the-charmer

by Myra Scott

  “You don’t like him?”

  He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, struggling for the words.

  “We have a long history,” he said. “He is the only man I have ever been with.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “How long?”

  “Years,” Deigo admitted, and I couldn’t help but notice that there was a hint of sadness in his tone. “I was with him when I came out to my parents. Spain is a very traditional country, still. When Alvaro and I got together and I decided I could hide it no longer, I was petrified at the thought of coming out to my own mother and father. But Alvaro was the one who pushed me to do it. He wanted everyone to know I was his.”

  He said that with a sad chuckle, but I furrowed my eyebrows. “That could have been dangerous. He should have thought about your feelings.”

  “He was a very...persuasive man.” Diego was choosing his words carefully. “As luck had it, though, my parents already knew—much like yours did, I believe. My father just laughed, and my mother handed him twenty euros. They had a bet going.”

  Both of us chuckled, and I saw that it was the first sincere laugh he’d given all morning.

  “You said ‘was,’” I noted, and he struggled to keep the frown off his face.

  “It is complicated,” he said. “He still wants me, I know this. And we have a lot of history built up around each other.”

  “But what do you want, Diego?” I asked, twisting my body to face him and give him a hard look.

  When he looked up at me, I could read the emotions in his eyes as plain as words. There was no love left in Diego for Alvaro, and I suspected there had not been for quite a long time.

  “Are you planning to break up with him?”

  “Alvaro is still a very...convincing man, Zane.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not sure I like that choice of words. You know you’re free to be with whoever you want, Diego. You are your own man. My family is the most important thing in my life, but if I felt like one of them was treating me badly, I wouldn’t hesitate to distance myself.”

  His silence said a thousand words. The fact that he didn’t correct me when I implied Alvaro was treating him badly told me everything I needed to know.

  “It is complicated, Zane,” he repeated.

  “Well,” I said as I swirled my bloody Mary around before taking a long drink of it. “What are we going to do about this for the time being?”

  “What is your instinct?” Diego asked me, and I set my drink down.

  “To answer your question, I don’t regret...us happening.” Diego looked up at the confident, decided look on my face. “Like I’ve said all along, I’m a man who knows what he wants. I would have chosen better circumstances, but we don’t always get to choose our circumstances in life, do we?”

  He cracked a smile. “No indeed.”

  “What about you?” I asked, to his surprise. “Do you regret anything? You can be honest with me; my feelings aren’t easily hurt. They certainly weren’t when you turned me down the first two times.”

  “Que? No, of course not. In fact…” He hesitated a moment, but he pressed on. “Last night was something I think I needed more than I could have admitted. Thank you for that, Zane.”

  “I’m hearing a ‘but’ in there,” I said, and Diego gave a restrained nod.

  “But...I think we both know we must keep things professional between us, given the circumstances.”

  My heart sank, but I knew he was right. It was not a long-term solution, but it was the one that made me think I could keep my family from getting the wrong impression of me, and it was the one that could keep Diego safe, even if the way he talked about his situation made me curious about whether his situation was good for him.

  “I agree,” I lied.

  “I am glad,” he lied. “Besides, Alvaro is coming here soon to oversee some of the project.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the CEO of La Torre?”

  “Si, he technically owns no part of my business, nor anything in my life, but he still likes to have a hand in these things.”

  That was a big red flag to me, and I started to let it go but found myself unable to. “Are you happy with that, Diego?”

  The look on his face told me I’d found sensitive territory, and after a long pause he gave me a sad smile. “Like I said, we should keep things professional between us, Zane.”

  I frowned, but I nodded. “That’s fair. We won’t speak a word about last night. Not to our friends, not to our loved ones.”

  “We went to a diner to sober up, and you dropped me off late into the night after you assumed your friends had made their way home,” Diego said, inventing a story for me. I couldn’t help but smile as I finished my breakfast and set it down.

  “Sounds perfect,” I said, standing up and brushing myself off. “Well then, I’ll be in touch about work.” I paused before adding with a hint more sincerity, “Take care of yourself, Diego. And if you have any trouble, I want you to call me. I’m serious.”

  Diego said nothing, but he nodded, understanding what I meant.

  I made my way to the parking lot and called a cab, but I was anything but settled after all that. Somehow, the conversation just made the guilt I felt all the worse, and by the time I sat down in the back of the cab, I could practically hear the argument between my mother and I in my head, and I rubbed my temples. On top of that, I now had suspicions about Diego’s relationship with Alvaro. What kind of man was he, exactly?

  I was Zane Anderson. My public face was everything. But if this kept up, I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it all together.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN - DIEGO

  As soon as Zane walked out the front door to get in his cab, I rushed to the bathroom to shower off. I had wasted too much time already, and Alvaro’s flight would be landing any moment now. I hastily washed my hair and face, then scrubbed down my body meticulously, like I was afraid that I might leave some small invisible sign that someone else had been touching me, using my body. I knew Alvaro hardly paid enough attention to me to notice even something like a haircut or new suit, but I was still paranoid for some reason.

