Endless Summer Nights (21 page)

His excitement was palpable but not contagious. A wave of panic seized Sidney as she realized what was happening. If Moda had taken over Belo Fashions, that spelled trouble for the deal she was trying to strike with them. There was no way Rodrigo would agree to the sale—not when he knew that she was involved. From the smug look on his face, she knew he’d connected the dots.

Still in disbelief, she had to ask to make sure. “
You
own Belo now?”

“That’s correct,” Rodrigo said.

No, no. This can’t be happening.

“I will be sitting in on this presentation,” he continued with deliberate slowness, “and we’ll have to make sure the line is a good fit for the stores before any contracts are signed.”

Sidney felt the deal she’d been so confident about only moments before quickly slip through her grasp.

Chapter 2

T
here was no way Rodrigo would let Haute Moderne sell their dresses in his family’s stores. Normally, he wouldn’t be so closely involved in the buying process. The senior buyer was more than capable of making appropriate purchases for the stores. But since he was already here for a meeting and Sidney was involved, he thought it imperative that he remain.

If she thought she could bring her luscious lips back into his life and blindside him, she had another think coming. He’d learned his lesson the first time, and this time he would stay away from her and the temptation she presented. She’d broken his heart and bruised his pride, and he’d be damned if he let her get away with profiting from his company.

“I’ll get the others in here and we can get started,” Gilberto said and slipped out the door.

In the silence, Rodrigo and Sidney looked at each other, and he unwillingly remembered all the time they’d spent together in New York. Their walks arm in arm down Park Avenue, the stops at little hole-in-the-wall restaurants he would never have visited on his own.

During those four months, he’d worked hard but spent every possible moment he could with her. She had become an obsession, an addiction he couldn’t kick, culminating in the desire to have a more permanent relationship. To think he’d seen a future with her—one filled with children and where they would grow old together. She, on the other hand, hadn’t seen anything of the sort, and her callous dismissal had left him reeling.

Beautiful,
he thought viciously, wishing he didn’t notice the way her reddish-brown hair curled and framed her round face. Or the sultriness of her dark brown eyes. Or the way the simple black suit flattered her figure, reminiscent of the designs the fashion house she represented was known for: simple, tasteful pieces that were classic, not trendy.

She ran her hands down her hips, bringing attention to their roundness and reminding him of nights spent between her legs, wishing he’d never have to leave. His loins became heavy with thoughts of the pleasures they’d shared, and the sensual, uninhibited lovemaking he’d experienced with her and hadn’t been able to capture with another woman since.

“Are you going to sabotage this deal?” she asked, her gaze steady.

He focused on the concern etched in her features. “Sabotage? That’s harsh, don’t you think? You seem to assume that I wish you ill. I don’t.”

“So I have a fair shot?” she asked.

He saw the uncertainty in her eyes and even though a small part of him relished it, another part of him hated that he was the cause of her imbalance. Despite his anger, he found it difficult to take pleasure in her pain.

Still, he gritted his teeth and plowed through. “I don’t owe you anything, do I?”

“I’m not asking for any special favors.”

“And you won’t get any.”

Sidney eyed him. “I know you don’t want me here, but—”

“You’re right, I don’t.” The chair squeaked when he sat. He looked across the table at her the way a disapproving parent would look at a child who still hadn’t learned the error of her ways after much scolding. “Now that you know I don’t, do you plan to leave?”

“Our line is perfect for Belo stores.”

“That remains to be seen.” He purposely spoke in a cold, detached voice.

“I’ll prove it to you. All I ask is for an open mind.”

He leaned back and crossed his legs. “You’re the salesperson, Sidney, and you’re good at selling. You sold me a bill of goods once. Let’s see how well you’ll do again.”

* * *

Before she could reply, Gilberto returned with two other men and a woman. He introduced the woman as senior buyer Linda Alvarez. A Colombian with a flamboyant style, she wore an orange dress with an orange-and-green scarf around her neck and thick gold jewelry on her fingers. Linda greeted Sidney with an exuberant smile and a strong handshake. Sidney immediately liked her sparkling personality.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Sidney said, “we can begin.”

