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“You won’t be if you’re searching around looking for additional investors.”
“I’ve done it before.”
“Yes, I know.”
Her heart turned over as she wondered, briefly, how he knew. The ve
ry idea that he’d researched her made something odd pop inside her belly.
“So?”
“I’m willing to provide the full amount up-front. Conditionally.”
Carrie had never been so surprised. She stared at him, her mouth open. But his final word stuck in her mind. “Conditionally?”
“Si. I’m a businessman, Carrie, and I don’t make hasty decisions.”
“Okay, what do you need?”
“I have to fly to Barcelona tomorrow. I have urgent business and I’ll be there a week. I want you to come with me.”
She frowned. “Is that a condition? I mean, will you only front this investment if I come to Spain?”
“Yes. It is not negotiable.”
She felt instantly deflated. “I just told you, Gael, I’m not interested in becoming some kind of sexual pawn.”
“I’m aware of that. This would be business. I want more figures and facts. I don’t do silent investments. I appreciate you were looking for money and money alone, but I would plan to take a more active role in the company.”
“Okay,” she nodded, biting down on her lip. “I can accommodate that. But coming to Spain…?”
“I won’t sign anything until the end of the week. You have until then to prove to me that you’re as committed to this as I will require.”
“You’re doubting me?”
“With all due respect, Carrie, I know three things about you.” He leaned forward, and she caught a hint of his cologne. It made her insides jerk to life. “Firstly, you’re happy to have sex with men who don’t even know your name. Secondly, you run away when things get tough. And third, you are motivated by making money and a name for yourself, and that you’ll have done that as soon as the press gets wind of my investment. You will therefore have very little reason to stay involved.”
“Gael,” she said, her mind dragged to a standstill by his hurtful, yet accurate, assessment of her. “That’s …”
“Don’t bother trying to deny it to me, Carrie. You know I’m right, and I know I’m right. Come to Spain or there’s no hope of a deal.”
“Fine.” Her pale blue eyes bore into his. “Under sufferance.”
His grin was laced with a dark emotion she didn’t understand. “Good.” He leaned back when the waiter came to clear their plates.
“Anything else?” She asked, finishing her martini.
“Yes.” His eyes glittered speculatively as he dragged them over her beautiful face. “Business is done for tonight. I want to finish this meal, and then I want you to come upstairs with me. Not because you want my money, but because you want me. Because you want what we shared the other night, with both of us knowing what we’re getting involved in. I want you, Carrie, like I’ve never wanted another woman.”
CHAPTER SIX
Time stretched, like a string that just wouldn’t snap. She felt its inexorable pull and wondered how long she could sit without speaking.
Because she did want him. She wanted him with all her heart and soul. Her body seemed to burn for him in the same way her stomach hungered for food or her mouth for water. She needed him in an elemental, survivalist way.
But what then? What did it mean?
She lifted her lips in a cool smile. “I don’t think so.”
