Seducing His Opposition (3 page)

“Just one,” he said. “I’ll do my best to be charming and try to convince you to stay for more.”

“I’m a tough cookie,” she said.

“I think that’s what you want the world to believe but I bet there’s a softer woman underneath all that.”

She hoped he never found out. She had tried so hard to bury the woman—
girl
—she’d been when she’d
graduated from the University of Miami and left her hometown behind. Were there still any vestiges of that passionate side of her left after Raul had broken her heart?

Sure she dated, but she was careful that it was just casual, never letting her emotions get involved. Raul had taught her that the price to be paid for loving foolishly wasn’t one that only she paid. Her grandparents had almost lost their business because of her poor judgment in men, and Selena had vowed to never be that weak again.

“Pretty much what you see is what you get with me,” she said, uncomfortable talking about herself. “What about you? Are you all awkward charm and sleek business acumen?”

He laughed. “I guess so. It’s hard when you grow up with a charismatic brother—everyone just expects you to be the same.”

“How many brothers do you have?” she asked. Though she’d spent the afternoon reading about them on the internet she wanted to hear how he described his family. She had no idea what it had been like to grow up the son of a wealthy, semi-famous pro golfer or to have a brother who played for the Yankees. “I know your dad played pro golf.”

“Yes, he did. I have two brothers…”

“That’s right. And you’re the middle one?”

“Yes, ma’am. The quiet one.”

“I haven’t seen you quiet yet.”

He laughed again and she liked the sound of it—a little too much. No matter how charming he was she wasn’t going to let him past her guard. She had to take control and remind him that they were doing things on
her terms. “Okay, so one drink. Why don’t you come by around—”

“Five. We can have hors d’oeuvres, too.”

“Five? That’s two hours before our date. How are you going to make one drink last that long?” she asked, but she was already getting up and starting to ready herself to meet him. It was only forty minutes until five.

“If things go well I don’t want to cheat you out of spending time alone with me.”

“You are so thoughtful,” she said.

“I am. It’s one of my many gifts.”

“I’ll remember that when we are doing our negotiations for the marketplace,” she said with a laugh. “Five o’clock in the Ritz lobby bar.”

“See you there,” he said and hung up.

She went into the bedroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like she’d just come from work. She opened her closet and realized she had a closet full of casual and work clothes. Not exactly the sexiest clothing in the world.

Did she want to look sexy for her date with Justin?

“Yes,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror. If she was going to get the upper hand on Justin she was going to need to pull out all the stops.

It sure was going to be fun to go head-to-head with Mr. Know-Your-Enemies.

J
ustin valet-parked his car and walked into the lobby of the Ritz on South Beach. The view from the restaurant here was breathtaking and easily one of the best in this area. He glanced at his watch. He was a few minutes early and as he scanned the lobby he didn’t see Selena.

He walked to the lobby bar and found seating for two in a relatively quiet area. He knew that he had to get to know Selena better for business reasons. He had to know how she thought so he could make sure he made the right offer—one she’d accept so that he could get the market back on track. He hadn’t gotten the Luna Azul Company to where it was today by not knowing how to read people.

But he wasn’t going to deny that he wanted Selena. There had been a moment in the conference room this afternoon when he’d wished they were alone so he could
pull her into his arms and see if he could crack her reserve with passion.

“Justin?”

He glanced over his shoulder and felt like he’d been sucker punched. The prim, reserved woman he’d flirted with was gone and in her place was a bombshell. Maybe it was just her thick ebony hair hanging in waves around her shoulders, or the red lipstick that drew his eyes to her full mouth. But his gut insisted that it was the curve-hugging black dress she wore that ended midthigh. He skimmed his gaze down to her dainty-looking ankles and those high-heeled strappy sandals that made him almost groan out loud.

“Selena,” he said, but his voice sounded husky and almost choked to him.

She arched one eyebrow and smiled. “Happy to see me?”

“That is an understatement. Let me get us a drink. What’s your poison?”

“Mojito, I think. I need something to cool me down.”

He signaled the cocktail waitress and placed their drink order before diving right in. “Tell me about yourself, Selena. Why are you living in New York when your family is still here?”

“No small talk?” she asked, turning her attention away from him and skimming the room.

“Why bother with that?” he asked. “We both want to know as much about each other as we can, right?”

“Definitely. I just didn’t plan on going first,” she said with a smile as she turned back to face him again.

Every time she talked he tried to concentrate on her words but he couldn’t take his eyes from her lips. He wanted to know how they would feel under his own.
What kind of kisser would she be? Would she taste as good as he imagined?

“I’m a gentleman,” he said. And he didn’t want to show her any weakness.

“So it’s ladies first?” she asked.

