Buch lesen: «A Deal With Alejandro»

CHAPTER ONE

ALEJANDRO AGUILAR STEPPED out of a bracing, ice-cold shower to the sound of a ringing phone. At 4:00 a.m. such an occurrence would have alarmed most people. He already had a fair idea of why his early-morning routine was being disturbed.

Crossing the master bedroom suite of his Chicago penthouse, he draped the towel round his neck and picked up the phone.

‘Is it done?’

A muted sigh from his chief strategist, Wendell Grant, greeted him. ‘I’m sorry, sir, but they wouldn’t be swayed. We’ve thrown everything at them, including my firstborn son.’

The attempt at humour fell flat, causing the weary-sounding man to clear his throat uncomfortably.

Alejandro’s grip tightened on the handset, the inkling he’d harboured for several weeks expanding to nape-tingling certainty. There were far too many indicators to ignore the suspicion any longer.

‘Frankly, I’m at a loss as to why they’ve suddenly become so intransigent,’ Wendell continued. ‘The Ishikawa brothers’ team refuses to even discuss what the problem is beyond stating that they need more time.’

Alejandro knew what the problem was. The heads of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate were protracting the deal, which should’ve been finalised a month ago, in order to accommodate a third party’s interest.

‘How did you leave things?’ he asked.

‘They’ve asked for a few more days. We tried to get an earlier date but they wouldn’t budge. We’ve agreed to a videoconference on Friday.’

‘That’s unacceptable. I’m not waiting another five days. Call them back. Tell them I want the Ishikawa brothers in conference tomorrow.’

‘Yes, sir.’

About to hang up, Alejandro sensed his executive’s reticence. ‘Is there something else?’

‘Well...I got the feeling they think they have the upper hand. The dynamic has definitely shifted...’

Hearing his suspicions voiced by another brought a clench of anger to Alejandro’s gut. If his executives had sniffed out the same issue, it was time to take over the helm again.

‘Sir? Is there something we should know?’

Alejandro squashed his ire. ‘I’ll take it from here. Extend my gratitude to the team and tell everyone to take the day off. You’ve earned it.’

‘You still want me to make the call?’ Wendell asked.

‘No. I’ll take care of it.’ Now that he knew with whom he was dealing, it was time the gloves came off.

‘If you’re sure, then I better get home to my wife before she serves me with divorce papers.’ Another weary laugh, which fizzled away, the other man sensing Alejandro’s tense mood. ‘Oh, one last thing. I had my assistant compile the shortlist of PR firms for you. Jameson PR has the most extensive experience in Asia. I think at this stage we need all the help we can get.’

Alejandro finished the call and hung up. Snatching the towel from around his neck, he dropped it and padded naked to his dressing room. His signature grey suits, black shirts and bespoke pinstripe ties were within easy reach. Selecting a charcoal suit, he dressed with military efficiency, and was heading out of the door fifteen minutes later.

The drive to the Loop, the financial heart of Chicago, took less than ten minutes. The early hour meant very little traffic and Alejandro gained marginal satisfaction from letting the engine of his Bugatti Veyron roar along the quiet streets.

But nothing could ease the iron-hard fist of unwelcome knowledge trapped in his gut. Nor the accompanying rage that mounted with each passing second.

He’d moved from Spain, the country of his birth, to California at the age of twenty-one, and then relocated to Chicago a year after that because he’d wanted nothing to do with his family. The move from Spain had been to remove himself as soon as it was legally possible from the volatile quagmire that was his parents’ sham of a marriage. Alejandro had put several thousand miles between himself and the two individuals biology had used to create him, and never looked back. Little did he know he’d been placing himself within touching distance of another powder keg in the form of his half-brother.

Gael Aguilar.

He was half of the equation that had worsened the acrimony in Alejandro’s life over two decades ago. Gael and his mother had put faces on the hitherto faceless monsters that were his father’s indiscretions. Those monsters had grown until Alejandro had had no choice but to leave the only home he’d known.

