“You’re early,” Cassy said, as she opened the door. She struggled not to notice the way Gordan’s pale-green tee shirt hugged his wide shoulders and broad chest or the snug fit of his black jeans following the lines of his thighs. She quickly looked away from his prominent sex. He wore heavy leather sandals on bare feet. The man worked out and swam daily, and it showed. He believed in keeping his body as well-toned as his mind.
Stepping back, she said, “Come in.”
“I’m fine. No hurry,” he said softly, leaning a shoulder against the open doorjamb. His dark eyes followed the way she filled out a pair of yellow walking shorts, before lifting to the neat, white, blouse, embroidered with yellow butterflies and daisies.
Gordan decided the sun streaking in through the patio doors could not compete with her radiance and dark beauty. His breath had quickened when he inhaled her scent. She smelled like flowers mingled with her own clean womanly scent, which never failed to gain his attention.
As he watched her move around the room collecting her things, he did not need to study the shape of her breasts or the sway of her hips. He knew all her sweet secrets.
He had awakened alone, after spending half the night painfully aroused, throbbing for what had been his for so long. He came into contact with beautiful women every day of the week, but there was only one Cassy. He knew what he wanted—he wanted her back. He needed her back.
Yet, as badly as he wanted her beneath him, he had no option but to curb his impatience. He assured himself that this time, when they were together again, it would be different. It would be better. No more long separations. No more weeks without her sweet smiles. Together they would find a way. He planned to give her as much of his time and attention as possible.
Gordan’s square-cut jaw lifted with ruthless intent. His African forefathers had fought to their deaths for the freedom that they believed was their God-given right. He pushed aside his doubts and fears that he might not succeed. That Cassy might not give him a second chance.
He grinned suddenly as he watched her tuck a short nighty away. They used to laugh over the tiny lace panties she liked to wear beneath them because, more often than not, he would hide them from her, claiming she didn’t need the panties—or the nighty, for that matter.
“You have to be kidding.” he teased, as she tried and failed to get all her things into a tiny, white, long-strapped purse.
“What?” She knew what he was going to say, and her eyes challenged him.
“Baby, I didn’t bring a jacket. How much do you think I can get into these pockets?” He patted his lean hips.
It was a familiar conversation that they had had many times. She adored pretty little purses that held almost nothing, and she liked to use his pockets to take care of the overflow.
Cassy couldn’t help smiling as she draped her bag across her body. “I don’t need your help,” she tossed back, before she placed an oblong silk scarf, patterned with butterflies, over her throat, then smoothed her wavy, chin-length curls.
“Ready?”
“Yes, I am. What?” she asked, noting the way he was eyeing her feet.
Gordan lifted a heavy brow, chuckling deep in his throat. “Sandals? You know you hate to get those pretty feet dirty.’’
Changing the subject, she said, “I’m ready. Sorry, if I kept you waiting. I’m not usually late.”
He chuckled; he couldn’t stop himself. “Really? It’s hardly the first time.”
Cassandra Mosley had kept him waiting for weeks before they made love that first time.
“I have no idea who you are confusing me with!” she protested, before moving past him into the hallway.
He laughed throatily. “I couldn’t confuse you with anyone. You’re one special lady.”
She ignored him, waiting.
“Got your keycard?”
“Right here.” She frowned at the way he just smiled and had not explained, but merely closed the door behind them before starting down the corridor. “Well?” she prompted. “When did I keep you waiting?”
“More times than I care to remember.”
“That’s not an answer. I’m very prompt. I’m always on time for work. My meals are quick and skillfully prepared. I’ve never missed a plane while we were together. You, Mr. Kramer, are dead wrong.” Cassy crossed her arms beneath her breasts.
He roared with laughter, throwing his head back, his chest rumbling, before he recovered himself to say, “Here’s the elevator. How’s that for service?”
As they began their descent, Cassy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “Will you stop laughing at me and tell me just one time I was late?”
“You don’t want to know.”
