by Joanne Rock
“I made him aware that I couldn’t do my job well since you don’t trust me.” She wasn’t sure how else to respond. “That makes my presence here counterproductive.” She fisted her hands deeper in her pockets, braced for wherever this was heading.
“The lack of trust I could work around,” he clarified, closing more of the distance between them. “It’s a matter of me being attracted to you that is presenting the problem.” He stopped less than an arm’s length away from her.
With any other man, she could shut down this line of discussion in no time flat. She understood professional boundaries and knew how to enforce them. But the problem that dogged her with Marcus was that she was attracted, too.
Her mouth went dry as she struggled for words. “I—”
He didn’t seem to hear. Or maybe she hadn’t actually made a sound. Either way, he continued.
“I fell short of making that clear to you the first day, hoping to find an alternative way to address a problem that is one hundred percent of my own making.” He stood so close she could have counted the bristles along his jaw. If she’d been so inclined. “But at this point, I feel like I owe you an explanation—an apology, actually—for my behavior when it’s having a negative impact on your job. I’m sorry.”
“You’re attracted to me.” She thought back to her conversations with Marcus before today, sliding in the new piece of information to see how it fit. Realizing it explained a whole lot. “I’m not sure how to respond to that.”
“I’m still dealing with the ramifications myself.” His brows swooped down low, his gaze narrowing. “The ethics of the situation are clear. Salazar Media put a mandatory disclosure policy on work relationships for a reason.”
She nodded awkwardly, still taking in what he was saying. “We don’t have a relationship,” she reminded him. “So there’s nothing to disclose. And even if we did, you aren’t my direct supervisor.”
She knew company policy backward and forward after sitting in on the committee to revise the standards the year before. Not that she was contemplating a relationship of any sort since she’d just ended one. Her thoughts were just jumbled.
“That’s splitting hairs, as I’m sure you know.” His jaw flexed. “It’s a professional line I can’t cross. And on a personal level, even if we didn’t work for the same company, I’m not the sort of man who would ever make a pass at a woman who is...otherwise engaged.”
His dark eyes glittered with a spark of heat that he didn’t bother to hide.
“I’m sure you’re not—” she began, hoping to divert this line of conversation. Unwilling to acknowledge her newly discovered awareness of Marcus until she knew how to handle it.
“I’m not that kind of man,” he repeated, his voice lowering. “But with you, Lily, I’m tempted.”
Her breath caught. Held. She blinked back at him, feeling awkward about sharing the news of her broken engagement when they stood this close. Then again, keeping it to herself when he’d just made a wrong assumption felt uncomfortably close to deception.
And wasn’t she trying to overcome his lack of trust in her?
“I’m actually—” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat, telling herself it wasn’t a big deal to share the truth with him. Telling Marcus was nothing like facing her grandparents. She pulled her left hand from her pocket and showed him her bare ring finger. “We decided to call things off.”
For a moment, Marcus’s eyes remained on hers, not tracking to her raised palm. But then, as he refocused on her hand, she saw his expression shift, transforming from wary tension to something more resolute.
Determined.
“You ended your engagement.” His dark gaze tracked back to hers, and she could feel the attraction he’d talked about. His. And yes, hers.
Which was highly inconvenient. Uncomfortable, even, given what he’d just shared with her. She felt an invisible barrier between them fall away and wondered how she’d ever recover her defenses.
Or if she even wanted to.
“I did.” She didn’t recognize her own voice, too breathy and uncertain. “I just wanted you to know because it seemed dishonest to pretend otherwise when—”
“Lily.” Something in his voice gentled, undoing her completely.
Her name on his lips, so softly spoken, drew her to him like steel fragments to a magnet. She felt all the fractured, uncertain pieces of her leaning toward him, responding to the heated promise in his dark eyes. And it didn’t matter that they walked a tightrope of professional responsibility. She took a step closer.
“I’m glad I did it.” She didn’t know if she was reassuring him or her, but standing here with Marcus right now underscored how necessary it had been to end her engagement. “I didn’t understand why I was so compelled to pick up the phone and inform him of it yesterday, but it’s starting to make sense.”
Marcus shook his head in silent denial, but he lifted his hand to her cheek, grazing a path down to her jaw. Even when her heartbeat kicked faster, she knew she could still stop this unwise moment before it happened. It wasn’t too late to crush all the needy feelings stirring inside her. She could never allow herself to be one of those women who threw everything away for the sake of sizzling chemistry and heated embraces.
But since she’d also never felt anything like the draw of Marcus Salazar, she thought it couldn’t hurt to see what it might be like just once.
It was simple curiosity. Normal human want. Just this one time, she could step into the fire of combustible attraction and experience the burn.
The flames licked up her already, torching away reason. And by the time his lips met hers, the heady sensation was the most exquisite feeling she could have imagined.
So good, Lily could almost forget she was playing with fire.
Four
There had been times in Lily’s life when she’d listened to her girlfriends gush about a new guy, had seen them glowing with a kind of radiance, yet she’d never fully comprehended what all the hype was about.
