by Susanna Carr
* * *
Serena rested her arms on the table as she watched Cooper sign the last of the documents. It was hard to sit still. She absently tapped her toe on the rug as she twirled the thick silver pen between her fingers. She wondered how Cooper felt. Was he just as hurried to finalize this deal that stood between them or was it business as usual?
She had visualized this moment for years and it wasn’t at all how she had expected. It was not nearly as dramatic or symbolic. They were at a small table in Cooper’s hotel suite and there were only two men in suits standing beside them, explaining the legal documents.
Serena didn’t feel victorious. She didn’t want to savor the moment. If anything, she was impatient to get the papers signed. Excitement bubbled inside her as she imagined ending this long journey.
Cooper caught her eye and winked. She shyly looked away. She couldn’t believe she had cried in front of him and she was still uncomfortable about it. She hoped that memory would fade and Cooper would remember her when she was strong, confident and beautiful.
She didn’t know how she would remember Cooper Brock. When she thought of him, would she think about the way he strode out of the water, defiant and angry? Or would it be the teasing gleam in his eyes and the wicked smiles while they shared meals? She wouldn’t forget the dark intensity in his face when he made love to her. And she would always long for the way he had touched and held her that made her feel cherished.
Serena wanted to create more memories with him. She was ready to start the next part of her life but she was reluctant to leave Cooper. Maybe she should take him up on his offer. She had refused to give him an answer in the shower. Serena blushed as she remembered her carnal response as he tried to convince her with his hands and mouth. His tenacity and imagination had been breathtaking.
But a future with Cooper? It wasn’t going to be easy. She was used to doing everything alone but she wanted to be with him. She was willing to make a few compromises and create room for him in her world. She wouldn’t do that for just anyone, but Cooper was different. He was everything she wanted in a man. She trusted and respected him.
She was in love with him. She exhaled slowly as she accepted the truth. The knowledge filled her with light and warmth. She was safe to show the love and trust. He wouldn’t use it against her. Now that she was giving up the file and her revenge, she had the freedom to explore the connection between them.
Serena was pulled out of her reverie as the men gathered up the documents. As Cooper’s advisers left, one of them wanted to talk to him about another deal. “I’ll go walk them down,” Cooper told her. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
She nodded, her skin tingling when she saw the sensual promise in his eyes. She waited until he left before she walked to her purse and retrieved her phone. While signing the documents she had belatedly realized today was her mother’s birthday.
She turned the power on to her phone, her eyebrows rising when she saw how many messages and emails were waiting for her. Serena sighed as she felt the weight of responsibilities. In the past she would plow through the work but she no longer felt that motivated. Cooper Brock was a bad influence, she decided with a smile. She would deal with the messages once her vacation was over.
She called her mother and was surprised that she picked up on the first ring.
“Serena, where have you been?” Beatriz sounded panicked. “Why haven’t you returned my calls?”
“I’m sorry.” Serena glanced at the phone with bewilderment. She never had to tell her mother where she was going or what she was doing. “And I’m...”
“And what did you do to anger Aaron Brock?”
Serena paused, momentarily stunned. “I, uh...”
“Tell me that you did not pursue that ridiculous revenge fantasy that you’ve been holding on to.” Her mother launched into a string of curses. “How many times did I tell you to let it go? You don’t have the power to go after the Brock empire. No one does!”
How did her mother know about this? She hadn’t told anyone about this plan. “I am not pursuing revenge of the Brocks. In fact...”
“It has taken me years to recover what that man did to our family,” Beatriz said, her voice breaking. “Years.”
Her mother’s agitation scared her. It reminded her of those dark days when Beatriz suddenly couldn’t cope. Serena wouldn’t let that happen again.
“Mama,” Serena said sharply, determined to get her mother to focus. “Tell me what happened.”
“I am about to lose everything. Again,” she moaned. “All thanks to the Brock family.”
Serena’s body went cold as her heart pounded furiously. She glanced at the door where Cooper had left. “How is that possible?”
“I didn’t think we were on his radar but then you apparently made the first strike. Why, Serena?” Beatriz’s voice trembled. “It took me over a decade to build this life and Aaron Brock has destroyed it in a single day.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SERENA STARED OUT the window at the crashing waves. Her hands shook as she clenched the phone to her chest. No, she realized, it wasn’t just her hands. Tremors racked her body. The howling pain whipped through her and she held herself very still.
For some reason it was important not to move. Serena blinked rapidly as the tears burned the backs of her eyes. If she didn’t move, she wouldn’t break into a million pieces. If she remained still, she wouldn’t cry. Or scream. Not yet. Not until she was alone where no one could see her.
“Sorry I took so long, sweetheart.”
She flinched. Cooper’s voice sounded loud. Booming. She wanted to hunch her shoulders and block her ears. She wanted to turn around and take a swing at him. Instead, she stared at the ocean.
“What are you doing with your phone?” he asked.
