"They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

I felt soft hands caressing my cheeks, faintly hearing in the distance a sweet angelic voice. I attempt to focus my hearing on the voice but the darkness overpowered, pulling me deeper into its grasp. Dread coursed through my veins causing my throat to constrict.

I tried to open my eyes. But, Nothing. I tried to get up. Nothing, again. Crimson surrounded every inch of surface, my body trembled at the sight while my stomach twists and turns in painful knots.

"Help me, please. Someone help me." I tried to scream but my throat constricts tighter. Each attempt met with powerful resistance forcing tears to escape my eyes. My ears start to whistle with the pressure that has build up.

"Help me," I choke out, the words causing a lingering burn in my throat.

"Shhhhh, it's okay, it's just a nightmare." The silky sweet voice said as her fingers raked through my hair.

My eyelids battered open with my heart hammering in my chest. The room pitch black with an eerie quietness. A reflection of light from the moon through the glass balcony door unveiled the sweet voice wasn't a figment of my imagination. I was not alone. My vision, too blurred and hazy to take in the subject beside me. I peered to the ceiling, my chest heaved as I struggled to retrieve oxygen back into my lungs. Burying my face into my hands, confusion saturated my thoughts. 

My head cocked to the side with the feel of soft lips pressed against my temple. Scarlett kneeled before me, the moon illuminating on her eyes and pouty lips.

"You're okay, it was just a nightmare."

Startled, I pulled her onto the couch. I enveloped her in my arms squeezing tightly. I needed her warmth. She ringed her arms around me resting her head on my chest. The feel of her breath tickling my skin settled my racing heart.

"You were screaming and you- you wouldn't wake up."

An unsettling wave of emotion washed over me with the sound of her brittle voice. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I drowned in shame and embarrassment.

She grasped my chin forcing me to look at her. "Don't tell me you're- embarrassed?"

"I'm sorry for scaring you."

She slid her body lower and placed warm kisses on my scars knowing the cause of my terror. "There's nothing to be ashamed about. Do you forget who you're looking at?"

The feel of her lips on my skin caused an indescribable feeling within, awakening every single one of my senses. With every touch and delicate kiss, I felt my control slowly relinquishing.

As startled as I was, I hadn't realized I pulled her on top of me. Nope, not until I felt a part of me get a little too excited. I gripped her by the waist, settling her beside me feeling her lacy underwear brush against my fingers when the dress shirt raised up. Dirty thoughts infiltrated my mind but I pushed them away as soon as they hit. Not that it would help, having her in such close proximity to me in nothing but a dress shirt was far too tempting.

I caressed her cheek, knowing I was treading on thin ice touching her in any way. " Carino, I've already told you before that you are not an easy woman to forget."

She laughed into my chest. "It's because I'm a total hot mess."

"No, because you're beautiful, memorizing, breathtaking....do I need to go on? Because I can."

"Ha, you forgot contradicting, annoying and pain in the ass."

Her fingers start to draw hauntingly slow circles on my skin. "I didn't know you had one, two, three... four from what I can see, tattoos hiding beneath that suit of yours."

I clutched onto her hand, detaining it above her head as I turned my body to the side hovering over her. "Scarlett, I am a man barely holding on to any shred of control. Doing that does not help my situation."

She gave me a daunting smile, confirming all my suspicions. She knows exactly what her touch does to me. "Do you want to talk about it your nightmare? Maybe, watching some TV will get your mind off it?"

My fingers ghost over the skin on her neck. "Scarlett, the only thing on my mind right now is you."

"Prove it then." She stated matter of factly.

"Are you sure you're ready for me to do, what you command temptadora?"

Scarlett's gazed at me. Eyes filled with a desire that burns so vividly, we are both bound to get burned. A dangerous game to teeter across a line that we can't come back from. But, at this moment we don't seem to care. The yearning for each other's touch becoming too unbearable to ignore any longer.

I placed her head to the side, intertwining my fingers with the hand I settled above her head. She laid there frozen in anticipation biting down on her bottom lip. She gasped, as I started to nuzzle her neck, taking in the sweet scent of her. This time our kiss would be slow, I wanted her to relish every last second.

Breathing into her skin I placed one gentle kiss.

"Slowly," I whispered.

I bring my head to the other side of her neck grazing my lips against her skin as I placed another kiss.

"Ruegame, do you want me to kiss your lips? Then beg." I breathed out my voice sounding huskier.

I teased her with the brush of my tongue after each kiss, sucking and biting as I pleased across her neck and collarbone.

"Elias, kiss me." She pleaded, her tone laced with ecstasy.

Despite her wishes, I continued to antagonize.  Loving how she squirmed beneath me, sensing her rile up with every passing second. She was going to savor the feel of my lips on her skin. This moment would be etched into her memory, she would never forget how I made her feel.