She spent the first few minutes introducing herself and giving background on Haute Moderne. She pointed out that the designers were a team of two sisters who’d always had a dream of designing clothes for the average woman.

“That’s part of why this line was created,” she continued.

Now that she’d found her voice, having Rodrigo right up front didn’t faze her in the slightest. She’d hit her stride, and she knew that the relationship between her company and the retail store was a good match. She played the video and then answered questions about the fit of the garments and the different price points. Afterward she passed out fabric samples so they could feel the texture of the material. During the entire meeting, she watched their reactions. Even Rodrigo paid attention, seemingly interested despite his earlier comments.

“We are very impressed,” Linda said, nodding her head. She and her assistants spoke briefly in Portuguese and then all eyes turned to Rodrigo.

“It’s too early to make a decision,” he said. Sidney got the impression he was being purposely vague to torture her. “Your products would be perfect for Belo Fashions, but now that Belo has merged with Moda, we have to strike the balance in inventory between haute couture and everyday fashions. We’ll have to review the order and see how it fits into our inventory.”

The buyers nodded in agreement.

“I’d be happy to answer any questions you or the buyers have.”

“I have no questions,” he said curtly. He rose from the chair and she was forced to look up at him. At nearly six feet four inches, he easily towered over the other men in the room and made her feel almost waiflike despite her added height in heels.

The buying team stood, as well. “I will discuss the line with my counterpart at Moda and see if they have any questions,” Linda said. “You might want to visit their offices, too. This happens to be an odd time because of the merger.” She appeared apologetic.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to my office.” Rodrigo said goodbye to everyone in the room and cast a cursory glance in her direction before walking out.

Linda came over while the other men spoke to each other, turning over the fabric samples in their hands. “We love the dresses, but Moda is a—how do you say?—um, powerhouse in the market. This merger is good for our company, and we must defer to them on many things.”

“Do you think there’s any chance the senior buyer over there may not like them?”

Linda shrugged. “I see no reason why not, but they know better how they want to handle the inventory, and until all of that is straightened out, this contract may be in limbo.”

Sidney couldn’t afford a delay. She’d been prepared to sweeten the deal with big discounts if necessary, but now it seemed that she’d have to do much more. Since Rodrigo was the head of the company, he could override the buyers’ decisions. Not only did she have to convince them, but him, too. She might as well start at the top to see if she could get him to at least consider the Bonne Soirée line.

But how would she do that when it was obvious how much he despised her?

Chapter 3

L
ater that day Gilberto took Sidney on a tour of Belo. Their volume of business didn’t compare to Moda’s, but a contract with their stores had promised to be a lucrative deal for Haute Moderne nonetheless. The merger with Moda should have presented an even greater opportunity for expansion of the Bonne Soirée line, but instead now put her in a precarious position.

For Haute Moderne, getting their line into the Brazilian market had been a priority from the time Belo had made contact. Both companies had been in talks ever since, which had become more intense when she’d been assigned as the sales representative.

Sidney had never believed in putting all your eggs in one basket, but Haute Moderne hadn’t subscribed to the same beliefs. They’d devoted most of their resources to accommodating one retailer who provided 80 percent of their revenue. Instead of pursuing other opportunities, the company had settled into a false security and had been unprepared when the retailer decided out of the blue to no longer carry their designs. Now this deal was make-or-break for the fashion house.

After the tour, Sidney went to lunch with Gilberto and one of the associate buyers. That’s when she inquired about the location of Moda headquarters. “Linda suggested I visit Moda, and I’d like to take some catalogs and samples down there. Do you have a name of someone I could contact?”

“That’s a good idea,” Gilberto said. “I’ll give you the name of the senior buyer and let him know you’re coming.”

Sidney spent the rest of the afternoon in meetings and on teleconference calls with New York, as well as answering questions about the designs for Gilberto. From whether or not the sleeves on one of the dresses could be longer to whether or not one dress came in a different color. Hours later, she had Javier drop her in front of Moda headquarters and told him he could leave and she’d catch a taxi back to the hotel.