Serena noticed a few things about his voice. She heard the arrogance and energy. He sounded pumped from signing a deal. She also heard how close it was to her.
“I thought we decided no work until we left,” he said.
Yes, that plan worked perfectly. The bitterness bled inside her. She thought it had been a romantic gesture—a promise that nothing else in the world mattered. That she was more important to him than business. She honestly believed that Cooper didn’t want anything to intrude on them while they got to know each other.
She should have known it had been a ploy. Worse, she had followed her instincts and trusted Cooper. Whenever she was faced with the unknown or when she had felt outnumbered, she had relied on her intuition. But even that had failed her. Serena closed her eyes as the pain rippled through her chest. She didn’t have any clue that he was going to betray her. That scared her as much as it hurt her.
“Serena?”
She swallowed hard, opened her eyes and stared at the crashing waves. She couldn’t look at Cooper. “Yes, I know we had agreed on that, but I noticed the date when we were signing the documents. It’s my mother’s birthday.” It hurt to talk. It felt as if she was pushing the words past a giant lump in her throat. “I wanted to call her.” If it hadn’t been for that, she wouldn’t have known what disaster she had been walking into.
A beat of silence pulsed in the air. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“There’s no need to act concerned.” She slowly turned around and found Cooper standing right beside her. She stared at his chest, unable to look at him in the eye. “I know what you’ve been doing.”
She felt the tension invade his body. “What are you talking about?”
“Drop the innocent act.” She ground out the words. “My mother just informed me what’s been going on.”
Cooper reached out and lifted her chin with his hand. “If you’re going to accuse me of something, look me in the eye and do it.”
She jerked out of his hold and glared at him. She may be
a fool but she wasn’t a coward. “Why is Aaron Brock looking into my mother’s life?”
Cooper frowned. “There’s obviously been a mistake.”
There certainly was. She had made the mistake of lowering her guard. It had been an error of judgment to let him in her bed. But her biggest mistake was showing Cooper how she felt about him. The only thing he didn’t get from her was a declaration of love.
He knew how to play her. All this time she thought she was his equal and that she had the same power over him. It was a heady sensation believing this man wanted her more than anything. He made her feel desirable and special. He made her feel invincible when the truth was she was a vulnerable target.
“I will get to the bottom of this, Serena,” he promised. “Trust me.”
Trust him? His words were like a hard slap. “I then read the messages my father sent.” She looked down at the phone in her clenched hands. Should she show him the messages? Should she wait for him to come up with a plausible explanation? Cooper was smart and wily. It wouldn’t take him long. “He was putting together a property deal but the investors suddenly got nervous. It turns out Aaron Brock has been asking questions and raising concerns about his past deals.”
Cooper rested his hand on her shoulder.
“No!” She tore away from him, her hard-earned composure breaking. “Don’t touch me. You lost that right.”
His eyes narrowed. “Like hell I did!”
“I can’t believe I fell for this.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “I changed my mind about getting my revenge because I didn’t want to hurt you. And all this time you were planning on hurting me and my family.”
Anger flickered in his eyes. “You hear one rumor and you suddenly don’t trust me? I have done nothing to make you believe these lies. I am in the dark like you.”
She took a step back. “Don’t lie to me, Cooper. It’s not a coincidence that Aaron started hunting for dirt during the time you suggested we cut ourselves off from the world.” She waved her arms at the luxurious hotel suite. “And let’s not forget when you encouraged me to stay here a little longer.”
“I encouraged you to stay,” he said hoarsely, “because I wanted to be with you.”
“You wanted to keep an eye on me,” she corrected him. “Get me out of the way so I couldn’t protect my parents.”
His mouth straightened into a grim line. “Stop trying to make me the enemy, Serena. If you took a moment you will see that everything I’ve done was to take care of you.”
“I wanted to believe that. I kept giving you the benefit of the doubt. The other night I overheard your conversation with your father. ‘Forget about Serena,’ you said. ‘I’ve taken care of the situation. She’s not going to be a problem.’ And I dismissed it.” She was so disappointed in herself for ignoring the signs. “I wanted to trust you. I decided I misunderstood. That you were protecting me.”
He clenched his fists at his sides. “I was protecting you,” he said fiercely.
“Why should I believe that? Where’s your proof?”
“It’s in everything I do for you,” he declared. “It’s in the way I touch you...”
She held up her hands to stop him. “All of that was pretend.”
“Why would I pretend when I didn’t know your family’s connection with mine until you told me?” The lines bracketing his mouth deepened. “Was it fake when I pursued you relentlessly? Was it pretend when I was deep inside you, giving you the ultimate pleasure?”
Her skin went hot as she remembered how Cooper revealed the wild side of her. “You took me to bed to distract me from what your family was really doing.”
“Remember the facts, sweetheart. You lured me into bed.”
“You manipulated me!” she tossed back. “You knew I wouldn’t give you the time of day unless I felt like I had the power. You gained my trust when you didn’t deserve it.”
