Marianna blinked at him, as if she were digesting what he said. “Is that the story you’ve been telling yourself all these years?”
What the hell did that mean? Simon huffed out a breath. “Is there another version?”
“There’s only one version,” she whispered. “And that’s not even close to it.”
“Don’t.” His voice was low with warning.
“Eleven years ago, I would have done anything to stay with you, Simon,” she said, fighting to keep her voice from shaking. “You’re the one who wouldn’t stand up to my father.”
His stormy eyes darkened. “It wasn’t that simple.”
The car stopped in front of the huge office building, but neither of them moved. Simon stared at her, letting these last words sink in. And she stared right back, her hazel eyes dark, guarded. If she still didn’t know what her father had done to keep them apart, he wasn’t going to argue about it. He shouldn’t have even brought it up. The past was staying right where it belonged. In the past.
Simon yanked his door open. “Let’s go,” he grumbled.
Marianna staggered out of the car, Simon’s version of the past still echoing in her ears.
In love with a girl he never had a chance with? And who would he have let down—his father and brother? Did this all still boil down to the money her father gave him to stay away from her? The money he chose over her? At the time, she had hated her father for offering it. But, as usual, Alex Ruiz was right. It was better to know Simon’s priorities before she did anything stupid.
They walked into the cool air of the Blackmore Inc. building. She glanced at Simon, but his gaze stayed fixed straight ahead, like one of those guards who followed her around in Miami. Like he was shutting her out, blocking every personal detail between them.
Her version of their past was more about the dangers of mistaking the explosive lust of forbidden sex for falling in love. Every time he had called herPrincesain that low grumble, it was part mockery, part worship. Temptation. But, in the end, disaster.
Damn. She hadnotcome to Sydney to drag up their past. Or, at least, she had hoped to maneuver this territory more skillfully.
But it was too late to stop the flood of those last memories. It started with that one glorious day on her boat when her father was out of town. That day they anchored at the empty beach and kissed and swam and ate and got drunk on each other, pushing the limits of each other’s pleasure. For the first time, there was room for something more than sex. For the first time, they talked about the future, when she started school at University of Miami in the fall and moved to her own apartment. He didn’t have the grades for scholarships, so he’d need to start slowly, taking a class or two at a community college. Maybe he could find some construction work in Coral Gables while she went to school. Then she could come home to him in her bed every night. Once she had her degree and got a job, he could transfer into a four-year college program. With his connections in Miami’s Cuban American community, maybe they could start a business that did something more than make money, something that helped others. And they could employ people who needed it, provide the kinds of benefits that would have made a difference in his parents’ lives. Maybe they could build a life together on dreams like these.
Except that they didn’t.
Because not long after, Alex Ruiz found out about them. How? She’d never know for sure, just like she’d never know for sure what happened between Simon and her father a few days later. Just what her father had told her. But the only detail she really needed was the money Simon took.
What happened in the end was much more straightforward. Simon left. His choice, accompanied by a couple parting stabs at her. No debate on what happened that last day. After getting burned by Simon, it took a year before loneliness outweighed caution again. She’d dated a few guys in her business program during college but, as it turned out, the unquenchable thirst she had for Simon didn’t just fade away. It never really did; she had just learned to live with it. She had also sensed that the men she dated were looking for an in with her father more than they wanted her, but it was a compromise she was willing to make. It probably would have taken longer to find a partner if her father hadn’t guided William and her together.
But, oh, those hot summer months when she’d dared to believe that she and Simon could be something more.
Simon was a half pace ahead of her as they walked through the lobby of the Blackmore Inc. building, a silent, brooding presence. He hit the elevator’s button, not even glancing in her direction.
She stepped in front of him. There was one thing she had to clear up before they went any further.
His solid, muscular body radiated tension from under the tailored pants and dress shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. How was it possible to want someone and still hate a part of him at the same time? It was little consolation that he was probably thinking the exact same thing.
She planted her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up to meet his icy stare. “I can’t believe what you just said in the car. You fell in love? How can you say that when you chose a payout from my father over me?”
“I know that’s the story your father told you,” he said, his eyes darkening.
“Don’t even try that,” she said. “You ended it.”
Simon’s gaze turned darker, his deep black irises pushing out the ocean green. But those eyes, staring down at her, still took her breath away. He stepped forward, closing the space between them. “The only money I took from your father was the balance he owed for the boathouse job. That he was refusing to pay. Nothing more.” His voice was slow, deliberate.
She narrowed her eyes. What? She struggled to fit this piece into the story. “If what you say is true, you dumped me without taking the money. Not sure I’m feeling any better about this version.”
The elevator dinged behind her and opened.
He scowled, holding the door. “It’s so far in the past, Mari, and we don’t have time for this right now.”
She walked in, the two of them alone in the small space. Simon’s jaw was clenched. He punched the floor number and stared straight ahead. Marianna let out a little sigh. He was willing to walk into his office with this kind of tension between them? Maybe they were used to his surly attitude by now, but last night made her suspect that it was only a matter of time before this tension snapped. One way or another, they had to resolve this.
Marianna took a deep breath and pressed the emergency stop button on the elevator. The car jolted to a halt.
