Alice’s passionate words stunned Carlos into silence—he wasn’t entirely sure what he should do, though they soothed a pain inside of him that had been throbbing uncomfortably all day.

“I can’t be into you,” she sobbed. She was staring down at her dirty, poorly-chosen shoes, and he couldn’t tell if she was speaking to him or to herself. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I shouldn’t be into you.”

Alice and her goddamned shoulds and shouldn’ts.

Man, but he was getting sick of them.

He sighed, looking at her dusty, bright-red, miserable face and found he couldn’t bear her unhappiness. Apparently a shark, in the form of the delightful and very married Ana María, had worked a little too well in raising Alice’s ire. In fairness, he probably shouldn’t have checked out her ass for Alice’s sole benefit. Maybe that was taking it a little too far. He decided to come clean.

“I’m not into Ana María,” he said softly. “Aside from the fact that I don’t know her, she’s married.”

“Someone should tell her husband,” said Alice, her eyes flashing. “She was all over you like a cheap suit.”

“No, Allie, she wasn’t inappropriate. I think it’s a cultural difference,” said Carlos gently. “We’re more…touchy-feely here in the Caribbean. It doesn’t mean anything. Ana María and I attended the same university in Puerto Rico and were trading stories. That’s all.”

“It didn’t look like all,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I want you…and you want me,” he said fiercely, reaching for her. He put his arms around her waist, relieved when she allowed him to pull her closer. “You can fight it as hard as you want, mi amor, but you won’t win. You’ll just make us both more miserable.”

She was stiff in his arms, but she also wasn’t fighting him, so he didn’t let her go.

“Calmate, Allie,” he murmured, stroking her hair as her body slowly relaxed from rigid to resigned. Finally, she leaned against him, her cheek falling to his chest with a weary sigh. “Está bien, mi amor. Te lo prometo. Estará bien.”

“Bien means good. But this is not good, Carlos. It’s not good at all,” she said softly, her voice heavy and grieved.

“You don’t know that,” he argued, keeping his voice gentle but firm. “We won’t know that unless we talk about it. Unless we try to figure it out.”

“You could have anyone,” she said, changing tactics. “Women throw themselves at you. Maybe not Ana María, but the waitress last night. Every woman in our office—”

“So what? It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” Her voice was small when she continued. “And you encourage it. You checked out her ass.”

He chuckled softly at her jealousy. “Want to know something?”

“I don’t know.”

“Alice…I wasn’t checking out her ass. I was only trying to make you a little jealous. I needed your jealousy to tell me whether or not you were telling the truth this morning.”

“I was.”

Her words pierced his heart like a dagger.

“What?” he asked, leaning back to look at her face.

“I was telling the truth. We should…stop this before it begins. It would be best for both of us.”

“Only if we have no feelings for each other,” he said, searching her eyes. “Tell me that you don’t care for me and I will let you go right now.”

She’d been holding her breath, but she released it slowly, turning away from him with a quiet sob as she rested her cheek back on his chest. Her silence was his answer, and his shoulders slumped in relief, his heart filling with gladness.

He pressed his lips to her hair and held her tight. “I’m not interested in anyone but you, mi amor. And from now on, you’ll never doubt it. I promise. I only have eyes for you…and your ass.”

“Carlos!”

“It’s true,” he said, smiling as he kissed her hair again. “I want you. I keep telling you this. At some point, you’ll have to trust me.”

“I do,” she said, her eyes shiny and wide as she leaned back to gaze up at him. “I do trust you. I trust you more than any other man on earth, Carlos.”

He suspected as much, but he knew from the husky tone of her voice and the look in her eyes that she was telling him an important and sacred truth.

“Then trust me when I say we can figure this out together.”

He reached for her cheek and cupped it in his palm, tempted to kiss her for the first time, but she flinched in pain, and he lifted his hand to look at the angry burn underneath.

“You’re burned,” he noted with a grimace.

“It hurts like hell,” she said.

“You need to wear better sun block tomorrow,” he said, dropping his hand to clasp hers and leading her up the dirt road back toward the resort.

He wasn’t going to force a first kiss on someone who was grimy, achy, and uncomfortable. He wanted it to be as good as he’d dreamed; as perfect as he knew it could be. Not to mention, knowing Alice, it would be better to wait until they had talked tomorrow; he didn’t want to move too fast and jeopardize the fragile possibilities between them.

“Do you have aloe for the burn?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t realize how strong the sun would be.”

“I’ll get you some. You go to your room and I’ll grab some lotion at the shop in the lobby and bring it to you.”

“You’re good to me,” she said, her hand still entwined in his, a little miracle that he welcomed.

