Chapter Seven #2
Still squeezing a breast, he slipped his other hand down her belly, bending her forward a little.
‘At least half of it to various human rights charities. Carlota uses hers to fund the archaeological digs she goes on—her work benefits people in a very different way, but as she is always keen to tell Blanca, humans need to know where they come from and the journey that took us to where we are today.’
‘To think they could both just sit on their backsides and live off their trust funds…mind you, that applies to you, too.’ The de la Rosa family’s fortune had been secured when Xavi’s father was a child.
Their vast portfolio, even outside the business, meant none of them or future generations ever needed to work.
Xavi could have married her eight years ago and spent his life doing exactly what he was doing to her now with barely a dent to his wealth.
‘My father had such a strong work ethic that he would turn in his grave if we sat around doing nothing all day.’
‘You’ve all got way too much energy to sit around doing nothing, even if you wanted to,’ she conceded, closing her eyes as his fingers dipped between her legs.
‘I admire your sisters so much. I don’t think I would’ve progressed as far and as quickly as I did at Miss Amore without their attitudes to inspire me—honestly, the number of times and situations where I’ve doubted myself is ridiculous, and all it needed to snap me out of it was to imagine Blanca strutting around a courtroom like a dog with an ankle in its teeth or think of Carlota spending hour after hour patiently brushing away at millennia-year-old soil to find a fragment of pottery. ’
He nipped at her ear and slipped a finger inside her heat. ‘No more family talk. I don’t want to think about my sisters when I’m seducing you.’
‘Is that what you’re doing?’ she asked huskily, even as the pleasure of what he was doing to her was filling her with heated sensation and had her wriggling her bottom against his rock-hard arousal again.
He growled and moved his hand off her breast to pull his shorts down and release his erection.
‘Excuse me,’ she said primly, pulling his pleasuring hand away and darting out of his orbit. ‘But I thought you brought me out here so I could swim?’
Shrugging off her kimono, she threw him a wicked grin over her shoulder and then ran, naked, to the swimming pool and jumped in.
The water was wonderfully refreshing, but there was no time to consider this for Xavi dived in beside her, grabbed her legs and pulled her under.
Spluttering and laughing, she resurfaced, only to be enveloped in his arms. A moment later, he had her pinned to the side of the pool.
They were both still laughing as he dived into her.
Movement woke Beth from a deep, sated sleep. Or was it sound that had woken her? The room was dark, but the bed was empty.
She sat up and strained her ears. The shower was running.
Reaching for her phone, she checked the time. Five a.m. What was he showering for at this unholy hour? He could have had only a couple of hours’ sleep.
She must have dozed off again because when she next opened her eyes, Xavi was sat on the edge of the bed, fully dressed in a suit and tie.
‘You’re working today?’ she asked sleepily as she tried to blink herself back into full consciousness.
‘Back-to-back meetings.’
She shuffled over and put her head on his lap. ‘I didn’t think you were working again until after the honeymoon.’
He ran his fingers through her mussed hair. ‘I’m taking six days off for the wedding and honeymoon. I can’t take any more, not with the buyout of the Grimaldi brand.’
She tried not to let resentment stab her.
It shouldn’t bother her that Xavi was only carving out five days in his schedule for their honeymoon on his family’s Caribbean island.
She had the feeling he thought she should be grateful for that!
He’d mentioned a couple of times about the Grimaldi buyout and how it had dragged on longer than anyone had anticipated.
At some point in their near future, he’d be flying out to New York to oversee its push over the line.
What she was grateful for was the reminder of where she lay in his priorities: as a vessel to sate himself with in the evenings when the working day was done, a state of affairs she was determined to change.
She nuzzled her cheek farther up his thigh to his groin, then nuzzled her face between his legs, smiling at his arousal.
Lifting her face, she worked at his trousers button, only to be foiled from opening it by his hand covering hers and moving it away. ‘Later. I don’t have time now.’
She rolled onto her back and pulled the sheets off her breasts. ‘There won’t be a later. I’m staying at the hotel tonight.’ At the same hotel as her friends and family for one last send-off to the single life.
