Seducing His Opposition / Secret Nights at Nine Oaks: Seducing His Opposition

They entered the air-conditioned building. The receptionist greeted them and directed them to the fifth floor executive offices.

“Hello, Mr. Gonzalez.”

“Hello, Myra. How are you today?” her grandfather asked the pretty young woman who greeted them there.

“Not bad. Hear you’ve brought a big-gun lawyer to town,” she said.

“I brought our attorney. Figured it was about time I had someone who could argue on Mr. Stern’s level.”

Myra laughed and even Selena smiled. She could tell that her grandfather had been doing okay negotiating for himself. Why had he called her?

“I’m Selena Gonzalez,” Selena said stepping forward and holding out her hand.

“Myra Temple,” the other woman said. “It’s nice to meet you. You will be meeting in the conference room at the end of the hall. Can I get either of you something

to drink?”

“I’ll have a sparkling water,” her grandfather said.

“Me, too,” Selena said and followed her grandfather down the hall to the conference room.

The walls were richly paneled and there was a portrait of Justin and two other men who had to be his brothers. There was a strong resemblance in the stubborn jawline of all the men. She recognized Nate Stern, Justin’s younger brother and a former New York Yankees baseball player.

Her abuelito sat down but she walked around the room, and checked out the view from the fifth floor and then the model for the Calle Ocho market center.

“Have you seen this, abuelito?”

He shook his head and came over to stand next to her. The Cuban American market that her grandparents owned was now replaced with a chain grocery store. She was outraged and angry.

“I can’t believe this,” Selena said.

“You can’t believe what?” Justin asked as he entered the conference room. Myra was right behind him with a tray of Perrier and glasses filled with ice cubes.

“That you think replacing the Cuban American market with a chain grocery store would be acceptable.”

“To be honest we haven’t got an agreement with them yet,” Justin said. “This is just an artist’s concept of how the Market will look.”

“Well the injunction I filed today is going to hamper your agreement with them.”

“It will indeed. That’s why I invited you here to

talk.”

She was disgusted that she had fallen for his sexy smile and self-deprecating charm at the zoning office because she saw now that he was a smooth operator. And she’d had her fill of them when she was younger. It made her angry to think that in ten years she hadn’t learned not to fall for that kind of guy.

“Then let’s get to work,” she said. “I’ve drawn up a list of concerns.”

“I look forward to seeing them,” Justin said. “And Tomas, it’s nice to see you again,” he said, shaking the older man’s hand.

“I’d prefer it if we could stop meeting,” Tomas said.

“To be fair I’d like that, too. I want to move this project forward,” Justin said.

She bet he did, he was probably losing money with each day that they waited to break ground on their new market. But she was here to make sure that he realized that he couldn’t come in and replace traditional markets with a shiny upscale shopping area with no ties to the community.

“What is your largest concern?” he asked. “This was a Publix supermarket strip mall before you first came to it, Tomas. So you have had chain grocers in the neighborhood before. We can invite another retailer if you’d prefer that.”

Selena realized that Justin didn’t necessarily understand what their objection to his building in the community truly was.

“Justin, this strip mall is part of the Cuban American community. Our family’s store isn’t just a place for people to pick up groceries, it’s where the old men come in the morning for their coffee and then sit around and discuss the business of the day. It’s a place where young mothers bring their kids to play in the back and have great Cuban food.

“This is the heart of the neighborhood. You can’t just rip it out.”

Justin knew this meeting wasn’t going to be easy. He’d figured that out the moment he met Selena. She was the kind of woman that made a man work for it. And he knew that she was looking out for the interests of her community and to be fair he needed that community to want to shop there. Even though they’d do a good crossover business from the club and he had an arrangement with some local tour companies to add the new Luna Azul Market to their tourist stops once it opened, it would be the neighborhood residents that would make or break this endeavor.

“I’m open to your suggestions. So far Tomas has only demanded that we leave the strip mall the way it is and I think that we both know that isn’t a solution.”

