Amazon Awakening by Caridad Piñeiro Page B

and the indigenous peoples within the rain forest.
    Worthy causes, she thought, laying down the business card and glancing at the walls of her space.
    Most would consider her a success. At twenty-eight she already had a reputation for being one of the best in her field. Yet lately there had been a niggling sense of uselessness within her. A desire for more. She wanted the freedom to build instead of destroy.
    She thought of her parents then. What if her father had felt something similar? Something that had driven him to return to his home, but which had pushed her mother away?
    There was only one way to find out the answer to that question. An answer that was long overdue.
    But as she prepared for her upcoming meeting, doubts lingered about the wisdom of going anywhere with the intriguing Mr. Peralta.

Chapter Two
    Rey paced back and forth in front of the windows in his New York City hotel room. Floor-to-ceiling, they provided amazing views in every inch of the space. In the buildings surrounding his hotel, there were glimpses of people still at work at their desks, even at this late hour. The lights and displays on every building in Times Square were so bright they chased away the dark of the night, creating an artificial day.
    On the street below, tourists milled about the area snapping photos or forming lines for the assorted ticket lines, shops and restaurants while the locals weaved and bobbed around them as they hurried by at a New York pace.
    He could imagine Paola racing along at that breakneck speed, rushing to something, but Rey sensed that it was also about running away. Maybe trying to avoid her family history and the questions that lingered in her mind and heart.
    Definitely hurrying from him, he thought, recalling her reaction to the immediate link that had happened between them when he had walked into her office.
    The pull had come instantly, and he had been powerless to stop that initial blast of desire through his body. Her Guardian energy was strong, and the female spirit within her had called to him, awakening his own energy.
    She had experienced it also. He had seen it in her eyes and in the tension of her body. She had been fighting the enticement of the energy as much as he had, but had also been intrigued by it.
    He had not expected the attraction. He had not been prepared for it, but he would welcome exploring it if Paola was amenable. He imagined it would be an intense experience to allow such a powerful spirit to merge with his. To join with her physically, as well.
    Paola Lopes was a very beautiful woman, a stunning combination of her mother’s Nordic looks and her father’s darker Latin coloring. Caramel-colored hair. Emerald eyes. Flawless skin of a rich, peachy hue with an easy blush. He had seen it today when he’d turned his gaze on her and recognized the passion simmering beneath her apparently calm and professional surface.
    Maybe, if she decided to honor his request, they would find the time to explore that passion, although he worried that she would not respond to her grandmother’s plea.
    Despite the desire and unrest he had sensed at her core, Paola had seemed to have found her place in this New York bustle, he thought as he turned away from the windows and slowly undressed.
    She was successful at what she did. He had performed an Internet search in anticipation of his visit and had found information on case after case that she had won. Plus, the firm for which she worked was top in their field. He was certain that the corner office meant she was going places there.
    So why would she choose to leave with him? Choose the unknown over her comfortable and well-off life?
    Maybe that unrest he had sensed. He had no doubt it was about her father and the many unanswered questions she might possess.
    But he also hoped that after today, a part of her motivation would be about him and the connection between them. About the passion he wished to explore and which, even now, roused him