There was a flash of hunger in his stare, and then the switch turned off.
It was the same switch he’d turned off when he’d ended them.
‘We have our whole lives to make love, mi vida,’ he said reasonably but with an edge to his voice that demanded no argument.
He pressed a firm kiss to her mouth, unceremoniously removed the arm she hooked around his neck and got to his feet.
Looking down at her, his tone gentled. ‘We’re not kids anymore, Beth.
I have responsibilities, but when we go away…
’ His gaze dipped down to her exposed breasts and then roved back to meet her stare.
‘I promise you will have all my attention.’
She never got the chance to reply for he strolled to the door, only looking back once he’d opened it. He gazed at her with an expression that made her heart catch. ‘Until tomorrow.’
‘Until tomorrow,’ she echoed.
He pressed his fingers to his lips and then walked out of the bedroom.
When the door closed, Beth swallowed a breath and closed her eyes, willing the burning tears back.
She shouldn’t let him hurt her. He’d already set his markers out and made it clear their relationship would be different to how it had been before. Just because he’d made love to her in such a carefree way on the roof terrace didn’t mean his thoughts on the matter had changed.
Just because she’d seen the young man she’d fallen in love with all those years ago reemerge for a brief moment in time didn’t mean he would be prepared to let him out again.
For a brief moment in time, she’d felt like she was eighteen again.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath.
All these years of being unable to cry, and in the space of twelve hours her tear ducts had proved they’d only been in hibernation.
She wouldn’t let the tears fall. Not for him. Not again.
That afternoon, Beth had barely left Xavi’s driveway when her phone rang.
It was Paul Haldron, now listed in her contacts under the name of Arsehole.
It was a moniker he’d earned and more than deserved.
She checked the intercom between her and the driver was switched off, and took a deep breath before answering with a cool, ‘Hi, Paul.’
‘Beth!’ he exclaimed as if they were old friends. ‘Just checking in to see if there’s been any movement.’
‘Nothing since we last spoke.’ She saw no reason to tell him things were likely to proceed quicker than anticipated, mainly because his voice made her skin crawl and so she wanted him out of her ear as soon as possible.
Everything was in hand as she’d demanded.
The granting of probate would release investments and cash assets that would comfortably cover the agreed price.
The remainder would more than comfortably cover the other shares she’d already instructed her legal and finance team to vacuum up as soon as funds allowed.
Even after her share-buying spree, she would still have more money than she’d know what to do with.
‘Okay, well, keep me updated, yes?’
‘Sure.’
‘I’m travelling to Europe on business next month. Let me take you out for dinner?’
‘Considering my emphasis on discretion, I don’t think that’s appropriate, do you?’ His chuckle made her lips twist in distaste. ‘I’m getting married tomorrow, Paul. Don’t make any further contact until you hear from me or my people.’
She ended the call and closed her eyes.
This time tomorrow, she would be a married woman. Married to Xavi. Sunday morning, they would fly to his family’s Caribbean island where they would make love like rabbits on heat.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
She just wished her heart didn’t feel so heavy, and when her phone buzzed with a message, wished it didn’t leap with hope that it would be from Xavi.
It was from her father, letting her know they’d landed. She messaged him back saying she’d meet him at the hotel. A moment later, it buzzed again. Again, it wasn’t a message from the man who’d spent the night making love to her.
It would never be from him. Not in working hours. He’d set out his markers, and he would stick to them until she broke his defences and control. Five days in the Caribbean should do the trick. If he took his laptop with them, she’d ‘accidentally’ throw it in the sea.
It was her own control she was having concerns about.
She kept replaying their night together and chastising herself.
She should have played it like a cucumber when he’d spoken about his past lovers, but she’d been powerless to stop her jealousy seeping out.
When she took the company from him, she wanted to be as controlled as him.
She wanted to look him in the eye and not display a flicker of emotion.
She wanted him to look in her eyes and know he’d been played and that she felt nothing for him.
She only wished it could be the truth.