I cupped her face with one hand while my lips crashed into hers. Our lips moistened as they came together again, hungry and desperate for more. Scarlett's bottom lip captured between mine, a mere run of her tongue across my lip causing me to groan in pleasure. She tugged her hand from me and pulled my hair, deepening our kiss.

She detached herself from my lips though ragged hollow breaths she tried to speak. "Eliiiiaaas...we....shouldn't...be doin- aah." I ran my tongue across her collarbone and down her neck going lower.

In this very second, I knew I would never have enough. My quench for Scarlett would never be satisfied with just this kiss. I needed more, I would always want, crave for more of her.

Unable to contain myself any longer, I kissed her lips again with fervor. She tugged at the flesh on my back, digging her nails in as her tongue made its way back into my mouth gentle but demanding.

Scarlett pushed me on back taking charge of my lips. I grabbed her ass, bringing our bodies closer together. Her eyes filled with lust, moaning into my mouth with the feel of erection grazing against her heat.

Separating from my mouth, she started kissing my chest, leaving a trail back to my neck. The kisses become rougher, taunting me, as she continued by sucking, biting and licking her way upwards until she reached the sensitive spot on my ear.

"Fuuck, Princesa."

She nibbled on my ear, whispering against it. "Beg me, Elias. Beg me, to kiss you again."

Gripping my hand on her neck, I placed her on her back, grinding myself against her core. Another moan escaped her mouth, "No, Kiss me, Scarlett." She obliged, crashing her lips against mine while my hand ran across her thigh to her core.

"Eliasss, we have to stop. Now."

Without a second thought, I stopped. She laid her head on my chest both of us breathing heavily with the only sound resonating from our rapid heartbeats. My lips tingled from the passion of our kiss, the stirring feeling in the pit of my stomach lingering on.

"Fuck, any longer and my life would have turned into some cheesy novel called 'Pregnant with my Bosses Baby'." She uttered, biting into my chest.

I chuckled, "I wouldn't mind reading that."

She hit my chest, giggling. "I'm serious, we were like seconds away from me giving a damn and completely losing myself." I held her hand, stopping her second assault. "Kissing each other is reckless but I am too tired to even think right now. I'll just have to save the regret for another day."

"Why regret? You kissed me back out of pity, my whole 'fake a nightmare to get a kiss' plan worked in my favor."

"Mmm, yeah and that's why I begged you to kiss me. I hope you don't mind me laying here until you fall asleep."

I kissed her head as I ran my fingers through her hair. "Don't worry about me. Come, let me lay you back in bed."

She rubbed her cheek against my chest furrowing herself deeper into my embrace. "Elias, just hush and fall asleep. I won't go back to that bed unless you drag my ass and I hate to break it to you but I have one heck of punch babycakes."
                                

                                       ****                                                        

The incessant buzzing coming from slacks was a great way to wake up. Not. The thought of throwing my phone against the wall crossed my mind. Five more minutes of peace and quiet is that too much to ask for? My eyes felt heavy, with the lack of sleep from staying up way past midnight. My little Tigre loved to talk and it just so happened to be that I loved to listen to her talk.

Speaking of little tigre, she laid beside me comfortably with her hand loosely sprawled on my chest while I, on the other hand, dangled off the edge of the couch for dear life.

To add to my restlessness, my back and neck ached. Probably a result of only having two square inches of space to sleep on. Why the hell didn't we just sleep on the bed?

I squinted my eyes at the bright iPhone screen display to see 340 texts messages, 250 missed calls and 720 new email notifications. I don't pay attention to my phone for one night and this is the outcome.

The incessant buzzing starts again startling me that my phone slipped from my hands. Right when I was about to answer the forsaken call, there's a pound on the hotel door.

The pounding continued. "Wait a second" I whisper yelled not wanting to wake up Scarlett who appeared to be a heavy sleeper.

Opening the door swiftly, my eyes widened as my posture stiffened. "Matias? Mia? What are yo-"

"Brother, why don't you answer your phone?" Shouting as he barged in the hotel room, Mia mouthed 'sorry' as she slowly walked in behind him.

He stopped in his footsteps when he noticed Scarlett groggily rising from the couch covering herself with the blanket. My attention diverted to her lips which were plumper than usual while her brown hair was tousled in every direction.

Una Mujer tan Hermosa.

The awkward tension in the room could be cut with a knife better yet, my brothers shocked facial expression could become one those popular internet memes.

"Good morning, Scarlett." Mia waved, oblivious to the awkward situation.

"Scarlett, this is Matias my older pain in the ass brother who makes it a habit of showing up unannounced. Matias, this is Scarlett the new hire I was telling you about."

Matias narrowed his eyes at me as he gave Scarlett a handshake but instead, she fists bumped him. His eyebrows scrunched together at her silly gesture.

