Through The Lens (Creative Hearts Book 1) (21 page)

Chapter 14

She was drained but thankful. Mika couldn’t believe she made it through all the shots and now all the pain, the tension and the heartache would soon be over. Finally she’d be able to get home to New York, put all this behind her for good and start on her new life come tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
It felt like she had said it so much on this trip that she was thinking of dying her hair red and changing her name to Annie.

She lay down, after what seemed like the longest day ever, and immediately heard a creaking outside of her hut door. Mika bolted upright. Could it be him? She listened hard but all she heard was silence. She knew she was being silly. He was the past and her future started tomorrow. It would be fantastic. She was getting all she wanted, and it was time she got happy about it. She closed her eyes.

Then she heard it again. This time not even bothering to think, Mika rolled out of bed and swung her door open just as Ale was raising his hand to knock. She jumped back with a squeak at the sight of his stormy face and raised hand. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you,” he said, striding past her into the darkened room.

Mika crossed her arms over her chest. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s late. Can’t this wait until morning?”

Ale whirled on her. “No, it can’t. I want to talk now. Everything can’t be on your terms, you know.”

His gaze raked over her disheveled form in her short white tee with her legs peeking out.
 

She shifted on her bare feet and tugged down on the hem. “Well, would you mind if I put on some clothes?”

But he ignored her, taking a few quick steps forward, walking right up to her and running a hand up her thigh.
 

She shivered and pushed his hand away, giving him a glare. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

“I did, but now seeing you here looking so delicious, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to talk about.”

He reached for her again, and Mika moved nimbly away. “Why don’t you head on over to Karina’s hut? I’m sure she’d take you in happily if you don’t want to talk.”

Ale looked at her with burning eyes. “What, and you won’t?”

“No, I won’t. And I really think you should stick to one woman at a time. I won’t be your in-between girl for when you get bored and want to switch it up a night.”

Ale’s brows drew together. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She waved a hand at him. “You know what, it doesn’t even matter. I have no claim on you. You can sleep with whomever you want. Flaunt it all you want, just leave me alone.”

He stared at Mika long and hard, like he was trying to put together the puzzle that was her and coming up short a piece. Finally, he spoke. “Nothing is going on between me and Karina.”

Mika’s eye’s narrowed. She knew what she saw. Where else could Karina have been coming from early in the morning? “I know what I saw. And she’s clearly got her sights on you.”

He raked his hands through his hair. “Me and just about everyone else in the crew.”

Mika turned away, shaking. She wanted Ale gone, not standing in her hut trying to tempt her. Things were hard enough as it was. “Please. Just go.”

Ale stepped forward, turned her around. “You know nothing is going on with me and her. You can look at me and see that.”

Mika stared at him. She willed her lips to stop quivering. Her pulse to stop jumping. If it wasn’t Karina, so what? There had been so many in the past: Jolie, and Giselle, then Dillon, then Kimberly. They came and went with the seasons. She didn’t want to be one of them, just a forgettable girl for this season.
 

“I don’t know any such thing. I want you to leave.”

He licked his lips, staring at her mouth. “You protest a bit too much. I think the last thing you want is for me to leave you right now.” He stepped even closer into her space, his body right against hers, and she visibly shook.
 

“Why are you making this so hard for me?” Did she whimper? God, she hoped not. The whimper was the beginning of the end.

He leaned down to her ear, gave it a small kiss.
 

Mika almost buckled. The woozy feeling she got was positively swoon-like.
 

“You think this is easy for me? You have me practically at your feet. Do you know how much I hate it?”

Yes, she could imagine.
 

But then he shocked her, falling to his knees in front of her, kissing her abdomen through her shirt. Mika choked back a sob. Ale looked up at her, his eyes going dark. Embarrassed at herself for not being stronger, she ran her hands through his hair and threw her head back. Tears welled instantly.

How could she do it? She should make him stop. But as Ale gently lifted her tee shirt and his lips touched her quivering stomach, she let out a strangled sigh. He lazily ran his tongue over her navel.
 

“Ale, no,” she whispered as desire swelled, making her thighs tense.
 

Instead, his tongue went into action, causing her to tighten the hold on him. “Do you really mean no?” he asked in a low and husky voice.

Mika could hardly breathe and it was even harder to think. But in her heart she knew what she wanted, at least at this very moment, and that was for Ale to
not
stop that damned clever tongue.

“Mika, do you mean no?” he repeated again pulling away from her.
 

She stepped forward, inching closer to him and thinking of the goodbye that would happen all too soon. “No, I don’t,” she whispered.
 

It seemed to be all Alejandro needed to hear. He reached up, slowly lowering her panties. And with the first touch of his tongue at her center, Mika was gone. She was officially in the category of “too stupid for words.” But she shut off the small voice of reason in the back of her head and fell back on the bed, giving herself to him for one last time. Again.

*

They were both panting for breath when it was over, as Alejandro traced lazy circles on her hip. “Can I sleep here tonight? I really don’t have the strength to make it back to my hut. You’ve completely worn me out."

Mika just burrowed in closer to him. She was too exhausted to argue. He had worn her out too, and now she was limp with satisfaction. “Fine. But you have to be out before anyone is up.”

Ale kissed her shoulder. “I’m so glad you didn’t make me beg too much,” he said into her neck as he pulled her closer to his body. “We can make this work, you know. You and I, side by side. I know I’m not always the easiest to deal with, but I promise you I’ll try to give you room to grow. You are one of the most talented women I know, so if you want to take pictures of your own I’m fine with that. I’ll even let you take on some of your own clients part-time if you like.”

