Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I hadn’t felt this relaxed and at ease in a long damn time. Hell, the last time I remembered feeling this calm was when I was a child, and my mother took us to our summer home in Marbella, away from my father’s constantly looming, demanding presence.
For the first time in years, my mind wasn’t consumed by acquisitions, negotiations, or the endless demands of the world I operated in.
And somehow, even with the one woman I couldn’t bend to my will sitting across from me, everything about tonight felt easy… natural, even. It was like breathing fresh air after being trapped somewhere for so long that I hadn’t even realized I’d been slowly suffocating.
Watching Cat sip her beer while stealing bites of coleslaw from beside her fish tacos shouldn’t have affected me the way it did.
But it did.
Because somewhere between the harbor, the garlic fries, and this relaxed side of Catalina Veléz I’d never seen before, I realized I no longer saw her as a challenge.
I simply wanted more of her presence, more nights like this. Honestly? That was becoming far more dangerous than obsession ever had been.
I leaned an arm casually against the table and took another sip from the new bottle of beer I’d retrieved for both of us.
“Tapping out already?” Cat teased playfully.
I loved that she was so relaxed with me like this. It was as if she were an entirely different woman.
“I believe you can rest easy, as I understand another reason you strategically brought me to this place.”
“Oh?” she said, pushing her food aside and relaxing with her cold beer, too. “What’s that?”
“Well,” I said, glancing down at the beans and rice I’d mindlessly demolished, “those beans are going to declare war on me in about an hour.” I smiled as she covered her mouth to keep from spitting beer all over me.
“Which means that while I’d undoubtedly remember your name after having the luxury of spending the night with you, I can’t imagine you’d have much interest in remembering mine. ”
She pinched her lips together. “So, I’m safe then, Mr. Hawk?”
She looked so adorably cute right now that I wished I hadn’t touched the damn beans. “Well, that depends. You are driving me back to my chopper—”
“Chopper? You honestly commute in that thing?”
“When I’m returning to my home in Pacific Palisades, yes,” I said. “If I were staying at the hotel, then no. I’d use my driver.”
She studied me for a moment, then her lips pursed in a way that concerned me.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” she tilted her head to the side. “It’s just that watching you act like a natural out here tonight was quite surprising. Then you mention the helicopter, and I just can’t help but wonder—”
“Who am I really?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Either you’re a damn good actor, or, correct me if I’m wrong, a man who was lost in his own empire without knowing it until tonight.”
“Acting is something I could never be good at, even if I tried,” I answered her honestly. “I didn’t get to where I am today by playing a role. So no, tonight is not an act.”
“Then?”
“Yes, perhaps I have been suffocating in my own world without realizing it,” I answered her directly. “And I appreciate this reprieve more than you know. Consider your debt of gratitude paid in full.”
She smiled at me. “Did you grow up this wealthy?”
The beer had us both loosened up, but that question caught me off guard. Not because she asked it, but because I wanted to answer it. I wanted her to care enough to know more about me.
“Mostly, yes,” I answered. “My father started this company years before I was born. His dream was to bring it to the level I took it to, though he was more… let’s call it brutal in business than I am.
” I glanced toward the patrons in casual conversation, knowing this one would be a million times heavier.
“You seem pretty brutal,” she said, her eyes studying mine.
I smiled. “I don’t naturally seek to consume businesses and leave my associates bankrupt, looking for jobs at fast food restaurants after my company has acquired theirs.”
“Oh shit,” she said, seemingly intrigued by the bastard my father was. “Your father did?”
“He promised wealth before devouring businesses and the dreams of his associates, then left them fighting for their spot in the unemployment line.”
“So, he bought out their businesses and fired them?”
“Among other things,” I answered. “I try not to dwell on this company’s haunted history, but moving forward, I keep my word and deliver the wealth I promise when I acquire a company. I build them up and make them grateful they met me.”
“Then the rumors aren’t true? That you’re a brutal bastard in business?” she smirked, enough to force a smile on my face.
“Oh, I believe those rumors are true,” I took another sip of my beer. “I am brutal, but only when it comes to enemies or threats to my company.”
“Have you ever dealt with that?” she eyed me, more comfortable now. “Well, I’m sure you have, considering the first night we met and all those guests on your yacht.”
I eyed her, considering bringing up Christian Jameston, but since I was only just beginning to earn her trust, it was best not to burden her with my irritation toward the man.
That conversation could wait. Maybe for another night...
or perhaps the morning after she woke up in my bed, smiling as I held her close.
“Still with me?” I heard her ask.
“I am,” I smiled, embarrassed that I’d started daydreaming like a teenager during our conversation. “And yes, you are correct. From time to time, I still run into people who hold a mean grudge for what my old man did to them.”
“And how do you deal with them?” she asked, intrigued.
