Proof Of Their One Hot Night by Emmy Grayson
CHAPTER FOUR
THESECONDSDRAGGEDon, each one growing longer as Alejandro stared at her.
Nothing. Not a flicker of emotion in those dark blue eyes. A blank visage, lips turned up slightly at the corners. The perfect poker face. A moment ago he’d been about to kiss her, and weakling that she was, she’d considered letting him, just to have one more taste before she dropped her bombshell.
Her brain had come to her rescue, and she’d forced out the words that would drive a wedge between them. Yet she hadn’t expected this. Anger, shock, even a snide remark or a ribald joke. But of the myriad scenarios she’d planned for, complete and total silence was not one of them. Silence that stretched and filled the library with its oppressing presence, pushing against her until she was thrust back into the past and those terrible, awful mornings of endless quiet, save for the whisper of her mother’s labored breathing.
Say something!
One last boom of fireworks reverberated outside. Another moment of even more oppressive silence. Then music struck up once more, sultrier, more seductive.
Just like that night.Try as she might, she couldn’t shake the memory of a darkened ballroom and a handsome man with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tan skin contrasting sharply with the white of his shirt.
The shirt she’d ripped off him less than an hour later in a passionate frenzy she’d never thought herself capable of.
Her lips thinned. Alejandro was dangerous. He brought her to the edge of control. Like now. Anyone else could have given her the silent treatment and she would have shrugged, turned and left.
But for him, she lingered. Waited. She hated it, yet she couldn’t seem to walk away.
At last, he moved. He slid his hands into his pockets, broke eye contact and looked down at the balcony.
“Huh.”
Blood pounded in her ears. She’d flown across an ocean, nearly two thousand dollars on plane tickets, a hotel room and a cab to sweet-talk her way into a party to tell the spoiled second son of a billionaire family she was pregnant with his child, and all she got was a damn huh!
She shouldn’t have expected anything more. But she had.
In that moment, she hated Alejandro Cabrera. Hated him and his cavalier attitude, his lack of thought for anyone but himself. Common sense kept her from slapping him across the face. It would only be another display of emotions, a sign of weakness.
No matter how satisfying it would be.
Alejandro walked over to the balcony door, opened it and signaled to someone outside. Moments later, a waiter dressed in a silky black vest and bow tie appeared in the doorway, a silver tray with bubbling flutes of champagne perfectly balanced on his gloved hand. Alejandro plucked a glass from the tray and dismissed the waiter before he moved to a bank of windows. With a quick tug on a cord, the curtains fell back to reveal the sparkling lights of Paris on the horizon. The way he leaned against the windowsill, one trousered leg crossed casually over the other, glass in hand, looked like an ad selling thousand-dollar bottles of champagne.
“I’m not here for money. I’m taking care of everything.” Barely. “But she—”
“Have you picked out names?”
Calandra blinked. A simple question, and yet how strange coming from his lips.
“We’ve picked out a few.”
His head whipped around. She barely stopped herself from taking a step back at his darkening eyes.
“We?”
He uttered the word in a silky voice, but uncharacteristic anger lurked in his tone.
“My sister, Johanna.” His shoulders relaxed. “She lives with me.”
He looked back down at his drink. “So, if it’s not about money, then what do you want?”
“To do the right thing. To let you know you have a child on the way.”
His smile flashed once more, but this time it held an edge to it. She blinked, and it was gone.
“How quaint.”
He took another long drink of his champagne and turned, eyes fixing on her face. She resisted the urge to squirm under his scrutiny.
“You flew all the way to Paris just to tell me?”
“I tried emailing. And calling.”
He frowned. “I never received anything from you.”
“If the secretary who refused to put my calls through also answers your emails, that explains it.”
His lips twitched. “Yes, Laura is frighteningly efficient.” His fingers tapped out a rhythm on his glass. “How much is all this going to cost you, anyway?”
“I have it handled.”
No smile, no glint of teasing. Just a hard stare that made her want to squirm.
“Where do you work?”
“None of your concern.” Her words whipped out, sharp and cold. She barely stopped herself from wincing. Why could she not keep her cool around this man?
He didn’t even flinch.
