Law #1: Never Bet on Love: A Sweet Billionaire Love Story (Laws of Love)

by Agnes Canestri

  He surprises me by saying, “What you said about my father earlier…it brought up a memory I didn’t even know I had…” He pauses and sighs deeply.

  “What was it?” is on the tip of my tongue, but I squeeze my jaws to keep it in. I was already too fast with my words once, because I thought it would help Nathan if he considered the possibility that he might be unwittingly following a dead man’s path instead of his own. I won’t make the same mistake again.

  Nathan rubs his neck, his eyes fixed on my face, but I’m not sure he’s actually seeing me as he speaks. “The details aren’t important…but it was my last talk with my father. A few hours after that, he was taken to the hospital and died by a cerebral aneurysm. The doctors said he had worked himself literally to death.”

  “Oh, Nathan.” I reach out and take his hand.

  His eyes regain focus and our gazes meet.

  I’m aware that I might be overstepping his boundaries again, but I can’t hold it in any longer. “I’m sorry for my hasty comment earlier. I know what a struggle it is to go against the expectations that the deceased have for us.” Given that I’m defying those of my mother in this very moment by feeling what I feel for you. “But sometimes, we just need to do what our heart”—along with a zealous grandmother and a dreamy cousin—“tells us to do.” I clear my throat. “Anyway, your true vocation may not even be be different from what your father wanted.”

  Nathan’s brows arch and his mouth opens slightly.

  I continue with one breath, afraid that if I inhale, my ideas will get jumbled up. “I believe that you’ll be a great CEO. Just be you when you do it. All of you.”

  He bends towards me and caresses my cheeks. “Thank you, Eva. And for the record, I’m pretty sure that it’s the sign of a new adventure.”

  It takes me a second to realize what he’s referring to, but when I do, my chest stutters. It’s my turn to be honest with him now. “I also have something to put on the record…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes. The fact that you, too, make me feel out of my element. A lot.” A wave of heat flashes through me as I say these words.

  I don’t know how I managed the courage of uttering them—so revealing and so unlike my normal cautious self. But I’m tired of fearing that, if I show Nathan just how interested I am in him, this connection between us might dissolve into nothing, and he’ll tick me off his list as a victory.

  A sign that I’ve truly changed.

  Nathan sucks in a breath. “Eva, Eva…what are you doing to me? Normally I’d be pleased to hear this. I like to have an unsettling effect on people. But with you? I don’t want that. I want you to feel at ease with me so that you…” His eyes dip to my lips and his voice becomes huskier. “I know what I want, Eva. But what is it that you want? “

  I swallow. “Right now?”

  “Yes, right now.”

  I watch his pupils dilate.

  Is he thinking…? Oh, goodness.

  I keep staring into his eyes as he starts to inch closer.

  Confused voices scream at each other in my head.

  Mom’s voice yells that I’m being silly and heading to sheer disaster and hurt. Abuelita’s argues that I need to go with the flow and give my happiness a chance. Laia’s dreamy one is picking the perfect shade for my wedding dress. No, no! I don’t want my first kiss with Nathan to be like this. Not with my mother, grandmother, and cousin shouting at me.

  Nathan cups my face, and my mind goes into shutdown. It’s as if his touch stops all the haywire in my brain, forcing me to focus on the present. The voices disappear and it’s just me and him. In this blissful silence, the only noise I hear is the hammering in my ribcage and Nathan’s hitched breath. And these sounds make it clear what we both want.

  Nathan raises his brow. “Eva…may I?” He is so close that his words send a tickling heat to the delicate skin of my mouth.

  If Nathan’s simple smile turns my blood into thick honey, what could his lips do to me? Am I ready to find out? Even as this question flashes in me, I know it’s the last remainder of my rationality. It is as weak as a feather and in fact, the next exhale of Nathan sweeps it away as if it had never been there.

  I nod imperceptibly, and Nathan closes the distance between us.

  The light of the streetlamp from the parking lot fades away as I close my eyes and abandon myself in this moment I’ve desired so long.