The doors slid open on a lower floor and an older couple joined them.
“Yes, I do,” Cassy said softly, leaning closer so her voice would not carry.
Gordan smiled, enjoying the sparkle in her lovely eyes. Cassy clearly was miffed at him. She opened her mouth to speak when several more people joined them on the elevator before it continued its descent. They were the last to enter the busy lobby.
“Sometimes, Gordan, you...”
“Excuse me, Mr. Kramer, but we have a problem,” Kenneth Kittman interrupted them.
Cassy’s playful mood evaporated as quickly as someone could pop a soap bubble. She was not surprised. She expected as much. She did not even have to strain to remember how often Gordan had taken time away from the business to be with her. It happened so seldom that it was practically nonexistent. With Gordan, business always came first.
She could see that he was not pleased. A scowl dominated his dark, lean, good looks. He apparently did not welcome the intrusion.
Before Gordan could speak, the hotel manager said, “It will only take a moment of your time.”
“No.”
“But, sir...”
Gordan held up his hand, and he said quietly but distinctly, “I said no. If you can’t handle this hotel then I expect your resignation in the morning. Good day.”
Kenneth Kittman was not the only one in shock. Cassy considered checking Gordan’s forehead to see if he might be ill. Gordan cupped her elbow, steered her through the lobby, and out into the sunshine.
Cassy could only blink in disbelief.
“Close your pretty mouth before I kiss you right here. I promised you a day away from the resort and that’s exactly what you’re going to have.”
Cassy could not believe it. He had threatened to fire his hotel manager if he could not do his job, and he had meant it. There had been steel in his voice.
Gordan thanked the attendant who had brought his car around. He paused long enough to hold the door for Cassy, before he walked to the driver’s side of the car and slid behind the steering column.
It took Cassy a moment to collect herself. Gordan was evidently determined to prove something to her. They were buckled in and on the road with the convertible top down when Cassy recalled their discussion in the elevator.
“You’re full of surprises today. First, you make unfounded remarks about how often I’ve kept you waiting, then you walk out on a business problem without a backward glance. What’s next?” she asked, as she covered her hair with a scarf.
Gordan flicked his turn signal before he slowed the car and eased to a stop on the shoulder of the road.
“Gordan?”
He shifted, as much as the seatbelt would allow, until he was facing her, his long arm rested behind her shoulders. “No big secret. Baby, we both know you have kept me cooling my heels many times in the past.” He laughed, caressing her nape.”Admit it. You, my sweet, became good at keeping me hard and hungry while you spent hours in the tub, then perfumed your skin with lotions, and did whatever it is women do to drive men out of their minds with need.”
She jerked her gaze away from him, concentrating on the passing cars—anything but him. “You were right. I would have rather not known.”
He pressed a kiss against the side of her neck, close to her ear, saying huskily, “Aw, don’t be that way. You’ve never heard me complain, have you? Because you, my love, have always been worth the wait.” He chuckled throatily, “Except for the first time we made love. You kept me on edge for weeks before you were willing to admit that you needed me as badly as I needed you.”
Cassy offered thanks for her dark skin, which could conceal the flush that heated her face and throat. Much to her relief, he put the car back in gear and eased out into the flow of traffic. Cassy did not have a clue as to what she was feeling. She was a bundle of raw nerves as she tried to regain control of her emotions.
His deep voice, his recollections of a sweeter time, combined with the feel of his mouth on her skin were more than she could cope with right now. She was much too vulnerable to him. Her breathing had actually accelerated, and her breasts felt swollen; the nipples had tightened and tingled with awareness. Goose bumps had raced down her spine at the feel of his open mouth against her flesh, while her woman’s center had pulsed with sweet expectation.
Cassy did not want to remember the many layers of intimacies they had once shared. Those deep, erotic thoughts would only remind her of what she could no longer have. It was very simple. They did not belong to each other anymore. They would never be lovers again.
There was no purpose to indulging in memories of what they had once shared.