“We both don’t know that,” she said.

“Have you been down to the property lately?” he asked her. “The mall is old and run-down. The families that you speak of are dwindling, isn’t that right, Tomas?”

Tomas shrugged but then glanced over at Selena. “The buildings need repairs and the landlord … you, Justin, should be making them.”

“I want to make more than repairs. I’m not even sure if they meet the new hurricane wind resistance standards.”

Selena pulled out a notebook and started writing on it. “We will check into it. Have you considered forming a committee with the community leaders and your company? “

“We’ve had a few informal discussions.”

“You need to do a lot more than that. Because if you want the neighborhood support you are going to have to open a dialogue with them.”

“Okay,” Justin said. “But only if you serve on the committee.”

She blinked up and then tipped her head to the side. “I don’t think that I need to be on there.”

“I do,” Justin said. “You grew up there, and are also familiar with the legal and zoning issues. You will be able to see the bigger picture.”

“I don’t think—”

“I agree with him, tata, you should be on there,” Tomas said.

“Tata?” Justin asked, smiling.

She glared at her grandfather. “It’s a nickname.”

She blushed, and it was the first crack he’d seen in her all-business, tough-as-nails shell.

The business deal was going to go through whether Tomas and his allies wanted it to or not. Justin had already scheduled a round of golf with the zoning commissioner, Maxwell Strong, at the exclusive club he belonged to to get him to change his mind. And over the next week he’d work on finding a way out of the legal hole that Selena had dug for him. But he wanted to see more of her.

And this committee thing would be perfect. Plus, he did actually want the community behind the project. “Myra, will you set up a meeting time for us … I think we should use Luna Azul. Tomas and Selena will send you a list of people to invite.”

“I’d like to take a closer look at the plans for the market,” Selena said.

“I’ll leave you two to discuss that,” Tomas said. “I need to call around and see when everyone will be available to meet.”

“Myra will show you to an office you can use,” Justin said.

After Tomas and Myra left the room, Justin studied Selena for a minute. Her head was bent and she was making notes on her legal pad. He noticed that her handwriting was very neat and very feminine.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I thought I already told you that I like the way you

look.”

“That wasn’t just you trying to … I don’t know what you were up to. Did you know who I was in that lobby of the zoning office? “

He shook his head. “No. I wish I had known.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I could have talked you out of filing that injunction,” he said with a laugh.

She chuckled at that. “Wow, that’s putting a lot of pressure on your supposed charm.”

He grabbed his side pretending she’d wounded him. “Good thing I’m tough-skinned.”

“You’d have to be in order to work in the neighborhood you do. How did you and your brothers manage to make Luna Azul a success without getting the community behind you?” she asked him.

“Some locals do frequent the club but we rely on the celebs for business. They bring in their own crowd of followers. We book first-rate bands and we have salsa lessons in the rooftop club … so we do okay. Have you ever been there?”

She shook her head. “I left Miami before you opened your doors.”

“Why did you leave?” he asked.

“None of your business,” she replied with a tight look that told him he’d somehow gone too far.

“My apologies. I expected you to say you needed some freedom … would you have dinner with me tonight?”

“Why?”

“I believe in keeping my enemies close.” “Me, too,” she said. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“It is a yes. But I’ll pick the place.” She wrote an address at the bottom of her legal pad and then tore the paper off and handed it to him. “Be there at seven. Dress casual.”

“Do I need to bring anything?” “Just your appetite.”

She gathered her things and then stood up and walked out of the conference room. He watched her leave.

Inviting Justin to her family get-together was inspired. He wanted to do business in this community but he didn’t understand it. This would be his lesson.

On her way home, she’d driven down to the strip mall to see her grandfather’s store, and it had been run-down more than she expected.

Something was needed, but an outlet mall or a highend shopping plaza wasn’t it. The Calle Ocho neighborhood leaders wouldn’t stand for. Plus, she wanted to ensure that her grandparents got the best deal possible.

