Second Chances (9 page)

“I’m not playing games. I didn’t want to let
Midas down. It’s unfortunate you can’t understand that. A couple more days
wouldn’t have made much of a difference.”

“It made a difference to me.”

“And that’s all that matters,” Sabrina shot
back.

“That’s right!”
A vein in his neck
popped into prominence, but then he
took a deep, calming breath
and it disappeared.

She turned away again, staring out at the
passing traffic, wishing she could take back control of her life.

When the car stopped in front of her apartment
building, she reached for the door handle, not wanting to wait for the driver.
“I’ll see you—”

Renaldo got out of his side of the car.

She jumped out on her side. “Where do you think
you’re going?”

“Upstairs, with you. You’re moving. Today.”

“I’m not ready to move.”

He strode toward the building, and she hurried after
him, her gaze pinned to his broad back. His tall, muscular body moved with the
ease and grace of an athlete. She struggled to keep up with his effortless
stride. “I said that I’m not ready to move today.”

Still ignoring her, he hit the button for the
elevator inside her building, and they rode up in silence. If he didn’t want to
talk anymore, that was fine with her.

When they arrived on her floor, Sabrina hurried
past him to her apartment. If she could get in before him, she had a chance of
keeping him out.

No such luck. His hand shot out to keep the
door open before she could slam it in his face.

His dark eyes smoldered with restrained anger.
“It seems you are determined to try my patience.”

He pushed the door all the way open and looked
over his shoulder down the hall. He waved his hand and two uniformed men
wearing caps appeared, holding large plastic totes with lids.

Where the hell had they come from?

Renaldo charged in, followed by the men. They
were movers.

“I refuse—”

He spoke over her in Portuguese and pointed to
the bedroom door, instructing them to start packing up her clothing.

“Wait a minute!” She didn’t know if the men
stopped because they understood English or because they understood the demand
in her voice.

They looked at Renaldo and he nodded for them
to wait, which only annoyed her even more. “I said no.”

“Did you forget our conversation in the car? You
are moving back to the penthouse today. Now.”

“I can take care of that myself.”

“I’m not on your time, Sabrina.”

“And I’m not on yours!”

He clenched his teeth so tightly a muscle in
his jaw vibrated. “Follow me.” He headed to the bedroom door, and after a
moment’s hesitation, she followed.

When they were both in the room with the door
shut, she faced him, her anger nearing the boiling point. “I am not one of your
damn employees. You do not get to order me around.”

“On the contrary, with so much money at stake,
I have no choice
but
to order you around because it’s obvious you want
to make this difficult.” He looked around her room with its simple furnishings.
“I would think you’d be happy to leave this place and return to the lifestyle
you’ve grown used to over the past year.”

She bristled at his not-too-subtle insult. “It
may not be up to your standards, but it’s mine,” she responded, lifting her
chin.

Renaldo’s roaming gaze came to rest on the
dresser. He walked over to it and picked up a photo frame. It contained a picture
of the two of them on their wedding day, standing on the beach with Jewel and Renaldo’s
family and friends. She’d been so happy that day.

Her breath caught when he placed it face down
on the dresser.

“I’m tired of playing nice.”

“You call this nice? You had me terminated from
my job after you promised Jonas first dibs at Estação Central—or whatever the
hell you promised him—and then you bring me here to force me to move before I’m
ready. You’re
so
nice.”

“Jonas no longer needed your services. And,
yes, with what I’m paying you, I find myself to be considerably more
than
nice, since if it weren’t for this project, you’d get nothing. And as for
moving, you should be thankful I’ve made the arrangements so you don’t have
to.”

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“I’d like to think so, but I’m not always so
prepared. There have been times when I’ve been completely blindsided.
You
blindsided me. But never again. Where you’re concerned, I plan to make sure I’m
always prepared.”

“This situation is impossible. How can we live
together with this much animosity between us? We’re not even being civil to
each other.” 

“I
am
being civil.”

She stopped breathing as he came
forward, stopping in front of her, forcing her to tip her head back to maintain
eye contact. His closeness made her want to touch the hard contours of his
face—the lean jaw, the strong chin.

It took so much energy to fight him. And
every time she was near him, she became so damn weak.

“But that’s not what you want, is it?”
he said. “You want to pretend that what you did never happened.”

“That’s not true. I understand what I
did changes everything, but you won’t accept my explanation. You won’t let me
make things right.”

“And would you offer me the same if the
roles were reversed?”

“I think I would. I love you. I think
I’d at least try—give you a chance to—I wouldn’t just toss you out like you
were
nothing
. I—” She stopped and swallowed. She was too emotional and
her words were coming out all jumbled. “What’s the point? You think I’m vile.
You can’t stand me—can’t even stand to look at me.” She couldn’t forget the
harsh words he’d thrown at her.

He was silent for a moment, watching her
with an intensity that made her squirm internally.

“Maybe I’ve changed my mind,” he finally
said, slowly. He lifted one of her curls and rubbed it between his fingers.
“Maybe this animosity between us is based on something else.”

Sabrina swallowed past the constriction
of her throat. She understood what he was saying as the air became charged with
an undercurrent of sexual tension. He watched her with an open hunger that
hadn’t been visible moments ago.

“We’ve always had a hard time keeping
our hands off each other. Maybe we shouldn’t deprive ourselves and just do what
comes naturally.”

