My Wicked Valentine (Club Wicked 1) (17 page)

A beautiful older woman with silver streaked hair tied back
in a bun stepped into the room. “Jose, you’re not giving your back-in-my-day
speech again, are you?”

Isaac cleared his throat and tried to get his emotions under
control. Everything her father said was true. Isaac was playing mind games with
Lucia, the same bullshit mind games his ex had played with him. Self-disgust
burned through him and helped to clear his mind even if it did make him feel
sick.

Lucia’s father grumped, but he still kissed his wife on the
cheek when she reached his side. “I’m just saying honesty is the best policy.”

Renewed guilt singed Isaac, but he managed to keep a calm
facade. All those years watching his father run his business with an iron will
helped. “I can promise you, Mr. Roa, I’ve been honest with your daughter about
our relationship.”

Liar, liar, liar.

Mrs. Roa smiled at him, the dimples in her cheeks deepening
just like her daughter’s. “Let’s get whatever news you had to share with us out
of the way so we can go eat. I made
arroz
con pollo
for lunch.”

He had no idea what that meant, but it smelled wonderful.
Taking Lucia’s cold hand in his own, he rubbed his thumb over her soft skin.
“May we sit down?”

Using as little detail as he could, he let her parents know
what was going on. Lucia spoke up every once in a while, but for the most part,
she let him do the talking. They sat close to each other, and he found her
warmth pleasurable. No, it felt more than pleasurable; it felt right, and that
scared him.

Mr. Roa closed his eyes and shook his head. “Why are people
so greedy? Why do they want to hurt others to get money? Why don’t—”

Mrs. Roa placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Lucy,
are you okay?”

He turned to look at Lucia and noticed the tears in her
eyes. Tears he’d help put there. She nodded. “Yes. Well, not really, but I’m as
okay as I can be.”

Firming his resolve to keep his emotional distance from
Lucia, he pulled her into a hug and tried to tell himself he was playing the
role of the man who loved her, not living it.

Lucia and her mother left for the kitchen, leaving him alone
with Mr. Roa. As soon as the women were out of sight, Mr. Roa closed the space
between them. “Listen, I know who you are, and I know how you go through women.
I’ve seen you with girl after girl at parties, always stringing one along,
waiting until they fall in love with you before you leave. I don’t want you
around my daughter.”

Adrenaline flooded his body, but Isaac managed to keep his
voice steady. “Your daughter is an adult. Who she chooses to date is her
decision.”

With a snort Mr. Roa backed up and crossed his arms. “Does
Lucy know how many women you’ve been with?”

He managed not to flinch, barely. “I have not hidden that
from her.”

“So she knows you’ve slept with half of Washington, DC.”

“What I do with my private life is none of your concern.”

“It is my concern because my daughter is falling in love
with you.”

The words hit him like a physical slap, and he took a step
back. “No, you’re wrong. It’s just casual between us, more of a business
arrangement.”

Mr. Roa closed his eyes. “
Eres tan estúpido como un perro
.”

“Did you just compare me to a dog?”

“If the shoe fits…” The other man rubbed his temples.
“Listen. Lucia is a good and loving girl. Too loving. She trusts people too
easily and has gotten her heart broken again and again. But she continues to
follow her heart. Not an easy thing to do in a cruel world.”

“It’s just business,” he protested, but the words felt dirty
in his mouth.

“For you, maybe. For Lucia, no. She looks at you, and her
whole face lights up. My Lucy is not a game player. Keep her out of your circle
of friends. She is not strong enough to endure that world.” He blew out a deep
breath. “Now, let’s go have lunch. I won’t say anything more—you know how I
feel—but if you hurt my daughter, that will be a sin on your soul.”

Words failed Isaac as he watched Lucia’s father leave the
room. A few seconds later female voices raised in greeting. With a heavy heart,
Isaac took a slow step forward, the weight of his guilt physically wearing him
down. Her father was completely right. He’d been a selfish fool to indulge
himself with Lucia. He’d known from the first that she wasn’t the kind of woman
he normally spent time with. She was soft, warm, kind, and honest while he was
hard, cold, selfish, and at times a liar.