“You can trust me,” Cooper insisted. “After everything we’ve been through together, you know you’re wrong. You know this is an automatic response. Once you calm down...”
Serena’s eyes widened as she gave a harsh laugh. “You’re crazy!”
He gestured at the bedroom behind the double doors. “If you hadn’t fully trusted me, you wouldn’t have gone to bed with me. You wouldn’t surrender so completely.”
Her surrender. She felt the blush creep up her neck before flooding her cheeks. He would have to bring it up. “Why are you so proud, Cooper? You got to me using sex. You kept me in bed and hidden away from the world as a strategic maneuver.”
“Don’t make it sound like this affair was against your will.”
It hadn’t been. Until this moment, the affair was one of the happiest times of her life. She had found a man whose strength didn’t frighten her but instead encouraged her to rely on him. She thought she had found someone who understood her. Serena didn’t believe in soul mates but she thought she had a special connection with Cooper.
“Was the holiday fling your idea? Or did Aaron suggest it?” She ignored the way Cooper paled at her questions. “Which one of you came up with the strategy to attack my parents?”
“Let me talk to Felipe and...”
“No!” She pointed a finger at him. “You are not going anywhere near me or my family. So help me God, if you do...” She fell into silence as the fury bloomed inside her. It ate away at her like acid.
“Serena?”
“This must be how Aaron felt when my father betrayed him,” she muttered.
“Don’t say things like that.” Cooper’s voice was rough with impatience. “You’re better than my father.”
“Am I?” She felt a strange kinship with Aaron Brock. Did Aaron have this sickening fear clinging to him when his world had fallen apart? She was dizzy, wondering who she could lean on and who she could trust. Nausea swept through her when she accepted the fact that there was no one on her side. She understood the absolute loss of control and the need to regain it.
Cooper advanced on her and she scurried back. “Stay away from me!” she yelled.
“Why?” He didn’t slow down. “You like it when I hold you.”
She did. Even now. Even while she was backing up Serena wanted to curl up against his chest and feel his strong arms around her. It didn’t make sense. He was the reason she was in pain. He was the one she needed protection from. “That was before I knew what kind of man you were.”
Her back hit against the wall and he flattened his hands next to her head. Cooper surrounded her. Apprehension slithered down her spine. She was trapped.
“Whatever you’re planning to do,” he said with lethal softness, “whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
She thrust out her jaw. “Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?”
His gray eyes glittered. “I am your lover.”
Why did his simple statement make her knees go weak? “That’s not true, cowboy,” she whispered. “You were my downfall.”
Cooper glared at her. “Don’t talk about me in the past tense. I’m still here.”
“And I’m leaving,” she announced. She ducked under his arm but she wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed her wrist and held her still.
She looked down at his big hand. He had soothed and excited her with that hand. He had unleashed the sensual side of her and now he was trying to contain her.
“You don’t want to do that,” she said coldly.
His fingers flexed against her wrist. “More threats, Serena?”
More? Her muscles went rigid as her mind churned. A thin sliver of hope cracked wide-open and streamed through the darkness that shrouded her. “I don’t need more threats. I still have the one I used before.”
“Stop talking in riddles,” Cooper demanded.
“You and your father miscalculated.” I
t seemed impossible. The Brocks always had luck on their side.
“Serena, what the hell are...?”
“I still have the file,” she reminded him. She pulled out of his grasp as he stared at her. “The one with all the damning evidence on Aaron Brock. And I’m going to use it.”
* * *
This couldn’t be happening. Cooper wanted to grab Serena and shake some sense into her. He knew he could stop his father and fix this but Serena wanted to feed the fire. “What are you talking about?”
“I haven’t gotten around to sending the file to your office yet. I haven’t been on the phone to make those arrangements.” She gave a nonchalant shrug at her oversight but the glint of rage in her eyes negated the effect. “You should have thought about that before you betrayed me.”
“I didn’t betray you!” Cooper wanted to yell out the words but it wouldn’t make a difference. Serena had already found him guilty. It was as if she was waiting for a reason to throw away what they had. She hadn’t trusted it. Hadn’t trusted him. Not completely.
Why couldn’t she trust him? What was he lacking? He had done everything in his power to show he was worthy of her love and trust and it wasn’t enough. He was never going to be enough.
“I didn’t think you would.” Her lashes dipped as she hid the pain in her gold eyes. “I told you what happened to me and my family. I told you things that I tried to forget.”
He knew how hard it had been for her to share those moments. Serena told them in the dark of night. She had whispered as if she was making a confession. She had been turned away from him but still in his arms. As difficult as it was to hear her stories, Cooper had been honored that she’d shared them with him. And now she regretted it.
“I didn’t tell you it for sympathy.” Her voice cracked and he saw the tears in her eyes. “I told you because those challenges shaped me. I wanted you to understand why I am the way I am.”
“I know.” He understood that her need for revenge was really a need to take control of her life.