“Do that.”
He walked away and she looked after him for a moment. Stone had taught her a lot. She hadn’t left the relationship with a broken heart alone. She’d left with a love of wine, and he had taught her so much about grapes, the winemaking process, and the complexity of flavors in each vintage.
She stared down at the business card and realized she wouldn’t call. Not because she hated him, but because she was no longer the naive nineteen-year-old who’d believed his lies, or the broken twenty-year-old who’d summoned the strength to walk away. They no longer knew each other. They were strangers with a common past that was better left…in the past.
“Who was that?”
Sonia jumped and looked up at Esteban. She’d been so focused on her memories that she didn’t see him walk up.
“Oh, um…an old friend. Stone Riverton. He owns a chain of restaurants in Georgia and Tennessee.”
Esteban looked at the card in her hand.
“He offered to help me find a job.” This wasn’t the way she’d hoped to broach the subject of getting a job, but it might be a good way to feel him out.
One eyebrow lifted. “Lucky for you that you don’t need to work.”
His expression didn’t reveal much, but it was clear he wasn’t open to the idea, which annoyed her. “He thought since I have my certification, I could find a position as a sommelier somewhere.”
“We agreed you wouldn’t work, so what he thinks doesn’t matter.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t a real smile, and having him shut down the suggestion so swiftly and without regard to her opinion made Sonia dig in her heels.
“Well, I’ll hold on to the card. Just in case.” She tucked it into her purse and gave him her own fake smile. “So, how did your talk go?”
His eyes narrowed slightly on her, but he followed the change in subject and updated her on his conversation with Veronique’s friend.
For the rest of the evening, Sonia focused on having a good time, whether or not Esteban was by her side. At one point in the evening, she saw him in conversation with Cesar, but his distracted gaze rested on the back of Stone’s head as he chatted with a guest standing in front of the musicians on stage.
They left the party three hours later, and by then the pending storm had arrived, dousing the landscape in a torrent of raindrops.
Chapter 29
Esteban should have left it alone, but Sonia’s answer about Stone Riverton being a friend didn’t appear completely truthful, and their body language as he’d watched from across the room made him suspicious there was much more between them.
He’d done some digging and now knew more about Sonia’s relationship with Stone Riverton than he ever needed to know. Stone was a married man, with a disabled wife, and during his affair with Sonia gave her perks, including a car and a promotion to assistant manager with very little prior experience.
He entered the house, and the aroma of a baked cake greeted his nostrils. He stopped in the foyer and listened to feminine laughter coming from the direction of the kitchen. Heading that way on quiet feet, he found Sonia and Delores at the island, jazz filtering through the invisible speakers in the room.
Delores was smoothing buttercream icing on a two-layer cake on a pedestal, while Sonia perched on one of the stools in a floral print kimono, watching with her body angled over the island. Her short hair was brushed back from her face so he could clearly see her smooth, round cheeks and plump lips.
As though she suddenly sensed his scrutiny, she looked up, eyebrows rising in surprise. “Oh, you’re here!”
Instead of the tension leaving him like always, it increased. Esteban rolled his shoulders. “What’s the reason for the cake?”
“No reason. It’s my uncle’s recipe for what he calls the best darn red velvet cake in the country. I had told Delores that people love it, and he gives them out at Christmas, and she demanded the recipe.”
“I did not demand, señorita.” Delores smiled at her.
Sonia giggled. “Anyway, I called up Uncle Rowell for the recipe, and we decided to give it a try.”
“Tell him your news,” Delores said, continuing to smooth the icing.
The smile on Sonia’s face wavered a bit, but then she perked up. “Nothing’s definite yet, but I contacted the Sommelier Group, and it turns out they’re interested in hiring me and think I would be a good fit for a few hotel projects they have planned. They want me to come in for an interview.” She looked at him expectantly.
“So you applied for a job?” Esteban asked.
“It’s only part-time.”
“You’re wasting your time and theirs, because if they offer you a job, you won’t be able to take it.”
Except for the wail of a saxophone from the stereo, silence filled the room, and the soft glow disappeared from Sonia’s brown eyes.
Delores slowly set down the spatula. “Thank you for the recipe. I’m going upstairs now. Good night.” She walked out of the room with her eyes averted.
Sonia cleared her throat and straightened on the stool. “I know we agreed I wouldn’t work, but this gig won’t take a lot of my time, and it’ll give me something to do. There are only so many times I can go to the salon and eat lunch with my girlfriends.”
“That’s not part of our agreement. You agreed to be available to me, and I agreed I would take care of all your expenses. If you want to work, you can come work for me so that there’s no conflict with your schedule.”
“I already work for you.”
Her mouth set in an obstinate line, and Esteban gritted his teeth.
“Then get a hobby. Maybe you could take up baking.”
She glared at him. “You’re being unreasonable,” she said quietly.
“Am I? Or are you?” he asked.
“So I’m never going to work?”
“I just offered you a job, and you turned it down.”
“I want something separate from you.”
“Since when?”
A chilling tension filled the room.
