It was madness for him to call her his, and what was worse, she reveled in it. She wanted it so desperately that her skin prickled, her body tightening and loosening under his skilled touch.
“I can’t get enough of you. I never could.” He sounded bewildered. Like he couldn’t quite figure out how it was that he’d gotten there.
That made two of them.
Esmeralda knew they should stop. They were supposed to head to the party soon and she’d for sure have to refresh her makeup now that she’d decided to throw all her boundaries out the window. But instead of stopping she threw her head back and let him make his way down her neck, his teeth grazing her skin as he tightened one hand on her backside and the other pulled down the strap of her dress. “Can I kiss you here?” he asked as his breath feathered over her breasts.
“Yes.” She was on an express bus to Bad Decision Central and she could not be bothered to stop. He grazed his lips over her skin until he brushed the edge of the gown and flicked his tongue over her sensitive skin. She was breathless from the pleasure of it. She pressed a hand to the apex of her thighs, aching for him.
“You drive me crazy,” he growled as he crushed her to him, his arousal like a fire iron against her belly. Her mouth watered at the thought of taking him in her mouth. She was about to tell him so. But she must have had some sensible angels watching over her, because right when she’d been about to burn through the last of her senses, a female voice calling for Rodrigo kept her from ruining everything.
Eight
“Ex-girlfriend,” Rodrigo reminded Esmeralda for the fifth time since they’d arrived at The Cloisters. He should’ve been glad that his ex, Jimena, had shown up when she did. Saving him from himself and the utterly idiotic thing he’d been about to do. He didn’t know what was going on with him. Ever since Esmeralda has stepped into that boardroom he’d been doing one stupid thing after the other. And what was worse, he could not make himself feel sorry for any of it. And didn’t that make him a fool.
“She certainly seemed all cozy with you for being an ex.” He returned his attention to Esmeralda, who was currently glaring at the beautifully lit courtyard where the reception was being hosted. The Cloisters were built as a replica of a medieval French abbey, with priceless tapestries and grand limestone arches everywhere. The reception was in a semi-enclosed rose garden, which was lit by what seemed like thousands of twinkling lights. It was stunning, but so far Esmeralda seemed unimpressed. She’d been in a mood on the drive over to the reception, too, as if he’d violated some kind of code by dating someone without her knowledge.
No. That primal thing pulsing in his chest was not satisfaction from seeing her jealous. Because he was not that stupid. Except, Esmeralda had always been the one place where Rodrigo forgot himself. The person who drove him to break his carefully guarded rules. She’d been the one person in his life who could always recognize the toll it took on him to hold his family together when his father lost everything they had in casinos. She had been the one to show up at the hospital while he waited for his mother to have her first round of chemo that summer they’d become more than friends. She’d been his harbor, and he’d desperately wanted to be hers. But instead he’d been one more person in her life to disappoint her.
“We’re friends, Esmeralda.”
She pursed her lips in a familiar expression he recognized as “stop BSing me” and his lips tugged up of their own volition. “We’re grown adults who had a relationship, and then when things ran their course, we ended it amicably.” He shrugged while she scowled and no matter what he did that feeling like his chest was expanding would not quit. Yes, he liked that she was being possessive. Even if he could do absolutely nothing with that.
“We’re colleagues. She’s one of the legal counsels for Sambrano, and honestly we’re better as friends.” Esme raised an eyebrow in question, apparently still too annoyed at him to talk. He couldn’t help the humor in his voice when he explained. “It means we’re both too committed to our jobs to be good partners.”
“So you say.”
Damn, but she was sexy when she got like this. He dearly wished he could drag her to a dark corner and give her a real reason to be hot and bothered. Could she really be upset about this? Or maybe Jimena said something to her. The woman could be a bit of a pit bull when it came to her loved ones, and Esme was technically gunning for his job. “Did she say anything untoward to you when I excused myself to use the restroom?”
He cleared his throat at the mention of the moment after Jimena had walked in on them kissing. He’d had to escape to another room before he embarrassed himself.
To his relief Esme shook her head. “No. Nothing like that. She wasn’t super friendly, but she wasn’t hostile, either. I didn’t know that was your type,” she said, before taking a sip from the flute of Moët she’d gotten off one of the servers. Again his dick was getting ideas. But it was hard not to when she was looking at him with those curious tawny eyes, her sensual mouth parted slightly as if she was waiting for his answer with bated breath.
“My type?” he asked tersely, and that brought a pink flush to her skin, and damn but he wanted to ravage her.
“Ivy League prep school, Latinx dynasty.” He tried to read her expression, listened for mockery in her tone. To his surprise all he caught was a bit of discomfort there. She looked...embarrassed as her gaze roamed the crowded room. “We’ve been here less than ten minutes and you’ve already run into three people you went to Yale with.” Ah, she felt out of place. Esmeralda hated feeling like an outsider. She always had. And if she’d been his, he’d make sure every person in this room knew she was a queen. That they needed to bow down to her. It was what she deserved. But she wasn’t his anything. Not anymore.
“You mean pretentious asses who think they’re better than everyone?” His teasing tone brought a smile to her lips.