But the nightmare hadn’t been ready to let him be.

Gael had arrived in California shortly after him. And Silicon Valley hadn’t been large enough to contain the two of them. Especially when his younger half-brother had started making himself a nuisance by going after the same deals Alejandro showed interest in. Wiping out Gael’s burgeoning e-commerce start-up would’ve been an easy accomplishment for Alejandro. But that would’ve indicated he cared one iota about the life he’d put behind him. It would’ve given the impression that the countless instances of infidelity, rancour and falsehood that had peppered his childhood still had the power to matter.

So he’d walked away.

He might be an Aguilar, but he was so in name only. Nothing about it was worthy of being lauded. He’d cut all ties. As far as he was concerned, he existed in this world alone.

Except his half-brother hadn’t got the memo. A decade after meeting for the second and final time, it appeared Gael was determined to insert himself into Alejandro’s business once again. Or at the very least, scurry away with the deal Alejandro had worked tirelessly to pull together.

Turning off his engine, he launched himself from the car and crossed the underground car park of his company’s building. Entering the lift that would take him to the top-floor offices of SNV International, he recalled that last exchange with his brother when Gael had found out he was leaving California.

‘I hear you’re relocating your business. Why? You scared I’m going to show you up?’ Gael’s white smile, cocksure, taunting and tinged with bravado, had reminded Alejandro too much of their father’s, eliciting nothing but cold indifference.

‘Don’t kid yourself. My company is successful enough to thrive anywhere in the world. But perhaps you should count your lucky stars that I’m leaving and removing myself from the temptation to crush you into the dirt. This way you at least have a hope of making something of yourself.’

His brother’s smile had evaporated like mist in sunshine. A look Alejandro had ironically recognised in himself—one of implacable will and determination—had passed over Gael’s features.

‘I look forward to the day when I make you swallow those words, hermano.’

Alejandro had shrugged and walked away. He hadn’t bothered to tell Gael they would never be true brothers because they’d never meet again. Crossing paths once when they were teenagers had been bad enough. A second time, in their twenties, was overkill.

He’d thought there wouldn’t be a third.

Except, walking away hadn’t ended it. Foolishly, it seemed Gael had taken offence at his words at their last meeting. And like a damn virus he was determined to corrupt as many of Alejandro’s dealings as he could.

He strode into his office as the April sun rose over Lake Michigan. Normally, he stopped to admire the view as he enjoyed his morning espresso. This Monday, however, he tossed his car keys on his desk, tugged off his jacket and went to work.

By 9:00 a.m. he had definite confirmation that it was indeed Gael meddling with the Japanese deal.

He sat back in his chair, fingers tented together as he forced down the acid bite of distaste. Gael’s company, Toredo Inc., had grown into an e-commerce powerhouse second only to Alejandro’s own company. Not for a single moment had that reality fazed him. His company was worth billions, and more than held its own in the industry. At times when he felt generous, he even welcomed Toredo’s competition.

Not this time. Bagging this deal would launch SNV into an echelon of its own. It would be the culmination of the success he’d striven for since walking away from the tatters of what the common man termed a family. Others might accommodate such failures. He didn’t. He’d cut his losses on an irredeemable life because nothing he did could fix what was permanently broken. Instead he’d concentrated on what he was successful at. He’d made his first million at twenty-four, just before he left California. In the ten years since, he’d risen to the top.

The Ishikawa deal would be his crowning glory. He’d worked too long and hard to see it dismantled by Gael.

His strategy team had suggested hiring a PR company experienced in dealing with Japanese companies to work alongside his in-house PR department. Alejandro had shelved the idea until negotiations had stalled. Although he still had his doubts as to the efficacy of employing an outside PR company, he opened the first file.

