ANTONIO

“Where are we going?” Lauren looks at the private jet and then back to me as we pull onto the tarmac.

“Away from here and prying eyes.”

Her eyes widen, and she starts to breathe heavily. “We can’t leave the city. What if someone needs us?”

“The world will not end without us. We’re safer if we’re far away from here.”

“Safer?”

I can see I’m losing her. I complicate everything with my dumb-ass responses. It’s almost like I’m speaking in code half the time.

I lay it all out on the table. “Do you want people to see us? Possibly see our faces splashed on the news?”

Her eyes flash with anger. “Fuck no.”

“Then we’re getting on the plane.” I point toward my jet that’s gassed up and ready for departure. “And going somewhere warmer and more secluded.” I push open the Escalade door, done with the conversation and the questions. She signed the contract, promised that she’d be mine for the weekend no matter what I asked, and she’s already balking at the idea of getting on the jet.

Calvin grabs the few bags out of the back as I open Lauren’s door and hold out my hand. “I promise you’ll like where we’re going. I put a lot of thought into this weekend, Lauren.”

With hesitation, she slides her hand into mine and slowly places her Jimmy Choo shoes on the cement. “I shouldn’t trust you, Antonio.”

Her comment makes me laugh. Trust me or not, we’re not going to be doing much more than we’ve already done. It’s not like I’m going to take advantage of her. “Did you like Lou?”

She smiles as we walk toward the jet. “Lou, I liked. You, not so much.”

“Then I’ll be Lou this weekend if you’ll be Elizabeth.” I give her a peace offering. I don’t mind playing a part and pretending to be an alter ego. Anything to make her happy and more comfortable with the entire situation.

She stops at the bottom of the stairs and faces me. “It’s just a name and won’t change the way I feel about you. We can’t change who we are, Antonio. No matter how much I wish you were really Lou, you aren’t and never will be.”

But that’s the furthest thing from the truth. She’s confusing who we are with our careers. My life is not comprised of what I do inside the boardroom. My life is what happens when I step outside, when I allow the world and the things around me to seep into my skin. My accomplishments haven’t made me who I am. I’ve made them mine, but they don’t encompass me as a person.

This weekend I’ll show Lauren who I really am. I’m not the uptight corporate shark she thinks I am. There are more layers to me than she can ever imagine. Just as I know there’s more to Ms. Bradley than her skintight suit skirts and designer high heels.

“After you.” I motion toward the stairs, not willing to argue the fact that she hates me. We’ll see what happens tonight, and I’ll roll with it from there. I have a sneaking suspicion she’ll be putty in my hands by the end of the weekend.

The pilot greets us before we enter the main cabin. “Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening. Are we ready?”

He nods and glances at Lauren. “Wheels up in five, and we’ll be at our destination in approximately three hours.”

“Perfect. Thank you, Adam.”

Lauren sits on the banquette that stretches the entire length of the jet, cramming herself on the very end. I don’t let it dissuade me and stretch out right next to her.

She inches her legs a little closer to her part of the couch and farther away from me. “You never did tell me where we’re going.”

“To my private island near Nassau.”

“You’re taking me to the Bahamas for the weekend?”

“Yeah.”

“For a weekend?”

Lauren clearly doesn’t understand how to enjoy her status and success. The world will not crumble. Her position within her company will not end if she takes time away. Sometimes we need to step back and savor what we have in order to fully enjoy it.

“I like to get away from everything. Don’t you?”

“I don’t have time.” Her brows furrow. “I always thought I would, but I’m too busy with work.”

“Such a shame. This weekend, there’s no work. Just relaxation and us.”

“I need a drink,” she says, turning toward the window as the jet begins to roll down the runway.

Like clockwork, the flight attendant walks into the cabin with a dirty martini for Lauren and a Cognac for me.

Lauren grabs the martini and thanks the flight attendant. After she takes her first sip, she turns to me and says, “Slick.”

“I left nothing to chance.”

I planned every second of this weekend, down to the drinks and clothing. I wanted nothing to go wrong and took pains to ensure it. My point isn’t to use Lauren and discard her, it’s to win her over and see if we could possibly have something more.

Have I done this before? No.

Why Lauren? She’s the female version of me, driven to succeed no matter the cost. I respect her more than she may ever realize. I know she thinks I want to use her, but it’s the furthest thing from the truth.

We sit in silence, sipping our drinks as uneasiness settles in the air. The problem this weekend will be getting her to relax and trust me. I’m only her enemy inside the boardroom, not in the bedroom. It’s my job to show her the possibilities of what we could become by joining forces and giving in to what we both want…each other.

LAUREN

The trip hasn’t started like I assumed it would. I figured Antonio would be all over me within the first hour of our trip. I did sign an agreement that he could use me any way he saw fit for the entire weekend. But surprisingly, he hasn’t made a single move.

I take the last sip of my martini and feel a slight buzz from downing it quicker than usual. I’m a nervous mess and questioning my decision-making ability after agreeing to this weekend alone with Antonio.

Antonio sets his empty snifter on the table, and I fully expect him to pounce on me. Instead, he slides closer but keeps some space between us. “I have some rules for us this weekend.”

“Rules?” My mind starts going to dark places. Ones I haven’t allowed myself to think about for years, fantasies I’ve had that I never allowed to become realities. The thought of going to those places with Antonio is disturbing. The man already has enough dirt on me to end my career, I don’t want to give him any more leverage to use against me in the future.

He slides his hand through his dark hair and gives me a smirk as if he’s reading my mind. “First, there’s to be absolutely no work or talking about our companies.” He pauses.

“I can do that,” I say when he doesn’t continue. I can go without talking about our companies, but it doesn’t mean I have to stop thinking of a way to knock Antonio right off his pillar. “What else?”