The offices of Moda headquarters were much swankier than those of Belo’s. They were not only located in a larger building, but the state-of-the-art designs on the inside indicated a different level of wealth and success. As far as she knew, almost every country in South America and Mexico had been touched by the Serrano retail empire.

While searching the directory for the buyer, she ran across Rodrigo’s name and bit her lower lip, hesitating, wondering if she should visit him. She quickly dismissed second thoughts about approaching him unannounced this late in the day. After all, she was already here, and she’d already admitted to herself that she had to win him over to make sure this deal went through.

She dropped off the catalogs and samples for the senior buyer, who was tied up in a meeting. She then rode the elevator to the top floor and walked into a large reception area with a tomblike quietness. There was no one at the front desk.

“Hello?” she called.

There was no answer, so she wandered down the hallway. In one of the offices, someone’s head popped up from reviewing a document when she walked past, but he went right back to work as if she didn’t exist. All the way at the back, secluded from the rest of the offices, was Rodrigo’s domain, his name on the wall outside of it.

Sidney walked up to the desk of the woman sitting outside his closed office door. “I’m here to see Mr. Serrano,” she said, as if she had every right to be there.

The young woman looked her up and down and then referred to her computer screen. Her brow wrinkled. “Do you have an appointment?” she asked, her eyes volleying back to Sidney.

“I don’t, but I think he’ll want to see me. My name is Sidney Altman.”

The woman gave her the once-over again and then picked up the phone. She spoke in such low tones Sidney knew she wouldn’t understand a word even if she were speaking in English.

“I’m sorry, Senhor Serrano is unavailable.”

“May I schedule an appointment for tomorrow?”

“I’m sorry, he will be unavailable all week.” She smiled pleasantly, but Sidney recognized a dismissal when she heard one.

“That’s all right,” she said, pasting an equally pleasant smile on her face. “I’ll wait.” He had to come out of there at some point, and she was prepared to wait all night.

She sat in one of the leather chairs across the room. Her eyes scoured the magazines on the side table, all written in Portuguese, but she picked one up and began to flip through it anyway. Every now and again she could see the woman look at her from the periphery, but she continued to browse through the magazine as if unaware.

Finally the woman picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it again. When she hung up, she stood.

“Senhor Serrano will see you now.”

Nervous now that she had what she wanted, Sidney marched over to the door, which was opened from the inside. Rodrigo stood looking down at her, an air of tension crackling between them.

“Couldn’t wait to see me again, Sidney?”

“I wanted to talk to you, if it’s not too much to ask.”

“What I want is irrelevant, isn’t it?” He walked back over to the desk and sat, waving for her to take a seat in front of him.

A bank of windows behind him let daylight into the office and gave a visual of the rooftops of Rio buildings. In the distance she could see the Christ the Redeemer statue with its outstretched arms atop the Corcovado Mountain.

Sidney set her briefcase on the floor beside her and lowered herself into a guest chair, crossing her legs and feeling an immediate awareness of Rodrigo but wishing she didn’t. If they were to have a productive business meeting, she had to keep a cool head.

“I thought maybe we could talk a bit—get everything out in the open.”

“What are we getting out in the open, Sidney? As far as I’m concerned, everything was said in the meeting today to the buyers. Was there something else?” His thin-lipped response barely concealed the anger simmering below the surface.

Meeting the problem head-on was the best solution, she decided. “Considering what happened in New York, I understand why you’re upset.”

Steepling his long fingers, Rodrigo sat forward. His watchful eyes made her feel as if he were picking apart her words to find hidden meaning among them.

“What happened in New York?”

“You know what happened,” Sidney said carefully.

“No, you tell me.”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Again, you mean?” he asked calmly. “You ended our relationship. Why won’t you just say it?”

“We didn’t have a relationship. We were two people engaged in a fling and enjoying each other’s company. It was fun while it lasted.”

Emotion flashed in his eyes and disappeared. He chuckled softly and the delicious sound warmed her insides. “A fling? Is that all it was to you?”