“Are you telling me none of your other mistresses worked?”
His other lovers worked, but he’d never cared. In fact, he’d welcomed the occasional break. Everything changed with Sonia. Their liaison was the longest to date and involved different parameters. He had moved her into his home, and she traveled everywhere with him—something he’d never done before.
“Our arrangement is different,” he said.
“There’s not termination clause in our agreement, so how much longer is our arrangement supposed to continue, Esteban?”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. “Why?”
She shot daggers at him. “I’m asking so I can do some planning. We never discussed an end date, and this has to end sometime, doesn’t it?”
Her voice dropped at the end, and his stomach did the same—plunging with unexpected swiftness.
“It ends when I say it ends.”
“There’s the arrogant ass I remember.” She got down from the stool. “I guess you’re back to showing your true colors.”
“And when do you show yours?” he asked.
Her startled gaze met his. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, you like to pretend this is the first time you’ve ever done this, but I should have known better. You’re much too good at it.” She blanched, and he heard a stricken sound emit from her throat. He stalked past her. “We have a cocktail party to attend. I’m going to take a shower.”
Esteban turned on the lights in the bathroom and tore off his clothes as angry tension invaded every corner of his body. Why was he so angry? Jealousy, perhaps, at knowing that Stone Riverton had established a similar relationship with Sonia? Upset, because she’d duped him into believing that this was the first time she’d been a kept woman, yet every time she gave him a sweet smile, rubbed his back, or showed concern, she was simply playing a part because he paid her to do it and had done so before.
Now h
e understood Craig’s snide remarks in Argentina. He must have found out about Sonia’s relationship with Stone.
Esteban and Sonia’s agreement had been laid out in black and white, but now it soured his stomach—especially when he considered that she’d been the same way with Stone. Esteban paid handsomely for her company and loyalty, and if he lost everything, she would be gone, like his ex, Elsa. Maybe she was ready to go now. She’d certainly implied as much by her comment in the kitchen.
He stepped into the frameless glass shower enclosure, which doubled as a sauna, complete with a bench for sitting—a fixture he hadn’t used once since he moved in. He turned on the water and lifted his face to the overhead nozzle, letting the spray from the square fixture pelt his face. Rolling his shoulders, he braced his hands against the cool wall and let the warm water drop in soothing beats onto his neck and back.
He sensed, rather than heard, Sonia come into the room. Glancing sideways, he looked at her looking at him.
“Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong. I have never done this before.” Her lips firmed, and she marched out with her back ramrod straight.
Esteban gritted his teeth and stared at the wall. He hurried through the rest of his shower and left the bathroom. Sonia sat on the bed, flipping through a magazine.
“Aren’t you getting dressed?” he asked.
“I’m not going.” She flipped a page hard.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sonia. They’re expecting us.”
“I’m not going, unless you plan to drag me kicking and screaming against my will. Otherwise, feel free to dock my pay.” Their eyes locked in a battle of wills before she returned her attention to the pages of the magazine.
Fuming, Esteban went into his dressing room and after a while came out fully dressed in a dark suit. “What should I tell Annabelle?” he asked, referring to the evening’s hostess.
“Tell her I’m sick.”
He stalked to the door.
“Why don’t you ask me what you want to know, Esteban? Or would you rather guess and silently judge me?”
He stopped. “And what do I want to know, Sonia?”
“You want to know if I was Stone Riverton’s mistress.”
His dark gaze bored through her. “Were you?”
Sonia shut the magazine and stood. “No, I wasn’t. I was nineteen years old, and he was my boss, and I had an affair with him. I considered him my boyfriend. But I was not his mistress.”
“Do you deny the car and the promotion?”
“My, my, you did your homework already, didn’t you?” she said with a snide grin.
His lips tightened into a thin line.
“The car was a used Nissan I accepted as a birthday gift. I gave it back when I quit. I thought the assistant manager position was merit-based, but obviously there were other factors, such as my great ability to suck him off in the parking lot after the restaurant closed.”
Esteban winced.
“I was young and didn’t consider that he was rewarding me. I was good at my job, or maybe I just didn’t care. It took me a while to figure out that men would just give me things because of the way I looked. I didn’t even have to ask. But believe me, I learned.”
“He’s married.”
“We’d been together a year when I found out he was married. Last night was the first time I’ve seen him wear his wedding ring.” She placed both hands on her hips. “But let me ask you a question: whatever happened to we were all young once and make mistakes? Does that apply to you alone? Because it bothers you that I had a relationship with Stone. Why is that? Being your mistress is perfectly acceptable, but being his somehow makes me morally bankrupt? I never knew you could be such a hypocrite. I learned something new tonight.”
She left him in the bedroom and went out onto the patio, to the spot where he usually sat and smoked. She pulled her feet up to her chin and stared out at the water.
Esteban watched her for a moment before heading out the door.
Another crack in their relationship. Theirs was a delicate and temporary arrangement. It didn’t allow for too many cracks.
