I Don’t releases in just 7 days! I can’t wait for you to meet Mateo & Ava- so much so that I am giving you chapter one now!
Chapter One
The screech of the intercom on my desk pulled my attention away from the data I was entering. The timing of the interruption was impeccable, so I wasn’t about to complain. Hours spent slumped over a computer were hell on my spine. I was delighted for an excuse to take a break and look away.
I quickly rolled my neck from side to side to alleviate some of the tension while reminding myself that I’d wanted a nine to five job. The shrill tone sounded a third time before I picked up.
“This is a case of perfect timing,” I yawned. “I desperately needed to stretch and look away from my monitor.”
“Uh, Ava?”
My left brow arched at the uncertain tone of Ben’s voice.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” I answered dryly. “I feel like you already knew that since you’re the one who called me. What’s up?”
“There’s… well, a man is on the phone for you.”
I assumed it was my boss, a man who was a perfectionist unlike any I’d ever known. Whenever he called, it was because something was not to his exacting standards. I wondered if I’d inadvertently messed up a column in one of my spreadsheets. I tried so hard, but like every other employee at Keeping Track, I had been on the receiving end of more than one talking-to.
I stifled a groan. “It’s Mr. Gretchen isn’t it?”
The sound of Ben’s elevated breathing filled the silence. “Um, no,” he answered, “this is most definitely not Mr. Gretchen.”
“Well, since you’re acting weird I have to assume it’s someone unusual. Is it the President? Bill Gates? Oh, wait. I know. It’s Ryan Reynolds. If I’ve told him once, I’ve told him a dozen times not to call me at work—”
“Not even close. This man—he says he’s your fiancé.”
All the blood left my head, and my heart stopped beating for several seconds. When it resumed pumping, I tried assuring myself I was asleep. Yep, that had to be it. I was having a nightmare. With my free hand, I pinched my thigh, only to wince at the twinge of pain. I wasn’t dreaming.
I chanted ‘no, no, no’ in my head as I struggled to take in enough oxygen to be functional. I was nowhere near ready to deal with him. Surely he wouldn’t have tracked me down at work. With me gone, he had to be using the opportunity to explore the bachelor life and live it to the fullest. I’d assured myself he’d be busy dealing with his social calendar that thinking of me would be impossible.
I embraced denial like it was my job. There was some kind of mistake or whoever was on the phone wasn’t him. Maybe it was some other man calling for an entirely different Ava. Of course! Yes, that was it. That could happen, right?
“His voice,” I whispered. “Does he sound—”
“Spanish?” Ben supplied. “Yeah.”
I’d been about to ask if he sounded like a stubborn son-of-a-bitch, but Spanish told me what I needed to know. The phone fell from my hand, clattering loudly as it hit the desk. I fumbled frantically, knocking a container of pens over in the process. My pulse raced as the pens scattered across the desk haphazardly. My fingers seemed to be made of butter, and my dexterity was gone, so picking them up was impossible. I abandoned the pens and grabbed the phone, clumsily hitting myself in the cheek with it as I brought it back to my ear.
“Please tell me this is just a prank,” I pleaded.
My voice sounded shaky even to my ears. I was grasping at straws, and I knew it, but right then I was holding out hope some tabloid hack had found me. In my panicked state, it was the preferable option.
“It’s not,” Ben insisted. “Besides, it’s not like I’d know to make this joke seeing as how over the course of the six weeks you’ve worked here, you never added anyone to the approved caller list. I realize you’re an introvert but not putting a fiancé on your list seems a little odd.”
My heart thundered as I tried to get my bearings. They were, of course, nowhere to be found. It was always like this when it came to him. My inner compass always pointed me in one direction—straight to Mateo Cruz.
“I’m not,” I denied shakily. “Engaged,” I clarified.
The six-carat emerald and diamond engagement ring hidden in a pair of jeans on a shelf in my closet said otherwise, but having possession of it wasn’t my choice.
No matter how hard I’d tried, the stubborn jerk wouldn’t take it back. Even when I’d resorted to outlandish and ridiculous measures, it hadn’t made a bit of difference. In a fit of desperation, I’d once hocked it for ten percent of its value. I woke up the following morning to a courier at my door with the ring. Two days later I donated it to a children’s charity. That time I got it back within six hours, along with a thank you note from the charity for my generous cash donation.
I suspected even if I tossed it to the bottom of the ocean like elderly Rose in the Titanic movie, it would find its way back to me within twenty-four hours.
“Well, the man on line one disagrees which means he must be nuts. You want me to tell him to get lost?”
I half-considered it for a fraction of a second, even imagined how easy it would be to bury my head in the sand and allow a male receptionist to tell my former fiancé to shove off. Only as I played the rest of the possible outcomes through my head did I admit defeat. Mateo Cruz was an unstoppable force. He wouldn’t go away simply because I refused to pick up the phone.
My sigh was one of resignation. “No. I’ll deal with it.”