“In all things, especially pleasure,” he said.

She blushed as their waitress arrived with the drinks. She started to take a sip but he stopped her.

“A toast to new relationships.”

“And a quick resolution to our business problems,” she said.

He clinked his glass to hers and watched as she took a swallow of her cocktail. When she took the glass from her mouth she licked her lips and he felt his blood begin to flow a little heavier in his veins as his groin stirred.

He wanted her.

That wasn’t news. But sitting here with her in the bar was starting to seem like a really dumb idea. He needed all his wits about him because it was apparent that Selena was playing with her A-game and he needed to as well.

“You were going to tell me all your secrets,” he said.

She laughed. “I was going to tell you the official version of my life.”

“I’ll take whatever you offer,” he said.

“I bet you will. Okay, where to start?”

“The beginning,” he suggested, shifting his legs to make room in his pants for his growing erection.

“Birth?”

“Nah, skip to college. I did a little internet research on you and saw that you graduated from the University of Miami. What made you choose to go to Fordham Law
School instead of choosing something closer to home?” he asked.

“I needed a change of scene. I was pretty sure that I wanted to practice corporate law and I had done an internship for one summer with the firm that I work for now. So it made sense to go there.”

“That’s about the same time your grandparents sold the marketplace and switched over to being renters in the space. Did they do that to pay for your education?” he asked.

Her face got very tight and she shook her head. “I had a scholarship.”

“I did a deed search to see who had owned the property before the previous owner and it was your grandfather. I can’t understand why he sold,” Justin continued. He really wanted to know why ten years ago, Tomas had made the decision to sell the marketplace property and become a rental tenant instead. That made no sense to Justin as a businessman. But it also made no sense based on what he knew of Tomas. Tomas liked being his own boss.

“What about you? Harvard law graduates can usually write their own ticket to any law firm but you came back home and worked with your brothers instead, why?”

Justin stretched back and looked at her for a minute. That was complicated. He couldn’t tell her that coming back was the hardest decision he’d ever made because even his brothers didn’t know that.

“They needed me,” he said. It was close to the truth. He didn’t hold with outright lies.

He took another sip of his drink and then leaned forward. “Why are you here now?”

“My grandfather said you were too slick and he couldn’t trust you.”

“That’s hardly true. Tomas is very shrewd. And don’t change the subject. Why did he sell the marketplace if not for your education?”

She flushed and her hand trembled for a minute and then she took a sip of her drink.

He waited for her to answer but she didn’t say anything.

“Selena?”

“That is a private matter and I won’t discuss it with you.”

Selena was surprised that he’d dug back on the deed. But she shouldn’t have been. She may have momentarily distracted Justin with her clothing and changed appearance but he’d adjusted quickly by pulling the rug out from under her with that question.

“Okay. I can respect that. I was just thinking that if they hadn’t sold the property perhaps it wouldn’t be so derelict now,” Justin said.

He was right. Selling that property had been a mistake and that was why she was here. To right the wrong she’d caused when she’d allowed herself to get suckered by a smooth-talking con man ten years ago.

She’d never seen him coming, Raul had swept her off her feet, and then once she’d fallen for his sweet talk, he’d used that love she had for him against her. The con he’d run on her had been simple enough. He was starting his own company, a luxury yacht business, and needed some initial investors. She’d put all of the inheritance she’d gotten from her parents into it, and in a calculated move on Raul’s part she’d convinced her grandparents to mortgage the market and invest, as well. Raul took all the money and disappeared overnight.

The ensuing investigation into Raul’s disappearance
had been an upheaval in their lives. It had taken almost two years to get it sorted out and at the end with lawyers’ fees and private investigator charges her grandparents had no money left. They were forced to sell the marketplace and become renters. Raul was eventually caught and brought to justice, but their money was never repaid.

It had been one of the most humiliating times of her life and she’d been very glad to escape Miami to Fordham where she knew no one. She’d started over and been very careful since then not to let her emotions get the better of her.

“You are very right,” she said. She took another sip of her mojito. The smooth rum and mint drink was soothing. Justin watched her each time she swallowed and she knew she’d been distracting him all evening.

She liked the feeling of power it gave her to know that she could manipulate him. She wondered if that was what Raul had felt as he’d slowly drawn her into his web. Had it been the power? She hadn’t thought of that in years, but her experiences with men had taught her that in all relationships—personal and business—it all came down to who had something the other wanted. And right now, she had something that Justin wanted a lot.

“I know,” he said. He was cocky and she had to admit that it was a trait she was beginning to enjoy in him.

He seemed so in control. She’d been told she gave that impression, as well, but she knew underneath her professional persona she was usually a mess. Was it the same for him? But she couldn’t detect any chinks in his armor. She was starting to realize that even distracted he was going to be a tough opponent.