Despite her best efforts, her thoughts slid back to the night they became lovers. Her sexual experience with men had been embarrassingly limited for a thirty-four year old woman. Until then, she had been consumed with building her culinary career.
She had thought she knew what it was to be in love. But she’d been wrong. Falling in love with Gordan had been completely different. While in Paris, she had been drawn to Van Campbell because he was another African American and he reminded her of home. Their interlude had had more to do with the romantic elements of Paris than real love. And she ended up hurt and feeling like a fool. It also hadn’t taken her long to learn that sex was a major disappointment.
Cassy had not been in a hurry to repeat the experience. She had dated other men since her time in Paris and before she met Gordan. She just hadn’t bothered to sleep with any of them.
When Gordan had come into her life, all that had changed. To her amazement, she found herself wanting Gordan’s lovemaking long before it happened. Gordan had made her sizzle with needs she could not begin to understand. He was the only man she could not walk away from. She loved him.
And then it happened. They had not caught so much as a glimpse of each other that day. He worked in his suite while she prepared an elaborate luncheon and dinner buffet for a group of businessmen staying at the hotel.
It had been quite late when they finally had gotten together. They had gone out for a meal and then walked hand in hand on the beach. She should have been exhausted, but she wasn’t. When Gordan brought her back to her cottage, she invited him inside. She prepared their drinks—cognac for him and wine for her—not wanting the night to end. When she returned, he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.
“What are you doing?” she had asked.
“Making you mine. Any objections?”
Cassy could have told him there was no need because she was already his, but the words had not come. Cassy suddenly shivered in the warmth of the hot sun as she recalled how he had attacked her senses with one hot, sweet kiss after another. To this day, she had no idea what happened to those drinks. All she remembered was how good his mouth felt on hers as he lifted her and carried her into her bedroom.
Gordan glanced longingly at Cassy before returning his gaze to the road. He could not help wondering what she was thinking and if she were remembering their first time, as he had been. Could she have forgotten?
He had been wild for her. Week after week of unrelenting need had eventually taken its toil on him, twisting him into such a state that his hunger for her was endlessly painful.
He had no idea how he had maintained self-control, but it had been critical that he prove himself to her. Her trust was important to him. For the first time in his adult life, he wanted a woman’s love more than he wanted her body. Cassy had been more than worth the wait.
Gordan discovered that he had never needed a woman more. He let out a slow breath as he recalled that night. The instant he had tasted Cassy’s sweet mouth, his control shattered. He had taken kiss after kiss, his tongue, stroking hers again and again, until he began to suckle. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he remembered the way he had slowly penetrated her unbelievably tight sheath. Gordan had no idea who had undressed whom. All he clearly recalled was that they were finally bare skin to bare skin. Her wonderful breasts were crushed against his chest. He could not stop himself from moving against her softness. Her sweet moans had nearly destroyed what was left of his control. He groaned from the memory.
“Did you say something?”
He was so long in responding that Cassy looked at him and repeated his name.
“No, I was just remembering our first night as lovers.”
Startled, Cassy made no response. If his thoughts were anywhere near as intimate as hers had been, she did not want to know about them. Their lovemaking was the very last thing she was prepared to discuss with him—ever. Why had he bothered to bring up the subject? What did he think she was made of—granite? She had been in love with him at the time...
Cassy had wanted Gordan that night—more than she believed it was possible for a woman to desire a man. The instant he had touched her, she had understood what it meant to be in love.
Resistance? She had forgotten the meaning of the word. The feel of him against her had been consuming. His skin was supple, smooth as silk, and incredibly hot against hers. Cassy had never known how highly sensitive her breasts could feel until Gordan had caressed them, cradled them, and then worried the aching nipples with the hot wash of his tongue, before he took each peak deep into the heat of his mouth to apply the most exquisite suction.
She shivered from the memory, for she had nearly gone out of her mind from the intensity of the pleasure. It had been sharp and potent and she had not wanted him to stop. How was it possible for a woman to gain so much pleasure from a man’s mouth? And it was only the beginning.