  Paranoid, but shockingly not guilty. All I felt toward my mind-blowing night of lovemaking with Zane was elation and pleasure. I had enjoyed myself immensely, every single moment of our tryst, and no matter how cruelly I scolded myself, I couldn’t bring myself to feel even a little bit bad about what I had done. My body ached and stung in the best possible ways. I hadn’t been touched and kissed and fucked like that in years—possibly ever. Zane had a way of controlling me in a way that made me feel wanted and safe. When he was in charge, all my worries seemed to melt away. Every little thing he did turned me on and made me hard.

  I glanced down at my cock in the shower and was not at all surprised to see it was erect again. Just the mere thought of Zane, every bright flash of memory from last night, every image seared into my brain filled me with an overwhelming desire. Zane was an addiction, and I knew I was hooked after just one sweet, powerful hit.

  My cock ached and throbbed as I thought about him, even though I knew I was supposed to be in a hurry. I had to get cleaned up and dressed so I could hop in the car and pick up my boyfriend from the airport. But I could hardly force myself to give a damn about Alvaro at the moment. Hell, I knew he didn’t care for me anymore, and I was beginning to wonder if he had ever really cared about me in the first place. I had thought what we had was normal, even good, if I tilted my head and squinted a little. But now? I had learned what real, powerful mutual attraction and infatuation felt like, and it was nothing like the cool, distant dynamic between Alvaro and me.

  I was about to turn off the shower, when I realized that if I didn’t take care of this hard-on, I was going to be even more distracted all day. And I could not afford the distraction, not while Alvaro was in town to try and take hold of my
business dealings. If I was going to stand up to Alvaro and cope with his cruel ways, I needed to be at my best. Fully aware and focused. And so I did what I felt necessary. I stroked my aching shaft and closed my eyes, thinking about Zane, about the way his massive cock slid in and out of my ass, pounding into me until I was nearly delirious with overpowering pleasure.

  “Zane,” I mumbled, pumping my own cock as I hurtled toward climax. “Oh, god.”

  I flung my arm out to brace myself against the slick shower wall as I came, spurting hot cream down the shower drain. I shuddered with pleasure and relief. As I pumped the last few drops, I murmured to myself, “Maybe now I can focus on the task in front of me.”

  I would have to push Zane out of my head. We’d had a fantastic time together, but it was over now. I had to forget about it, at least for now. It was a little heartbreaking to think that it would be the last and only time I would get Zane all to myself like that, but it was necessary to make myself accept reality. Zane was not my boyfriend. Alvaro was. And we had been together too long to let something as trivial as true attraction and affection for someone else get in between us. Right?

  I toweled off and got dressed in a hurry, leaving the house with my dark hair still damp. I slid behind the steering wheel and threw the engine into gear. As I drove off in the general direction of the airport, I couldn’t stop thinking about how not guilty I felt.

  “What the hell is wrong with me?” I mumbled, shaking my head as I glanced up at my own reflection in the rearview mirror. “Why don’t I feel bad about this?”

  I had essentially just cheated on my long-term boyfriend. No, not essentially. Literally, I corrected myself. I had broken the bond of trust between Alvaro and me, as shaky and weak as that bond was, and yet I felt no shame. Well, I felt a little guilty about not feeling guilty, but that was it. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out when I had suddenly turned into the kind of unfaithful jerk who cheats on his boyfriend.

  “Probably about the same time that I realized Alvaro doesn’t care about me,” I murmured aloud. I had never said the words out loud before, never given breath to the doubts that swirled around in my heart. The realization felt like a slap in the face, a jolt to my heart. That was why I didn’t feel terrible about what I had done with Zane last night. Because although Alvaro was my boyfriend, technically, there was nothing loving or even akin to friendship in our relationship anymore. He was simply the controlling, manipulative man who called me every few days to berate me for being bad at my job. He was the guy who cut me down whenever I dared to feel good about myself for once.

  He’s not my boyfriend, I thought sadly, he’s my overseer.

  But we had been together too long to just give up now, right? Even if it wasn’t a great relationship, it was still something. And besides, my parents approved of Alvaro. He was shrewd, smart, distinguished, well-dressed, well-educated, from a good, wealthy family: everything my parents wanted for me in a significant other.

  “I can’t ruin my relationship over one fantastic night. It was just a fling,” I told myself firmly. “I may not feel guilty about it, but I can’t let it happen again. If that means I have to keep my distance from Zane Anderson, then so be it. That’s what I will do.”

  Even as I said the words as confidently as I could manage, I felt a twinge of sadness. Being with Zane last night had been the first time in years that I had felt truly wanted, completely comfortable and at ease. With the intense stress of my career, on top of being here in America, away from my family and home country, it was nice to let loose every now and then and release some tension.

  “But not with Zane,” I said. “Not with Mr. Anderson.”

  He would have to just be my business associate from now on, nothing more.