She leaned forward to place her drink on the table
and noticed his eyes tracked down toward her breasts. She shifted her shoulders so the fabric of her dress drew the material taut over her curves and then sat back.

“Have you thought of selling the property back to my grandparents? I think that would be the easiest solution.” Then she could conclude this business in Miami and take the first flight back to New York and her nice, safe, regular life. A place where the businessmen she encountered looked dull and gray like a Manhattan winter instead of like Justin, who was tan, vibrant and hot…just like Miami.

“I don’t think so,” he said, looking back up at her eyes. “Your grandparents don’t…”

“What?”

“They don’t have the resources to make the property profitable the way that the Luna Azul Company does. I mean, they would probably fix up their market but it is going to take a lot of capital to revamp the entire area. And that is the only way you are going to keep your current clientele and get new customers.”

He had a point but she didn’t like the thought of an outsider owning the market. It also irked her that this situation was entirely her fault. If she hadn’t fallen for Raul so many years ago, her beloved
abuelito
wouldn’t have to deal with the Stern brothers on their terms.

“Granted but if you take away the local feel of the marketplace, you will lose money.”

“That’s where you come in. I liked your idea of forming a committee. I wish I’d thought of it sooner,” Justin said. “But enough business. I want to know the woman behind the suit. I like your dress by the way.”

She tossed her hair and made herself let go of the work part of being with Justin. There was nothing to be accomplished tonight. He’d either come around to her
way of thinking or he’d find out how many complications she could put in the way of his business deals.

“I noticed you liking it.”

“Good. Are you finished with your drink?”

“Why?”

“I want to take you for a walk along the beach.”

“I’d like that,” she said, getting to her feet. “I miss the beach.”

“I live right on it. That was one thing that motivated me to come back home after Harvard. I like living somewhere so temperate.”

“What else?” she asked. She suspected that family must be important to him. That was at odds with what she usually encountered in type-A, driven business executives, but then Justin didn’t exactly fit the mold of what she expected from guys to begin with.

“Why are you really here?” she asked as they stepped out into the warm early-evening.

“I told you I like to know my opponents,” he said.

“I can see that,” she said. She did as well. Normally when she was negotiating something for her company she spent a lot of time researching the players involved in the deal. Winning almost always came down to who had the most information. “You were trying to throw me off my game a little, right?”

“In part,” he admitted. “But honestly, you aren’t what I was expecting from the Gonzalezes’ lawyer.”

“Because I’m a girl?” she asked using his term. “You know that calling me a girl wasn’t exactly flattering?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said. “It’s because you’re so sexy. I can handle going up against a girl but when she is making me think of long, hot nights instead of business—well I figured turnabout was fair play and I should do something unexpected like ask you out.”

She bit her lower lip. He was a very frank man, which shouldn’t surprise her. From the moment they’d met he’d been that way. He was the kind of man who shot from the hip and didn’t worry about the consequences.

And she was a woman who’d been damned by the consequences of her reckless heart before. She had to remember that her grandparents were in this situation with the Luna Azul Company specifically because she’d followed her heart and they had paid the price.

“I’m not looking for a relationship,” she said. “I am focused on my career.”

“I can see that,” he said. “But unless you’re into lying to yourself, you’ll admit that there is something between us.”

She could admit that. There was a powerful attraction between them. Something that was more intense than anything she’d ever experienced before. She wanted to blame it on Miami and her old self, but she knew that it was Justin. If she’d been here with any other man she wouldn’t have felt like this.

That was enough to make her pause. Justin was different and that very difference was enough to make him dangerous.

“Lust,” she said. “And that is nothing more than a chimera.”

“An illusion? I don’t think so. Lust is our primal instincts telling us to pay attention. You could be a potential mate for me,” he said.

She stopped walking on the wooden boardwalk and turned to face him. He’d put on a pair of aviator-style sunglasses and with his jacket slung over his shoulder he looked like he’d stepped off a yacht. He seemed like a man who was used to getting everything he wanted.

“What?” she asked. “There is no way you and I could
ever be mates. I just don’t know if I should believe you or not. You’re not really looking for a mate for more than one night, right?”

“Usually, I’d say so, but the way I am reacting to you throws my normal playbook out the window.”

She shook her head. “Your playbook? Any guy who has one of those isn’t someone I’m interested in.”

“That sounded worse than I meant it to. I was trying to say that this attraction I feel for you is making me forget every rule I have about mixing business and pleasure.”

“I can’t afford to take a chance like that with you, Justin.”

“Because of Tomas?”

She wished it were that simple. “If it didn’t involve my grandparents…”