Summer Vows (Arabesque) by Rochelle Alers Page A

because of the incredibly virile man standing only feet away. Despite the turmoil going on in her life that had impacted her family she did not want to think about sharing a roof with a man as attractive as Jacob. Why, she mused, couldn’t he be short, fat, balding and smelling of liniment? But he wasn’t, and that made her uncomfortable. She also wondered how long it would take before she would go completely stir-crazy from the inactivity.
    Ana was used to getting up every morning and working out in her condominium’s health club before she prepared to go into her office. She and Jason alternated chairing bi-weekly staff meetings where they brought everyone employed by the recording company up on what was going on with their artists. And once she’d taken control as CEO she’d established an open-door policy. There hadn’t been a time when she did not entertain someone’s suggestion, whether she believed it would or wouldn’t benefit the company, whenever the executives held their brainstorming sessions.
    “I know you see me as an imposition—”
    “You’re not,” Jacob said, interrupting her. “If I thought of you as an imposition, then I never would’ve agreed to let you come and stay here.”
    “Why did you agree?”
    He smiled, the expression reminding Ana of a ray of sunshine warming her face and she wanted to tell him that it was something he should do more often.
    “Because there are very few things I wouldn’t do for Diego.”
    Her eyebrows lifted at this disclosure. “Did you and Diego go to college together?” She’d asked because her cousin had attended college in Miami.
    “No. Diego has three years on me.”
    Ana quickly did the math. Diego was going to celebrate his thirty-ninth birthday, so he had to be at least thirty-five or six.
    “I’ll be thirty-six September seventeenth,” Jacob confirmed.
    Her dimpled smile was infectious when he returned it with one of his own. “You read minds?” she asked.
    He lowered his arms. “No, but I’ve noticed that you bite down on your lip when you appear to be thinking about something.”
    Ana’s delicate jaw dropped. “I can’t believe I’m that transparent.”
    “You really aren’t. If you were, then I’d know what you’re thinking.”
    “You really don’t want to know what I’m thinking,” she retorted.
    There another lengthy pause as Jacob took several steps, stopping in front of her, while his gaze met and fused with hers. “I don’t care. Nothing you say, or if you decide to throw a hissy fit, will get me to change my mind.”
    “What if I decide to seduce you? Will that get you to change your mind?”
    She felt a rush of heat settle in her face as soon as the query rolled off her tongue, and Ana didn’t want to believe where it had come from. She experienced a measure of redemption when he stared at her, apparently in shock.
    “If you’d hoped to shock me, then you just did. But, even if I did permit you to seduce me nothing would change, Princess.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong. Everything would change.” She had no intention of seducing him or any other man, but Ana was willing to bet her fortune that if they were to have an intimate relationship everything between them would change.
    Chuckling softly, he winked at her. “We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” His teasing mood changed like quicksilver. “And there will be no plans of seduction from either one of us. Diego asked me to protect, not take advantage of you.”
    “Do you always do what my cousin asks you to do?”
    He shrugged a shoulder. “Within reason, yes. And the same goes for him.”
    “You’re that tight.” Ana’s question was a statement.
    “Very tight,” Jacob confirmed. “Now that we’ve settled the notion of you trying to get one over on me, I’m going outside. Either you can stay here or sit outside and relax.”

Chapter 4
    A na followed Jacob to the deck, her gaze scanning the spacious area. It was the perfect place