Page 32 of One Week To Claim It All

He gathered her into his arms, as if she was something precious. As she burrowed into Rodrigo, Esme once again marveled at how different her life was now than it had been a year ago when she’d crashed into the Sambrano boardroom to claim her inheritance. After they’d walked into that meeting together and presented their plan to the board everything had fallen into place, almost as if fate had been waiting for the two of them to finally figure it out.

The board had not only approved splitting the president and CEO position, they thought it was the ideal solution. And once that had been sorted out, Rodrigo and Esme began working on their relationship. And that had been a wonderful adventure, too. Last month they’d moved into their new home—a renovated brownstone in the Upper West Side that they’d bought together. And now she was lying in their master bedroom, which had a gorgeous view of the Hudson. She had everything she’d ever dreamed of. Including the man who had stolen her heart at twenty-one.

A kiss on her temple brought her out of her thoughts and Rodrigo’s raspy morning voice in her ear made a shiver run through her. “What are you thinking?”

“That I’m happy, and nervous as hell for this week.”

That earned her another kiss, this one deeper and hotter, the kind that made her toes curl and her heart flutter. “We got this, baby,” Rodrigo whispered in her ear, as he shifted them so she was lying on top of him.

In her heart she knew they would be fine, but she was still nervous. Today they were headed to the International Broadcasters Trade Show, where Sambrano Studios would be unveiling their newest product: a streaming service package with four new networks solely producing Latinx content. Food and travel, history, music, and film and documentary channels celebrating every Latinx culture from Mexico all the way to Argentina. Rodrigo and the board had let her run with her vision this past year, and now they were ready to make it public. The response from the beta trials had been wildly successful, but now her baby would be out there in the world.

“I hope people like it.”

“It’s brilliant,” he said as he put a hand behind her head and brought her down for a kiss. His handsome, beloved face was open and bright as he smiled up at her—Rodrigo smiled so often now. “You’rebrilliant, and this is going to put the Sambrano brand on another level. You were what we needed. You were whatIneeded. The future is bright, mi cielo. And I can’t wait to spend it with you.”

“Te amo,” Esmeralda said, her eyes filling with happy tears as she let the man she loved wrap her in his arms.