Page 3 of Allure
Once Syra’s heart stopped beating like a stampede, she tightened her grip on the arm of the chair as she stood. She plastered a polite smile on her face, “It’s Ms. Gutierrez, and you are?” She asked the question of Asli as she took his warm and big hand in hers.
“Mr. Jones, Asli Jones.” His smile was filled with a wicked promise as his gaze took her in from head to toe. Syra had to wonder if he was picturing her without the pantsuit because she sure as shit was imagining what that night would have turned into had Marco let Asli into his home instead of letting him watch from across the way.
Hold on to your anger, Syra, not your lust.
Asli’s hand lingered in hers a moment longer than was appropriate. He used his thumbs to caress the top of her hand and she couldn’t find her voice, nor could she pull away. Something about Marco and Asli standing shoulder to shoulder in front of her fucked with her and teased something inside of her that was eager to put their bodies on one of her canvases.
She’d drawn Marco plenty of times, but having Asli standing beside him made them look like gods among men. She could practically taste the raw power swirling in the air around them, and she wondered what colors she could blend around them once she got them on paper to make people feel what she was feeling now, standing too close to them—a canoe about to be sucked in by a tidal wave.
Syra pulled herself out of Asli’s hold and turned on Marco, aware that Katrina’s, Delilah’s, and Evelyn’s eyes were glued to them. “Marco Garrison?” she cocked her head to the side, trying not to picture the man she shared three years with. She knew his history and family and not once did the Garrison name come up. “When did you change the name?”
She could feel the surprise on Delilah’s and Kat’s faces. They didn’t know the person they’d been communicating with was someone from Syra’s past. From what she’d been told, Marco hadn’t been in on any of the meetings between Asli and her friends, which made Syra wonder if that was done on purpose.
Marco’s eyes darkened. “I doubt that’s the most important question here.” His tone was gruff, skirting along her spine, and she fought her body’s need to shiver in response. He gestured to the empty chairs since no one but Evelyn had sat down. “Sit, we have much to discuss.”
“That we do,” Syra mumbled under her breath as she took her seat, and she could have sworn she heard someone laugh.
“I’ve gone over your business plan and the notes my partner has shared with you.” Marco got right to the point, and Syra begrudgingly liked that. The faster this meeting was over, the faster she could get some answers to the questions she had.
“And while I think you ladies have great bones here, the idea of a pleasure house…pleasure club will generate money, especially in Lockwood, I have another idea in mind.” Syra’s stomach tightened.
She wanted this business to get off the ground, not only for her but for Delilah and Kat as well. They all saw what Raven did with Lush in Ivywood, and they wanted the same success here in Lockwood. Syra wanted something that was her own and would maybe spark her creativity again.
“I like the building you guys want to use,” Marco continued. “I initially didn’t have a need for it, and that was why we put it up for sale…well, for lease with the option to own. I like what you guys have planned but we, Garrison Inc, want in on what you’re building.”
Delilah sat up straighter as did Syra. She didn’t like what she was hearing, and she could feel something in her mind whispering to proceed with caution.
“What exactly do you mean by you want in? You’ve seen the business plan.” Delilah’s voice held a hint of annoyance. “I know you have a construction company as well. Are you putting your hat in the ring for companies we might want to use? Or do you not plan on renting us the building unless we go through your people for remodeling?”
Silence stretched between them. Syra wondered why this was coming up now and not before. Delilah, Kat, and Asli had several meetings, and from what Syra’s friends had told her, he had been eager to let them use the building. What had changed between then and now?
You did.
Marco’s gaze slid to Syra before he looked back at Delilah. “It’s nothing like that, Ms. Santiago. I like what I’m seeing, and I think Lockwood could benefit from a club of this nature.” Marco’s gaze went back to Syra as he continued to speak. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that while Lockwood isn’t as uptight as other states, there really aren’t any places here that cater to what you’re offering. People have to go out of town to experience what will be behind the walls of Sirens, and we want in. We want to partner with you ladies and build Sirens together.”
The room fell silent, except for the sound of Evelyn’s typing. Marco kept his gaze on Syra, loving the light flush touching her skin and the way she hadn’t stopped fidgeting in her seat. She was nervous, but there was something else there. It lingered in the air around her. It was dark and delicious, reminding him of the last time he had her beneath him. It made his mouth water and his cock twitch behind his slacks, especially when her hand went to her hip. The same hip that had three little stars inked into her skin.
His stars.
She hadn’t told him she had gotten them for him when they ran into each other six months ago and she found her way into his bed. But Marco knew. He’d spent their relationship calling her his estrellita because her art had been as important to her as it was to him. She had been this constellation in his night sky he once used to find his way back home—back to her—but that was a different time. They were different people. He had no room in his heart left for her, not after the way she left him for Joel, the man Marco spent most of the years since Syra crushing in business.
Marco bit back a smile watching the way Syra’s eyes narrowed the more her gaze shifted between him and Asli. He could see the way her mind was spinning, trying to figure out if this was all one big setup. She wasn’t wrong in her assumption, it was—at least the part of them working on Sirens together. What happened between them six months ago hadn’t been a part of Marco’s plans. It happened by chance, though he couldn’t deny how that night between them impacted what filled the room now, and maybe it would impact how they moved forward with the Sirens deal.
His body coiled in anticipation, and he loved watching the rapid rise and fall of her chest and the way she nibbled her lush bottom lip between her teeth. The air in the conference room was thick with something close to arousal, and he didn’t particularly care that they had the extra added audience of Ms. Santiago, Ms. Lopez, and Evelyn. If he were a betting man, he would bet that the two women who sat beside Syra already knew who he was to her and some of the filthy details of their relationship.
Syra shifted in her seat again, her gaze now moving between her friends and Asli before she settled back on Marco. No one spoke yet to his proposition, and he couldn’t deny he was desperate to know what was running through Syra’s mind. Would she take the chance and agree to the new business plan or not?
He conjured up extremely inappropriate ways to coax out the thoughts hidden behind her starlight eyes, like peeling her out of her pantsuit and spreading her legs on the conference table while he tasted every inch of her skin.
He mentally cursed. He spent one night with her. One night after years apart, and just like that she had woven her way back under his skin, and he hated how eager he was to drown in her.
“I’m sorry, you want to do what?” Ms. Santiago snapped. She sat closest to Marco, and he could feel her shooting daggers at him and Asli. He kind of wished there was a little more space between them because out of everyone in this room, she looked like she was most likely to throw something or deck him for the sneaky underhanded shit he pulled.
Marco knew on some level he should feel bad for roping in and using Syra’s friends and business opportunity like this, but he didn’t have it in him to care. He wanted Syra under him any way he could get her so he could finally purge her from his system. He had been in her presence for less than an hour, and it had taken everything in him not to throw his own rules out the window and demand to know why she left him and how they could make it work this time.
He was pathetic and hated that his heart still bled for her. He needed the detox, but it had never come in her absence or in the women he had fucked after her. So he became somewhat celibate and used that time to regroup and replan. He knew this was the only way he could get her under his thumb for the detox to work this time. Maybe once he got enough of her, her effect on him would lessen.
Keep telling yourself that lie.
