Amazon Awakening

Amazon Awakening by Caridad Piñeiro

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Authors: Caridad Piñeiro
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Chapter One
    Arrogant was the only word Paola Lopes could use to describe the man standing in front of her desk.
    Devastatingly male was the second. Although of course those were two words, she thought, and failed to stifle her chuckle.
    â€œDo you find me amusing, Ms. Lopes?” Rey Peralta said, an almost ebony brow taking flight above eyes that were a glacial blue. The frosty color did little to cool the heat of anger in his gaze.
    â€œI find you…determined,” she began, carefully choosing her words so as not to offend. There were judges and attorneys who might call her a shark, but unlike some of her colleagues, she reserved her aggression for the courtroom and negotiating table.
    â€œI am determined,” Rey Peralta replied and motioned to her guest chair.
    Since he had arrived unannounced and her time was precious, not to mention expensive, Paola had been tempted to show him the door. But the enticing masculine energy he possessed was difficult to ignore. His dangerous virility pulled at her, creating unexpected temptation. Plus, today she had the time to listen to his plea, especially considering who had entrusted him with this mission.
    She gestured for him to take a seat and was grateful that the width of her desk created space between her body and his potent masculinity so she could regain perspective. “You say my grandmother sent you?” She leaned back in her executive leather desk chair, adding even greater distance between them.
    Rey settled himself in the chair, although his long, lean body was decidedly cramped in the small space of the chic designer furniture. He wasn’t meant to be contained. Although his clothes were made from high-priced fabrics and exquisitely fitted to his muscled physique, Rey would look infinitely better in nothing but his skin. Heat erupted across her body when she imagined him running free in something other than his suit.
    As if sensing her feminine interest, he smiled and a small dimple emerged along the right side of his mouth. He shifted to the very lip of the chair and leaned forward, narrowing the precious space between them. “Your grandmother wishes to see you before her time comes,” he said, his voice pitched intimately low.
    She ignored the way his tone tied her insides into knots of need. “My grandmother hasn’t seen me since I was…three, I believe.”
    Not that she remembered anything about the visit. Her family had gone back to Brazil and the remote Amazonian plantation owned by her father’s family. It had been meant to be a last chance to repair a crumbling marriage. Instead, her mother had returned home to New York City with Paola within just a few weeks. Less than a year later, her father had died suddenly, ending any connections to the Lopes family.
    â€œIt was not your grandmother’s choice to leave you,” he said, obviously aware of the strife between her mother and her father’s family. Before her father’s death a bitter custody battle had ensued, but it had ended with her father’s abrupt passing.
    â€œWhy would my grandmother want to see me now? After so long?” It was a question that had remained unspoken for too long, always a buried ache within her heart. She had wondered for years what had driven her parents apart, especially since she could see the love in her mother’s eyes whenever she mentioned her father. She had likewise pondered why her paternal grandmother did nothing other than send checks for special occasions, unlike her maternal grandparents who came for regular visits.
    â€œAs I said, she is concerned about her health, and you are the heir to the Lopes legacy,” he stated calmly, but she could see the tic along his jaw, signaling discomfort. He was as uneasy about his mission as she was about his request and her inexplicable attraction to him.
    â€œA legacy? As in money?” At her question his lips tightened into a knife-sharp line. The words

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