When dawn lit the sky that next morning, Taylor was curled on her side unable to sleep. As she glanced at the clock, she realized she had seen every hour come and go during the long restless night.
The puzzle that she was determined to complete was how she had managed to get through dinner without showing Donald any sign of resentment. The only thing that had upset her was when he had offered her that jeweler’s box. Imagine, she didn’t want him to think badly of her.
Where had the outrage gone? It certainly was present now as she tossed and turned from one side of the bed to the other. All the clear reasons why she should not be involved with Donald were percolating in her brain...now. It had all rushed back in one big giant sweep. She should have followed her instincts. She should not have gone out with him. She certainly should not have agreed to go away with him for an entire weekend. She was not a naive teenager. Why hadn’t she asked about the sleeping arrangement? She was quite literally asking for trouble.
What had she been thinking? That was the problem, she hadn’t been thinking at all. She had been focused entirely on how he made her feel. She’d been lost in Donald’s irresistible masculine charm. If she actually got on a plane with him she would be asking for some serious complications.
Donald had turned seduction into an art form. And he was the master of the game. Why else would so many women be so very interested in him at any given time? He was a heartthrob. She saw the way females had turned their heads when he entered a room. It happened without fail. It was more than his good looks, more than his wealth. She summed it up as pure male magnetism. Women couldn’t help but respond to his raw masculinity.
It was evident in everything he did from the basketball court to the boardroom. It was most noticeable on the basketball court. He seemed to exude pure sexuality, his physical stamina unbelievable.
What kind of lover was he? Was he unselfish, putting his partner’s needs above his own? How could any woman survive his unique brand of potent sexuality with her heart whole? Goodness! What was she thinking?
It had been years since she had allowed herself to be intimate with a man. She had been young and stupid, barely out of high school. At nineteen, she had been so sure of herself. Alex Adams was clearly the most handsome man on campus. She, like the other females in his class, was awed by his status as a single professor. She had been blind to the truth about him, focused on his looks.
It hadn’t taken long for him to convince her that he cared about her. A couple of weeks of his smiles and the smoothness of his sex appeal and Taylor had fallen hard. She gave her love without assurance of any kind of commitment, certain that someday after her graduation they would marry. There was nothing she wanted more than to be his wife. Stupid! Stupid!
She almost laughed out loud, something she could now do easily. She could not have been more wrong about him. Alex was a player, after one thing…sex. One night of seduction was all it took. Alex was in love all right, but with himself. Taylor learned from that heart-breaking mistake. She had become quite good at avoiding entanglements. Now she was wondering if she was about to make the same mistake. Was she poised to fall down the same rabbit hole yet again? Was she falling in love with Donald?
Tears slowly filled her dark eyes and slowly trickled down her face, soaking her pillow. She didn’t try to stop the flow. She did not want to care about him. He was all wrong for her.
He was everything she hated in a man: rich, arrogant and egotistical. He was every bit as good looking as Alex, maybe even more so. How long would it be before he either gave up on her or got what he wanted?
She had no doubt that sex was his motive where women were concerned. Love them and leave them with perhaps a few pretty baubles to keep them silent. How else had he managed to stay single all these years? He could probably buy his way out of any difficulty.
There was no doubt in her mind that he was not interested in a commitment. The funny part of it was that she understood his attitude. Women literally threw themselves at him and his teammates on a regular basis. Most of them were willing to do anything to gain a pro ball player for their very own. She found the entire thing downright sickening.
What was she worrying about? As long as she remembered that Donald was not to be trusted, she would be fine. She knew the rules for this little game they were playing. The question that remained unanswered was whether she was smart enough not to fall into his trap.
She was no weak-minded ninny. She had been able to stand on her own two feet for many years now and take care of herself and her younger brother as well. She had learned to depend on herself for all her needs. The difficulty came when she had to look outside herself for happiness.
When she was in his arms, all she could think about was how he made her feel. There was no comparison. She had never known such sweet magic, such sizzling hot desire. The memories of him could not be held at bay. Her breasts had ached for his touch. The trouble had been that she wanted him. She wanted the hot sweetness of his mouth caressing the ultrasensitive tips of her breasts. Her nipples were so sensitive, so achingly hard as she recalled the feel of his broad chest against them. And they both had been fully dressed. Their kisses were so wondrously erotic.
She almost lost it…almost lost control. For an instant at the door, she had nearly rubbed her aching nipples into the muscular pads of his chest, but had caught herself just in time, before she had made a fool of herself. She had no idea what he would have thought.
She had really tried not to take note of his body, but she knew he found her desirable. That knowledge was more potent than the aged wine they’d drunk during their meal.
What would he have done if she had given in to her aching need? If she had opened her thighs and pressed herself against his arousal? Taylor covered her face as if she could hide from her own thoughts. The unvarnished truth of the matter was that when she undressed, her panties were damp from her arousal. She wanted him so badly. For the first time in almost a decade, she wanted to take a man inside her body and love him the way African women had been loving their men throughout time, giving them utmost pleasure. The problem was that she wasn’t his woman and he was certainly not her man.
Maybe this trip would help? Maybe if she went ahead and slept with him she could get him out of her system…out of her doggone head? It certainly worked for men. Why couldn’t it work for her? She would make sure she was protected from unwanted pregnancy, insist that he use a condom. She was no longer a girl. She was old enough to take care of herself.
They would make love. No. They would have mutually gratifying sex and then be done with it. Once the weekend was over, their involvement would be over. She would go into this with her eyes wide open. There was no chance of her getting hurt this time. They would have sex once, possibly twice. That should relieve both their sexual interests in each other. They would both walk away, ready to get on with their separate lives.
The alarm clock suddenly went off, startling her. Well, she had wasted enough time mooning over the man. Having sex was the quickest way possible of getting over her silly infatuation with him. Taylor was humming to herself as she showered, pleased that she had hit upon the solution to her dilemma.