They had always been at the center of things in Little Havana and she wasn’t about to let Justin Stern take that away from them.

She also stopped by her house. When she entered, she was swamped with memories but managed to brush them aside as she freshened up and got ready to walk back over to her grandparents’. The last thing she wanted was to be here, she realized. She packed a bag with some clothes she found in the closet, locked the house and pointed her rented convertible toward the beach.

Her New York law practice had made her a wealthy woman. And considering this was the first real break she’d taken from work in the last eight years she thought she deserved a treat. All she did was work and save her money. Well that wasn’t completely true—she did have an addiction to La Perla lingerie that wouldn’t stop. But for the most part all she did was work.

So as she pulled up at the Ritz and asked for a suite for the next month, Selena knew she was doing the right thing. She was in luck and was soon ensconced in memory-free luxury. Just what she needed.

As she was settling in, her cell phone rang and she glanced at the number. It was a local number but not one she recognized. She answered it anyway. “This is

Selena.”

“This is Justin. How about if we have drinks at Luna Azul first so you can see the club?” “No.”

“Just a flat-out no, you aren’t going to even pretend to think it over,” he said.

“That’s right. I am not staying near there, anyway. I’m at the Ritz,” she said. She was kicked back on the love seat in her living room reading up on Justin on her laptop.

“How about a drink in the lobby bar?” he suggested. His voice was deep over the phone—very sexy.

“Why?” she asked. She wasn’t sure spending any time alone with him was the right thing. She wanted to keep it all business between them. That was the only way she was going to keep herself from acting on the attraction she felt for him.

“I want a chance to talk to you alone. No business—just personal stuff.”

“No business? Justin, all we have between us is business.” She hoped that making that statement out loud would somehow make it true. She didn’t want to admit to herself or Justin that there was a spark.

“But we could have so much more.”

“Ha! You don’t even know me,” she said.

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping to change. What harm could one drink do? “

“One drink,” she repeated. Hell, who was she kidding? She was going to meet him. She’d invited him to her welcome-home party so he could get to know her family and not only because of business. She wanted to see how he was with them to get the measure of the man he was.

“Just one,” he said. “I’ll do my best to be charming and try to convince you to stay for more.”

“I’m a tough cookie,” she said.

“I think that’s what you want the world to believe but I bet there’s a softer woman underneath all that.”

She hoped he never found out. She had tried so hard to bury the woman—girl—she’d been when she’d graduated from the University of Miami and left her hometown behind. Were there still any vestiges of that passionate side of her left after Raul had broken her heart?

Sure she dated, but she was careful that it was just casual, never letting her emotions get involved. Raul had taught her that the price to be paid for loving foolishly wasn’t one that only she paid. Her grandparents had almost lost their business because of her poor judgment in men, and Selena had vowed to never be that weak again.

“Pretty much what you see is what you get with me,” she said, uncomfortable talking about herself. “What about you? Are you all awkward charm and sleek business acumen?”

He laughed. “I guess so. It’s hard when you grow up with a charismatic brother—everyone just expects you to be the same.”

“How many brothers do you have?” she asked. Though she’d spent the afternoon reading about them on the internet she wanted to hear how he described his family. She had no idea what it had been like to grow up the son of a wealthy, semi-famous pro golfer or to have a brother who played for the Yankees. “I know your dad played pro golf.”

“Yes, he did. I have two brothers …”

“That’s right. And you’re the middle one?”

“Yes, ma’am. The quiet one.”

“I haven’t seen you quiet yet.”

He laughed again and she liked the sound of it—a little too much. No matter how charming he was she wasn’t going to let him past her guard. She had to take control and remind him that they were doing things on her terms. “Okay, so one drink. Why don’t you come by around—”

“Five. We can have hors d’oeuvres, too.”

“Five? That’s two hours before our date. How are you going to make one drink last that long?” she asked, but she was already getting up and starting to ready herself to meet him. It was only forty minutes until five.