No, their affair had meant everything to her, but she couldn’t tell him the truth because then he’d demand to know why she’d ended it the way she had. “Let’s not talk about this. Obviously, I started the conversation off on the wrong foot.”

“A
fling?
I asked you to come back with me. I asked you to be my
wife.
” The brutal way he said the words made him sound wounded or angry—she couldn’t be sure which. Maybe both.

Sidney’s body became rigid with tension. The conversation was not going well. “I did what I thought was best. I told you why I couldn’t accept your proposal.”

He watched her in silence. “My feelings for you didn’t matter?”

She swallowed the painful lump in her throat and averted her eyes. At that moment she wished she didn’t have to lie and pretend just to protect herself.

“Of course, they mattered,” she said, hating that she had to defend her decision again. It wasn’t any easier now than it had been then. “Don’t my feelings matter, too? I couldn’t marry you, and I wasn’t going to do it because you wanted me to. I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am. I truly never meant to hurt you or to lead you on.” She’d chosen the easiest path; one that protected her from pain and him from disappointment.

“I never wanted our relationship to end.”

“Two people have to want it,” she said quietly. Their last night together she’d thrown a multitude of reasons at him, but none had been the truth.

“And you did not. You made that very clear.” Their gazes locked and held, but she refused to look away first. He shifted and took a breath, as if coming to a decision. “You are correct. For a relationship to work, both people have to want it. That is the same for a business relationship.”

Unease filled her. “I’m not giving up. I didn’t come all the way to Brazil to go back empty-handed.” Sidney squared her shoulders, ready for battle. Based on his demeanor, she was in for quite a fight. “The Belo buyers liked the line, and you know those dresses would be a good fit for the stores.”

Hand fisted on the desk, his eyes bored into hers. “Why are you here, Sidney?”

“Belo contacted—”

“Why are
you
here, right now?”

She took a deep breath. “To talk to you, Rodrigo, and to convince you to not interfere with this transaction. This should be about business. Nothing else.”

“Nothing else? Did you really think there would be ‘nothing else’ but business between us?”

“I never thought you were the kind of man to allow emotion to rule his business decisions. I know that you’re angry about what happened, perhaps even thinking about revenge, but—”

He stood abruptly. Before she realized his intent, he came around the desk and she jumped to her feet. He towered over her, but she refused to be intimidated.

He was standing too close; they’d never been able to be close to each other and not touch. It seemed unnatural, and she felt him in every part of her being. His eyes darkened and his gaze lowered to her mouth before returning to her eyes. She knew that look and recognized at the same time that he didn’t want to feel anything for her. It angered him.

“Revenge?”
He pulled her hand and attached it to the front of his pants. “This is not revenge. This is torture.”

He was aroused, and it surprised her. Instinctively her fingers closed around his thickness. His face tightened, his eyes becoming shuttered. His upper lip pulsed and he let his hand fall to the side so she could stroke him at will, his hard length elongating beneath her fingers.

“You want it, don’t you?” he asked.

Sidney snatched back her hand, embarrassed by how she’d been swept away by her own desires.

“No.” She shook her head emphatically.

“Yes.” His eyes zeroed in on her puckered nipples. With a bitter laugh, he shook his head, his breathing still labored. “Because you can’t help it. Because we can’t stop what we both feel.”

“If you would—”

“You should go.”

“If you would just—”

“Don’t you understand? This isn’t going to work. I can’t
function
with you here. With this between us.” Dismissing her, he walked to the door and swung it open. “Goodbye.”

If she walked out that door, she would not only be a failure, she could lose her job, and the secret dream she’d kept to herself for months would be completely out of reach. She hadn’t even shared it with her mother. The unbearable thought plunged her into an abyss of despair where she acknowledged everything she was about to lose.

Rodrigo’s cold eyes looked at her with indifference as he stood there holding open the door, waiting for her to walk out and leave with nothing.

She walked across the carpet, but when she came to where he stood, she slammed the door closed. “I’m not leaving until I get you to change your mind,” she said with much more boldness than she felt.

He stared at her as if she’d gone mad.