"Pleasure to meet you Scarlett and brother what can I say I like the element of surprise. For the record, I did call last night and this morning when I landed. Guess you were too busy eh? I'm lucky your lovely assistant at least picked up."

Ignoring his statement I looked at Scarlett, who seemed like she rather be surrounded by an infinite amount of black widow spiders than in this very room. If she wasn't drowning in embarrassment before she probably was now after my brother's stupid remark.

Giving my brother a glare that signaled him to shut up, I turned to Mia who still seemed completely unfazed. "Did you bring Scarlett a fresh pair of clothes?

Mia nodded as she sat beside Scarlett handing her a pile of clothes. "Your father was indisposed, but your sister was a big help. She picked out an outfit for 'every possible mood you could be in' literally her words."

Mia threw me a white v neck. "I'll have to go pick up your suit, it's being steamed across the street. It should be ready any minute."

Bringing my shirt over my head I replied "That won't be necessary, I'll pick up my suit and grab some coffees for us while I'm out. I'm sure Matias won't mind helping."

Matias and I exited the hotel room leaving Scarlett and Mia to chatter. He huffed as we stride down the long hallway, I mentally prepared myself for the long speech ahead.

Here we go, only 25 floors.

"Are you sleeping with her Elias? Do you have any idea who she is? I do because it's my fücking job to gather intelligence on Castellano Enterprises competitors that includes who they sleep with as well."

"It's not what it looks like."

20 floors left

"Not what it looks like? Enlighten me then Elias, why is she in your shirt?" he slapped my neck "explain what that is? It's sure not a fücking mosquito bite. Thomas Anderson's girlfriend or I'm assuming ex-girlfriend now unless your her side piece is the fücking new hire and you're sleeping with her? Sleeping with an employee! What if he has her playing both sides? I wouldn't put it past that fraudulent hijo de puta. What the hell are you thinking? No, don't answer that. I know exactly what you're thinking with, your dick."

15 floors left

"Calm down, you sound like a raging conspiracist. I'm sorry, Matias that I didn't think of getting a  dating history before hiring her. Who she dated is none of your damn concern nor does it define her character. I hired her because I saw the potential. You will not cheapen her."

10 floors left

"No, Elias you cheapen her. You of all people should know how hard it is for a woman in this industry to be recognized. She has yet to prove her value and loses any chance of accomplishing that if you don't stop thinking with your d*ck. Any possible potential she has will be thrown out the window. Instead of being known as Thomas Anderson's girlfriend she will upgrade to just being known as yours. Is that what you want for her? Even if she is best of the best, it all goes to shit if you don't stop thinking about riding off into the sunset with her. This isn't a fairytale brother."

5 floors left

"Basta, if I wanted your opinion I would have asked Matias! Tell me, are you here just to piss me off?"

"Elias are you going to be one of those men who risk their legacy, their reputation for a good screw? I never thought that was the type of man you were, mama would be disappointed in you."

The elevator dinged open as I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and envisioned a beach. The sound of the waves, salty air and the gritty texture of sand between my toes. Needing to tame my anger and gain composure, the last thing I wanted was to cause a scene.

"Listen, Matias, really listen because this will be the last time I say this. You say mama would be disappointed in me? What about you eh? For assuming that the only likable quality about a smart beautiful woman is her skills in bed. You can't possibly think that maybe just maybe I have feelings for her?"

My brother stayed quiet as we walk through the revolving doors of the hotel lobby. The air is chilly, with the faint smell of rain mixed with the various gases coming from the exhausts of the vehicles zooming by. The sidewalks crowded with people some on the phone, others giggling and the rest seeming lost in their own little world.

He patted my shoulder as we crossed the street. "Shit, you just had to fall for a woman with the most complicated situation. Look, I said my two cents, the last thing I'll say is keep your eyes open, think with your cabeza because the heart tends to make the wrong choices. Anyway, I didn't take a nine-hour detour to San Diego to argue with you. Zariah is seriously pissed at you right now because I lied and told her you needed me for an impromptu meeting."

He lit his cigarette as we stood beside the dry cleaners. "Now I have to pay an incredible amount of money just to get on the next available flight. What I'm trying to get at is, I came here to tell you baby brother that I'm asking Zari to marry me in Napa Valley this weekend. I'm freaking the fück out. This is huge for me, but I can't stand the distance any longer. I need her living with me in Europe. I need you to tell me I'm making the right choice."

He raised an unlit cigarette in my direction.  "When have I ever smoked, payaso ? I've told you before that, Zariah is an incredible woman, you're an idiota if you don't marry her. I actually don't understand what a woman of her caliber sees in brute such as yourself. It's time to pull the plug or take the plunge whatever that saying is."