The headshot caught his attention immediately, although, staring at the picture critically, Alejandro couldn’t pinpoint why. Her mouth was too wide and full, her nose a little too perfectly pointed. Her almond-shaped hazel-gold eyes held too many shadows, and, for his taste, she was wearing a little too much make-up; he preferred the natural look. The shadows and the make-up alone jarred him further into memories he didn’t want to dwell on. Like the memories of his brother, they were reminiscent of a past he’d striven hard to forget.

Yet he couldn’t drag his gaze away from Elise Jameson’s picture. The almost absurd notion that if he stared for long enough the image would come to life gripped him. His gaze dropped past her jaw and neck and he experienced the tiniest stab of regret that there wasn’t more to see.

Gritting his teeth, he perused her academic accomplishments, which were impressive enough to compel him to read on. The discovery that Jameson PR was a family company brought a twisted smile, but Alejandro suppressed the useless threat of emotion. Not every family was as dysfunctional as the one he’d left behind.

Suficiente!

He needed his head screwed on straight to see this merger through, not spend time dwelling on the past. He moved on to the other two files. Within minutes he’d dismissed the other candidates.

When he found himself staring at the headshot again, he reached for the phone.

‘Margo, set up an interview with the Jameson PR people for this afternoon, would you?’

‘Umm, one of their executives is already here. Shall I send her in? Your diary is free since you’ve cleared most of your appointments already.’

He frowned. ‘They came here on the off chance I’d want to see them?’ Alejandro wasn’t sure whether to applaud them for their brazenness or condemn them for wasting valuable man hours on the likelihood of being hired by SNV.

‘Wendell thought it might be prudent in case you wanted to move quickly on the PR front.’

Alejandro made a mental note to increase his team leader’s bonus. His gaze dropped to the headshot. ‘Which representative from Jameson is here?’

‘It’s a junior executive—Elise Jameson. I can arrange for a senior member to come in if you pref—’

‘No, it’s fine. Send her in.’ He would glean as much from the younger Jameson as he would from her parents. Besides, he didn’t have time to waste. ‘I’d like some fresh coffee, too. Gracias.’

A brisk knock on the door a few minutes later brought his head up.

Margo entered first, wheeling in a tray of coffee. Alejandro’s gaze swung past her, his attention almost compelled to focus on the dark-haired woman who followed. A part of him disliked the fizz of compulsion almost as much as it anticipated his first glimpse of her.

True, his wholehearted immersion in this potential merger had left little time for physical dalliances for the better part of a year now. The occasions when he’d been tempted to indulge in carnal pleasures, the chase had surprisingly grown boring. Enough to abandon his date at the after-dinner-coffee stage on more than one occasion. Nevertheless, he was a red-blooded male, as the momentary tightening in his groin informed him now when Elise Jameson stepped into the office.

The early morning sun struck her face as she paused on the threshold, bringing every feature in her photo to vivid life. Her face was impeccably made-up, just like in her headshot, but where he’d been healthily captivated before by the glossy two-dimensional version, he was paralysingly riveted by the flesh and blood reality.

She advanced farther into the room. Her stride was confident but minimised by the navy pencil skirt whose matching jacket was secured by a single button beneath a full chest. The cut of her clothes immediately drew Alejandro’s gaze to her Venus-like body and shapely legs. Attractive. Alluring. But nothing extraordinary.

And then she smiled at a departing Margo, and realisation struck.

Elise bore an unsettling resemblance to a painting he’d once seen hanging in his father’s study when he was fourteen years old. The woman had been standing before a window with the sun shining on her arresting features. Her dark hair had been caught at the back of her head, her eyes shut and her face lifted in sun worship. The artist had captured her image from the point of view of a lover staring down at his paramour.

Their differences in height once Elise Jameson reached his desk were strikingly similar.

Except that woman had been nude.

And that painting had also caused prolonged rows between his mother and father, with one vowing to burn the painting and the other mocking the jealous fit. The painting had lasted six days before it’d disappeared. And even though he’d snuck into his father’s study to stare at it, Alejandro had been glad once it was gone.