Mika stiffened, her emotions floating away like the tide out to sea. She turned around to look at him, hoping for a moment that maybe she’d see that he was just joking. He had to be joking.
 

“What are you talking about?” she asked, fighting to keep her voice steady.

He smiled down and kissed her nose, then pulled back with a grin. “I’m talking about us, beauty.”

Mika spurted. “You must have lost your mind. I’m sorry if my saying yes to you tonight was misleading, but I’m not working with you. I’m taking the job at
Stylist
.”

Ale’s grip around her waist tightened. “You don’t mean that.”

Mika frowned. “Excuse me? How dare you tell me what I mean?”

Now it was Ale’s turn to groan. “Must we always be at odds? I’ve made the plan clear. You’ll have what you want.”

“How can you tell me what I want? Do you even know? Have you ever asked?” She pushed at him and sat up, pulling the sheets up to cover her naked breasts. “You really are clueless, you know. Was sleeping with me just a ploy to get me to do what you wanted? Come on, Ale—you’re good but not
that
good. You won’t make me change my mind. I don’t know how clear I can make this. I’m taking this job, and you can’t stop me.”

Ale’s face simmered with rage, but still he reached out to touch her. “Fine. If you are so hell-bent on leaving, you have my permission.” Mika pushed his hand away.
 

“Excuse me. I didn’t know I needed it.”

His eyes narrowed further. “After all of this, I’m fine with it. But you are not leaving me with nothing. I still have a business to run, and you should have thought of that. Before you leave you’ll have to find me a suitable replacement. With or without you, there is still a job to do. I have a business to run.”

“That isn’t fair. I know how demanding you are. Find your own assistant. I have to be at
Stylist
in two weeks.”

He glared at her. “Yes, you do know how demanding I am, so maybe you should’ve been a little more honest with me and started your search earlier. Because, my dear assistant, if you leave without finding a replacement, believe me you won’t be happy. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to that reputation of yours by letting it be known that you left me in a lurch.”

“Are you threatening me?” Mika asked, not believing she had to utter the words.
 

“I’m just saying what you already know, that reputation is everything in this business. And you wouldn’t want to ruin yours by being the one who walked away without a word. You may be thought of as unreliable.”

Suddenly Mika found it hard to breathe. With that, Ale had sucked all the air out of the room and her future along with it. He was right. One word from him could break her in the business before she even got started. She lowered her eyes and covered her face with her hands. When she looked back up at Ale, it was with blazing hatred. “So you’d actually blackmail me?”

Ale seemed to flinch at the word but only for a moment. He continued to glare, challenging her to make the next move.

“Fine,” she surrendered in a clipped voice. “I’ll find your assistant. But don’t you dare ruin this opportunity for me. Don’t make me hate you any more than I do right now.” She lowered her gaze again.
 

Ale reached for her.
 

She recoiled from his touch. “Just leave now. I feel humiliated enough, and I don’t want you touching me. Ever again.”

He pulled himself off the bed. “I didn’t want things to end this way for us tonight.”

She looked at him, solemn. “But it was going to end either way, wasn’t it? Hey, you should be happy. You’re still in control, right where you always need to be.”

Chapter 15

With trepidation, Mika walked into the studio for the first time after a restless weekend at home. New York had greeted her with all the chill the island didn’t have, and she was now longing for a hint of the warmth she’d had there.

She was surprised to find Ale already at his desk, staring at his computer screen when she walked into the loft. She knew he’d heard her come in, but in his usual I’m-in-a-sulk arrogance, he didn’t look up.
 

Fine. If he wanted to play the child, she’d let him. It wouldn’t stop her from doing what she needed to do.

“Good morning. Seeing anything good there?” she said as cheerfully as she could.

“Morning,” he replied in a cool voice, not answering her question.

She shook her head, put her travel coffee mug on her desk and shrugged out of her jacket. She then headed to the kitchen to do her usual, make a fresh pot of coffee for them both. She tried hard to squelch her fears about spending the day with him, but she could see he wasn’t in a mood to make things easy. When she got to the kitchen, she was surprised to see that Ale had already made the coffee. She glanced back at him, but he seemed deep into something at his computer. Better to not rock the boat, she figured and headed to her desk to fire up her computer. Hopefully, the new assistant candidates would start applying early.
 

On checking, it looked like the word she’d sent on Friday from the airport had gotten out to the trades. Turned out she had a nice batch of candidates that had sent over their résumés. This was a good sign. Not even nine a.m. and already people were chomping at the bit. She couldn’t blame them. This was fashion, and you had to be on your toes to grab the hot jobs.
 

“What’s got you so happy? A fun weekend with a new lover?” Ale ground out.

Her smile froze. It was a line Ale had used in the past plenty of times on a Monday morning. Sexual harassment was not an issue between them, but this time it stung and he knew it. Well, she would not be baited. “Ha, very funny. No, but it looks like my sending out the assistant ad over the weekend helped. Seems you’ll have my replacement in no time.”

He grunted at that and Mika gave him a good look this time, taking in his disheveled appearance. It was almost easy to overlook since he was so casually handsome, but there was more than two days’ worth of sexy scruff on his cheeks, which was not the norm for him and if she wasn’t mistaken, that could still be Friday’s tee shirt. Though he had plenty of the same white ones. She knew because she ordered them. Either way, it clearly looked slept in. What was with him? This was not the Ale she knew and for a brief moment, she wondered if he was ill.