ENRIQUE
"I want to believe the joke of an interview I just watched was something out of a movie you are guest-starring in, Enrique," my father growled into the receiver.
I had wondered how long it would be before he called me just for this.
Tomas had mentioned he was still mulling it over and that he was furious.
Stay out of his way, I told my brother.
My father was an aggressive man, and he was more likely to vent his frustration on Tomas.
"Good day to you too, Padre."
"Do not act fucking smart with me, boy."
"I am indeed married."
I could hear him breathing hard on the other end of the line.
It thrilled me to vex him.
"I ask you, Enrique, what the hell you think you are doing. Your job in the United States is to connect our business here and bring foreign partners to us, not get lost in the pussy of some slut."
I gritted my teeth at this.
As much as I loved to vex my father, he always had a way of getting under my skin too.
"Olivia is not a slut, and I will not have you speak such things about my wife, Father. You know nothing about her."
He cursed in Spanish for a full minute before he said,
"You are a fucking mistake... always have been and always will be. But good thing is, I have another heir, and he will take over the family business. Heavens forbid I let him turn into a weak fool like you."
He was talking about Tomas.
"The business is going as planned," I ground out. "My marriage to her is for the business and nothing more… it is not fucking real. So maybe, for once, get your head out of your ass, Father."
He grunted but was calmer now.
"What do you have for us?" he asked.
"Her father is the only strong link left, and my marriage to his daughter brings me into the family… one step closer, don't you think?"
I could feel the wheels turning in his head.
"I see," he hummed.
"So you leave Tomas out of this, and I will get whatever you want done for you."
"Do that, and I will not involve your brother. But fail me, Enrique, and I will name him my heir and have the mafia come after him with everything they've got. You and I know your brother will not last two minutes in the business."
The phone beeped in my ear.
I slammed my fist on the table.
Fucker, I thought.
I was getting the construction companies in order, but not for him or his business—for myself and Tomas. That is what my father was oblivious to, and he would not find out about it until it was too late for him.
I straightened my back.
I had a meeting with Olivia's father.
He had contacted the office for the first time since he rejected my proposal to set up a meeting.
I wondered what he had to say.
Olivia, on the other hand, I was trying to put out of my mind.
I did not want to admit I had been affected by our kiss.
And it did not help that I wanted to run my fingers through her hair again, touch the soft nape of her neck, trail my fingers along her collarbone, smell her.
I would give years off my miserable life to bury my face in her skin and stay there.
Maldita sea.
I picked up the office phone, clearing my throat.
"Clear my schedule, Rachel, until tomorrow."
The ride to Baker Construction Firm took a couple of minutes.
I was led into a tastefully furnished office and asked to wait for a bit.
When the door opened, I got to my feet, coming face-to-face with Olivia.
She had glasses perched atop her nose and her hair in that tight bun I've come to hate.
I wanted her silky hair caressing her face and trailing down her back.
But that aside, what was she doing here?
The meeting I had was with her father, not her.
"Take a seat, Mr. Garcia," she said, her voice clear.
I watched her circle the table, dropping the files she had in her hand onto it.
"I know you are wondering why I am here and not my father, so I am going to explain as best I can," she told me, clasping her fingers in front of her.
"I am now in charge… at least for a little bit. So my father thought it best I had the meeting with you concerning your offers to buy our construction company."
She was in charge? I thought, unable to stop the smile that crept onto my face.
"I am yet to see what is amusing, Mr. Garcia."
"Please, Miss Baker… you can call me Enrique. I am sure we are way past formalities, don't you think?"
Her cheeks flared, but she maintained a pointed stare at me.
"Yes, we are, but this is a business setting, and I would very much like to stick to addressing you as formally as I can."
Tough, I thought.
I might have met her as a drunken woman who had been heartbroken by her fiancé and dumped at the altar, but the woman sitting in front of me right now was none of those things.
And is it crazy that I considered her more attractive in this state?
"If you are speaking of the offers I have made your father, then you should know I am very serious about buying your construction firm, as I have stated in the past and am still stating now," I told her.
She nodded at this and, with a swift movement, cleared the table.
I watched the files flutter to the ground.
"Now tell me the real reason you want this firm, Mr. Garcia, because you do not expect me to buy your crap about expansion."
Also smart, I mused.
"It is as I have stated, Mrs. Garcia," I teased.
We maintained eye contact, neither of us wanting to back down.
"Then I apologize, but our answer remains the same."
She got to her feet, and so did I, reaching for her arm.
Her eyebrow raised at the contact.
"Olivia, this is important to me," I told her.
"As it is to me."
She retrieved her arm with one sweep and walked out, leaving me watching her hips sway.