Until now.
Marcus’s kiss delivered all the fanfare and more. She saw stars. Her knees went weak. Her every nerve ending was on overload. With his lips moving over hers, she understood every breathless confidence about romance in a way she hadn’t before. Because while she respected and admired her former fiancé, he’d never made her feel like she might spontaneously combust from the pleasure of his hands on her waist. Or from the searing heat of his body suddenly pressed to hers.
She reached for Marcus’s shoulders to steady herself. To draw him closer. To make sure this was real and not a dream...
Only to have him pull away abruptly with a ripe curse, softly spoken.
She couldn’t process it, though, not when her senses still reeled and her body tingled with hot desire. Her brain too scrambled to speak yet, she steadied herself with a hand on the cool granite countertop of the spa’s reception desk. Anchoring herself in a world tipped sideways.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen.” Marcus shook his head, his hands falling away from her. “Or at least, not to that degree.”
Flustered at his withdrawal, she wasn’t quite sure how to interpret that.
“It felt like you meant it.” She folded her arms across her breasts, needing a barrier between her body and his when she felt so raw from just a kiss.
How could he revert to conversation so easily after what had just happened? She hadn’t suspected that level of heat lurked beneath the surface between them, but now that she knew, she didn’t have a clue how to pretend she hadn’t felt it for those few tantalizing moments.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” he acknowledged, pacing away from her toward a shelf full of dried flowers and white scented candles. “But that doesn’t mean I should have acted on the impulse. I’m sorry, Lily.”
Feeling off balance, she flexed
her fingers against the granite while his back was turned toward her. “We’ll figure out a work-around.”
She hoped. Now that she understood some of the reason for his behavior toward her, she could surely figure out a way to get back on level ground, professionally speaking.
“And I should have asked you how you’re feeling before I—presumed to kiss you.” He turned to meet her gaze again. “I’m sure it must have been a difficult decision to end a significant relationship, and I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you at a vulnerable time.”
She was surprised by his thoughtfulness, considering how antagonistic things had been between them. She tried to understand this new facet to Marcus’s personality.
“I’m fine.” Or at least, she would be once she adjusted to letting go of her family’s expectations. And once she’d assured herself she could put Marcus’s kiss into perspective. “In retrospect, I should thank you. It was our conversation by the river that helped me see I was holding on to the engagement because it was easy. Expected, even.”
“Expected?” Frowning, he sniffed at one of the candles on the shelf. “By who?”
“My grandparents. Eliot’s family. Our marriage would have solidified a longtime business relationship between the Carringtons and the Winthrops. Once we had wed, we were going to unite our families’ respective financial services businesses.” She grazed her fingertips over her lips, then stopped herself once she realized what she was doing.
She didn’t need Marcus to know how much the kiss had rattled her. He certainly didn’t appear as if his world had been rocked the way hers had been. Was it because he was better at hiding his emotions? Or because the kiss hadn’t been as big of a deal to him? She bristled at the thought.
“How imperative was the merger? Is your family’s business struggling?” He slid the candle back onto the shelf and walked toward her again.
Her nerve endings danced in anticipation. So much so that she took a step away, bumping into the spa’s front counter.
“We’ll be all right.” She hoped. Her head ached with the new worry. “And even if we aren’t, I can’t justify remaining in an engagement for the sake of the family business.”
He stared at her for a long moment. Assessing her.
“Are you sure about that?” His dark eyes wandered over her, rousing a whole host of complicated feelings.
Desire. Awareness. Guilt.
“Positive.” She nodded, unsure of her footing with this man. She’d come to Montana hoping to help Marcus and Devon resolve their business differences and keep the company together. But Marcus’s attention was proving too distracting. Too tempting.
And she needed this job more than ever.
“So what else did Devon have to say?” She needed to refocus on her professional obligations. Fast.
Marcus leaned on the counter beside her, his long legs close to hers. “He expects to hear from the embassy tomorrow, but I’m not holding my breath.”
“Did you tell him about the papers your father left here?” she asked carefully, unsure how much he would be willing to share about it.
“I did. He was as surprised as I am that Dad didn’t leave them with his attorney.” He studied her for a long moment. “And I don’t want to press you about the broken engagement if you’d rather not discuss it. But since you gave me credit for opening your eyes to the fact that you don’t love him—”
“It’s not that,” she clarified, feeling a sudden defensiveness. She straightened from the spa counter, pacing over to the fountain, where water babbled down a rock wall, wishing she could find peace in the serene sound. “I’ve been friends with Eliot forever, and I hope that doesn’t change.”
Then again, what if he really had been seeing someone else? She didn’t like what that said about Eliot’s character.
Still, it seemed disloyal to talk to Marcus about the details of her failed relationship.
“You still love him,” Marcus observed.
She ran a fingertip along the surface of the spilling water, letting the cold wash away the mix of guilt and awareness. Or else just hoping it could.
“Not the way I should. Neither of us was in any hurry to set a date, and we’ve been actively avoiding any discussion of wedding plans.” She knew that indefinite delay had meant something. “Our friendship is really just that. A friendship.”