His next step brought him closer to the kitchen, and he
yearned to go in there, to make it real. He wanted to sit next to Lucia as her
man, to be the one who held her heart. Any man would be lucky to be loved by
such a beautiful woman. Too bad he didn’t deserve her. She needed a man who
wasn’t all fucked up about love. A man who would love her more than anything on
earth. A man who would know he was blessed every waking moment of his life for
having her in it.

With his next step he was physically closer to the kitchen, but
the warmth it offered seemed farther away than ever. Lucia had a reputation to
protect and a family who loved her. He didn’t. Oh, his sister loved him, but he
lived in DC while she and her family lived outside of New York City, and his
parents had passed away years ago. How would Lucia feel if she knew just how
many women he’d been with at Wicked? He sure as fuck would be pissed if he had
to wonder if every man he passed at the club had been with Lucia. That just
proved even more that he needed to get his head on straight and take back
control of the situation. The moment he noticed his emotions becoming involved,
he should have pulled back and distanced himself, but the lure of her warmth
and affection had been too strong. Now she was going to pay the price for his
weakness, and he hated himself for what he was about to do.

He reached the curved entry to the kitchen and stopped for a
moment, taking in the scene before him. Lucia was setting a steaming dish of
food onto a rough-hewn oak table big enough to seat eight. The overhead lights
created a soft amber glow in her dark hair. She looked up at him, and he
thought his heart might break from the simple joy in her eyes at seeing him.

In that second he knew he would do whatever he needed to
protect her, anything to make sure she had the most wonderful life possible.

One that went on without him in it.

It took a great deal of effort to close himself off from
her, but he managed. She must have sensed it, because her smile wilted, and she
looked away. With his armor back in place, Isaac walked across the room and
plastered on a smile that felt like broken glass.

Lucia stared out the window of the SUV as they drove to
Isaac’s house. After having lunch with her parents, they’d stopped by her place
to get some clothes and her laptop. Isaac had been nothing but a gentleman ever
since, and she couldn’t help but wonder what had changed. It sounded odd even
to her, but she wanted the passionate, dominant Isaac back. Her Master. Not the
stiff and cold man sitting next to her.

Every attempt she’d made to talk with him had ended up in
some boring, inane chatter. For God’s sake they’d even talked about the
weather. He was driving her insane. Hot and possessive of her one minute, cold
and shut off the next. When he’d been holding her in his arms outside of her
parents’ house, she would have sworn he looked at her with something stronger,
deeper than just friendship in his gaze. He did care about her as more than a
business partner—she knew it in her heart—but she didn’t know why he kept
denying it. She couldn’t keep up with his mood swings and no longer tried. If
he wanted to play the quiet game, she could do it as well as he could.

See how he liked the silent treatment.

They drove through a familiar section of Arlington, and she
frowned as they pulled up to the Excalibur Hotel. She should have expected that
he wouldn’t really want her in his house. He would probably put her up in some
extravagant suite where she would happily order two of everything on the room service
menu and a magnum of champagne. Well, she’d actually probably cry herself to
sleep after indulging in some type of chocolate.

God, why did she always fall for the bad boys? Why couldn’t
she just once like a nice guy who would like her back and treat her right?

Her curiosity got the better of her, and she broke the tense
silence between them. “Am I staying at a hotel?”

“No.” They pulled up to a guarded entrance to the parking
garage, and the uniformed man inside the booth nodded at Isaac before lifting
the gate to let them in.

“Then why are we here?”

“I live here.”

She pondered this for a moment, the stupid girly part of her
happy that he was taking her home with him while the more mature side of her
brain insisted she calm the fuck down. So he was taking her home with him, no
big deal. The man lived in a hotel. That had to say something about his
commitment issues.