Gordan had taken such care with her. He had caressed the entire length of her body repeatedly before he lingered in that damp place between her thighs. She had been more than ready for him—yet, he continuously caressed her before he parted the fleshy folds of her sex. The second he touched her there, whatever reluctance she had been harboring dissolved. She remembered calling out his name—then he was slowly filling her body with his steel hard sex.
“Nothing to say, Cassy?”
She blinked in surprise before she could say, “Absolutely not.”
Closing her eyes, she tried to stop the vivid memories, tried not to recall the feel of him deep inside her body. It was hopeless. Her thoughts were as vibrant as the sensations she had experienced that night. He had pleasured her.
Gordan was not her first lover, but he was the one to bring her to completion and show her what it really meant to be a woman. She had experienced pleasures she had only read about, fantasized about—as he took her from one shattering climax to the next. She had not known her body was capable of such incredible pleasure.
She had thought she was prepared, but how could a woman ready herself for the lovemaking of the one man she would love with all her heart? Cassy had no choice but to accept the truth. Without question, she had fallen utterly under Gordan Kramer’s spell.
Even now, she had to press a hand to her lips to hold in a sob of anguish at the loss. In spite of the heartache and disappointment he had caused her, she still wanted the man. I have to calm down, she told herself over and over, as her heart raced. She had to be able to think rationally. The potency of their desire for each other had always been there, from the instant they had looked into each other’s eyes. It was not an issue. Life was more than what took place in the bedroom.
What she needed was a man she could count on to be there day in and day out—a man able to share all the ups and downs that life offered. She needed someone who was not afraid to give his woman not just his body and his love but to honor her with his name and child. Gordan was not that man.
“I’ve never thought of you as a coward.” His voice was huskier than he would have liked, but he was also aroused and uncomfortable.
“What?”
“You remember that night just as I do. It was the night we acknowledged that we were in love. Why not be honest about it?”
Fed up with this entire conversation, she asked a question of her own. “Why take time off today? I can’t imagine you taking an entire day away from your work. I’m sure there are any number of things waiting for your attention, such as Kenneth’s little problem at the hotel.”
“Changing the subject won’t change what we’ve meant to each other.”
“Why today?” she repeated, as if he had not spoken.
“The sky is blue, the sun is out. Why not?”
“Kenneth had every reason to expect you to stop and take care of the problem. It’s something you have always done. Nothing else has ever been as important to you as Kramer Corporation. What did you do with Jillian while you’re spending a work day playin’ hooky?”
“Why are you deliberately trying to antagonize me?”
“I’m trying to understand what’s going on.”
“There is nothing complicated about it. I made my choice. I want to be with you, baby. I want you back.”
“So you’re willing to do whatever it takes to win me back? Even willing to go so far as to take time away from your precious business?”
“Whatever it takes.” His eyes momentarily locked with hers before he returned his gaze to the roadway.
“Why waste the time? I’m only a temporary challenge. It’s evident that once you win me over, so to speak, it’s back to doing exactly what you have always done before our breakup.”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. “That’s not what I intend.”
“It’s what will happen.”
Gordan did not voice the quick retort rising in his throat. He was not going to let her make him angry—nor was he going to forget the reason why he had wanted to spend this day with her.
He reached out and squeezed the hand resting in her lap. Quietly, he said, “You’re wrong. But can’t we forget our problems for a few hours? Let’s just concentrate on enjoying the day—each other. Is one carefree day too much to ask for?”
“Gordan...”
“Please...”
Finally, she said, “Okay.”
After acknowledging to herself that a few hours could not change how she felt or what she wanted, she settled back to enjoy the view. Even though they were no longer close, she was willing to go through the motions if that’s what it would take to convince him that she would not—could not—compromise on this.
A day off for fun! Who was he trying to fool—her or himself? Gordan was not about to change his life for anyone. She was the woman he claimed to love, but as far as she was concerned, he could not love her the way she longed to be loved.