  I’ve wanted this for quite some time now, but was too much of a coward to even admit it to myself. All my molecules are dancing and basking in the delightful sensation that his kiss unleashes in me.

  Who cares where this will lead when it awakens the most marvelous sensations in me? I just want to savor this moment and analyze it later. Or maybe just skip the latter part altogether and never stop what we’re doing. Licks of electricity rush down my veins as our breaths unite and Nathan’s hand gently slides to my nape, holding me in a strong and safe cocoon.

  There is a loud knock on the car’s window on my side. Its unexpected sound startles us. I turn to see who disturbed us, but I can’t see anybody.

  By the time I blink back at Nathan, he’s sitting stiff-backed in the driver seat. His expression isn’t lustful or tender anymore. His face is set in a confused frown. Is he as overwhelmed by the intensity of the chemistry between us as I am?

  Before I can ask, Judy’s face appears on the other side of the windshield. She waves and taps at her wrist, mouthing, “Are you coming?”

  “I think you need to go,” Nathan says.

  I nod. “Yes, you’re right. I have to. Sorry.”

  I signal to Judy that I’m coming, and she steps back from the window.

  How should I leave him? After what we just…uhm, I could very well lean in and give him a feathery kiss, couldn’t I? But before I can muster up the courage, Nathan opens his door and jumps out. He comes around to my side and helps me out of the car. As he releases my hand, he says, “Good luck with your new choreography, Eva. I’d love to come and watch you dance, but I can’t. I have to catch up on some work.”

  My heart drops.

  I’d decided to trust Nathan when I kissed him. I don’t want to back out on him. But when he gives me only a soft peck on my cheek and hurries back to his driver seat, my faith wavers. Is he having second thoughts about what happened?

  Nathan opens his car door and his eyes travel to mine. “Is it okay if I drive by your place tomorrow after lunch? I have two meetings in the morning, but I should be done by twelve with those. Or do you still have concerns about me meeting your grandmother again?”

  He gives me a grin and the conspiratorial inclination of the word still reassures me that for him, too, we’ve crossed a line. We are in unexplored territory together. We’ve left the notion of friendship for good.

  Elation rushes through me. “No, no. It’s a great idea. I think Abuelita would love to meet you again. Also Juan has made a painting. He’d certainly be proud to show you.”

  My enthusiasm lures a bright smile from him. “Fine. I’m glad we don’t have to hide that we’re dating,” he says, then winks at me.

  He hops behind the wheel, and his Jaguar jumps to life with a loud roar.

  After he drives off, Judy pokes me between my ribs. “Oh-la-la, Evita! And I thought you were writing off this charmer because he has too much money, which”—she wiggles her brows at me—“should never be a problem, if you ask me.”

  “Well, let’s say that I’m giving him a chance to prove me wrong.” I shrug nonchalantly. I’m not ready to discuss Nathan with Judy just yet. With our kiss replaying in my head like a stuck record, I doubt I could formulate many intelligible words about him other than a gushing. “Oh, he’s just so…”

  Judy snakes her arm around my elbow, and we walk to the bar together.

  My eyes are glued to the sky where a couple of stars are paying us a visit already. While admiring their bright shine, I almost trip on a styrofoam cup. I lower my eyes, just in time to avoid a few crushed soda can
s and a bunch of cigarette butts amassed in a tiny hill. Great, some of the truck drivers must have arrived before the opening hour and decided to bide their time in the parking lot.

  The clacking of our heels on the asphalt mixes with the screeching tires of a car in the distance. Could it be Nathan’s? I wonder what he’s thinking about our kiss…

  “Evita!”

  I shoot a questioning glance at Judy. Did she say something?

  Then the voice speaks again, and I’m robbed of air. “Evita! Long time no see.”

  No, it didn’t come from Judy. But its familiar cadence and brash undertone makes the small hairs on my back rise at once. Not in anticipatory pleasure.

  In full alert.

  “It’s Fernando,” Judy whispers into my ear, but she doesn’t need to. I would recognize my ex’s commanding tone even in my deepest sleep.

  And my dream would turn into a nightmare.