“Yeah. Something like that.” She smiled wide and again a pulse of something that felt a lot like happiness glowed in his chest. And he absolutely needed to wean himself off the need to comfort Esmeralda. Him trying to fulfill that particular role had already cost him too much.
“It’s the world you’re fighting to get into. Don’t lose sight of that,” he answered harshly and he saw the moment his words sank in. The softness in her mouth turned into a taut line and her honey-colored eyes, which had been wide and curious seconds before, narrowed in a shuttered expression.
“Oh, believe me. I’m very aware of the kind of compromises involved. I’ve seen it happen.” She ran her eyes over him and then stormed off without another word.
His face tightened and his pulse quickened as shame coursed through him—and he welcomed it. This was what needed to happen. Pushing her away was the sane thing to do. He would give her the help she needed like he’d been tasked. But nothing between them could be like it used to. Because there was no middle ground for him when it came to Esmeralda. And at the end of this week he would have to be ruthless if he wanted to stay CEO.
“She’s seen the error of her ways then.” Instead of answering Jimena’s taunt he took a long drink from his tumbler of Zacapa Centenario as he watched Esme storm off.
“You’re not funny. And is sneaking up on people your new hobby?” he asked gruffly as he turned to face his friend.
She grinned as she reached for his glass.
“Get your own, Jimena.”
“Oh, my. So moody,” she muttered, looking in the direction Esmeralda had gone. “She can clearly still get under your skin. And wow, you’re on her like a hawk.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sounded pissed off and distracted because he was, tracking every step his rival for the top job at the studio made around the courtyard. He noticed he wasn’t the only person aware of the fact that Esmeralda Sambrano was the most stunning woman in the room. People were turning to look at her and, yes, it was curiosity, at least at
first, but plenty of them were sending her appreciative and very long glances as she made her way through the crowd. Once she got to the bar, she was barely standing there for a second when men started swarming her. She was handling them like a pro, though. Polite but keeping her distance.
“I’m just making sure she’s talking to the right people.”
Jimena laughed at that, because he was lying his ass off and they both knew it. “Sure, you’re all business. She’s nice, not what I expected. But she’s too pure, Rodrigo. She won’t be able to swim with these sharks and keep that idealism.”
“She can handle them. I wasn’t sure she was up for it, but she’s a fighter. You should’ve seen her today going toe to toe with Carmelina. People underestimate her because she’s not cynical and jaded. She’s not what they’re used to. But she’s sharp and she’s hungry. She’s willing to bust her ass to get what she wants and that’s how she can win.” He meant every word, too. He knew her father’s rejection hurt her, but not growing up around the likes of Carmelina Sambrano and her scheming had let Esme grow in ways she would not have been able to otherwise. She had integrity and a work ethic like only the child of immigrants could have, and that would take her far.
“Sharp, hungry and willing to work is not exactly what I’d associate with Sambrano offspring, that’s for sure.” Jimena was not a fan of Carmelina or her children. The three of them had been an ongoing headache for the entire legal department at the studio. “I know you want this job, but are you willing to see her get destroyed by the likes of Carmelina Sambrano? Because that’s what she’ll do under the guise of ‘protecting the legacy.’ Try to break her down. She’s done it before. She did it to Patricio.” Jimena’s voice was barely over a whisper when she said that last part. And she was right, Patricio’s illness had ravaged him, but his wife had accelerated the process.
Rodrigo kept his gaze on Esmeralda as he talked to Jimena. “I’ll make sure Carmelina doesn’t get up to any of her tricks, but this is a competition and I’m not Esmeralda’s protector.”
That elicited an amused laugh from Jimena. “Are you sure about that?”
“I’m serious, I—”
He never got the last of that sentence out because at the next moment Onyx Sambrano made sure every pair of eyes in the place were on him and Esmeralda.
* * *
Esmeralda let her eyes roam around the room and noticed that Carmelina and Onyx were talking in a corner, their shoulders stiff as they leaned toward each other, heads close together. It was almost like they were attempting to talk while staying as far away from each other as possible. The tension in her brother’s body was noticeable even at a distance. Esmeralda sipped from her champagne as she watched them, intrigued by the discomfort in their body language. Such a striking difference from the warmth and ease she had with her own mother.
They were clearly in a heated conversation but there was no warmth there. Abruptly, Onyx backed away from his mother, his lighter complexion mottled with red. He looked angry as he stormed off, leaving Carmelina to glare at him. Whatever had passed between those two had not been a pleasant mother and son moment. Esme’s eyes stayed on Carmelina’s angry face for a second, but the woman stormed off in the direction of the stairs.
Esme’s gaze returned to roaming the lavish garden until she found her other sibling. Unlike Esmeralda, who had gotten her coloring from their father, Perla Sambrano was fair and very slender, almost frail looking. She was beautiful, with cascading blond hair and piercing gray eyes. Tonight, she was dressed impeccably in a royal purple empire-waist gown, though she looked very small standing in a corner trying to capture the attention of a man who barely seemed to notice she was there. He was tall and commanding, dwarfing her with his height. She looked like she was pleading to him, but he barely looked at her, and after a few more attempts she gave up and walked away, swiping her fingers under her eyes.