“Second, I won’t do anything with you unless you agree and give your full consent.”

That makes the low rumble in my stomach start to calm just a bit. “Okay.”

“If there’s anything you don’t like or you aren’t enjoying, you have to tell me, and we’ll stop.”

“But,” I say, pausing for a moment because I’m suddenly confused. I signed a document saying he could use me and now he’s giving me the power to refuse his advances.

Antonio stands and removes his suit jacket. I can’t take my eyes off him as he moves with grace, draping the fine silk on the chair across the aisle. He unbuttons his shirt, folding the arms toward his elbows one at a time. My mouth waters, watching his body move and remembering how he felt against me that night.

“Do you know why I wanted you here this weekend?”

“To humiliate me.” Why else would he invite me away to his island, alone, with a signed agreement to basically be his whore?

He shakes his head and sits down, but he moves closer this time. “The agreement was just to see how willing you were to come with me, Lauren. The last thing I want to do is humiliate you. My intention is to get to know you better and for you to get to know me as a person and not just your enemy. There’s more to me than Cozza, just as there’s more to you than Interstellar.”

I let his words sink in, but I don’t believe anything he said. “So, you’re not going to use me?”

He laughs softly. “Not unless you ask me to.”

It’s my turn to laugh. The last person in the world I’d beg to touch me is Antonio. “This should be interesting.”

“Very few women capture my attention, but you have. Completely. From the moment in the bar until now, I haven’t been able to concentrate on much else.”

“It’s only because you want my company, Antonio. Let’s not fool ourselves.”

“This trip has nothing to do with our work. This is about us, about Lou and Elizabeth, about the chemistry we had together.”

Memories of that night come flooding back, and I can’t deny that sparks flew when Antonio touched me. But that was before I knew who he was and the fact that he was trying to destroy my entire world. “Had is the operative word.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You’re not still attracted to me?”

“No.” I can hear the betrayal in my voice.

He lifts his hand, gesturing toward my face. “May I?”

“May you what?”

“May I kiss you and see for myself?”

I narrow my eyes. “You’re asking for permission?”

“Words can betray, but our bodies tell the real truth.”

My body betrays me at every turn when it comes to him. No matter what I say, how much I protest, I know once he kisses me, I’ll be a goner.

“Kiss me,” I say, because there’s no way I’m going to say no. I know if I do, I’m just going to validate everything he believes about my attraction to him.

I can do this, right? I can kiss him without reacting. I can pretend he’s unattractive. I’ll just picture someone else while he’s doing it. I’ll pretend the person kissing me is Trent, because the very thought of him touching me now repulses me.

Antonio slides closer until our knees touch. The warmth of his skin seeping through his pants is immediate against my bare knees. I close my eyes, waiting for him to plant his lips on me when my hair starts to move. Opening my eyes, I see he’s looking behind me, pulling the pin from my hair that’s holding my tight bun in place.

“You need to relax, Lauren. Let your hair down this weekend and enjoy yourself.” He tosses the black hair stick to the floor before running his fingers through my hair. His fingertips running along my sore scalp is so divine I almost moan.

His hand slides down the side of my face, cupping my cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”

I don’t respond. I can’t.

“Close your eyes,” he whispers as his thumb strokes the bottom of my cheek near my mouth.

I do as he asks, sealing my eyes shut and picturing Trent.

I will not let Antonio affect me. I will not let him win.

Trent. Trent. Trent. I repeat his name in my head as the warm body next to me moves closer. My plan is working, the steady stroke of his thumb against my skin isn’t sending goose bumps across my skin.

But then I smell him and not Trent.

Trent never wore cologne and never smelled like much of anything. Antonio’s spicy, expensive cologne lingered on me for hours after our night together, and I’d never forget the smell or how it intoxicated me.

His warm breath cascades over my lips, mingling with his cologne. My plan is no longer working. All I can feel is Antonio, all I can smell is Antonio. I’m surrounded by him, and he’s inescapable.

The softness with which he presses his lips to mine surprises me. There’s nothing rushed or hurried in his movement. His hand glides behind my neck and tangles in my hair, softly pulling my head back.

He nips my bottom lip, lightly tugging as he kisses me. Soft and slow at first, almost tender, before becoming more demanding.

My head’s spinning like I’m drunk on his scent and the feel of him against my skin to the point that I can barely form a coherent thought. My body and mind, being the traitors that they are, react to him. I moan softly, leaning forward into his kiss and opening my mouth to allow his tongue to dip inside.

His hand gently tugs on my hair, pulling my head back and allowing his tongue to push deeper. Tiny shock waves shoot out from my neck, down my spine, and electrify my skin as he kisses me deeper than before.

My plan not to be affected by his kiss is shot to hell. My body betrays me just as I assumed. Thinking of Trent did nothing to stop my reaction to Antonio. I knew what he had to offer. The softness, the hardness, the seemingly endless orgasms.

I have two choices: give in and enjoy the pleasure he offered this weekend or…

Who am I kidding?

There’s the only choice. In this moment, with our lips and tongues tangled together, it’s the only option that makes sense.

I slide my hand up his legs, gently caressing the hard muscles underneath the soft silky material. I’m going to embrace what I set out to do this weekend.

I promised a weekend of pleasure, not only for him but for me too.

If Antonio wanted to ruin me, he already had enough to do it, yet he hadn’t. That counts for something. A single word could have sent everything into a tailspin and had the takeover within his grasp, but he didn’t. Why? Why would Antonio refrain from taking the company right out from under me when he had the chance?

“Stop thinking so much,” he murmurs against my lips.

I do as he says, pushing everything out of my mind but us. The kiss. The touch. The smell. The sounds. The taste. Everything in this moment is about Antonio and me, with a dash of Elizabeth and Lou.