When a man was in love with a woman, he naturally wanted her to be a part of his life and he wanted to be part of hers. In her mind, that meant marriage. What he had mistaken for love was nothing more than sexual compatibility.
Cassy clung to the belief that a single day or even a month away from his business would not convince her that he was willing to make a change. After years of observing him, how could she possibly think he even wanted to change? He was perfectly happy with his life.
She was the one who had changed. She was no longer willing to believe in fairy tales. As long as she remembered that, they both might get through this fun-filled day still speaking to each other.
“I’ve been coming to this island for years, yet I never tire of it. There is always something new to see and enjoy.” He smiled. “The days are sweet and the nights are sweeter. I never fail to miss this place when I go back to Atlanta.” He paused before admitting, “I’ve been considering building a house here. I’ve surprised you, haven’t I?”
“A bit.” She longed to say it didn’t matter what she thought, for she knew they would never share a home. That particular fantasy had been crushed when he refused to even consider a life-long commitment.
“You don’t think it’s a good idea?”
“I don’t know. I honestly thought you preferred the traveling. I can’t imagine you settling in one place for long. It doesn’t fit with your corporate image.”
Gordan’s mouth tightened, but he did not comment.
Uncomfortable with the prolonged silence, Cassy said, “I expected you to tell me to bring my hiking boots today. Your idea of a day off, as I recall, is more like an invigorating climb up Monte Pelee.” Looking away from the rolling hills, she laughed, “I have not forgiven you for the five-hour hike to the summit you took me on when I was living on the island.”
Gordan chuckled. “Nothing so strenuous today. I thought you might enjoy the southern view of the island. Leave the mountains in the northern region for another day. Have you gone hiking on this trip?”
“No. I have been into Fort de France, shopping, sightseeing, and lots of eating. I may have to go on a diet when I get back home.”
“Never that. Consider it as developing even more dangerous curves.” He took his gaze off the road to eye her figure.
“I’d much rather you keep your eyes on the road—it’s safer.” She smiled, “I couldn’t resist visiting the Botanical Gallery and the Geological Gallery again, while I was here.’’
They were passing yet another fishing village, then rows of cane fields dotted the landscape. Everything was so wonderfully green and lush.
“Where are we going? This is not the way to Le Robert or Club Nautique-Les Pieds Dans l’Eau.”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I hate surprises. Tell me. We are going south, aren’t we, to Maison de La Canne—or La Pagerie?”
“Nope.”
“Is that the Caribbean or the Atlantic?” she asked, pointing to the water along the coastal road.
“Caribbean,” he conceded.
“We are going south. Pointe du Bout is so pretty.”
“Nope.”
“Where?”
“Les Trois-Ilets.” he grinned. “Does that meet with Mademoiselle’s approval?”
“Oui,” she said, settling back in her seat.
Cassy gradually relaxed and started enjoying the beauty of her surroundings. The village was in full bloom— enchanting, Cassy decided. They toured one of the refineries used by the area’s sugar plantations and had a late lunch at a tiny restaurant well known for buttery, hot croissants along with freshly caught, steamed crayfish and rock lobster, eased down with icy-cold sips of the local beer.
When they left the restaurant, she hit him playfully on the arm. “Will you stop teasing me about my French? I’m out of practice.”
Gordan grinned. “Yeah, sure. Do you remember the last time we were here?”
Cassy nodded, sobering instantly. She did not want to recall how happy they once were together or how very much in love. It hurt too much.
She said, “Let’s not take another walk down memory lane. It’s getting late, Gordan. We have to drive back.”
They were enjoying each other’s company a bit too much for her peace of mind. There was no way she was going to forget why they were spending the day together. It didn’t have a thing to do with how they had once felt about each other. She was merely keeping a promise. Nothing more.
“What’s the rush? I thought you might like to visit Empress Josephine’s birthplace in La Pagerie and her home, since we’re so close.”
Reluctantly, she admitted, “I have plans for the evening.”