Page 29 of Just for the Holidays
“Okay,” she whispered as she gripped the hand on her neck and pulled it so he was standing between her legs. His groin was just inches away and her mouth was practically watering from the need to taste him. She fisted the base of his erection as she looked up at him. She searched his face for something, a sign that told her that trusting him was a stupid idea, but all she saw was the same lust burning through every ounce of her resistance.
“You have plans for that?” Gael asked roughly, through clenched teeth as she flicked the head with the tip of her tongue.
“Maybe. You have any ideas?”
He grunted and pushed in. “Let me in, baby,” he coaxed her and she did, hungry for him again... before long all her doubts were floating away in the deep, tumultuous waters of her love for Gael Montez.
“Manolo, I can’t do this right now,” Gael told his uncle as he struggled to keep his voice down.
“You don’t have five minutes to discuss the terms of a project you accepted without consulting me?”
Gael gritted his teeth at Manolo’s reproaching tone. His uncle insisted on treating him like he was still a kid, and he was done with this shit. His mother was right. Manolo made a very good living off Gael’s work and he was done acting like the old man did this as a favor to him.
Gael walked over to the window in the study and watched as two workers plowed the driveway and the path to the main road. Some days he could hardly believe he owned all this. But he’d have to start reminding himself—and his uncle—who was really running the show here.
“Manolo, let’s get something straight. You’re my uncle and I love you. Butyouwork forme.” He heard the older man suck in a breath, but Gael wasn’t tiptoeing around Manolo’s fragile ego today. “I’m taking the Francisco Rios part because it’s what I want to do. End of discussion.”
“And what am I supposed to tell the other studio about the lead role for that superhero franchise, Gael? I gave them my word.” Manolo’s voice rose on that last part, and that only worked to infuriate Gael even more.
“If you made promises on my behalf, then it’s your problem how you rectify it.”
“It’s that girl, isn’t it? You were never able to think straight when she was in the picture. Getting dicked around just like your father—”
“Manolo,” Gael roared into the phone. “I suggest you rethink whatever it is you were about to say. And you better get used to seeing Perla around again.”
“What does that mean?” his uncle scoffed.
“I need to go. We’re about to head into Manhattan,” Gael said when he heard a light knock on the door, and saw a raven-haired head pop inside. His body instantly reacted to her presence. Good God, he needed to get a grip.
“What do you mean, Manhattan? And who’swe? I’m on my way to Sagaponack to talk to you and you’re taking off?”
“I won’t be here when you get in,” he told his uncle as he gestured for Perla to come in. “Drive safely, Manolo.”
Perla’s eyes widened as she heard the name, but Gael waved off her concern.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, worry clear in her voice. He hated that he’d never stood up for her back when Manolo acted like her presence was an imposition. Once things between them were settled and he came back from his press tour, he’d really have to reconsider if it was in his career’s best interest to keep him as his manager. But right now it was all about Perla and him. Everything else could wait.
“Nothing,” he told her as he brought her closer. “Just checking in. Looks like the contract for the Rios project came in yesterday.”
She smiled up at him when she heard that. “I told you the producers were desperate to get you.”
“Well, they have me.”
“I thoughtIhad you.”
This woman was going to end him. They’d just made love for over an hour in the cottage and he already needed her again.
“They have my acting skills. You get everything else.”
“Mmm, is that a promise?” What he told her earlier wasn’t a lie; he knew he didn’t deserve a second chance with this woman, but he did not plan to waste it.
“That’s absolutely a promise. What do you think about staying at my place tonight?” he asked as he ran his hands over her pert backside. “I can drive you to the airport tomorrow, before I head back here.”
“If you make it worth my while, Mr. Montez.” Damn but her hands were like fire on his skin.
“If anyone saw you looking at me with those big gray eyes, they’d have no idea what those hands were getting up to this morning.”
She laughed wickedly in response as she stroked him.