But this wasn’t a conversation for tonight.
“Perhaps we should change the subject, Ms. Veléz,” I said with a smile. “What’s your background? How did you manage to become more knowledgeable than most about planning events on such a grand scale?”
“I’m sorry if my questions upset you.”
“Not at all,” I said. “I just prefer not to talk about my business tonight. I’d rather enjoy your company.”
She studied me for a moment again. “And once again, you’re proving my assumptions about you wrong.”
I smiled, crossed both my arms, and leaned forward against the table. “Isn’t that what I told you I would do?”
“Yes,” she sat back, and her face scrunched up in the most adorable way. “I just didn’t think you could do it. You seem to be a man who is only interested in talking about his empire.”
I sighed. “I can’t even imagine the theories you have created in your mind about me, based solely on first impressions.”
“This would be my second impression of you,” she said, “after, of course, you told me I virtually robbed your company blind.”
“I see,” I answered. “So, you believe inflating your costs by double to take over as my planner wasn’t extortion?”
My smile was most likely the only thing that kept her expression playful.
“I saved your ass,” she said, tipping her beer bottle toward me. “And you know that.”
“This is true. It’s also why I’m very curious about what compelled you to work in this high-intensity environment where demanding men and women are usually never satisfied.”
“I grew up in it,” she answered, as if that were not a massive reveal to me.
“Intriguing,” I answered. “May I ask why you and your sister seem to have escaped your wealthy family’s lifestyle? Do you have a brother who is set to take over the family’s business?”
She laughed. “No, not even close,” she answered.
“Our mother worked for wealthy Spanish elites as their personal chef. We were dragged onto yachts and into homes all over the world. We were even flown to wherever she would be staying with them, as they demanded she fly in their jets to cook their meals.”
I knew my expression must’ve gone blank because that was not the response I expected from her. No wonder she formed a poor opinion of me. No wonder money didn’t impress the woman. She’d spent her childhood growing up with her mother catering to men like me, dragging her two children everywhere.
“Amelia is actually my half-sister,” she continued.
“My father left before I was born, and then my mom eventually met Amelia’s dad, but he died when she was a toddler.
Sadly, our mother never had a relationship with either of us.
Her relationship was with the family she cooked for, and she didn’t have room for anyone else. ”
“I am truly sorry to hear this for you and your sister,” I answered, not really knowing how to respond.
It was so far from how my own mother was with my brothers and me. It was merely the control and abuse from our father that kept her with him.
“Don’t be sorry,” she smiled. “It shaped me into the woman I am today.”
I studied the beauty of the woman, just hearing the words that made her resilient leave her mouth.
“I believe I should be grateful then.” I stood, seeing that we were both done and that we were most likely not ready for deep conversations so quickly.
“For what?” she answered, confused and smiling.
Her eyes were dazzling and intoxicating as she kept them locked on mine. I walked around the table and extended my hand.
“Because if that wasn’t your path in life,” she rose, her eyes still on mine after I pulled her close, “I wouldn’t have crossed paths with the most intriguing woman I’ve ever known.”
I heard her suck in a nervous breath. She wasn’t resisting this closeness, and I knew it had to be the beer in her system that was making her melt in my arms, something I’d been imagining far too often since I’d become obsessed with her.
I couldn’t resist gently brushing a strand of hair from her face that the breeze had blown across it.
“We shouldn’t…” she whispered in a shaky voice.
“We won’t,” I answered with a smile. “Not tonight.”
“Tonight?”
I grinned, not knowing whether the woman was intoxicated by our closeness or the booze.
“Allow me to take you out. When you are available, of course.”
“Of course,” she blinked, then pulled back. “I mean, sure. Perhaps you’ll take me to a taco truck to try to one-up me for tonight’s meal?”
“I’d love that,” I smiled.
“For lunch, you shirtless and in boardshorts while we spend the day on the beach?”
Excitement coursed through me. “Are you free this weekend?”
“Weekends at the beach are a nightmare,” she said.
“I have access to private beaches, preciosa,” I said.
“If we want it to feel as casual and normal as tonight, we go to the public beaches.”
“How about Friday? I don’t have any meetings planned.”
And if I did, I’d cancel them.
“That sounds lovely.” She stepped back. “Tonight has been nice.”
“Indeed, it has,” I said truthfully. “Are you okay to drive?” I asked because I had no idea whether two beers had gotten this woman drunk or if it was just us getting close that seemed to have her eyes swimming in mine.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “Trust me. I would never gamble with that.”
I smiled as I followed her to dump our trash into the bins and thought, holy shit, I might actually have a chance to explore something more with this woman.
Did I want more? Hell yes. Could I handle it?… about that part, I wasn’t too sure. But after tonight, I was willing to take that risk rather than let fear make the decision for me.