I clutched the handset tightly as I disconnected with Ben and did my best to prepare myself for what was coming. I sat stock still with the phone held over my heart as I made an attempt to corral my emotions. After about five seconds of breathing in and out, I accepted reality— it wasn’t going to work. With an aggravated sound, I steeled myself as much as possible and pressed the button to take the call.
“This is not a welcome surprise,” I snipped. “What do you want, Mateo?”
I hoped my voice didn’t betray my panic. I thought I sounded somewhat normal, but Mateo knew me better than anyone. He was so finely tuned to my every action; I suspected he’d known I was anxious before I’d uttered a word.
“You have had your space,” he announced. “Now it is time for us to talk. In person.”
The sound of his voice hit my veins like a drug, chipping away at my resistance and destroying my determination in a nanosecond. I wondered what was wrong with me that I couldn’t seem to erect a wall between my heart and my former fiancé. My right knee jiggled at what seemed like a million miles an hour as my grip on the phone tightened to the point of pain. Under no circumstances could I be face to face with him. If a simple phone call threw me off, a meeting would be catastrophic.
My heart thundered in my chest like I was about to have a go in the Thunderdome. “Absolutely not,” I hissed. “I have zero desire to see you, ever. Go away, Mateo. I don’t want to speak to you.”
My teeth ground together when he chuckled as if I’d said something pleasant or kind.
“Ah, mi amor. This is good,” he murmured. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear your fire returning. It killed me to see you so lost.”
The way his voice reawakened my craving for him terrified me. For nine weeks I’d assured myself daily that I was learning to feel less. Within forty seconds, he’d disabused me of the fantasy. A frisson of alarm raced up my spine. There was no way I could meet up with him face to face. If his voice could still elicit the response it did, I’d be done for in the same room with him. No. I needed to stay on offense. Meeting up could not happen.
“Don’t talk as though you have any idea what’s going on in my life,” I muttered.
“I know plenty, mi tesoro.”
My teeth ground together as I swallowed past the lump of emotion in my throat. His term of endearment was like an arrow straight to my chest. He was lying—I wasn’t his treasure.
“How about we talk about what I know,” I said defensively. “For example, I knew before I even picked up the phone that you’d still be an overbearing know-it-all piece of—”
The telltale sound of the call disconnecting before I could finish my sentence brought me up short. Pulling the phone from my ear, I stared down at the receiver with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and, shamefully, disappointment. He’d hung up on me without warning. I’d expected him to argue, but he’d given up without a fight. That wasn’t the Mateo I knew.
I was still trying to reconcile my disappointment a minute or so later when the door to my tiny office flew open and banged against the wall, rattling the framed photo of Barcelona that hung just inside.
“I tried to explain to him that you’re unavailable but he won’t listen,” Ben screeched.
“And I told him to mind his damn business,” a too familiar voice growled. “No man tells me I can not see you, Avelina.”
My eyes went wide as Ben moved aside and Mateo strolled into my office as though he’d done it a thousand times, his green eyes flashing fire as they locked onto mine. Nothing had changed. With one look, we were the only two people in the universe. A million butterfly wings fluttered inside of my stomach and chest as I licked my lips and tried to get my bearings. Mateo’s eyes stayed on me for countless seconds before he jerked his head in Ben’s direction, breaking the spell with the reminder that someone else was in the room.
“Tell him to get out,” he commanded.
I knew I should tell Mateo to go pound sand, but I was busy trying not to have a damn heart attack. Relieved to have an excuse to look away from him, I turned my attention to Ben.
“You can go,” I said. “I’ll deal with Mr. Cruz.”
Mateo cursed under his breath, muttering in Spanish about putting me over his knee. I felt my cheeks flush pink as I forced myself not to respond.
I was thankful Ben didn’t understand Spanish because he’d have been more scandalized than he already was. It was apparent he had no idea what to do since his eyebrows seemed to have permanently relocated to the top of his hairline.
“Are you sure?” he asked as he took two steps backward.
As anxious as I was, I still had to stifle a choked laugh. When it suited him, Mateo had that effect on people.
“I have him under control,” I assured Ben.
My words were nothing but bluster. I most definitely did not have him under control. I was in no way prepared to deal with Mateo Cruz, and without the benefit of any warning, I was thrown even more off kilter.
Mateo chuckled darkly, a low rumble of sound I felt in my core.
“Tienes todo de mi,” he murmured.
He’d said I had all of him. My heart slammed against my chest like it wanted to break out and go to him.
The door closed behind Ben with a soft snick, and I had no doubt he would be running from office to office to tell everyone what was going on. Word would spread like wildfire, and within five minutes all one hundred and forty closet-sized rooms on the floor would be abuzz. Many of my co-workers would be waiting with bated breath for Mateo to leave so they could descend on me to demand details.
I gritted my teeth and glared at him as I crossed my arms. I’d had my job for six weeks and had only just started to settle in. That was all a thing of the past. Although I was fairly certain Ben hadn’t recognized Mateo, I had no doubt someone else would. Once that happened, all bets were off. After all, it wasn’t every day a gorgeous billionaire bachelor showed up at the office to claim his errant fiancée.
Click here to see I Don’t on Goodreads.