to keep the car up front because she was checking out.

She went up to her room, packed her bags and called for a bellman. She wanted—no, needed—to get back to New York. Once she was away from Miami, the tropical fever that had been affecting her would go away. She’d be back to normal and whatever emotions she thought she was experiencing would go away.

It was just the vacation mind-set that was making her feel this way. She jotted a short note to Justin on the hotel stationery telling him she was needed at her job and left it at the front desk for him after she checked out.

Ten minutes later she was back in her car and headed to the airport. She knew that Justin would be upset that she left him that way but hey, he’d done it to her the other night, so…

She knew that leaving town wasn’t the same as leaving her after a dinner. But at this moment it felt pretty darn close and though she knew her grandparents would be upset that she’d left again, she knew it was time to get out of here. And they at least would always love her.

Justin hung up the phone and leaned back in his leather executive chair. He glanced up at the portrait on the wall of him and his brothers with their father. It was the one thing he’d used as a talisman to keep himself focused on business.

But no matter how long he stared at it now, he knew that he’d been changed by this Mercado deal. He
also realized that now that most of their business was concluded there was no real reason for Selena to stay in Miami, but he decided that he was going to ask her to stay. He had tried to keep things light but to be honest it wasn’t his nature to be so casual. That was the main reason why he’d always limited himself to short-term affairs. But Selena wasn’t that type of woman and with her at least he wasn’t that kind of man.

He knew he wasn’t ready for marriage…because he’d promised himself to never take that step. But he already knew that Selena meant more to him than any woman ever had.

She made him feel the same loyalty and devotion that he felt for his brothers but there was more than that where she was concerned. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but he had fallen for her. He refused to say that it was love because he wouldn’t be that weak. But it was pretty damned close.

Maybe knowing that was the key to not being like his father. The last thing he wanted was for Selena to realize how much she meant to him and how much control that gave her.

He got to his feet and walked to his office window. Miami was his hometown but he had seen a different side of it while he’d been with Selena. A side that made him realize that he’d been missing out on a few things.

Important things. He’d isolated himself here in the office. Tonight he was going to take the first step to break down the walls he’d used to shield himself all these years.

It was silly really but being a workaholic had meant that no one expected anything from him when it came
to family. His brothers knew they’d have to call him at the office; his “friends” had all been colleagues. Until Selena. Now he was getting to know Enrique and Tomas and Paulo as friends.

He owed that all to Selena. Even though she thought she was no longer entrenched in her family, he’d seen that she was and she’d brought him into that group as well.

There was a knock on his door.

“Come in,” he said.

Cam stood there looking tired but holding a bottle of Cristal in one hand and two champagne glasses in the other. “I figured it was time to celebrate.”

“Definitely. I sent the last contract to legal and have a verbal confirmation from all of the vendors. To be honest, things worked out even better than I anticipated.”

“I knew they would,” Cam said. He put the glasses on the desk and opened the bottle of champagne.

“Is Nate coming?”

“No. He… I’m not sure what’s going on with him. I think that he is doing something with Jen.”

“Doesn’t he always these days? He’s taken to being a committed man like a fish to water.”

“Yes, I hope he doesn’t run into the Curse of the Stern men. We just aren’t good with women and relationships,” Cam said.

Justin took the champagne flute that Cam gave him. “To our success.”

They both took a sip of the drink. Justin wished he could say that his mind was still on business but he knew that he was thinking of Selena and the Stern curse.
What if he was destined to screw up the relationship with her?

“Now about the tenth anniversary celebration…”

“Yes, we can get to work planning the details of the ground-breaking. Nate tells me most of the pieces are falling into place for the outdoor festival and concert.”

“Excellent,” Cam said. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

“I know. You are an even worse workaholic perfectionist than I am,” Justin said.

“I’m not a workaholic,” Cam said. “I just put the club and our company first.”

Justin reached over and squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “I know you do, but you’re not on your own supporting us anymore. We are wealthy men, we’re here to help. You could relax.”

Cam nodded. “I don’t know how to relax…or so I’ve been told.”

“That’s BS. I’ve heard the same thing said about myself. The problem with people who make those comments is that they don’t understand what it’s like to work hard to make their own business successful.”

“I see your point, but I am almost always at work or at the club. I was thinking I might take a few days off.”

Justin looked at his brother shrewdly. “Is there a woman involved?” Not because Justin was psychic or anything but Selena had made
him
behave that way.

“Maybe. Not sure. Why?”

“Don’t you remember me moving into the Ritz?”

“Hell, yes. A woman?”

Justin nodded. “Selena Gonzalez.”

“I like her,” Cam said. “She’s smart and funny. Is she staying in Miami?”

“I hope so. Now that our business is over I can concentrate on her…but I’m not sure that is the wisest thing to do.”

“Why not?”

“The Stern curse. Look at Dad.”

Cam shook his head. “You’re not like Dad. Dad married our mother for business reasons. Even though they didn’t get along, I think he liked not having a woman who’d take up his time.”

“Why did he stay with her?”

Cam looked over at Justin. This was a subject they’d never spoken of before. “I think he stayed for us. I think having sons was something he hadn’t expected.”

“How do you know?”

“Just an educated guess. And I know you aren’t like Dad when it comes to women,” Cam said.

“I don’t even know that.”

“Jus, look at the life you have led,” Cam said. “Then look at the fact that you went through a tough negotiation with Selena and kept your personal life separate. You got the job done. That takes a strong man. And I’ve always known you were that.”

“Thanks, Cam. I…I’m scared to admit how much I need her.”

“If she’s half the woman I think she is, that won’t be a problem. It wasn’t Dad’s devotion that was the issue with our parents but rather Mother’s coldness. Selena isn’t like that, is she?”

Justin thought about that after his brother left. If there was one thing he knew for sure it was that Selena wasn’t cold. And he wasn’t a man who gave up when he wanted something as badly as he wanted her.

As much as Selena wanted to just escape to the airport and head back to New York, she knew she had to at least read over the contracts with all the vendors for the Mercado one last time. So she was sitting in the back room of her grandfather’s grocery store, poring over the documents.

She’d gotten lucky that her grandfather was busy with customers and hadn’t had a chance to notice her suitcases in the rental car. She knew she’d have to tell him that she was leaving, but right now she just needed to focus on business. So she read the contracts and existed in a world where emotions weren’t a part of the equation. The Stern brothers had been more than fair in the agreements, but she refused to let herself dwell on that or on Justin.

She had had to pay an insane amount of money for the ticket and even then her flight didn’t leave for another six hours. Once she was on the plane and back in her Upper West Side apartment, she’d relax. Until then she was swamped with an overwhelming sense of panic. She was afraid. Not of her family or Justin or even how they’d react when they realized she’d left, but of herself.

She didn’t want to go. Last time she’d left she wanted to leave. Couldn’t have gotten out of Miami fast enough. But this time she wanted to stay and that was even more dangerous.

She knew that the life she’d been living here wasn’t real and that getting back to her routine was the only thing that would wake her up. Smiling and laughing and doing things that made no sense like sleeping with Justin Stern…that wasn’t her and she needed to get back to New York where she could remember who she was.