“If things go well I don’t want to cheat you out of spending time alone with me.”

“You are so thoughtful,” she said.

“I am. It’s one of my many gifts.”

“I’ll remember that when we are doing our negotiations for the marketplace,” she said with a laugh. “Five o’clock in the Ritz lobby bar.”

“See you there,” he said and hung up.

She went into the bedroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like she’d just come from work. She opened her closet and realized she had a closet full of casual and work clothes. Not exactly the sexiest clothing in the world.

Did she want to look sexy for her date with Justin?

“Yes,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror. If she was going to get the upper hand on Justin she was going to need to pull out all the stops.

It sure was going to be fun to go head-to-head with Mr. Know-Your-Enemies.

Three

Justin valet-parked his car and walked into the lobby of the Ritz on South Beach. The view from the restaurant here was breathtaking and easily one of the best in this area. He glanced at his watch. He was a few minutes early and as he scanned the lobby he didn’t see Selena.

He walked to the lobby bar and found seating for two in a relatively quiet area. He knew that he had to get to know Selena better for business reasons. He had to know how she thought so he could make sure he made the right offer—one she’d accept so that he could get the market back on track. He hadn’t gotten the Luna Azul Company to where it was today by not knowing how to read people.

But he wasn’t going to deny that he wanted Selena. There had been a moment in the conference room this afternoon when he’d wished they were alone so he could pull her into his arms and see if he could crack her reserve with passion. “Justin?”

He glanced over his shoulder and felt like he’d been sucker punched. The prim, reserved woman he’d flirted with was gone and in her place was a bombshell. Maybe it was just her thick ebony hair hanging in waves around her shoulders, or the red lipstick that drew his eyes to her full mouth. But his gut insisted that it was the curve-hugging black dress she wore that ended midthigh. He skimmed his gaze down to her dainty-looking ankles and those high-heeled strappy sandals that made him almost groan out loud.

“Selena,” he said, but his voice sounded husky and almost choked to him.

She arched one eyebrow and smiled. “Happy to see

me?”

“That is an understatement. Let me get us a drink. What’s your poison?”

“Mojito, I think. I need something to cool me down.”

He signaled the cocktail waitress and placed their drink order before diving right in. “Tell me about yourself, Selena. Why are you living in New York when your family is still here?”

“No small talk?” she asked, turning her attention away from him and skimming the room.

“Why bother with that?” he asked. “We both want to know as much about each other as we can, right?”

“Definitely. I just didn’t plan on going first,” she said with a smile as she turned back to face him again.

Every time she talked he tried to concentrate on her words but he couldn’t take his eyes from her lips. He wanted to know how they would feel under his own. What kind of kisser would she be? Would she taste as good as he imagined?

“I’m a gentleman,” he said. And he didn’t want to show her any weakness.

“So it’s ladies first?” she asked.

“In all things, especially pleasure,” he said.

She blushed as their waitress arrived with the drinks. She started to take a sip but he stopped her.

“A toast to new relationships.”

“And a quick resolution to our business problems,” she said.

He clinked his glass to hers and watched as she took a swallow of her cocktail. When she took the glass from her mouth she licked her lips and he felt his blood begin to flow a little heavier in his veins as his groin stirred.

He wanted her.

That wasn’t news. But sitting here with her in the bar was starting to seem like a really dumb idea. He needed all his wits about him because it was apparent that Selena was playing with her A-game and he needed to as well.

“You were going to tell me all your secrets,” he said.

She laughed. “I was going to tell you the official version of my life.”

“I’ll take whatever you offer,” he said.

“I bet you will. Okay, where to start?”

“The beginning,” he suggested, shifting his legs to make room in his pants for his growing erection.

“Birth?”

“Nah, skip to college. I did a little internet research on you and saw that you graduated from the University of Miami. What made you choose to go to Fordham Law School instead of choosing something closer to home?” he asked.

