Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (8 page)

As he sat in a long line
of cars at a busy intersection, he took a moment to analyze his
obsession with Cara once again. Perhaps she’d merely come along at
a time when he needed someone like her. A real woman. A woman of
substance, in every way, her life somehow crashing into his and
bringing back memories he’d buried long ago. She was unlike any
woman he’d met in a very long time. Hell, maybe ever.

He took out his phone and
looked at one of the pictures he’d found online. Wisps of blond
hair framed her face so perfectly.
God,
she’s beautiful
. How he wanted to taste
those plump lips. Mmm. And peel her out of that dress…

Victor took a deep breath
and put his phone away. He couldn’t let himself think about it
right now. Soon, he’d see her and welcome her to the office. What
if she was still way too rebellious and skeptical of his motives?
Shit. She had every reason to be. That was another reason why he
absolutely must act professionally around her.

He ignored his urge to buy
her flowers to welcome her aboard. It took him approximately five
minutes to realize what a stupid, dead giveaway that would be. Damn
it, the woman made him think irrationally, and he found that
extremely frustrating.

Women were never this much
of a challenge to him.

Several minutes passed and
he finally entered the parking garage. Quickly, he parked and took
the elevator to the top floor. As he stepped out of it, he adjusted
his tie and his jacket, then headed around the corner, stopping at
Gary’s desk.

“Nice to see you, Mr.
Barboza. Long morning?” Gary swiveled in his chair,
smiling.

Victor’s head shook. “You
don’t wanna know.” He grabbed an unopened letter on the counter in
front of Gary’s desk, pausing for a second so he didn’t sound too
excited about the question on his mind. Then he stared mindlessly
at the envelope and asked, “So, is our new employee having a good
first day?”

Gary leaned forward as if
listening for a distant sound. “You can ask her yourself if you
like. That sounds like her now.”

Victor’s heart raced as he
turned his head frantically in the direction of the footsteps and
unconsciously adjusted his tie again.

And there she was, the
lovely blonde of his fantasies, wearing a pin-striped navy blue
suit that looked like it was made to set off her best
assets.

Her eyes met his for a
split second, then she glanced down at the floor with a slight
grin.

Does she have any idea
what she does to me?

He stood still, waiting
for her to walk up to him, but she shyly stopped a few feet
away.
She’s a walking
contradiction
. During their short
interview she was all guts. Today, she was timid, but that was
good. It gave him the upper hand. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so
nervous.

Victor calmly extended his
hand. “Ms. Green. Welcome.”

She took one step closer
and slowly put her hand around his. “Mr. Barboza. Thank you for
having me.”

Her skin’s like
velvet
…His breath hitched as her fingers
lightly grazed the inside of his wrist.
Shit, now isn’t the time
…

He pulled his hand away
and forced himself to make an offer he’d rehearsed for days.
Keep it casual
. “So,
it’s almost lunchtime. Do you have plans?”

Her mouth dropped for a
moment. “No…no plans.”

“Would you like to get a
quick bite?” Victor shrugged. “Celebrate your first
day.”

She looked at Gary, as if
seeking his approval. “Um…”

Victor grinned. “Gary got
lunch his first day too.” He turned to him. “And you’re invited, by
the way.” He had only planned to invite Gary if Cara appeared
anxious…which she did.

Gary sighed, dramatically.
“I wish I could but it’s my bi-weekly chiropractor visit. And
I
so
need it
after the weekend I had.”

“Ah, that’s right.” Victor
gave Cara a wry grin. “He hurt his neck a couple months back.
Wouldn’t tell me what happened. He just showed up Monday morning in
a neck brace, muttering something about taking the bus from
Atlantic City—”

Gary held up one finger.
“Enough!” Then he put his finger down and straightened his posture.
“I mean, quiet, if you please, Mr. Barboza.”

Victor laughed. He had
never asked Gary to be so formal with him, and it amused Victor
greatly to mess with him on occasion. Today, Victor was even more
thankful for Gary’s presence in the office. It was just the
tension-breaker he would need in order to calm down enough to
subtly woo the new employee.

* * *

Cara tried to do more than
stand there, blinking rapidly as if she didn’t have a thought in
her head. But her mind had indeed gone blank.

Alone, with Victor?
Already? She had prepared herself for the idea of working beside
him in the same office. But going to lunch was entirely different.
They would enjoy a meal together. Alone. Like a date. And she
hadn’t been on a date in a very, very long time.

“So?” Victor asked
patiently. “Lunch?”

Cara inhaled a slightly
trembling breath, willing herself to say the thing he wanted to
hear. “Lunch. Yes. That’d be fine.”

“Great.” Victor grinned,
then abruptly turned in the direction of his office. “Meet me at
the elevator in fifteen minutes.” And then he disappeared inside
and shut the door.

She put her head down and
walked straight to her desk. Her short interaction with Victor had
temporarily made her forget about what Rhonda had told her in the
break room. But now that she remembered, her time was limited. When
she reached her desk, she took out her phone to do a search for
“Victor Barboza engagement.” In the days since Victor offered her
this job, she had searched for him online and found nothing but the
company’s official website, or other boring links that told her
almost nothing. And she knew better than to use his company’s
Internet connection for a search like this.

It took a few minutes, but
she finally found the name “Alexis Whitt” listed along with “Victor
Barboza.” There appeared to be a wedding website that was no longer
functioning, but there was still a wedding gift registry at Michael
C. Fina that had not been canceled. Cara’s mouth had just dropped
open at the sight of a set of sterling silver napkin rings that
cost a thousand dollars when she was startled by a knock at the
door.

“Hello?” Victor entered
her office. “Need to cancel already?”

