Seducing His Opposition (9 page)

S
elena drove through Miami like the devil himself was chasing her. She wanted to escape her thoughts. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Justin; it was simply that he represented a part of her that she wanted to pretend didn’t exist anymore. She wanted to drive away from the area and never look back. But running away wasn’t her style any more, either.

She pulled into the parking lot of Luna Azul. At a little after ten on Tuesday morning there wasn’t much action here. She had an appointment with Justin’s older brother, Cam. Through the grapevine she’d heard that he had been the one to raise his younger brothers after both parents were killed. Cam had been twenty at the time.

She pushed her sunglasses up on her head as she entered the cool dark interior of Luna Azul. The club was gorgeous with a huge Chihuly installation in the
foyer. The building had once been a cigar factory back in the early 1900s. It was inspired by the success of Ybor Haya’s factories in Key West and Ybor City near Tampa Bay.

The Miami factory had been started by the Jimenez brothers and prospered for several years until cigarettes became more popular and eventually the company went out of business. When Selena had been growing up this factory was a derelict building that was a breeding ground for gang-related trouble.

Seeing it today, she had to admit that the Stern brothers had improved this corner of their neighborhood.

“You must be Selena.”

She glanced up as Cam Stern walked toward her. He was the same height as Justin and they both had the same stubborn-looking jaw, but there the resemblance ended. Justin was simply a better-looking man. Where Justin’s eyes were blue, Cam’s were dark obsidian, and Cam wore his hair long enough to brush his shoulders.

“I am indeed. You must be Cam,” she said, holding out her hand.

He shook her hand firmly and then let it drop. “I’m glad you could come down here. I wanted you to see what we’ve been doing here in the last ten years and why it’s important that we get the Mercado project going so we can revitalize the area the way we did with the club.”

“No one doubts you can pour money into a project and make it successful. I’ve said as much to Justin. The Gonzalez family is concerned that you are going to take away a vital community shopping center and make it an upscale shopping area of no use to the local residents. We aren’t interested in having more of the celebrities
you bring down here socializing while families are trying to buy their groceries.”

Cam tilted his head to the side. “I can see that you have inherited your grandfather’s fire.”

“I’m flattered you think so, but I’m not half as obstinate as he is.”

Cam laughed as she’d hoped he would. And she realized that Cam was a nice guy. Not because of the laughter but because he’d asked for this meeting. She suspected that he was trying to help her and the rest of the committee understand and see the human face of Luna Azul.

“I grew up here on Fisher Island, Selena—is it okay to call you by your first name?” he asked.

“Of course, I’m planning to call you Cam.”

He smiled at her. “Let’s go up to the rooftop. I want to show you our club up there.”

“I want to see it. My younger brother has told me that he is interested in deejaying here and he has heard that the rooftop club is all Latin music.”

“That’s right. We start each evening with a couple of professional dancers teaching our guests how to salsa. Then we have a conga line to get them out there onto the dance floor.”

“Sounds fun. One thing that Enrique also mentioned is that most of the staff isn’t from our neighborhood.”

“That’s true. We had so much resistance from the local leaders when we bought the club that I didn’t get any local talent auditioning for the roles we had. I had to look beyond Little Havana to find the people I needed,” he said. “But that’s beginning to change.”

For the first time she truly understood how hard it must have been for the Sterns to come in here and try to open this place up. And when they got off the elevator
at the rooftop club she was astounded by the feel and look of it. To be honest she felt like she was stepping into one of her grandfather’s pictures of old Havana.

“This is perfect,” she said. “My
abuelito
would love this. It looks like the patio where he and my grandmother met.”

“Thank you,” Cam said. “We spent a lot of time trying to capture the feeling of Cuba pre-Castro.”

“You did it. But why did you choose to build here? You could have chosen downtown Miami or South Beach and not encountered any resistance.”

He glanced out in the distance where the skyline of Miami was visible. “I wanted to be a part of this community. When I was a boy we had a nanny from Little Havana and Maria used to tell me stories of Cuba when she’d put us to bed each night.”

“That’s sweet. So you did it for her?”

He arched one eyebrow at her in a way that reminded her of his brother. Justin was in her mind today. No matter what she tried, he wasn’t going to be easy to relegate out of her head.

“I did it because this building came on the market—it had been foreclosed on. It was a bargain. Justin was still in college and it was before Nate made it big in baseball. I had Maria’s stories and a building I could afford and I thought I might have a chance at making this work—about as much a chance as a blue moon.”

“A slim one,” she said.

He nodded and despite the fact that he was supposed to be the big bad corporate enemy of her grandparents she understood that he and his family had come to this neighborhood the same way her family had. Looking for a chance to put down roots and make their fortune.

The Florida sun was bright and hot as Justin drove his golf cart over the course. Next to him Maxwell talked about his daughter’s impending high school graduation and the fact that she was making him nuts.

“I thought kids were easier once they were no longer toddlers,” Justin said.

“That’s a lie parents try to spread around to convince other adults to join their club of misery,” Maxwell said with a laugh.

“I know you’d do it again,” Justin said.

“I would. She’s a great kid. It’s just since January she’s been like a crazy person. Her moods swing and she goes from being so mature I can see the woman she’s become to being more irrational that she was when she was six. It’s crazy. But I know you don’t want to hear about that.”

“Nah, I don’t mind hearing about your family. You give me a little insight into how the other half lives.”

“Ever think of joining the married ranks?” Maxwell asked.

“Haven’t found the right girl yet,” Justin said, but that was his standard line. The truth was that he was married to his work. But he wouldn’t mind making a little more time for Selena. That thought slipped through without him realizing it.

He wondered what their children would look like—what?! Hell, no he didn’t wonder about that. He was focused on the Mercado and making that successful. “It’d be hard to have a wife when I have to spend all my hours at the office trying to figure out things like this zoning hiccup.”

