Page 20 of One Week To Claim It All
“Someone could come in,” she said, hands already undoing the first button.
“No one’s coming here unless I call for them. Unlike you, other people usually obey my requests,” he told her with a smirk, his eyes zeroed in on her chest as he slid a hand under her flowy skirt and ran a rough palm from her knee up to the juncture of her thighs, his fingers skimming along the edge of her panties. “Do you want me here?” he asked, two fingers stroking at the seam of her pussy over the lacy material of her underwear.
“I do,” she whispered.
“I can feel how hot and wet you are.” His voice was dripping with sex and that edge of raw possessiveness that drove her wild. Rodrigo touched her like he owned her, and that’s how he kept her coming back.
“Touch me.” She gasped as the roughness of the lace grazed her clit, her hips grinding into his hand of their own volition. Without taking his gaze off her, he roughly pulled down her underwear. Two digits deftly parted her folds and soon he was circling that nub of nerves until her skin was on fire. “Pull down your bra. I want to suck on your nipples.”
“Ahh...” She couldn’t form words. Her body was aflame with need and pleasure. It should annoy her how he could work her into a frenzy with just a few deft touches. Instead, she slid the straps off her shoulders and pushed down her bra, just like he’d asked. She felt so exposed, but she wanted what he was giving her,needed it. This felt illicit and thrilling and heaven help her, she would not stop.
“Put your hands on my shoulders, lean in. Oh yeah,” he said, low and dirty. “You need this bad.”
She did, she really did. He turned his face up as he worked her with his hands. He licked up the valley between her breasts, tongue flat and rough on her skin, making her shiver.
“You were always so sensitive here,” he muttered, lips grazing her nipples. His tongue darted out, flicking the pebbled peaks, just like his fingers were flicking her core. He sucked on her and caressed her until her whole world reduced to the pleasure he was giving her. “Come for me, Joya,” he demanded, and she did, tremors racking her body as her orgasm crashed over her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face to the crook of it. Esmeralda had been kidding herself earlier, telling herself this was closure, that she was over it. The only way that lie could survive was if she never saw him again. As long as Rodrigo reached for her, she would keep succumbing.
“We’re a mess,” she muttered, lips pressed to his skin. He circled his strong arms around her and laughed ruefully.
“I’m sure Piera would ban us for life for desecrating the sanctity of the private screening room.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“We are extremely indecent,” she agreed. “These interludes are going to make it hard to enjoy taking your job.” The moment the words came out of her mouth Rodrigo stiffened under her and released her from his embrace.
“Yeah. We got a bit carried away there. We really have to stop doing that,” he said harshly as she worked on getting her bra back to rights and her blouse buttoned. “I’m glad you’re aware none of this changes anything. I’ll help you find the information you need, Esmeralda, but I have no intention of stepping down as CEO.”
It was like a bucket of cold water, but she’d needed it. This was who they were now. At odds, being pulled apart even when they could not stay away from each other. In that moment she resented her father for putting her in this position, and she wished—she really wished—that for once Rodrigo could pick her. But he wouldn’t; Sambrano Studios was the love of his life, the only thing that he’d sacrificed everything for again and again. He’d never give it up.
She smoothed her skirts and felt her face heat with embarrassment as she felt a wet spot right where he’d cupped her sex. She’d been so aroused she’d soaked the fabric. She was embarrassing herself.Hewas not letting his lust interfere with his plans and she had to do she same. She grabbed her purse before stepping into the aisle then turned to look at him. She hated that even after just having him, she still wanted him. That even when she despised him, she craved how he made her feel.
“My plan is to be CEO, Rodrigo. You giving me a few orgasms is not going to change that.”
Thirteen
Esmeralda had stomped out of the theater after thanking Piera and got into the car without saying a word. “Could you please have the driver drop me off at my apartment? I have what I need and can work the rest of the day from home. I don’t want to go back to Sambrano.”
Usually someone not wanting to talk suited him just fine, but as usual, his reaction to anything and everything that had to do with Esmeralda was far from his normal. “So you’re not going to acknowledge me?” He tried to keep his tone mild, but every one of his emotions was set at the maximum. He felt out of control, frustration building in him like an avalanche. He was out of sorts, regretful for ruining the moment, for reacting like he had at her words. He should just leave this alone, drop her off at home and get on with his day.
“Manny, we’re taking Ms. Esmeralda home. 419 Riverside Drive.”
She whipped her head back at that and he realized his mistake. “How do you know where we live?”
Shit. He was not getting into that. Him revealing how he was aware of her address when he had never set foot there—as far as she knew—would just add to the already mounting list of reasons for her to hate him.
“I must have heard it from Mami,” he lied, but the words had an instant effect on Esme.
“Of course.” Her eyes softened at the mention of his mother. “Gloria was able to visit before she got too weak.”
When his mother had been losing her battle with cancer years earlier, Ivelisse had been there to help, sitting with his mother for days on end. And he’d heard from Marquito that Esmeralda had come to the wake for a few hours when he’d been called away to do something for Patricio. Because even at his mother’s funeral he’d had to put the studio first.
“Mami misses her.” Her voice was hoarse with real emotion, and seeing her hurt for his mother cracked something open in him. He never talked about his parents; he’d stopped even mentioning his father’s name after he disappeared, leaving Rodrigo holding the bag for his reckless gambling. Then his mother had gotten sick. But if anyone knew what his mother had meant to him, it was Esmeralda.
His twenties were a blur, nothing but overwhelming stress and paralyzing fear that they would be destitute, that his mother would die because they could not get her decent care. But he’d done what he’d needed to. Kept his head down and made himself indispensable to Patricio Sambrano until he was pulling in an eight-figure salary before he was thirty. Ten years of gritting his teeth, and the only moments of real happiness had been with this woman who he barely knew how to talk to anymore.
The car came to a stop and when he looked out, he saw the front of her building. He’d only been here that one other time, but everything that had to do with Esmeralda was permanently etched in his memory.
“419 Riverside Drive,” Manny announced, and without saying a word to him Esmeralda pushed the car door open. He ought to let this go, to drive off and go back to his obligations, but instead he got out of the car and went after her.