“No, not at all.” She
glanced at the clock. She should have been at the elevator by now.
“I’m sorry. I lost track of time.”

“You sure? When I saw you
with your phone I thought maybe your son was sick. How’s he doing,
by the way?”

Cara picked up her purse
and slid her phone inside, then stood from her chair to follow
Victor out. “He’s doing very well. Thanks for asking. You’d never
know he was sick now.”

Victor chuckled. “They
recover quickly at that age, yes?”

“Yes.” She followed him to
the elevator, her purse slung over her shoulder. “A little too
quickly, in fact. He’s still supposed to rest but we can’t get him
to sit still.”

Cara and Victor chatted as
they walked, making them both feel more at ease. There was no other
subject that got Cara talking more than Isaac, and Victor was quite
happy to continue asking questions. Not only was he amused by the
precocious young boy, but he loved to hear Cara speak. This was the
closest they had had to a real conversation since they first met,
and it was just now that Victor began to realize how much he
enjoyed Cara’s voice caressing his ears.

Soon they were sitting at
the last small table at his favorite deli. With the bustle of
people all around them, Victor took the opportunity to scoot his
chair closer so they could talk without raising their voices over
the noise. Or at least, that’s what he’d have her
believe.

There was a question that
he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Each time it seemed there was an
opportunity to slip it into the conversation, he
stopped.

What’s the situation with
Isaac’s father?

Hell, it was probably
considered a personal question that could get Victor in trouble for
violating an employment law. But he was dying to know.

After about a minute of
eating in silence, Cara gently dropped her fork to her plate. “With
all due respect, Mr. Barboza, I need to ask. Am I a charity case to
you?”

Victor wiped his mouth and
finished chewing. “Well, that’s quite a subject change.”

“Please, I need to know. I
already took the job and I plan to stay. But you could at least
tell me the truth now. Did you hire me out of pity?”

Victor shook his head and
put his elbows on the table. “Let’s get a few things straight.” He
cleared his throat. “First, you don’t need to be so formal with me.
I’m only a few years older than you. Please, call me
Victor.”

“But Gary
doesn’t—”

“I know, and I tried to
get him to call me by my first name too but he said it didn’t feel
professional, being that he’s my assistant. So, I got used to it.
I’d prefer not to get used to it with you.” He smiled. “And second,
you’re not a charity case. You’re obviously a strong woman and I
most certainly did not hire you out of pity. When I was twelve, my
mother moved me and my brothers from Guadalajara to a small town in
Texas, outside San Antonio. It was a little ranch town, and we’d
been asked to live there if we’d work on his ranch.” He let out a
friendly chuckle. “It may have been a legal gray area for the ranch
owner to have three kids and their mother living there, working for
room and board. But it was a hell of a lot better than what we were
used to. That man became like a father to me and my brothers. He
paid our way through college. I wouldn’t be where I am today
without his act of kindness.”

“Why did he do
that?”

“Believe it or not, it was
because of my little brother, Armando. The man, Henry Platt, said
my brother was nice to him when he’d gotten lost one day, doing
some kind of business deal in the town where we lived. He never
forgot about it, even after he went home. So, he came back several
years later, tracked him down and offered him a job. Pretty soon,
we all moved there.”

“I’ve never heard of
anything like that before. So that’s what you’re doing with me?
Paying the good deed forward?”

Victor’s eyes locked on
Cara’s. How was he to answer this question? And why did she always
have to be so direct? He chose to let his actions speak for a
second, holding her gaze a bit longer than necessary until he
thought he saw her expression change from suspicious to curious.
Then, for the briefest of moments, he let his eyes fall down to the
expanse of skin at her neck, her collarbone, then a little further
down to the top of her ample cleavage. When his eyes snapped back
up to meet hers again, he gave her a half-cocked smile and said, “I
told you before—you ask too many questions.”

Cara’s cheeks immediately
flushed a light shade of pink. She looked away at nothing and
reached for her drink.

Amused, Victor leaned
forward in his chair and watched with intent as her sumptuous lips
curved perfectly around her straw.

Perhaps this is enough for
today
, he thought. He merely wanted to
pique her interest and give her a scant clue about his true
intentions. And he knew he was treading a fine line. A stubborn
woman like Cara would certainly be the type to file a sexual
harassment complaint against him. It wasn’t as if that sort of
accusation could ruin his career, but it could ruin his reputation
with Cara. The last thing he wanted was to scare her off by being
too bold, or make her think he wanted some kind of sexual repayment
for the good deed he’d performed. He just wanted to get to know
her, and be near her. It wasn’t his fault she was in a bad
situation when he found her. It was only too easy for him to fix
it, and no matter what happened between them in the future, he
would never regret giving her a job.

For now, he simply had to
observe her responses and plan his next move.

* * *

Alexis Whitt couldn’t
believe her eyes.

When she saw Victor cross
the street with the full-figured blonde, she had assumed it was a
business meeting. Victor was a creature of habit, frequenting the
same three restaurants at lunchtime. His penchant for routine was
something she both loved and loathed about him.

But when she entered the
deli and saw Victor cozying up to the stranger at the small round
table, looking at her like there was no one else in the room,
Alexis almost shrieked.

She missed that look. And
she’d do anything for him to gaze at
her
that way again.

She ran back out of the
deli and hid across the street where she could watch them leave and
keep an eye on the lobby entrance at Victor’s company.

Lunchtime came and went,
and Alexis was still standing there behind a stone column, waiting
for Victor to exit the deli. But when she saw Gary, she had an even
better idea. She waited several minutes, hopefully giving him
enough time to take the elevator to his floor and get situated at
his desk.