Page 59 of His Billion-Dollar Takeover Temptation

Her eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you in shipping?”

He shrugged, a playful smile belying the sharp alertness in his eyes. “Can I not be interested in my brother’s business?”

Oh, he was up to something—no doubt about it. She turned and looked out over the crowd, but Adrian had disappeared.

“Did Adrian put you up to this?”

Alejandro’s hand flew to his chest. “I’m hurt,señorita, that you would automatically jump to such a negative thought.”

“I’m sure,” she replied dryly, desperate to escape. “Fine. You have five minutes.”

“Excellent.” He glanced up at the loft. “Isn’t there a balcony that overlooks the vineyards?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds like the perfect place for a private conversation.”

She led the way upstairs and down the length of the loft, with Alejandro close behind. What had Adrian sent him for? Did he want to make sure she wasn’t going to cause a scene tonight, the way Nicole had when he’d ended their engagement? Just the thought that he might think her capable of such horrid behavior made her sick to her stomach.

They reached the door that led out to the balcony. Alejandro opened it for her.

“So, what did you...?”

Her voice trailed off as the door closed behind her, followed a second later by an audible click. She grabbed the handle and gave it a tug. The bastard had locked her out.

She leaned over the railing. The venue was perched on the edge of a hill, with the ground sloping away from the stone walls into the vineyards below. There was nothing to climb down, and even if there was she wouldn’t risk falling and hurting the baby.

“I can see why you love it here.”

She froze. That voice—that sinful, wonderful, sensuous voice—washed over her. Slowly she turned.

A large deck had been built off to one side of the balcony, boasting a collection of high-top tables and chairs. She’d expected it to be crowded with guests, because it offered the most incredible views of the countryside.

But there was only one person present, hands in his pockets and fire in his eyes.

Adrian.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

ADRIANSTAREDATEverleigh hungrily, his eyes drinking in every detail. He’d thought her stunning at the Merlot release party in New York City. But the gown she wore tonight inflamed his desire to new heights. His fingers itched to tear that scrap of silk from her shoulder, peel the dress off her and bare her skin so he could touch every inch of her.

The last three days of waiting, of planning, had been sheer torture. In each move he’d made since taking over Cabrera Wine, each deal he’d gone after, he had been filled with confidence that he would get what he wanted. Failure had never been an option.

But now, standing before the woman he loved and seeing the mistrust and banked anger in those violet eyes that had haunted his dreams since she’d left, he knew true fear.

Fear that she would reject him as he’d so cruelly rejected her.

Fear that after tonight he’d never see her again.

He nodded out toward the vineyards. “Your father took me up there when I first visited. But that was in the early afternoon. It’s truly stunning.”

“It is.”

Her tone could freeze hell over.

“What do you want, Adrian?”

His hands curled inside his pockets—the only way to stop himself from reaching out and smoothing one of those loose, silky tendrils of gold from her neck before he covered her lips with his own.

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