LITMIR.BIZ

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Mr. Brock,” Serena said, her Brazilian accent making his name sound like a caress of a bold lover. “What brings you to Portugal?”

      “Drop the innocent act. I don’t have time to play games.”

      “How very unusual,” she said as she removed her dark sunglasses and set them on her head, pushing her hair back. “You live for games.”

      The shade of her eyes reminded him of his favorite gold tequila, only her gaze packed a stronger punch. He also noticed her tight and polite grins had disappeared and were replaced with a wide and brazen smile. He had wanted to see her smile at him. He had ached for it. But not like this.

      “I was supposed to close the deal today on the Alves land,” he said as calmly as he could while the anger whipping through him collided with his ferocious lust for her, “and I find out that you stole it from under me.”

      “Stole?” She clucked her tongue at the word as her eyes glittered. “Careful, cowboy. I’m not a thief.”

      The way she said it suggested he was the one who couldn’t be trusted. That was ridiculous. “How did you pull this off? I know you’re some sort of financial genius, but you don’t have the money or the connections to make this kind of deal.”

      She splayed her arms out. “I don’t need any of that when all I have to do is bat my eyelashes and smile.”

      And wear very little, Cooper decided as his gaze drifted to her voluptuous breasts. The delicate bikini top faithfully outlined her curves as her tight nipples pressed against the thin white fabric. She may as well be sunbathing topless.

      He cleared his throat but his voice was gruff as he replied. “If you think I’m going to let you take what is mine and walk off into the sunset, you don’t know me very well.”

      She laced her hands behind her head and he knew the movement was not as casual as it appeared. It was designed to divert his attention. “You would be surprised at how much I know about you.”

      “Don’t play with me, sweetheart,” he warned quietly as he dragged his gaze back to Serena’s eyes. “What do you want with this project?”

      “Nothing. I simply wanted to intercept the deal. How does it feel not getting what you wanted? To fail? To have something you need snatched away. It must rub at you.” She pursed her full red lips with false concern before her mouth widened into a bitter smile. “Don’t worry. It will only get worse.”

      “If you wanted to get my attention, you’ve had it since I first met you.”

      Serena arched one eyebrow as her smile faded. “It’s not your attention I want. I thought I made that very clear.”

      “Who are you kidding? You can’t keep your eyes off me.” It was one fact that had kept him sane all these weeks.

      “Only because I’ve learned not to turn my back on a Brock,” she said as she reached for her drink.

      “Well, don’t leave me in suspense. You must want something very badly from me to go through all this work.”

      She took a sip of her cocktail and licked the moisture from her lips. He wanted to capture the tip of her tongue with his own so badly that he almost missed her answer.

      “How is it that you have pursued me for the past month but you don’t know anything about me?”

      He crossed his arms and braced his legs as he towered over her. “I know all that I need to know. You’re smart, sexy, and you keep your distance from me because you know I would actually make you feel something.”

      Amusement flickered across her face. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” She paused and tilted her head. “That’s it? That’s all you know?”

      “What else do I need to know?” Other than the magic word that would get him into her bed, but she wasn’t going to share that.

      “This should not surprise me at all. It’s exactly how you make a business deal. No research. It’s a visceral decision for you,” she said with a mix of distaste and wonder. “You decide you want something and you go after it, so sure that you will succeed.”

      “It works for me.” He didn’t see any need to apologize for it.

      “If there are any obstacles, all the better. It makes the win sweeter. Any enemies blocking your way and it makes the game more interesting for you.”

      Cooper narrowed his eyes. “You know this and yet you are in my way.”

      “You keep pursuing me without learning anything about me.” She paused to take another sip of her drink. “But I have learned so much about you.”

      “I’m touched,” he replied as he watched a drop of condensation fall from her glass and onto her chest. He watched it glide between her breasts, his hands itching to rub it into her oiled, bronzed skin. He wanted to follow the lazy path of the droplet and catch it with the curl of his tongue. “You could have saved yourself the work and asked me directly,” he bit out as the lust pounded in his blood.

      “But you wouldn’t have told me what I wanted to know,” she said in the soft, lilting voice that always made his body harden. “Would you have told me that you just made a lucrative deal with the Australian mining company? Congratulations, by the way.”

      Cooper squashed the start of surprise and jutted out his chin. “How do you know about that? It hasn’t been announced.”

      “Or that you’re secretly negotiating with the telecommunications conglomerate in Zurich?” Her dark eyelashes fluttered. “It’s a gamble, but I think you will pull it off like you always do.” Cooper’s eyes narrowed. He had just visited Zurich this weekend and both companies had been very careful not to have that information leaked. “Where did you hear that?”

      “Around.” She gave a delicate shrug. “And I know you wouldn’t have told me what you won at the Chatsfield poker tournament in Las Vegas last year.”

      Cooper frowned. “No one knows…”

      “That you won a twenty-five percent stake in The Harrington from John Harrington, Jr.?” she finished for him. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

      Cooper stared at Serena. No one knew he had the shares. No one. John Jr. definitely didn’t want anyone to know. How had she found out? And did Serena know why he needed the Harrington shares so badly?

      He had underestimated her. The woman had single-handedly uncovered his secrets. How many more did she know? And what did she plan to do with it? “Why have you been acquiring all of this information about me?”

      She yawned and stretched, arching her back. He held himself very still as he watched the sensuous roll of her torso and the tantalizing thrust of her breasts. “I guess I just find you so fascinating. Growing up in such wealth and privilege.”

      Cooper pulled at his shirt collar. “Serena…”

      “After all, you have been living the life I should have had.” Her eyes dulled with cold anger. “You dismissed the opportunities that should have been mine.”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “Ask your father,” Serena said in a hiss as she glared at him. “Ask him about Felipe Dominguez. Fourteen years ago he bankrupted my father’s company. Destroyed it.”

      His skin prickled as a cold sensation settled in his chest. The name wasn’t familiar but that sounded like something his father would do. “If that happened, it has nothing to do with me.”

      “Right,” she said in a drawl. “You only benefited from it. You lived off the spoils of war. But it has nothing to do with you.”

      He raked his fingers through his short hair and gave a huff of frustration. “What does this have to do with the Alves land?”

      “Everything,” she replied

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