  I pulled up to the pick-up lane in front of McCarran and sent Alvaro a text message. He came walking out of the airport with a rolling suitcase, dressed smartly in a perfectly-tailored black suit, as was his usual ensemble. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, but it wasn’t from excitement. It was nerves. Seeing Alvaro again made the hairs on my arms stand up. He had never been physically abusive with me, except for one time when he had slapped me, but something about him still made me a little afraid. He looked dismayed to see me behind the wheel as he put his suitcase in the back and slid into the passenger seat.

  “Hola, Alvaro,” I greeted him, with a nervous smile.

  He looked me up and down, his face hard and unreadable. “I thought you were going to send a car,” he said. “I just got off a turbulent trans-Atlantic flight and now I have to endure your driving.”

  “I’ll drive carefully,” I murmured. “How was your—oh, you just told me. Turbulence.”

  I felt my cheeks burning as I pulled the car away from the pick-up lane. Alvaro sighed heavily and leaned back against the seat.

  “You should have been here half an hour ago,” he added.

  “Oh?”

  “Si, the plane landed forty-five minutes ago. I assumed you would be keeping tabs on the flight information to know when I would land,” Alvaro scolded.

  “Lo siento. I-I was distracted. My fault,” I admitted. I hadn’t even thought of that.

  “You are always distracted, tonto. That is why I have come here. To take over what you have been too distracted to manage yourself,” he quipped. “You may dress like un empresario, but you don’t have the mind for it, clearly.”

  “I am doing my best, Alvaro. I landed that deal with the Sentry Casino myself,” I replied quietly. I could feel Alvaro staring at the side of my face and I was thankful to have the road to focus on, because I did not want to meet his glare.

  “Si, pero only because I gave you advice. If not for me, La Torre would have crumbled to nothing long ago. You can play pretend all you want, Diego, but deep down you know that I am the brains behind all of this. You are just the face. Solo la cara. And sometimes I don’t know if you can even really handle that,” he berated me. I could feel my temperature rising, the color brightening in my cheeks. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, doing everything in my power to restrain myself. The last thing I needed right now was an all-out brawl with my boyfriend on the highway into the city.

  Part of me longed to hurl the words at him that I knew would actually puncture through the tough armor he wore: I slept with another man. But I knew I couldn’t do that, of course. My fling with Zane would have to be the most well-guarded secret of my life. It was sad in some ways, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that my night with Zane had given me enough imagery and great memories to sustain my fantasies for a very long time.

  Which, I realized sadly, I was going to need if I were to stay with a man like Alvaro.

  CHAPTER 14 - ZANE

  “That sounds like an incredible project,” Mom’s voice chimed over the phone. “I can’t wait to see pictures of the work in progress. It sounds like something that will really be good for both your businesses.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said with a smile, leaning back in my seat, “that’s what we’re hoping for, but it’s still early yet.”

  I was sitting behind the bar in the corner of the lounge the guys and I used for our meetings again, and I was in the middle of the most guarded conversation I’d ever had with my Mom, except for that time in high school when I convinced her I was taking up an after-school running club instead of seeing one of my first boyfriends.

  The guys were already here for the meeting I called, but Mom’s call had been unexpected. They all knew that I never ignored calls from family.

  “Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said with a gentle laugh. “You’ve done some astonishing things with your business already, and I don’t have to see it to know you’re going to knock this one out of the park.”

  “Actually, getting it done is the easy part,” I half-joked. “It’s this negotiating process that’s going to be uncharted territory for me. All o
f us here, really.”

  “So, tell me a little more about this Diego character,” Mom asked curiously, and my face went pale for a moment. What if she suspected something? What if she’d seen something? She would have said something about that by now, right? “Is he another casino veteran like you?”

  “You could say that,” I said, thinking about the many, many implications she was just inches away from touching on. “He’s from Spain, and they do things a little differently there, but he’s proving to be a great person to work with. He was cautious about agreeing to things, but he’s warmed up a lot since then.”

  “A little caution is a good thing,” Mom said firmly. “I know I taught you that, Zane.”

  “You did,” I admitted with a chuckle. “I’d be more worried about doing business with him if he didn’t play his cards carefully.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got a great handle on everything,” she said warmly, and I winced.

  If only you knew, Mom.

  There was so much I wanted to tell her. Mom could be overbearing sometimes, but she was always supportive and available to me emotionally when I was growing up. Hiding something from her felt wrong in every way possible, but there was no way I could have talked to her about this without tearing her heart up.

  My guilt had only gotten more intense over the day, so when I so much as saw Mom’s name on my cell phone, I nearly had a heart attack, assuming she had found out somehow and was calling to chew me out.

  But as usual, I knew how to handle myself under pressure. No matter what the internal storm might have been, I always kept my exterior collected and confident. Each time I caught one of the guys looking at me from across the room, they saw the Zane they knew, the CEO who was turning this casino into a name that would be in the Strip’s history books.

  This was my problem to deal with, not theirs, and certainly not my family’s.

  “You know me,” I told Mom in a lighthearted tone. “The Strip has yet to throw something at me I can’t handle.”