As Perla briskly made her way to the exit she seemed to notice Esme, and for a moment she paused, hesitant. Esme’s heart kicked around in her chest, curiosity and the need to feel seen by these people betraying her feigned indifference. Perla looked in her direction so intensely that for a second Esme thought she was going to walk over, to say something. But she didn’t; her younger sister just lowered her gaze and left through one of the limestone arches. Esme didn’t know what to make of the disappointment she felt when her sister walked away. Nothing was simple in this place, with this family. Every feeling only served to burst open another more complicated and unwanted one.
Esme stood there considering the tableau she’d just witnessed—and trying to untangle her feelings about all of it—when her phone buzzed in her clutch. She smiled sadly at the flurry of messages she had from her mother and her tías. She’d sent a selfie of herself in her green gown and their responses ranged from firework emojis to bellísima, hermosa and every other word for “beautiful” in Spanish they could come up with. It was a good reminder she had people who loved her waiting not far from here. People who had her back and would never leave her to cry alone in a corner, or speak angry words to her where everyone could see. She had something to prove to the Sambranos, but she didn’t need their approval.
“Well, well, well...if it isn’t my father’s dirty little secret. Are you getting tired of pretending you belong here?” a very loud voice called in her direction. It took Esme a moment to react, but then she saw him. Onyx was sauntering up to her unsteadily as every eye in their vicinity turned toward her. Her face felt hot with embarrassment and she wanted to hide. She hated being a spectacle. But if Onyx thought he was going to hurl insults at her and she’d just take it, he had another thing coming.
“Nice to see you, Onyx. Did you have to take some time out from your busy schedule of photobombing celebrities to make it tonight?” She sounded like a bitch, but she didn’t care.
“I hope you enjoy the free booze, because you won’t be around much longer.” From the slur in his words, it seemed he was enjoying the open bar enough for the both of them. “You will never be CEO of Sambrano. My mother will see to that.” Her brother’s mouth twisted into an ugly sneer as he looked at her with naked loathing. He really hated her, which shouldn’t have been the surprise it was. On the couple of occasions her mother had sent her to spend time at their father’s house, Onyx had barely acknowledged her.
He was just a couple of years younger than her and they’d both been small then—barely in elementary school—but she always remembered how he’d looked at her. Like she was something distasteful and unpleasant. Something he didn’t like in his space. And it seemed like that feeling had only grown in the years since. That realization was a sucker punch. She’d expected defiance, even some territorial pettiness, but this hatred cut her. To know that people who shared her blood despised her without knowing much about her...
It hurt, but she would be damned if she let anyone see it.
“Sorry to inform you, brother, but Sambrano Studios is mine, too. That was how our father wanted it. Now you and I even own equal shares.” She tipped her glass to him as if to toast the happy news, even as her stomach felt like it was trying to crawl up her throat. “Means you better get used to seeing me around.” She avoided looking around, not wanting to see all the disapproving faces. She could agonize about it all later, but right now she would not give any of them the satisfaction.
Onyx looked even more furious. “You don’t belong here. You’re not his real daughter!” he spat, stalking closer. But before he could take another step toward her, Rodrigo yanked Onyx’s arms so hard he lifted him off his feet.
“Don’t even think about it!” Rodrigo whispered furiously, as he plucked her brother off his feet like a rag doll and proceeded to physically remove him from the room. She started after them as Onyx struggled in Rodrigo’s grip, but it was pointless. Onyx was not a large man and he was certainly no match for six feet and two inches of solid muscle.
“Let me go.” Her brother raged as Rodrigo made his way through the room, headed for the archway that led to an exit. You could hear a pin drop in the room, other than Onyx’s enraged protests and the clicking of her stilettos as she followed the two men. Every single person in the room was frozen in fascination watching the drama unfold. She should’ve known this would happen. In the back of her mind it occurred to her that this was very much out of character for Rodrigo. The man hated messiness but here he was diving right into the fray. It was better not to dig too deeply into the why of his actions. She already had enough to deal with.
She wouldn’t be surprised if a video of this shitshow wasn’t on every New York City gossip website within the hour. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Perla looking on as Rodrigo manhandled her brother. For a second she wondered if Carmelina would join this circus, and really give all these people the show of a lifetime. But Rodrigo moved fast and soon he was shoving Onyx through a door leading into a small alcove and propping the smaller man against the nearest wall.
“Rodrigo, put him down,” she pleaded from a safe distance, aware that getting between the two men was not advisable.
But it was like talking to a wall. He completely ignored her and continued to get in Onyx’s face. If people could only see the cool, calm and collected Mr. Almanzar now. “Are you out of your damn mind, Onyx?”
“Get your hands off me,” Onyx screeched, batting furiously at the tight grip Rodrigo had on his arm to no avail. When he wasn’t able to make the taller man budge, Onyx looked around as if he could find someone to help him. When his eyes landed on Esme that familiar vicious expression returned to his face.
One Week to Claim It All Page 7