And though it burned her up to have to humble herself to these people, to explain her plans and defend her actions, she had no choice. She had to keep her company intact until she could somehow manage to get it back.
But the board meeting was exactly as she’d predicted. What Alejandro wanted, the board would do. If he decided to dissect her company limb from limb, he was within his rights to do so.
Rebecca shoved papers into her briefcase as the board filed out. She was on dangerous ground here. She was technically still CEO until Alejandro decided otherwise.
A wave of apprehension rolled through her. He would decide otherwise. She had no doubt. He was simply dragging this out to torture her.
How could she be the one who lost the company her father had built? No matter that her father had taken out astronomical loans and pledged every last share of stock as collateral, she was still the one in control when the axe fell. She should have stopped it.
How?
It didn’t matter how. She should have simply known what to do. Her father would have.
Rebecca pinched the bridge of her nose, breathed deeply. No. No one could have gotten them out of this mess. She simply had to deal with the situation as it was. She had to protect Layton International and the people who depended on her for their jobs.
“Why did you make me go through with that?” Rebecca demanded, frustration and anger churning together.
Alejandro shrugged, his lazy stare infuriating. “If you do not like your new position, you can always quit.”
Rebecca snapped her briefcase closed, then stood and stared down at him as coolly as she could muster given the erratic beating of her heart. “I’m returning to New York to do my job.”
“You forget who is in charge here, Señorita Layton.” Alejandro leaned back in his chair, legs sprawled out in front of him as he toyed with a pen on the table. He looked nothing like a billionaire and everything like a mischievous Greek god who’d deigned to dabble with the mortals again. “You work at my pleasure and you leave when I say so.”
“You don’t own me.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
“Oh, but I do.”
He meant it. She could see that. And he intended to make her suffer for it.
“What did I ever see in you?” she forced out past the knot in her throat.
For some reason that got his attention. He climbed slowly to his feet, his eyes glittering. The look on his face was pure danger. For reasons she preferred not to explore, a tiny thrill shot through her.
She straightened her spine, refused to back down as he moved closer. “What are you going to do, kiss me again?” Her voice was huskier than she would have liked. The thought of him kissing her, pressing his body against her, wasn’t nearly as repugnant as she wanted it to be.
Was she crazy? She didn’t want to remember what it was like between them, how much she’d once loved him. To feel anything at all for him, besides hate, was to betray everything her family had ever done for her.
“Would you like that, querida?” he asked, moving toward her with lethal grace. “My mouth against yours?”
“No!” She resisted the urge to slink away. Where would she go? Against a wall? No, she’d stand here, take whatever he dished out. Give as good as she got. He might own her company—own her in fact—but he would not control her. If he kissed her, she would remain cold and unresponsive.
She would.
“Your body says otherwise.” He practically purred as his finger grazed her cheek. She was proud when she didn’t betray herself with even the hint of a shiver. She stood stone still and endured his touch. His fingers left fire in their wake as they ghosted over her skin.
“You are flushed, Rebecca.” His fingers fell away, his hot gaze dropping to caress her body inch by inch. He no longer touched her, but she felt like his hands were everywhere at once.
His eyes caught and held hers. He took a step closer, still not touching her, but invading her space with his overwhelming physicality. “Your nipples bud for me. Feel how they want my touch. Should I kiss them?”
“You’re mistaken,” she choked out, forcing herself not to glance down, not to see the proof of his words.
A sensual grin creased his handsome features. “I am never mistaken about such things. Your heart pounds for me. I can see it. It is like a frightened rabbit.”
“You’re standing too close. I don’t like it.”
He stepped in again, until the hard length of his body hemmed her against the conference table. He placed his arms on either side of her, trapping her. “I think you do. I think, in fact, that you want me desperately.”
“You’re wrong, Alejandro,” she said, lifting her head to look him in the eye and deliver what she prayed was a stern look. “I hate you. I don’t want you.”
And yet her skin sizzled from his nearness. Her brain threatened to disengage completely. Her body trembled in spite of her resolve and an ache bloomed in her sex, rippled outward on currents of liquid heat.
Alejandro’s smile was too knowing, too masculine. “Sí, I feel your hatred. It is very strong. Very frightening for me.”
His head dipped toward her. Her eyes drifted closed and he chuckled low in his throat, a sound of male triumph. Any second, he would kiss her. Any second, she would allow it. In spite of all she’d said. She was too weak, too lonely and needy—
No.
She found the strength to lift her palms, to push against his chest. At the same instant, a buzzer sliced through the room. Alejandro stepped away, Spanish curses falling from his lips as he reached for the phone.
“Sí?” he barked.
Rebecca snatched up her briefcase and purse. She had to get away from here. She had to get home, back to New York, before Alejandro stripped her of far more than her company.
Her hand was on the door when his fingers closed over her shoulder. She gasped as he spun her around, pressed her against the door, his hard thigh wedged between her legs. He gripped her chin, pushed her head back until she was staring him in the eye.
“You will not leave me again, Rebecca. I call the shots, comprende?”
His voice was low, intense. She had the feeling his words were more than a statement of fact. They were a vow.
In spite of the heat between them, a chill slid over her. “I’m going to the airport, Alejandro. There’s nothing for me here.”
His eyes were colder than frost as he let her go and took a step back. “Walk out that door and I will destroy Layton International. Your employees will be without jobs, your hotels sold or demolished, your assets carved up and absorbed into Ramirez Enterprises. I will make sure you never work in this industry again. No one will ever hire you, Rebecca. Walk out and it’s over.”
The depth of his fury stunned her. She wished she had the strength to do it, to walk out and not give a damn. But she couldn’t let him take away the livelihood of the people who depended on her. At this moment, she didn’t care about herself—being anywhere but here, with him, would be less painful to her—but she couldn’t desert them.
“What do you want from me?”
He glared at her without speaking for so long that she wondered if he’d heard her. When she started to repeat the question, he turned away.
“All in good time, Señorita Layton.” He flicked a hand as if shooing away a bothersome fly. “You may go now.”