All he’d cared about was that the rowing had ceased. Albeit, inevitably, temporarily.

He blinked the memory away, irritated with his ongoing traipse down memory lane, to find a manicured hand proffered.

‘Thank you for seeing me, Mr Aguilar. I’m Elise Jameson.’

He took her hand, noted the soft but firm grip, the smoothness of her skin, the spark that travelled along his palm, and released her.

‘I’m aware one of my employees suggested we may be interested in your services, but don’t you think it was a touch foolish to just present yourself here? You could’ve wasted the entire day,’ he stated in a voice he knew was clipped.

Her eyes, which were more tilted and vivid in real life, widened a touch, before she blinked back her composure. ‘You say foolish, I say impeccably timed,’ she replied coolly.

He lifted a brow. ‘Are we to disagree so soon? You think that bodes well for our potential working relationship?’

Her shoulders tensed infinitesimally. ‘Pardon me for being forward, but if you require a yes-man or -woman who’ll jump at your every suggestion, then perhaps Jameson isn’t the right fit for you. Sycophancy isn’t in our remit.’

He noted then that, although her accent was American, her features bore a hint of an Asian heritage, making her beauty even more enthralling. He also noted his own faint amusement with irritation. Rounding the desk, he approached the tray laden with coffee and bagels and poured his fifth cup of espresso. ‘Coffee?’

‘No, thank you. I’ve had my daily allotment. Any more and you’d have to prise me off the ceiling.’ One corner of her crimson-painted mouth twitched and Alejandro found his gaze tracing the full curve.

Striding back to his desk, he gulped down half of his beverage. ‘In that case, sit down, Miss Jameson, and tell me what is in your remit.’

She took the time to unbutton her jacket, giving him a glimpse of the jade-coloured silk top beneath and a shadowed cleavage before she sat down.

‘Normally, it works the other way round. You tell me what you need PR-wise and we advise you how to achieve it, sycophancy not included, of course.’ Another smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Over the scent of ground coffee beans, he caught the faintest hint of her perfume. Crushed berries mixed with an elusive spice. Unique. Captivating. He caught himself inhaling deeper to chase the scent and gritted his teeth.

‘We seem to have skipped a step or two in the traditional interview process, so perhaps we should go with the flow here.’

She blinked. ‘I could go with the flow. Except I’m not even sure where the river starts, Mr Aguilar. Wendell Grant was equally cryptic when he called and asked me to come here. Sadly, cryptic won’t cut it if you need my help.’

‘Since I haven’t decided whether I do or not, I’m not going to go into the specifics of a highly confidential deal.’

Her mouth tightened a touch before she smiled her insincere smile. ‘If you’re worried about confidentiality, our impeccable record speaks for itself.’

‘Be that as it may, until you’re officially hired, I prefer to practise a little...restraint.’

Her gaze locked with his for a long moment. Then she nodded. ‘As you wish. So let’s talk hypotheticals. What can I do for you?’

A frown tugged at Alejandro’s brow. She was intelligent. And she was saying all the right things. But he couldn’t shake the feeling something else was going on beneath the surface.

‘How old are you?’ he asked.

Her eyes widened. ‘Why is that relevant?’

Alejandro folded his arms, mildly disturbed by his own question. ‘Is it a state secret?’

‘Of course not.’ Her gaze dropped to his desk. ‘But you have my file right there in front of you. You’ve read it so you know my age. If I wanted to lie to you about anything—which I don’t, by the way—lying about my age would be the stupidest one to start with, don’t you think? And other than to catch me out in a lie, I’m not sure why—’

‘Do you always answer a simple question with a diatribe?’

Beneath the make-up, heat flushed her cheeks. Her nostrils flared a touch before she blinked back her composure.

‘I’m twenty-five. As it says in my file,’ she returned acerbically.

‘How long have you worked for your parents?’ Again a question he hadn’t anticipated asking.