“I take care of you. That’s what I do, querida. That’s what I’ve done for three years. And that’s all I want to do for the rest of—”

She gasped softly, and he bit his lip, swallowing back the words. It was too soon for them.

“—the trip.”

“Oh,” she sighed and nodded, her relief palpable.

They walked in silence for several minutes, their feet crunching against the dirt and pebbles until they reached the paved path around the perimeter of the resort where Alice had taken her morning run. He hated to drop her hand, but more, he couldn’t stand for her to be in discomfort if there was anything he could to do make it better.

“Go take a cool shower. I’ll leave the lotion outside your door, okay?”

She nodded, taking a step away from him before looking up at him with such confusion, it made his heart clench. “What about…everything else?”

He leaned forward to push a flyaway strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “Our flight to Ponce tomorrow doesn’t leave until five. We have the whole day together and no more meetings. How about we talk tomorrow?”

She gulped, and for a moment he thought she’d say no and launch into another speech about why they were impossible, but instead, she nodded. “Okay. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

She started walking toward her room, but he stopped her. “Allie!”

She turned to face him. “Yes?”

“Sit next to me at dinner?”

She grinned at him, a smile that came to her lips so suddenly and so easily, it almost knocked him off his feet.“Sí.Con placer.”

“Look at you learning Spanish!”

She shrugged, but he could tell she was happy. “Just a little bit.”

Butterflies swarmed in his chest as he grinned back at her. “Now go cool off that jealousy, querida.”

“Cocky,” she murmured, leaning down to take off her shoes before turning around and walking back to her room barefoot.

Not cocky.

Happy, he thought, watching until she was out of sight before heading up to the lobby store. His steps were lighter than they’d been all day…because no matter what she’d said to him this morning, there was still a chance for them.

And a chance was all he needed.

***

The sound of her alarm cut into another superhot dream Alice was having about Carlos, and her eyes fluttered opened to her hotel room bathed in morning sunlight.

“Ahhh,” she sighed, hitting snooze. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes, trying to savor the last few seconds of dreamy sweetness.

Last night at dinner, they’d sat beside each other as he’d requested, and for most of the dinner, he’d held her hand under the table, though Alice had been unaware of how many different—and incredibly provocative—ways there were to touch someone else’s hands and fingers.

At times his grip had been light, with one of his much larger, rougher fingers running leisurely up and down one of hers. Other times, he’d lace their fingers together and make lazy circles in her palm with the pad of his thumb, distracting her from conversation with the Bahía de Plata investors by wondering how it would feel for his finger to be circling a very different place on her body, which was wet and slick from his touch and her imagination.

By the time they’d returned to their rooms at midnight, she’d been overstimulated, sexually frustrated, and drop-dead exhausted. When he’d pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, she’d licked her lips, ready to be kissed, but he’d pressed his lips to her forehead instead, then wished her, “Buenos Noches, querida.”

She’d leaned back and looked up at him, disappointment surely stark on her face.

He’d smiled at her knowingly, his voice almost hypnotic. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“But…”

“Believe me, mi amor,” he’d said, holding her close enough that she could feel the thick, long ridge of his erection pressing against her stomach, “I would kiss you all over, all night long…but I know you. We need to talk first—to put your mind at ease.”

Her body cried out with want, but she’d somehow managed to nod, letting him spin her around so she faced the door to her room. With shaking fingers, she’d swiped the keycard over the reader and entered her room, knowing that she’d be back in his arms if she’d just turn around.

Last night’s dreams, charged though they were, had been a poor substitute for the real thing, and Alice opened her eyes again, pouting for a second before whipping off the covers.

Exercise. Exercise would help, right?

She reached into her suitcase for a neon-yellow-and-orange sports bra and paired it with Lycra shorts that were black with a neon-yellow stripe down each side. She pulled her hair back into a high ponytail, then grabbed some socks and slipped her feet into sneakers. Tucking the keycard into her bra, she opened the door, jumping a foot when she heard someone say, “Good morning, bonita!”

“Ah!” she yelled, clutching at her chest and backing up against the closed door of her room.

Carlos’ shoulders began shaking with laughter. “Er, um…I thought I’d join you this morning?”

“But scare me to death first?” she asked, punching him lightly on his bare arm.

He was wearing a sleeveless white T-shirt that showed off his bulging biceps and loose gray running shorts low on his hips. He was tall and strong and beautiful, and her body ached for the weight of his on top of hers.

“I waited for half an hour. Didn’t want to miss you.”

Sliding her eyes from his chest to his face, she grinned at him and leaned against her door, which thrust her breasts toward him. “You did?”