"Figured I'd offer since it appears you're living life on the edge these days." He stomped on his cigarette. "You're right, I'm an idiot I need to go, hopefully, I can find a flight if not there's no chance Zariah will marry me then. Tell Mia thanks for picking me up at the airport." He gave me a hug, finishing off with a pat on my back. "See you later. Best of luck on your complex screwed up situation." Raising his hand to call a taxi, he rolled his eyes. "Oh and father wants you to call him, something about you haven't visited him or our darling sister Luna. Hasta la vista."

We raised our hands, saying goodbye as he entered a taxi. I watched until the taxi disappeared into the distance. Entering inside the cleaners, my head wanted to explode at the pace my thoughts were running. My brother was an impulsive idiot but his words struck chords of truth. Shattering to little pieces any illusions I had conjured up in the last twenty-four hours. Making me realize, I messed up. What was I thinking when I kissed her?

It's like the more time I spent with her, the more I lost grip of reality. My actions and thoughts were muddled. My perception of obscured and tainted. She was the epitome of what it was to get lost in someone. Unfeasible, to not be captivated by her presence.

Regardless, my feelings for her were selfish, forgetting the consequences, the repercussions of her being with a man like myself. She would be the one who would pay for them gravely, consequences for me would be different. A slap on the wrist, a dirty look here and there but for her, it could cost her reputation and career. Scarlett deserved to shine brighter than the sun and I would just serve as a shadow, a dark cloud dulling her.

It was the end before it even started.

So absorbed in my thoughts that the way back to the hotel room was a total blur. The cars, the people just blended together like the universe was on fast-forward while time for me froze. Inhaling in a deep breath, I opened the hotel door.

The scent of earthy greens with a hint of airy metallic notes filled the aroma of the hotel living room. A freshly showered Scarlett sitting legs crossed typing on her phone. She stood when she heard me enter and started walking towards my direction in a red fitted knee length dress. One swift look at her to see Red is definitely her color. She wouldn't make this easy for me.

She laughed as her eyebrow raised.  "Took you long enough, where's the coffee?"

"Shit sorry, I forgot. Let me go back down."

"No, it's fine. Did you forget your brother too?"

"No, he left already. I apologize for him just showing up."

"It's okay, I survived. uh Mia left too, something about Alexander having a disaster that he needed help with. Does your brother do that often? Just show up unannounced?"

I shook my head, sighing."I've already told Alexander to get his own assistant. I swear that man gives me a headache. As for my brother, yes. Years ago, he flew from Copenhagen to California randomly in the middle of the night just to meet the girl he's marrying now. Considering, they only had been talking briefly at the time and he didn't know a lick of English, while she didn't know any Spanish, it was a bold move. Google translate was there best friend. My father was livid, I had never seen him that mad since- anyways Matias definitely gets his impulsive side from my mother."

"Wow, a mixture of Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin can definitely cloud your judgment that's for sure. That's all love is a dangerous cocktail of different chemicals-" She bit her lip, walking back to the couch "uh I'll stop there before I ramble on-you still have to get ready for the meeting."

It didn't take long for me to get ready. My mind in a fog, I couldn't escape. I sensed Scarlett wanted to talk about it. Our kiss. It was driving her crazy, I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Strange, how keen my perception was at picking up exactly what she feeling.

I let a long exasperated sigh as I put the car in park. This meeting was the last place I wanted to be. But regardless of how I felt, I was now here in the parking garage. Business never stopped, no matter how shitty you felt. The only saving grace would be that Oliver kept his word, that this meeting wouldn't take long.

Looking over at Scarlett, I noticed her neck. I pulled off the hair tie letting her brown natural curls fall out of the ponytail. "Carino, I think you should wear your hair down for a while."

"What..why?" Scarlett quickly pulled down the car visor and inspected herself. Her eyes finally met her neck. "Omg." She turned to me, "Omg, you have- we both have a trail of hickeys."

"Yeah, except I don't have long brown hair to cover mine. Breathe. It'll be fine, let's go before we're late."

Scarlett appeared mortified as we entered the elevator. We both gave each other a look as both our phones start to ring. Digging into my pocket to reach for my phone I glared at the screen. "Did you get-"

"Meeting is canceled, due to unforeseen circumstances." We said in unison.

The doors opened wide, Scarlett and I raced out with one thing on our mind- finding out the unforeseen circumstance. There was no justifiable reason I could think of as to why the meeting would be canceled with such short notice.

A weird feeling resonated in my soul, the hairs on my arm raised as we became closer to the conference room. Scarlett and I stood rigidly, dismayed at the several people arguing ahead, with two men attracting our attention the most.

Thomas and His father Cain Anderson.

••••
Author's Note

Yeah, I'm at a loss for words. THOMAS'S FATHER. You know the one who threatened to kill Scarlett If Thomas didn't leave her?

A special thank you to the person, I ranted my frustrations towards about this chapter. You know who you are :) xx