Sabrina stepped back, using distance to
keep from getting sucked into the enticing words. “So you want to use me to get
off and then toss me aside when this is over? I don’t think so.”

“I can change your mind.”

“You can’t.”

“Oh, I think I can.” His confidence
irked her. “The way you responded to me the other day. It may have started as a
seduction to get more money, but you wanted me as much as I wanted you. And why
shouldn’t I get what you gave to another man so willingly?”

 “Unless you had marital relations
written into the contract, you’re out of luck. Even if you did, I wouldn’t let
you use me in that way.”

“I see the look in your eyes.” He
smiled. “It’s your own fault, you know. You shouldn’t have tried to seduce me.”

“That’s not what I was doing.” She had
been pleading with him for forgiveness, but he couldn’t see past her betrayal.

“No? That’s how it appeared, and it now has
me thinking of how moving you back into the apartment could be mutually
satisfying. After all, we both know what kind of woman you are. I wouldn’t want
you to be tempted to stray again.”

Pain rifled through her. He wanted to
treat her like the whore he thought she was. “I hate you for talking to me like
this.”

His eyes narrowed, and he grabbed her
chin. She caught his wrist to force him to let go, but he didn’t release her.
The heat of his touch sent her hormones spiraling out of control. She didn’t
move, didn’t want to move, and hated how right he was about her need for him.

After a prolonged stare, Renaldo rubbed
his thumb across her lips. They parted and trembled as she fought to keep from
sucking his finger into her mouth.

“Hate is passion,
minha esposa
,
”
he said. “And I welcome yours. Do you know why? Because you could never
hate me as much as I hate myself for still wanting you.”

Chapter Eight

“Bárbara, get in here, please.” Renaldo barely
managed to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

He sat in his office staring down at the
quarterly reports that had been sent up from the finance department. His instructions
on allocations were not being followed. He didn’t like it when his instructions
weren’t followed.

Bárbara, the assistant he’d shared with Sabrina
when she’d worked at SDG, hurried in with a notepad and pen. “Yes, sir?”

“Whoever sent this garbage up here—” he dropped
the thick report on the desk, at the edge closest to her—“tell him, and I
assume it was Foster, that I want to see him in my office now.”

Bárbara retrieved the document and stepped back
quickly. “Will there be anything else, sir?”

“Yes,” Renaldo bit out, as he turned to his
computer. “This kind of thing is unacceptable. Tell Foster when he gets here he
better have a damn good explanation for why the work in his department has
deteriorated so much in the past month.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bárbara scurried away, but she stopped at the
door. “Sir, if I may?”

Bárbara was competent and efficient, but lately
her expression made her look like a frightened rabbit. Had he really turned
into such an ogre?

“What is it?”

She cleared her throat. “The work hasn’t
deteriorated. I think the problem is…well, shortly after she started working
here, your wife began reviewing all the financial reports before you received
them.”

That was news to him. “She did?”

Bárbara cleared her throat again. “Yes, sir.
She instructed Foster and his staff not to send the reports to you until she’d
had a chance to vet them. She said your time was better spent managing the
company and growing the business, not fixing careless errors.”

Renaldo sat back in his chair and digested those
words. “How soon after she came did she start doing this?”

“Almost immediately, sir.”

Foster had been hired a few weeks after
Sabrina. If what Bárbara said was true, it explained why he hadn’t known about
Foster’s mistakes, because Sabrina had been reviewing his work before Renaldo
saw it. Why hadn’t she said anything to him?

“If I may say, she was always very instrumental
in making sure your work flow was not interrupted.” Renaldo heard the
admiration in his secretary’s voice.

Sabrina had been running interference, removing
the day-to-day trivialities from his plate so he’d have more time to focus on
big-picture items. Which made him wonder how many of his workaholic wife’s late
nights could be attributed to taking care of problems on his behalf.    

“Thank you, Bárbara.” She didn’t move,
prompting Renaldo to ask, “Was there something else?”

She cleared her throat again. “I was just
wondering…will she be returning from her leave of absence soon?”

To avoid gossip about his personal life, he’d
told the staff that his wife had taken a leave of absence. He’d decided to deal
with the fallout from the divorce when he absolutely had to and not before.
Besides, it was no one’s business whether or not he and his wife were still
together.

“You’ll see her later today,” Renaldo said. “She’s
stopping in to do the magazine interview with me.” 

Bárbara smiled when she heard that bit of
information. After she left, Renaldo looked at the connecting door he’d had installed
between his and Sabrina’s office. He’d had no idea Sabrina had been quietly
taking care of problems. Her actions confused him. Her thoughtfulness didn’t
make sense when he considered this was the same woman who’d broken their
marriage vows. Such unselfish behavior was closer to the woman he thought he’d
married, not the one he wanted to divorce.

What she’d done meant nothing, he decided,
hardening his heart. She’d cheated on him and lied about it for months, and
he’d do well to remember it. Because she’d saved him a few hours here and there
didn’t change the facts. Their farce of a marriage was coming to an end as soon
as this project was finalized. He just had to get through the next few weeks.

He shifted and turned his attention to the next
task on his to-do list.

__________

The interview was planned for noon, so Sabrina
decided to sleep in late. She called to check on Jewel and they chatted for
almost an hour before she started getting ready.

She took great care with her appearance,
donning a taupe pencil skirt and a white silk blouse whose ruffled front hid
its buttons. She finished the look with a wide belt and pinned up her spiral curls,
allowing a few loose ones to fall around her face.