“I needed a change of scene. I was pretty sure that I wanted to practice corporate law and I had done an internship for one summer with the firm that I work for now. So it made sense to go there.”

“That’s about the same time your grandparents sold the marketplace and switched over to being renters in the space. Did they do that to pay for your education?” he asked.

Her face got very tight and she shook her head. “I had a scholarship.”

“I did a deed search to see who had owned the property before the previous owner and it was your grandfather. I can’t understand why he sold,” Justin continued. He really wanted to know why ten years ago, Tomas had made the decision to sell the marketplace property and become a rental tenant instead. That made no sense to Justin as a businessman. But it also made no sense based on what he knew of Tomas. Tomas liked being his own boss.

“What about you? Harvard law graduates can usually write their own ticket to any law firm but you came back home and worked with your brothers instead, why?”

Justin stretched back and looked at her for a minute. That was complicated. He couldn’t tell her that coming back was the hardest decision he’d ever made because even his brothers didn’t know that.

“They needed me,” he said. It was close to the truth. He didn’t hold with outright lies.

He took another sip of his drink and then leaned forward. “Why are you here now?”

“My grandfather said you were too slick and he couldn’t trust you.”

“That’s hardly true. Tomas is very shrewd. And don’t change the subject. Why did he sell the marketplace if not for your education?”

She flushed and her hand trembled for a minute and then she took a sip of her drink.

He waited for her to answer but she didn’t say anything.

“Selena?”

“That is a private matter and I won’t discuss it with you.”

Selena was surprised that he’d dug back on the deed. But she shouldn’t have been. She may have momentarily distracted Justin with her clothing and changed appearance but he’d adjusted quickly by pulling the rug out from under her with that question.

“Okay. I can respect that. I was just thinking that if they hadn’t sold the property perhaps it wouldn’t be so derelict now,” Justin said.

He was right. Selling that property had been a mistake and that was why she was here. To right the wrong she’d caused when she’d allowed herself to get suckered by a smooth-talking con man ten years ago.

She’d never seen him coming, Raul had swept her off her feet, and then once she’d fallen for his sweet talk, he’d used that love she had for him against her. The con he’d run on her had been simple enough. He was starting his own company, a luxury yacht business, and needed some initial investors. She’d put all of the inheritance she’d gotten from her parents into it, and in a calculated move on Raul’s part she’d convinced her grandparents to mortgage the market and invest, as well. Raul took all the money and disappeared overnight.

The ensuing investigation into Raul’s disappearance had been an upheaval in their lives. It had taken almost two years to get it sorted out and at the end with lawyers’ fees and private investigator charges her grandparents had no money left. They were forced to sell the marketplace and become renters. Raul was eventually caught and brought to justice, but their money was never repaid.

It had been one of the most humiliating times of her life and she’d been very glad to escape Miami to Fordham where she knew no one. She’d started over and been very careful since then not to let her emotions get the better of her.

“You are very right,” she said. She took another sip of her mojito. The smooth rum and mint drink was soothing. Justin watched her each time she swallowed and she knew she’d been distracting him all evening.

She liked the feeling of power it gave her to know that she could manipulate him. She wondered if that was what Raul had felt as he’d slowly drawn her into his web. Had it been the power? She hadn’t thought of that in years, but her experiences with men had taught her that in all relationships—personal and business—it all came down to who had something the other wanted. And right now, she had something that Justin wanted a lot.

“I know,” he said. He was cocky and she had to admit that it was a trait she was beginning to enjoy in him.

He seemed so in control. She’d been told she gave that impression, as well, but she knew underneath her professional persona she was usually a mess. Was it the same for him? But she couldn’t detect any chinks in his armor. She was starting to realize that even distracted he was going to be a tough opponent.

She leaned forward to place her drink on the table and noticed his eyes tracked down toward her breasts. She shifted her shoulders so the fabric of her dress drew the material taut over her curves and then sat back.