Marcus came up behind her. She felt the warmth of his body just inches from her back and suppressed the urge to turn and face him. To repeat the sensual contact that had her off balance even now, minutes after their kiss.
What if she couldn’t stick to the just once bargain she’d made with herself?
“I realize my kiss was ill timed and impulsive, given what you must have been through in the last twenty-four hours.” His voice tickled along the back of her neck. “And that doesn’t begin to address the professional transgression, which I’m still at a loss about how to handle.”
Her breath caught.
“I can’t afford to lose this job,” she reminded herself as much as him. “So if you’d like me to disclose a relationship to HR because of one momentary indiscretion, I will. But we’re both adults, Marcus. We aren’t the first people to overstep that line in a professional setting. And bottom line, we still have to work together this week.”
“You won’t consider returning to New York now that I’ve been honest about what makes this relationship problematic?” His voice sounded even nearer now.
She held herself very still, her fingertips resting on the waist-high rock wall where the water pooled. “I need to be here.”
He huffed out a frustrated breath, his body close enough to hers that she didn’t dare turn around and look at him when her emotions were all knotted. “Then we’ll have to find a way to make it work.”
She closed her eyes, letting the feel of his nearness sweep over her, tantalizing her for one heart-stopping moment.
Would she be foolish enough to let him touch her again? Even knowing the power of his kiss?
She was grateful she didn’t have to make that call when he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving her in the spa with her heated thoughts.
Exhaling a pent-up breath, Lily took stock of her situation. She couldn’t fail at her career so close on the heels of failing in her personal life. Her work was the one place where she was independent, earning only what her skills warranted and not what her last name afforded her. She prized that. So the attraction to Marcus was going to make her workweek more than a little difficult, especially since Devon had specifically sent her to the ranch to help keep Salazar Media intact.
She’d simply have to redouble her efforts to forget about the kiss—and somehow convince Marcus that remaining in business with his brother was in his best interest.
* * *
Her tennis shoes sinking in a pile of dead leaves, Regina Flores tucked deeper into the woods behind the spa building at Mesa Falls Ranch, needing to stay hidden. She’d worn dark clothing for today’s reconnaissance mission, but she was hardly invisible. There was always a chance someone on the property would see her. She’d had a good view of the couple in the spa from her spot outside one of the treatment room windows, especially with the help of her camera’s zoom lens. But she’d had to leave the vantage point once Marcus Salazar stalked out of the building.
She couldn’t allow him to see her. Not before she’d worked out a cover story.
A light snow began to fall as she slipped her camera inside her jacket, holding her breath while he mounted his spotted horse. Regina wished she could have heard his conversation with the pretty brunette. Had they spoken about anything significant? Anything that would help Regina’s cause? She couldn’t tell.
Their kiss had looked—new. Both of them had seemed surprised about it. Thanks to her zoom lens, Regina had observed the stunned desire in Marcus’s eyes when he pulled away from th
e woman. And although Regina hadn’t been able to see the brunette’s expression afterward, she could read the body language well enough. There’d been an awkward aftermath to that kiss. The woman had been uneasy, restless in her own skin.
Yet before that, there’d been a telltale lean toward Marcus. As if she wanted more from him.
Maybe none of that mattered in the big scheme of things to Regina’s mission here. But since she wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for at Mesa Falls Ranch—only that the long-sought answer to a puzzle was here on this property—Regina wouldn’t discount any clue, however small. She needed to know what Marcus and Devon Salazar were planning once both brothers arrived on-site.
They were fulfilling a request from their dying father to be here.
That alone made it imperative for Regina to figure out why. Did it have anything to do with the ill-gotten gains that Alonzo Salazar had made at the expense of Regina’s family? She refused to see any Salazar profit from her misfortunes—even Alonzo’s heirs.
He had been her greatest enemy, and now he was gone. His death had robbed her of the direct revenge she craved. But if there was a chance that the dead man had funneled the tainted revenue stream to his heirs, Regina would find a way to stop it.
First, however, she needed information.
Watching Marcus Salazar ride away from the spa building, Regina drew a breath once again, filling her lungs with the fresh, pine-scented air. Another time, she might have enjoyed the rugged beauty of the Montana landscape. The Bitterroot River rushed fast in some places and meandered slowly around big, rocky curves in others, the mountains rising with a jagged majesty in the distance.
This was no vacation, however. No joyride through the western states. She was only at Mesa Falls Ranch to learn everything she could about the Salazar heirs and their plans for their father’s estate.
Alonzo had destroyed her family with his thinly disguised “fictional” novel based on her family. He’d never claimed the story, written under a pseudonym, as his own, but she knew he was the author. The private investigator she’d hired had finally found irrefutable evidence after years of digging. That book had torn apart her parents’ marriage, revealing her mother’s infidelity and Regina’s real father in a way that had severed her relationship with the man who’d raised her—the only father Regina had ever known. So even though Alonzo was dead, she would find a way to make sure his heirs didn’t profit any more from that story.