The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress Page 0,37
to pull back so when the elevator doors opened, he was relieved that he’d picked her up early so there weren’t any witnesses to their abbreviated embrace.
“We’re here,” he said softly, lifting his head but not releasing her from his arms. He held her like that for a long moment, his eyes looking down at her as if he wanted to memorize every part of her beautiful face.
“We have to stop doing this,” she said softly, but she didn’t pull back either. She seemed perfectly content to just stay in his arms, right there in the elevator.
“Why do we have to stop?” he asked, thinking that he wanted to do this more often rather than stop it completely. In fact, he wanted to pull her into his bed and not let her out for several days. Maybe even weeks. He had no idea how long it would take to get her out of his system, he’d wanted her so long.
“Because it can’t go anywhere. We broke up.”
He smiled slightly as he took in their position. “It appears that we’re back together.”
He broke the spell with those words and she blinked a moment before stepping back, grateful when he allowed her the space. She walked out of the elevator, feeling as if she weren’t really walking on solid ground. “We aren’t back together, Gaston. I don’t want to go through that trauma again.”
He followed her and when she stopped, he took in her worried eyes. “Is that why you did it, Elana?”
She looked back up at him, confused. “Is what why I did what?” His question made no sense. It was almost as if he were blaming their breakup on her.
Unfortunately, the elevator pinged at that moment, announcing the arrival of additional guests. She knew that he introduced her to the newest group of people, but she had no idea who they were or even what they looked like. Her mind was completely focused on his last question, on trying to interpret what he’d asked her.
She suspected that it was incredibly important but he pressed a glass of champagne into her hand and she took a sip, wanting the chilled liquid to cool her skin. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on her focus. She’d forgotten to eat lunch earlier today so she had an empty stomach. The bubbly liquid plus nothing to absorb the alcohol immediately went to her brain and she was tipsy with only half a glass. By that point, the whole room was filled with people, more people than she’d anticipated. When Gaston had asked her to attend this function, she’d assumed it was a dinner just for the board of directors and their spouses. In fact, there were so many guests here, it was hard to move about.
Elana chatted with the other guests for two hours, careful to keep an eye on Gaston as he moved about the room so she could ensure she was on the opposite side of the area. Unfortunately, by that point she really was painfully hungry. There were waiters moving about with appetizers, but she couldn’t seem to get their attention. And anytime she finally freed herself from one conversation, someone pulled her into another. It was overwhelming and gratifying to have so many people interested in her work, but she soon realized that it was only because Gaston had invested in her experiments. He’d basically put the seal of approval on her work, making others stand up and take a look at what she was doing.
She started to understand that their interest was a bit of a ‘follow-the-leader’ syndrome. All of these people worked hard to find out what Gaston was investing in so they could then follow his lead. Anything he touched seemed to reap huge returns so she just fit into that category of ‘a good investment’ that others wanted in on.
“Where are you trying to slip away to?” Gaston asked, slipping his arm around her waist when she was almost halfway to the elevator.
“I was just trying to get some fresh air,” she said, sighing slightly and leaning against his strong physique. “How often do you throw these kinds of parties?” she asked, looking around at the various people all seeming to be having a wonderful time as they gulped down his alcohol and ate his appetizers.
“Too often,” he growled. He looked down at her, at the half empty glass and her glossy eyes. “Have you eaten anything tonight?” he asked, correctly guessing that she was feeling