Maxwell laughed. “I knew that was the real reason you invited me out here today.”

“Hey, I listened to your kid’s stories,” Justin said with a grin. He and Maxwell were friends; they’d played together on the same beach volleyball team a few summers ago.

Maxwell had also been very helpful when Cam had wanted to add the rooftop club to Luna Azul. There had been an issue with the noise and it had taken some careful negotiating with Maxwell and the zoning office to get that taken care of.

“That you did. Well near as I can tell you aren’t in any direct violation of zoning laws with your proposed marketplace. There is an ordinance in that area that specifies we have to bid the work out to local craftsmen before giving you the go ahead. So if you told me you were getting bids from all Little Havana companies I’d see no reason to deny you the building permits you need.”

Justin nodded. That made sense. He pulled to a stop at the seventh hole and Maxwell got out and set up his shot. He had the committee to think about and knowing them as he was coming to, he thought he could get them to recommend the construction companies he used for bids.

“What about the vendors?”

“You have to use a local vendor to replace an existing local vendor. So in your plaza, you have a Cuban American grocery store. If you want to get rid of the one there you have to go with a local chain. You might be able to get a Publix in there but nothing national. I think I saw Whole Foods on your specs, that won’t be possible.”

Justin wasn’t surprised. “Is that legal?”

“Pretty much. You can file a lawsuit if you want but it will take you years to get it through the court system.
It’s easier to just work with the local business owners and get them on your team.”

“That’s what you think,” Justin said.

Maxwell laughed. “Your problem is that you are used to being the boss. You might have to compromise.”

“No way,” Justin said with a pretend frown. “Seriously, I have a committee that has local business owners on it so I think we should be able to get some movement on this soon. What do you need from me?”

“Some quiet so I can take my stroke,” Maxwell said.

Justin was quiet as Maxwell took his shot and got close to the hole. Justin had played this course a million times since he was a boy. His father had taught him to play here at the country club and he was normally able to make a hole-in-one on this green.

He lined up and took his shot landing it in the hole. Maxwell whistled but they had played together before and pretending he couldn’t do something when he could went against Justin’s grain.

“I need to see three bids from the construction companies you are using, making sure at least one is local to Little Havana and then you are good to go. Don’t forget what I said about the tenants because they won’t.”

“I hear that. You know when Cam first bought the club they wanted nothing to do with him so we never considered that they’d want to be part of the marketplace,” Justin said.

“You are in a different place than you were then. I’m just guessing here but seeing the success you guys have made of Luna Azul probably has a lot of business owners at that strip mall hoping that you can do the same thing to their businesses, which is why they don’t want you to use outside vendors this time.”

“It’s nice to see how much ten years has changed things,” Justin said.

“It is. Sitting in my office it’s hard to remember ten years ago, I mean I’m looking at changes in some areas that we thought we’d never see. Swampy area that is now being zoned commercial. That’s crazy, man.”

“It is,” Justin said. The conversation turned to the Miami Heat’s chances of making the finals this year and they finished their round of golf. Justin knew that he’d learned nothing that he couldn’t have found out from talking to Maxwell on the phone but this had been nicer and for a few hours he’d been able to stop thinking of Selena and how she’d felt in his arms last night.

The committee meeting was scheduled for five o'clock that evening and Selena arrived ten minutes late because her grandmother had found out she wasn’t staying in her house and had wanted to talk. Luckily Selena’s brother had stepped in and gotten their grandmother off her back so that she didn’t have to delve into why she owned a home and didn’t want to stay there.

Selena thought a woman as superstitious as her
abuelita
would just understand about ghosts from the past and memories that lingered in a place.

She also thought her reasons would be obvious to anyone who’d known what she’d been through with Raul. She thought a bit more about how she’d let him steal so much from her. Not just her grandparents’ money but also the home she’d inherited from her great aunt. It wasn’t full of childhood memories but it had been a place that Selena had made into a home and Raul had stolen the safety of that home from her.

Tonight she realized was her chance to return and maybe reclaim it. It wasn’t lost on her that she was invit
ing a man she wasn’t sure she could trust to help her do that.

She walked into the downtown offices of the Luna Azul Company fully expecting to see Justin in the conference room but instead Cam was there. She frowned but then told herself that didn’t matter. This was the business side of their relationship.

Did they have a personal side? She felt like they were lovers and that was it. She had to remember there was no relationship. It didn’t matter that she had slept in his arms, there wasn't anything permanent between them.

The room was filled with her friends and cousins. The community leaders were her family. Everyone with a stake in the Mercado was here.

“Justin is running late today. And now that Selena is here we can get started. I’m happy to say that after meeting with Selena and talking to Justin, I think we can come up with a solution that will work for all of us.”

“We will see,” her grandfather said.

“I think you’ll be pleased, Tomas,” Cam said. “I feel like I should apologize for not coming to the community leaders before you went to the zoning commission. It is just that ten years ago when we opened the club no one wanted us to be a part of the community.”

“Times have changed,” Selena said. “Now what is it you have to offer us?”

“First off we would like to hire a local construction company to do the renovations and Justin is going to bring the solicitation for bids. Can you recommend some companies to us?”

Selena liked the sound of this. She wondered if last night was the reason why Justin had changed his mind. “We can forward you a list. Pedro, you have just added on to your bookstore.”

“Yes, I did and I’m very pleased with the work I had done. That is great for the construction companies, Cam, but what about the business owners who are already in the marketplace?” Pedro asked.

“We will be using the existing vendors for the most part but we will be redesigning the stores,” Justin said entering the room.

He had been outside today—his tan was deeper. He was dressed the same way he’d been when he left her this morning and it felt like it had been longer than eight hours since she’d seen him.