“So,” she continued, her voice calmer, “now that you know about the...the baby, I can keep you updated.” Just saying baby made her feel possessive, protective. Strange, because she’d never imagined having children before. But ever since she’d seen the heartbeat pulsing across the monitor, she’d known she would do anything for the tiny human growing inside her, including keeping it safe.
Even from its own father.
“Updated?” Alejandro repeated.
“Photos, things like that. We can discuss events like birthdays and such later if you want to attend. But I know this is the exact opposite of your preferred lifestyle. And I have everything handled,” she repeated.
There. She’d done it. She’d told him, set her boundaries. She suddenly felt lighter than she had in months. Now she could go home, close the door on this chapter of her life and move on with Johanna and her baby. Despite the gravity of the situation, a tiny seed of happiness sprouted inside her. She been so focused on this confrontation, on telling Alejandro and getting it over with, that she’d barely thought about life with her child. But now that she had done the right thing, she was free. Free to buy books and booties and finally let Johanna drag her to the nearest store and start planning the nursery. A thought she would have turned up her nose at just a few months ago, but now...now she was going to be a mother. A mother who would never, ever let her child experience the pain she had.
She reached into her clutch and pulled out a card. Not having Alejandro involved in her and the baby’s life was the best gift she could possibly give it.
“Here’s my number and email if you have questions. Now that you know and know how to get ahold of me, I’ll—”
He moved suddenly, crossing the floor and stopping within inches of her. She took a step back without thinking and bumped into a bookcase.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
“Yes. What else is there to say?”
His eyes narrowed. “You have a very clear idea of how this is going to work.”
“Well, yes.”
That smile reappeared, the one with the bite to it that revealed a glimpse of a darker, more serious Alejandro. She didn’t like it.
“But you haven’t asked me what I want.”
“Given your history, it’s obvious what you want.”
He leaned in, balancing his hands on the bookcase and caging her between his arms. Her breath caught. He was so close she could see flecks of gold in the blue of his eyes, inhale the erotic aroma of pine that always clung to him.
“What do I want, Calandra?”
His voice came out husky and made heat pool between her thighs.
“To be free.”
“I’ll give you that. I used to want nothing more than freedom. To do what I want, with whom I wanted, when I wanted. But I’ve also had a tumultuous four months. And I’ve found that I want something else besides freedom. Something you’ve just handed me.”
Warning pricked the back of her neck. “What?”
He stepped back, tucking his hands in his pockets and shooting her his thousand-watt grin. “I want to be a part of our child’s life.”
What?Her mouth dropped open, but no words came out. For once, she was speechless.
“Is that acceptable to you?”
“Um... I...”
He laughed, the rich sound breaking through the shock and drifting over her skin with disturbing sensuality.
“I need to mark this on my calendar. The first time you didn’t have a snappy comeback.”
“No, because I...” At last she found her voice. “You hate commitment.”
The smile disappeared. The sight of him, lips tight, shoulders tense, jaw clenched, made her uneasy. What had happened to him? It wasn’t just this moment, but something had been off all night, a darkness lurking behind the smile.
“Used to. People change, Calandra.”
People did change. And other times, you thought they’d changed, only to have them take your trust and rip it into tiny shreds.
“I don’t think I’m comfortable with that.”
“Because of my past?”
“I’ve seen enough pictures of what you’ve been up to the past four months. It’s not your past that concerns me, but your present.” Somehow her voice came out collected and cool. “My own father was like that. My childhood was a living hell. I won’t have that for my child.”
“Our child.”
“My child,” she repeated heatedly. “I’m going to be the one raising it, loving it, paying for it—”
“One million dollars.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Or two million. Whatever you and the child need to live comfortably.”
“You can’t buy our child,” she snapped.
“I’m not.” Annoyance laced his voice. “I’m doing the right thing for our child, Calandra. The one I have a right to see.”
Threads of fear tightened her chest into a fearful knot. She knew just how easily a man of Alejandro’s resources and power could crush her, could use his wealth and lawyers to get shared or even sole custody. The reminder of who he was behind the charm only exacerbated the worry she’d been carrying since she’d decided to tell him about the baby.
