Filthy Rich Revenge: A Filthy Rich Billionaires Book - Lynn Raye Harris Page 0,6

much different.”

“Dios!” He let out a rough breath. “Go. Before I do something we both regret.”

Rebecca fled.

3

Alejandro returned to the villa late, having spent several hours at his sleek downtown office. He tossed his Hugo Boss jacket across a chair in the master suite, loosened his tie and tugged it from his collar. He started to pour a drink from the bar in his room, but changed his mind and pulled on a pair of swim trunks instead. Right now he needed the release heavy exercise could bring.

He hadn’t expected Rebecca Layton to get under his skin ever again. It was purely physical now, and yet it annoyed him nonetheless. He’d spent one month with her five years ago. One incredibly hot month that he couldn’t seem to forget no matter how he tried. He’d enjoyed her like none other. Enjoyed the way she looked at him, the way she smelled like wildflowers, and her funny way of saying things that meant something entirely different in American than they did in the British English he’d learned.

He’d cared for her. He’d planned to marry her in spite of what his father expected. No matter what he told her now, he hadn’t been promised to another at all. It was his brother who was to marry Caridad Mendoza, not him. Until Roberto died of an overdose in a filthy drug den overseas.

Still, Alejandro had no intention of taking his brother’s place in the arrangement. He’d spent years fighting in the ring, making himself into something. His future was bright and he would choose his own wife. Rebecca Layton, daughter of a successful American hotel magnate, was exactly the type of woman he needed to marry.

Until she betrayed him. An ex-bullfighter and fledgling entrepreneur wasn’t good enough for the pampered heiress, apparently. The dirt, sweat, and blood of the ring would never wash completely away for someone like her. She’d accepted him as her lover, sworn she loved him, and then tried to steal his future from under his nose.

Her betrayal cost him more than he could ever make her pay for. Taking Layton International away was only the beginning. He’d set it up carefully, made sure he would own her completely when it was done. It’d taken years of planning and months of careful execution, but the culmination was here. Rebecca would regret the day she’d crossed paths with him.

Alejandro pushed open the French doors and padded out to the pool. Lights flooded the water from below, illuminating the terra-cotta and turquoise tiles. He dove into the coolness, hoping it would drive the heat of kissing her from his memory.

Why had he succumbed to the urge? That one kiss brought every bittersweet memory flooding back, especially when she clung to him, her soft moans coiling at the base of his spine, poisoning him with the urge to strip her naked and take her right there on the floor of his office.

“What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing?”

Alejandro reached the wall, did a flip turn, and propelled himself back toward the voice that had called out to him.

“Swimming.” The water came up to his abdomen as he stood and looked at the angry woman standing by the pool.

“Not that,” she said. “This.”

Rebecca thrust a handful of papers at him. He ignored it and let his gaze wander over her sleek form. A red headband held her curls back from her face and matched the muted Hawaiian-print dress she wore. Slim legs tapered down to bare feet, but it was the circle of tiny white shells around one ankle that caught his attention. They caressed her ankle with every tap of her foot, kissed her bare skin like a lover.

Like he’d once done.

His gaze snapped to her face. “Those would be the plans to sell off a few of Layton’s less lucrative holdings.”

She took a step toward the pool. “The New York location? New York? Are you crazy?”

“Not at all. That hotel is small, outdated. It costs more in upkeep each year.”

The papers crinkled in her fist. “Why do you hate me so much?” she asked in a smaller voice than he would have expected.

She seemed almost bewildered. But it was a ploy. She would use anything to distract him, including sex. How well he knew that about her.

Her poor little me act angered him. “You know why. You used me to get information. You slept with me, then stole what you learned about the London deal to grab it for yourself.