While she’d like to place all the blame on him for her hurt
feelings, she had to take ownership of her own stupidity. The man had plainly stated
that he would not be getting into an emotional relationship with her, and she
had only been fooling herself that there was more to whatever the hell they had
between them than business and sex. She needed to take off her rose-colored
glasses and really look at the situation. Unfortunately those glasses seemed to
be fused to her face, and she couldn’t feel anything but anger and sorrow at
his abrupt change in mood. Still, she was the one being blackmailed, not him.
The least he could do is be civil to her and not freeze her out with his icy
silence.

After driving up a series of ramps, they went through yet
another set of gates before he finally pulled into a parking spot. From their
space on the third-floor parking deck, she could see a nice view of the river
reflecting the fading sunlight. After all the stress of the day, she just
wanted to sit here and watch the sunset.

Unfortunately, Isaac had other ideas. He got out of the SUV
and started to come around to her side, but she opened the door and slid out
before he could. He tightened his lips, but she gave him a defiant look, and he
said nothing. Irritating him made her feel better, and she brushed past him to
the rear of the SUV.

“I’ll get your suitcase.”

“No, thank you. I can manage fine.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her, and her nipples
stiffened into hard points. The look he gave her was the one she thought of as
Master mode. Something inside of her loosened, and she licked her lips.

He looked away and said in a low voice, “I don’t think you
can.”

She tried to think of a snappy comeback, but nothing came to
mind. She wanted him to slam her up against the back of the SUV and kiss her
until she couldn’t breathe. He said nothing and opened the back, pulling out
her heavy suitcase with ease, reminding her of how strong he was. Her body
hummed in appreciation when their fingers brushed as he handed her the smaller
suitcase. For one moment she thought she detected some humanity in his face;
then it was gone.

“Follow me.”

She did but stuck out her tongue at his back. Yeah, he’d
smoothed everything over with her parents, but that didn’t give him the right
to be so cold to her. Especially when she hadn’t done anything to deserve such
treatment. His mood shifts were enough to drive a nun to murder. Normally she
would have walked away by this point, but something about him kept pulling her
back. It wasn’t just the great orgasms, not that they didn’t help, but it was
more the glimpses she caught of the man beneath the mask. She had a feeling he
didn’t show that side of himself often, so she believed she’d had a glimpse of
some wonderful treasure. Shaking her head at her flighty romantic notions, she
watched Isaac walk and wanted to grip his ass with both hands.

Hard. Then bite it until he yelped for making her so crazy.

They walked down the row of cars, and she tried to not be
impressed, but there had to be at least ten million dollars’ worth of
automobiles up here. Cars she’d never seen outside of magazines gleamed and
sparkled. She marveled that unlike the rest of the world, the garage lights
were actually flattering. Normally her skin took on an ugly yellow tone in
parking structure lighting, but in here she actually looked normal.

Well, that must be the
difference between the haves and the have-nots. Good lighting.

They reached a set of elevators, and Isaac typed a pass code
into the keypad next to the closed stainless-steel doors. When they slid open
she wasn’t surprised to see marble floors, gilded mirrors, and more good lighting.
As the doors slid shut, she took a deep breath, trying to dispel the tension
filling her. The only sound in the cab was of their breathing and the
occasional rustle of fabric as they shifted.

Staying silent was getting harder and harder, but she was
not going to be the one to break it. Next to her Isaac continued to watch the
lights on the floor pad light up, but his posture grew more and more tense.
What was going on inside his head? Yes, he’d been very clear about not having
any romantic feelings involved in what was going on between them, but how could
he treat her with such reverence if he didn’t feel at least some little thing?

They reached the twenty-ninth floor, and the cab stopped.
Isaac inserted a key card into a slot next to the buttons, and the doors to the
elevator opened. She stepped out into a marbled foyer with an elegant circular
table in the center. The creamy white marble made up the floor, ceilings, and
walls of this space while bright modern art adorned the walls. On the center of
the table sat a silver vase filled with exotic orchids of every color
imaginable.