His eyes dropped to her chest for a moment, and she watched his jaw flex before he nodded, letting his gaze slide back up her body and reclaim hers. “I generally work out in a gym, but I could be persuaded to change my ways.”

“Why would you do that?”

He shrugged. “Because I get to spend more time with you.”

She couldn’t help the way her whole body responded to this simple sweetness, and she stepped forward, so close to him, they were almost touching. “Why would you want to spend more time with me?”

“Aside from the fact that I’m crazy about you?” He scratched his chin. “I don’t know. Maybe because we should discuss whether or not you felt the vineyard operation here was a viable structure for the Ramirez land in Ponce.”

“Ahhh,” she sighed dramatically. “A man who can talk business.”

“Fastest way to my woman’s heart.” He gestured toward the tennis courts with a tilt of his head. “Come on. Let’s go. Tell me what you think on the way.”

They walked briskly for a warm-up, their arms occasionally touching and sending chills down Alice’s arm every time. She told him that she was impressed with the operation at Bahía de Plata and liked that local farmers had been tapped to run the day-to-day operations.

“But Señor Galletín mentioned a partnership between the Dominican Republic, the United States, Spain, and Chile, didn’t he?” asked Alice.

“Sí, he did.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, thinking. “I don’t believe that was something that, um, Ram—Ramirez, um…mentioned.”

She stuttered on his name, suddenly remembering the flirty, forward texts they’d exchanged in the car on Thursday morning and starting to regret them. Without being lewd, Alice had essentially set the scene for romance, or at least for them to become more familiar during her visit. And Ramirez’s enthusiastic replies had assured her of his interest. Interest that now seemed far from what she actually wanted. She grimaced in thought.

“Alice?”

“Huh?”

“You were saying about the partnership?”

“Oh, um…I don’t believe Mr. Ramirez mentioned such a partnership.”

“Is it possible he’s hoping to start his operation with all private investors?” asked Carlos, pausing in front of one of the tennis courts to stretch.

Alice’s heart sped up as it always did when she was lying…or hiding something. If she was upset about Carlos flirting with Ana María yesterday, certainly he’d have a right to be upset with her about Ramirez.

Her stomach flipped uncomfortably at the thought of jeopardizing whatever was happening between them. As the seconds ticked by, she knew, more and more, how hard it would be to let him go now.

“Um…I don’t know.”

Carlos stopped stretching and stood up, looking at her closely, his eyes narrowing. “Hey…are you okay?”

“Yes!” she said too quickly, hating the way her heart fluttered with guilt.

“Sure?”

She bent down and touched her toes so he’d stop looking at her so closely. “Uh-huh. Fine. Just…thinking.”

As soon as they got to Ponce, she’d just have to let Ramirez know, as politely as possible, that she was no longer interested in anything but business. Nothing had actually happened yet, right? Just the exchange of some flirty texts. Stop worrying…

“So I had an idea,” said Carlos.

Alice stood up straight, looking at him. “What?”

“We race.”

“Race? Oh, I don’t usually—”

“Excellent. It’s decided. We race. And if I win, you kiss me. And if you win, you kiss me. Deal?” His lips wobbled, and he grinned at her. “Onyourmarkgetsetgo!”

Before she could agree to his ridiculous terms, he was off like a shot, running down the paved path in front of her, and with a giggle of anticipation, her worrisome thoughts scattered, and she started after him.

***

Carlos hadn’t planned to ask for a kiss already—today had barely begun, after all. But the way she looked? In that tight outfit over her hot body? Mierda. He was lost. He could barely concentrate on their conversation about the vineyards, and she seemed just as distracted as him.

Fuck, he wanted her.

Bad.

Listening to her chuckle from behind him, he smiled, puffing through his exertion, appreciating the wind in his hair as a breeze rolled off the ocean. Was it possible it could be this simple? That he could insist that they could figure it out, and voilà, they would? Because after three years of silently wanting Alice, it felt almost too easy. Not that he valued his prize any less, but he worried a little that the road to true love couldn’t possibly be this smooth.

Like a little bullet, she surged in front of him on the path, and he almost tripped and fell, her trim hips and tight ass on full display as she pulled ahead.

Damn, but my woman’s got some fine curves, he thought, speeding up to be closer to her.

She looked at him over her shoulder, toying with him, slowing her pace just a touch, then surging forward again when he was only an arm’s length away.

Despite the burning of his lungs, he laughed softly to himself, enjoying this new side of his boss—playful and fun. It foreshadowed how she’d be in bed, he thought, his body tightening at the thought.

She turned back, her voice barely breathless as she called, “Come on! Who’s the younger one here?”