  Chapter 24

  (Eva)

  I whip around, all nerves in my body contracting at once.

  Fernando strolls toward us with lazy steps, grinning as if he’s coming to an arranged meeting with me. As if bumping into him in front of my workplace—where he’s been banned from by Alfonso since even before I left town—wouldn’t be awkward or unusual.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, Evita,” he says as he reaches us.

  I square my shoulders but leave his comment unanswered. I have no wish to entertain any conversation with him.

  Fernando used to be a very handsome man, dark-haired with olive skin and bushy eyebrows that gave his face a determined look. But as he approaches, I can’t find any trace of his previous good looks. He’s still relatively muscular, though an open button on his belly hints at some extra weight he has put on. It’s his face, however, that shocks me. It has aged more than the actual time since our last encounter should suggest. His eyelids are saggy and two deep wrinkles run from his nose to the corners of his mouth. Even his previously thick locks are thinning, a sign that burning the candle at both ends—or in Fernando’s case, even more than that—has taken a toll on him. Did he start using that rubbish he was dealing?

  He points his finger at me, an accusing glint invading his light-brown eyes. “Woman, I’m hurt that you haven’t come to me since you returned to San Sebastian. I’ve been expecting you to drop by.”

  My hands fly to my hips, and I forget that I wanted to give him the silent treatment. “Why would I have come to you, huh?”

  I cut Fernando out of my life when I discovered his criminal activity and his countless cheating. I didn’t even search for him after I learned from Ale that it was Fernando’s package that got him arrested. Not that it would have changed anything if I had, besides put the rest of my family at risk. That’s probably why Abuelita convinced me to let it go.

  He raises his eyes to the night sky as if he’s actually thinking. Then he blinks at me, a coy smirk on his lips. “Because you missed me? To thank me for caring for Alejandro when you decided to abandon him?”

  Oh, he just pressed my banshee button. I stomp my foot and some gravel scatters. “Whaaaat?” My voice comes out so shrill I’m surprised it doesn’t shatter any windshields in the parking lot. “How do you dare to talk to me about my brother? Do you think I don’t know for whom Ale was delivering the parcel when the police caught him?!”

  Fernando rubs his chin, but judging from his steady expression, he doesn’t feel guilty at all. “So what? Your brother wanted to hang out with us. He came to me. Maybe he needed a new role model while you were away chasing your own frigging happiness.”

  My chest fills with so much hatred that my lungs have no space in my ribcage. Chasing my own happiness? I needed to leave San Sebastian because I couldn’t stand the shame he put me through. Being called the “whore of a drug dealer.” My nostrils flare as I step closer and whack him on his chest. “You? A role model? Oh, please. You only think of yourself. You always have, and you always will. You didn’t even tell Ale what he was picking up for you.”

  Fernando’s left eye twitches.

  “You lied to him like you’ve lied to me for years. You’re lucky he didn’t rat you out to the police,” I add.

  “Well, he didn’t.”

  “I should have told him about you and your business before I left,” I hiss.

  “Well, you didn’t, either.” He wiggles his brows at me. “I think it’s because you still have feelings for me, Evita.”

  A sensation resembling nausea spreads in my belly at Fernando’s words. It’s not a realization that I still have any attachment to him that makes me feel like throwing up. It’s the fact that there was once a time when I thought he was a great man, perhaps even the right one for me.

  I was younger and losing my mom had put me into a vulnerable, emotional state. Fernando’s self-assured stance, his big words, and his attention to me must have given me the sense of shelter that my step-father with his alcohol problems couldn’t. I wanted someone who would love and support me through that heart-shattering situation at home.

  All my siblings were young, so I had to keep things running when Henry couldn’t. Abuelita helped me, but most of her time was spent caring for baby Espie. In this dark time, I mistook Fernando’s empty words for the truth and interpreted his jealousy as a sign that I was important to him and that he would never lie or betray me. He never really lent me a hand in anything practical, but having him stop by and tell me he cared for me was just what I needed to hear.