Attending the cocktail party had been a waste of time because all Esteban could think about was Sonia. He’d become accustomed to having her by his side. Even if they didn’t remain in the same room, knowing she was in the general vicinity was a comforting feeling, which he’d missed tonight.
Then there was the gnawing sensation that everything was falling apart. She’d been angry, but beneath the anger, he thought he might have seen hurt, too. She’d been so insulted by his initial offer that the thought of her possibly taking on the same role with another man—even if she did so before she ever met Esteban—upset him. He wasn’t proud of it, but it was the truth.
Worst of all was her question about terminating their arrangement. Her question played in a tireless loop in his head, taunting him with the possibility of her leaving, a situation he staunchly objected to.
The house was quiet when he entered. Oddly quiet, as if no one else was within.
“Lights on.”
Esteban went to the bedroom. The bed was empty.
A wave of panic seized him. Taking long strides, he yanked open the door of her dressing room, his heart racing. All of her clothes were there. His shoulders slumped in relief, and he clutched his head.
She wouldn’t leave without a word, and not because of a stupid fight. So where was she?
He walked through the house, listening for sounds of her. Could she be upstairs?
As he passed by the living room, movement on the other side of the glass caught his eye. He hadn’t noticed before because she was way in one corner, sitting on the patio with only a few of the outdoor lights on. And she wasn’t alone.
Esteban stepped out, and both Jackie and Sonia stopped laughing and looked up at him. A half-drunk bottle of wine and a platter of sausages and cheeses sat on the glass table between them.
“Hello, Esteban!” Jackie waved. “Back so soon? Sonia invited me over because she thought you’d be out late.”
“I have a headache, so I came back early.” He rubbed a hand across his forehead, but Sonia paid no attention like she had in the past. She didn’t ask if he was okay or needed an aspirin. She sipped her wine, staring at the dark water of the bay, as if he hadn’t even spoken.
“I’ll leave you ladies alone to get back to your conversation.”
Jackie didn’t appear to know about their argument earlier, otherwise he was certain she would not have been so friendly.
He went back inside the house. He truly did have a headache from that split second when he thought she’d left. The throbbing lessened to a low throb when he saw her, but it was a headache nonetheless.
Instead of going to bed, he went to his home office to work. There was a portfolio he needed to evaluate, and maybe while he was in there, he’d think of a way to make things up to Sonia.
Chapter 30
Sonia was early for dinner with Esteban, but decided to have Abel drop her at Patagonia anyway. They didn’t have a social engagement tonight. He was taking her to dinner and had promised a surprise.
After her morning workout in the home gym, one of Linn’s personal shoppers came by with a host of garments. Bella Boutique stocked the types of clothes that showed off her figure and made her look good on Esteban’s arm, and after this morning’s session, her closet contained five more dresses, two pantsuits, and accessories to complement each outfit.
Following her personal shopping experience, she went to the spa for a full afternoon of pampering—a facial and body scrub, a Brazilian wax, followed by a relaxing Vichy shower and massage. During the mani-pedi, they painted her nails a creamy, light color, and then she went to the hair station. Esteban preferred her hair short, and after a deep conditioning, the stylist brushed her hair away from her face and added lift and body with a large-barrel curling iron.
She chose her clothes with Esteban in mind. Today she’d opted for a long yellow dress with sh
eer sleeves, belted with a yellow sash, with an open front that allowed her to show off her legs if she wanted to. Nestled between her breasts was the gold and platinum Tiffany necklace Esteban had given her months ago.
She walked down the hall and waved at Abena through the open door of her office next to his. “Hey there.” She breezed by.
“He’s in a meeting,” Abena called.
Sonia stopped and turned around. “I’m early,” she said, standing in the door.
“Come in and sit down.”
“I don’t want to bother you.”
“It’s no bother. Would you like something to drink?” Abena rose from her desk, chic in a cream pantsuit.
“Sure. Water would be fine.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Abena left the office, and Sonia settled into one of the guest chairs.
She heard Esteban’s office door open and then voices—his and the distinct sound of a woman’s softer tone. Then laughter and movement outside the hallway. Out of curiosity, she glanced through the open doorway and saw a flash of red hair and a confident strut in high heels. Sonia looked away but did a double take. Her heart raced as the vaguely familiar figure disappeared from view.
She jumped up from the chair and stood in the middle of the hallway, watching the woman walk to the elevator.
Turn around, Sonia thought. She held her breath.
The redhead pushed the down button and turned her head in Sonia’s direction. Time stood still. There was no mistaking that face. The last time she’d seen her, she’d been staring up at Sonia, helping Pedro pick up his discarded clothes from the yard in front of her apartment building.
The woman gave her a friendly smile in greeting—an automatic gesture that immediately transformed into a frozen expression of recognition. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise, and as the elevator doors eased open, she lowered her gaze and ducked inside.
What in the world?
Sonia could hardly breathe.
Abena came around the corner holding a bottle of water and cast a cursory glance at the closing elevator before bestowing a smile on Sonia. “Here you go.” She extended the water, but Sonia ignored her hand.
More Than a Mistress (Latin Men Book 5) Page 18