“Okay. I believe you.”
“As for your lack of panties . . .”
Although a little embarrassed, I start to laugh, but then I remember that as tempting as it may be, the chance of this between us ending well is minimal. “If you’ve never been involved with an employee, why me?”
“The way you attract me caught me by surprise. You can’t deny how we feel about each other.”
“I’m not denying it, just confused.”
As much as things in the elevator were hot, he now just holds me in his arms, keeping me in his lap, and I can relax. I don’t like the idea of us being in a more intimate situation knowing that woman is out there.
“Who is with Nina right now?” I ask, struggling to focus on a neutral subject.
“Joaquín.”
“Did she agree to stay with him? It seemed like the last thing she wanted when I left.”
“My brother isn’t a bad person, Olívia. Just overly suspicious. One day I’ll tell you the reason.”
“You don’t have to. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not prying. You have the right to know why the scoundrel was so aggressive this morning. He’s very protective of his niece.”
“Why?”
“Nina wasn’t . . . She wasn’t wanted by her mother . . .”
“What do you mean?”
“Have dinner with me tonight. We need to talk. There are many things you don’t know, and I’d like us to start with all the cards on the table.”
“But what about Valentina?”
“She’ll be fine with her uncle. You told me you missed going out. Let’s do that. Go out, spend some time together away from here. Get to know each other a little more.”
“You definitely aren’t like the CEOs in romance novels.”
“How so?”
“The next step, in the stories I read, would be for you to try to take me to bed and make me fall madly in love with you.”
“Don’t doubt for a second that I want you naked in bed or in the shower, or again on the kitchen counter, but for today, just go out with me.”
I decide to take the risk.
“All right.”
I’ve just left Guillermo’s office—after he kissed me against the door as if I were the last source of oxygen on the planet—when I come across Kathleen again.
What is she keeping in that box? We were in there for at least twenty minutes, but she seems to be doing the same thing as when I arrived.
She now stares at me with a face full of anger, and since I’m not in the mood for trouble, I head to the elevator—one of the communal ones this time, that all hotel staff use.
The wet floor sign is no longer in the way, so I walk straight on without worrying and try to keep as much distance as possible between me and the woman who seems to want to fly at my throat.
As soon as I take two steps in my newly acquired heels, however, the floor disappears beneath my feet. I try to grab onto something, but there’s nothing to hold on to, and my body hits the ground hard. I feel an intense pain in the back of my head at the same time I hear a scream. It takes me a few seconds to understand that it came from me, but then, everything goes dark.
Chapter 25