  I was so blind. I didn’t notice his suspicious stories, I ignored the odd phone calls he kept receiving and the strange people who stopped him on the street, as well as his sudden disappearances that he wouldn’t explain. I didn’t see his real self until it was too late.

  But now I see it, thank heavens.

  I swallow to keep my voice as cool as possible. What I want to say can’t come across as something blurted out in the heat of the moment. “You know what, Fernando? On this point, you’re right. I still have feelings for you. Do you want me to list them for you?”

  His mouth moves into a self-satisfied smirk. “I’m all ears.”

  I lift my hand and start to count. “Loathing, disgust, revolt…and yeah, let’s not forget pity! You make me sick, but at the same time I do pity you. Because you have to live your entire existence being the cheating, lying jerk that you are.”

  Judy’s quiet voice cuts through the silence following my outburst. “We should get inside Eva. We need to get ready.”

  Gosh, I totally forgot she was standing beside me listening to our scene. “You go on. I’ll be right behind you in a minute.”

  Judy throws a doubtful glance at me but then shrugs. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  I am. It’s for the best. Things are about to get ugly between me and Fernando.

  Judy dashes to the door and disappears inside the Desert Rose’s staff entrance.

  Fernando bends forward, so that his breath reaches my nostrils.

  I wrinkle my nose. “I see you went to Marcel’s before coming here. What happened? You were afraid to stalk your ex-girlfriend without the encouragement of a few shots?” I feign to spit on the ground, a gesture I know he and his friends regard as a great offense. “I can’t believe I ever found you attractive.”

  Fernando smooths down his mustache with his thumb. One corner of his mouth twitches. When he speaks, his voice is low, but it chills me all the same. “Oh yeah? You despise your own kind now? Being some rich guy’s prostitute suits you better, huh? Does your sugar daddy know he’s dating the sister of a convict?”

  My stomach shrinks. Did Fernando see me getting out of Nathan’s car?

  Fernando studies me with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “Ah, so you didn’t mention that Alejandro’s in jail, huh? Or that you used to be part of my gang?”

  “I was never part of your gang.” My voice trembles from the emotion. “Never. As soon as I found out what you were involved in, I left you.”

  Fernando sniffs. “Whatever. T
hen you won’t mind if I pay a visit to your new boyfriend and tell him all about us and your brother?”

  “No,” I scream instinctively. Hearing about my complicated family history from Fernando’s mouth would mean a death sentence for whatever feelings Nathan has or is starting to have for me.

  I know I shouldn’t have kept silent about my brother or my past mistakes. It’s just that when I met Nathan, I didn’t know him well enough to tell him yet. And now? Perhaps I’m too afraid that I’ll scare him off as soon as he hears the word “prison.” It’s probably better to wait anyway, since Alejandro is being released soon. Once he’s out, I can introduce him to Nathan. Then Nathan will see that Alejandro is just a kid, whose only fault was trusting his sister’s ex-boyfriend.

  Fernando grabs my wrist. He leans in so close to my neck that his lips brush my earlobe. “Huh, you don’t want that? Then you better start speaking to me more respectfully. You aren’t my woman anymore. You’re just a dancer in this shi—”

  Before he can continue, the door of the bar slams open. Pablo jogs outside and bolts over to us. His six-foot-five frame is tensed into a posture of menace as he hovers over Fernando. He places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. “Didn’t Alfonso tell you and your stupid dealer friends to stay away from the Desert Rose? And from Eva?”

  Fernando peeks up at him. “Are you doing the job of bouncer now, too, Pablito? Serving drinks doesn’t pay well enough?” His voice is mocking, but his grip eases on my skin.

  I quickly wiggle free and flash a grateful smile at Pablo. “Thanks, you arrived just in time.”

  Pablo releases Fernando and points at his motorbike. “Get going. Now. I don’t want to see you here again.”

  “Fine.” Fernando shrugs, then his eyes dart to mine. “Eva, you and I are history now, comprendes? Do you hear me? Your rich boyfriend can have you, I don’t care. I’ll just wait for Alejandrito to be released. He’s the only member of the Flores family who’s worthy of my attention.”