Her mouth compressed. ‘Since I graduated university at twenty-one.’

Alejandro studied her silently. To her credit, she didn’t fidget.

Unfolding his arms, he rested his elbows on his desk. ‘I don’t think this is going to work out, Miss Jameson. Thank you for coming.’

First came a look that closely resembled relief. Followed by surprise. Then her lips parted as shock set in. ‘Excuse me?’

‘If you can’t see your way through answering a few simple questions without getting emotional, I don’t see how you can deal with the hard stuff. Margo will see you out.’

She started to get up. Halfway through the act, she dropped back down. ‘This is some sort of trick, isn’t it?’

It was Alejandro’s turn to be surprised. He regained his senses quickly. ‘I’ve been working on a deal that is determined to fall apart at the last minute. Trust me, wasting time with tricks is the very last thing on my mind. Goodbye, Miss Jameson.’

Shadows and questions swirled through her hazel-gold eyes. Her lower lip twisted, as if she was gnawing it from the inside. Eventually she rose, her fingers clamped around her briefcase, her jaw angled with stubborn pride.

Without a word, she turned away from his desk. In that moment, Alejandro wished he’d also turned away. The sight of her trim waist and voluptuous backside triggered another onset of libido-tugging.

He gritted his teeth.

The timing and circumstance of this attraction to her were abhorrent enough to send him to his feet. He’d vowed a very long time ago never to mix business with pleasure when another deal had disintegrated because of a fleeting liaison with a competitor. He’d been young and foolish enough to imagine one would not affect the other. Although the incident had only temporarily slowed down his meteoric rise, Alejandro had learned the lesson well enough to keep his affairs private and brief.

Dragging his gaze from the shapely legs heading for the door, he strode to the window and stared at the view. Lake Michigan didn’t offer much solace. Like a lead domino falling over, Elise’s image, the feel of their palms touching, the silkiness of her skin, tumbled through his mind. Even the sound of the door shutting barely created a ripple in the sizzling awareness gripping him.

What the hell was wrong with him today? First he’d cracked open the vault of memories he’d vowed never to revisit. Now he was getting hot under the collar because of a woman who should barely register on his radar?

He shoved a hand through his hair and turned around.

Elise Jameson was standing before his desk, her eyes square on his.

‘Unless I’ve grown senile in the last five minutes, I’m sure I told you to leave.’

She exhaled slow and steady. Alejandro was certain it was a composure-gaining technique. He had a feeling he’d need one of those before the day ended.

‘You did. But I’m still here. The way I see it, you’re either going to hire me or we’ll never see each other again. So I need to say this. I wasn’t being emotional. I just didn’t see the point of wasting time with questions to which you already had answers. And yes, my...irritation could’ve been kept on a tighter leash. Give me another chance and you have my word it won’t happen again.’

‘What it are we talking about, just to be certain? The irritation or the emotion?’

The whitening of her knuckles on her briefcase was the only sign that his question had further irked. ‘Either. Both. Whichever you wish.’

He leaned back in his chair. ‘Because I’m the boss?’

‘Because you’re the boss. Once you hire me. But allow me to say one last thing before you make up your mind.’

‘Yes?’

‘I’m good at my job. You’ll get nothing but the best from me. I promise.’

He shrugged. ‘That’s a good speech. But it’s just a speech. I also don’t deal in promises.’ Promises were easy to make and easier to break. He’d learnt that lesson with shocking frequency as a child.

Her gaze swept down for an instant before rising again. ‘Finish the interview. Whichever way you want. Then make up your mind.’

The urge to dismiss her was strong. The urge to have her stay was stronger. Alejandro stepped back from examining why. This whole day had been askew from the start.

‘Very well. Sit down, Miss Jameson. But let me make one thing clear.’

She sat back down. ‘Yes?’

‘I never play tricks. I abhor subterfuge of any kind. Remember that before we go any further.’

She nodded and folded her hands in her lap. ‘Understood.’