Because Carlos engaged in strength training more than cardio, she was kicking his ass, but he was going to add a lot more cardio to his schedule. This was the last time he’d let her beat him in a run.

“Obviously you!” he shouted back, and her laughter floated on the breeze to him, unusual and lyrical, making him smile in spite of himself.

It also gave him a good opening to for discussing their disparity in age, something that obviously bothered her. He sped up a little, and she slowed down as he approached, shooting him a grin. “You holding up okay?”

“Yeah,” he answered, wiping the sweat off his upper lip. “You’re a machine.”

She glanced at him. “I stay in shape.”

“For the record? Your ass beats Ana María’s any day and twice on Sunday.”

“Is that right?”

“That is one hundred percent a fact, mami.”

“Mami?”

“It’s slang. Like, sarcastic, truth-slang.”

“So you’re not really calling me ‘mommy.’”

“Alice, when I call you ‘baby’ later, it won’t have nothin’ to do with seein’ you as a child either.”

“Are you going to call me ‘baby’?” she asked.

He nodded. “Hell yes.”

“When would that be?”

“When you’re lyin’ beneath me…baby.”

Her neck jerked, and she faced him with wide eyes. “Whoa. You just went there.”

“I been there, mami. Just waitin’ for you to come join me.”

“Damn,” she breathed, speeding up and pulling away from him.

Nope. Not happening. He dug deep and gained on her.

“Stop runnin’ away from me.”

“I’m not running away from you. I’m in a rush to win or lose,” she said all sassy, speeding up yet again.

He didn’t try to catch up with her this time, just watched the beauty of her body in motion as she ran down the straight path and reached the end. When she stopped, he stopped too, still about thirty yards from her, and started walking. She panted, her hands on her hips, her eyes dark as they held his.

As he approached her, his steps sped up, and suddenly he was running toward her, and she was running toward him, her eyes dropping to his lips when they were inches away.

He reached for her hips, lifting her against his body and holding her with one arm as their mouths collided, hungry and insistent, his other hand clasping the back of her neck to hold her close. Her hands landed on the back of his skull, a deep moan releasing from her throat. He swallowed it hungrily, parting her lips with his tongue, tasting the salt of her sweat and the sea air, exploring the sweet recesses of her mouth, still minty from brushing her teeth. She arched her back, and he leaned forward so her feet could touch the ground as his tongue slid against hers, learning the softness of this goddess who’d been elusive for so long. He slid his hand down her back, over her damp, sun-warmed skin, over the Lycra of her bra, and rested it on the skin between her bra and shorts, needing to feel her, to touch her, to know that this was—finallyfinallyfinally—real.

He leaned back for a moment, staring down at her closed eyes, which opened slowly.

“This is happening, baby,” he whispered.

“Apparently.”

“It’s gonna keep happening, Allie,” he whispered, breathless with desire and need.

“Good,” she said, pulling his head back down to hers. “More.”

“Day-umn,” he groaned, grinning at her as he dropped his lips to hers once again.

Their second kiss was less frantic, and he sank into it, tightening his arms around her smaller body and reveling in the touch of her warm skin. Her hands laced around the back of his neck, her forearms resting on his shoulders, her sweet, soft lips moving against his, her tongue slow dancing with his. And even where clothing separated them, he could still feel the rigid points of her nipples pressed against his chest and knew that she could feel his rock-hard erection cradled between her thighs.

I love you, he thought. I love you, you driven, smart, beautiful, sexy woman. I love you like crazy. I have for the longest time.

A loud, whistled catcall made them pull apart, cheek to cheek and panting as they turned toward the beach to find a group of three teenage boys taunting them from the sand.

“Yeah, man! Give it to her!”

“Grab her ass for me, man!”

“Get a room, yo!”

Carlos stiffened at their lewd remarks about Alice, but he was stopped from pounding them into politeness by the feeling of Alice’s chest trembling again his. He turned to look at her face, finding it radiant in a full-blown smile and laughter she could barely contain.

“Point taken,” she called, waving at the boys. “Thanks for caring!”

“I am happy to beat them up for you,” said Carlos, looking down into her eyes.

“Not necessary.”

“More kissing?” he asked hopefully.

“Not here and not now.”

“Then let’s go somewhere else?”

She nodded, letting him entwine their fingers together. “Aren’t we racing back?”

“Have pity on my poor body,” he said, setting the pace just short of brisk.

“Your body is seven years younger than mine.”

“Okay, baby, we’re gonna talk about this.”

She sighed. “It’s a fact. I’m older.”

“It’s a number. You’re in better shape.”

She darted a quick look at the bicep closest to her. “No chance.”