Finally, she closed her eyes and let her head drop. Defeat sucked the energy from her limbs. Like it or not, it would be far easier to meet Alejandro halfway than fight him. Fighting could lead to a legal battle she couldn’t even begin to afford.
“What do you want?”
The wooden floor creaked beneath his feet. A warm hand cupped her face. Startled, her eyes flew open and she looked up.
“I would like to be a part of our child’s life.” He held up a hand as she started to speak. “You have misgivings. Our relationship up until now has been...tempestuous.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, amusement lightened her mood. “Fancy word for ‘barely didn’t kill each other.’”
His grin made her chest flutter. It had to be the excessive hormones pumping through her veins.
“You’re the one who wanted to kill me. I just enjoyed teasing you. But we barely know each other. Not really.”
She looked away. She didn’t want to get to know him. Knowing someone meant time, emotions, investment. Things she wanted nothing to do with.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Stay tonight. Here. We’ll talk in the morning.”
“And if I refuse?”
Determination hardened his eyes and chased the pleasantness from his face. “If you refuse, then it becomes a legal problem.”
His threat shocked her into silence. If this went to court, she would lose in a heartbeat. She couldn’t even begin to compete with Alejandro’s wealth or the lawyers he could buy. His menacing words solidified what she had suspected—beneath the smiles and gallant charm, he was just like her father. He toyed with people’s emotions, manipulated them until he had what he wanted and then revealed his true self.
Her hand settled over her stomach as she lifted her chin. She’d play his game for now, maybe use the time to figure out why exactly he was so interested in becoming a father. Was there a business angle, like securing an heir—archaic as that notion seemed—or was it just male pride?
“Fine. We can talk tomorrow,” she replied stiffly.
“Excellent.”
“But I have a hotel room.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Nearby.”
He stepped closer. She stood firm. She despised him, hated him for having the power of wealth, for fooling her, for giving her a taste of what she thought had been true passion only to find out it was just a mirage.
Most of all, she hated that despite everything she’d discovered in the last five minutes, her body still responded to his dark, sensual masculinity.
“Stay here tonight.”
Her spine straightened. Just because she was playing his game didn’t mean she would take orders.
“No. Thank you.”
His expression softened, but she kept her heart hard. She wouldn’t be trapped in the vicious cycle her father had kept her mother in for years. Expensive trips, lavish gifts, a compliment designed to make the heart sing...until the next time he’d cheated. The next time he disappeared for a week and they’d had no idea if he was running wild in Europe or if he was lying in a ditch somewhere.
“It would be easier—”
“I said no.” She spit out the words with such ferocity that she almost blinked in surprise.
Sadness darkened his eyes as he turned away. Her hand came up to...what? Stop him from leaving? Comfort him?
Don’t fall for it.
He pulled back the curtain from the balcony doors and stepped outside, then looked back at her expectantly. He’d managed to turn this into a dismissal even though she was the one who was leaving.
Her defenses hardened. The last three years of conversations and bantering had revealed a keen mind and a sharp wit. Traits many people, including herself, had brushed aside because he seemed so utterly ridiculous. But then last year they’d talked more, delving into business, politics and travel. She’d learned that he was intelligent.
An intelligence she needed to be wary of as they moved into battle.
She walked across the library slowly, not giving him the satisfaction of hurrying to his side. As she started to move past him into the summer night, he caught her hand in his. Slowly, so achingly slowly, he brought her fingers up. She should pull away, should call him every insult she could think of. But no. No, she watched her fingers travel up to his mouth, bit down on her bottom lip as he pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“Until tomorrow.”
And with that he walked down the stairs to join the partygoers below. She watched his tall figure cut through the crowd with ease, pausing here and there to greet someone.
More than one female someone, she noticed.
It shouldn’t bother her. It didn’t bother her, she sternly told herself. The man had just threatened to take her to court over their child. He was a selfish, spoiled rich boy who, hopefully after she outlined all the responsibilities being a parent entailed, would run as far away from her as he could.
She would remain on guard. Rational. Logical.
Those thoughts did nothing to erase the burning sensation on the back of her hand where his lips had rested.