“I could lift more, but you’ve got me beat in cardio.”

“Perfect together, huh?”

He didn’t allow her flirty comment to derail him. “Alice, I don’t care that you’re thirty-three, and here’s the truth: I will never care that you’re a few years older than me. My father’s ten years older than my mother, and they’ve been happy for thirty years.”

He couldn’t be positive, but it felt like her fingers squeezed his.

“Really?” she asked.

“Really. Seven is nothing.”

“I don’t know…”

“Who does it bother?” he asked. “You?”

She shrugged. “A little.”

“So much that you don’t want to be with me?”

She didn’t hesitate before shaking her head. “No.”

“You’ve got to decide that it doesn’t bother you, baby, because I don’t wanna keep having this conversation. We’re seven years apart. Can you handle it or not?”

“You were nine when I was sixteen.”

“Yeah. And I’ll be seventy-one when you’re seventy-eight.”

She scoffed softly beside him. “Think we’ll still know each other then?”

Yes.

“No one knows what the future holds, but I hope so.”

This time he wasn’t uncertain—her fingers squeezed his. He lifted them to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I don’t care about numbers. I’m loco for you, mi amor.”

“I know what that means,” she said, her voice full of warmth and happiness. “I’m crazy about you too.”

“So you’ll stop worrying? About our ages?”

She nodded. “I’ll try.”

For several minutes, they walked in comfortable silence, letting new truths settle between them as they held hands, the warm ocean breeze and rising sun bathing their faces.

“What else is bothering you?” he asked as the tennis courts came into view.

“Lots,” she said, her voice dipping from sunny to heavy as she glanced up at him.

“Tell me.”

“If I think about returning to the office, I might have a panic attack.”

“So let’s not tackle that one right now. But what else? There’s more. I can feel it.” When she didn’t respond, he thought about what she’d said on Thursday night after their dance: We’re from different worlds.

“Would you be…”

He cleared his throat, hating the question he was about to ask, mostly because he feared her answer. Alice wasn’t a shallow person, but still…

“Would I be…what?” she asked.

“I’m from Puerto Rico. I don’t have an MBA. I’m less successful than you. Hell, I’m your assistant. Would you be embarrassed to—?”

She stopped walking, tugging her hand from his. Her eyes were angry and her lips tight as she stared up at him. “To what?”

“To introduce me as your…boyfriend?”

“You listen to me,” she said, her eyes brightening as she poked him in the chest with one finger, “I don’t give a shit what anyone says about me. I grew a Teflon shell years ago. It comes with the territory.”

Instinctively, he knew she was referring not just to her social position in Philadelphia but to being her father’s daughter.

“So,” he said, plucking her finger from his chest and kissing the tip, “that’s a no to embarrassment?”

“That’s a no to embarrassment,” she whispered. “Except…”

“What?”

“You. It’s possible…I mean…You’ll be a joke for a while,” she said, lifting her chin and gulping softly. “My much younger boyfriend. My assistant. Hot and young and…” Her voice broke off, and she turned away from him.

Now he understood.

She wasn’t concerned with people talking about her. She was worried about him looking a fool. And God, that was so like her, it made his heart clench with love for her. She didn’t care what anyone said about her…but she cared that his reputation might take a hit.

“Baby,” he whispered, putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her around, “you think I give a shit what the country club set thinks of me?”

“I don’t know. Do you?” she asked, her wide eyes scanning his face.

“I care about one thing,” he said, cupping her sweet face. “You.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. A sweet kiss, lingering just long enough to steal his breath and foreshadow what he wanted to do to her whole body as soon as they were alone together. “Everyone else can go fuck themselves.”

She blinked up at him, the muscles in her face relaxing. “Really?”

“Really, mi amor,” he said, still cradling her cheek in his hand as a rain cloud covered the sun. “I walked away from your father’s company because I believed in you. I didn’t care about anything—or anyone—else, and so far, that choice was the best decision I ever made. In my whole life.”

Her eyes closed, and she turned her face into his hand, her lips pressing against his palm, her tongue darting out to lick his warm skin, making his cock twitch with need.

“Take me back to my room,” she murmured, her lips caressing his hand as she formed the words in a whisper. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her voice deep with need as raindrops began dotting her beautiful face. “Take me to bed, Carlos.”

“Are you sure, Allie? Once we cross that line, I’m not stepping back. You’ll be mine, mi amor. And once you belong to me, I don’t intend to walk away. Ever.”

“I know.” She nodded, pulling his hand from her face to kiss his knuckles. Then she lowered their hands between them, still holding his tightly as rainwater sluiced down his arm. “I’m sure. I’m yours.”