CHAPTER 5
Darius climbed out of the ice-cold shower, but he didn’t feel any better. Celina had lit a fire in his soul that water couldn’t cool. Hell, ice wouldn’t be able to put it out. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Celina’s face. When he licked his lips, he tasted her kiss. Darius had never longed for or ached for a woman the way he did for Celina. She was so damned sexy. Their kiss left him hungry to taste every inch of her body. Any woman who kissed with such fire had to be great in bed.
Darius knew he wasn’t going to sleep a wink because his fantasies would keep him awake. Pulling a pair of cotton boxers onto his damp body, he headed out the front door to enjoy the clear night sky and pray for a cool wind that would rock him to sleep. As he stretched out on the hammock on the end of the porch, Darius noticed for the first time that his favorite relaxation spot looked directly onto the Hart porch.
He watched the door, hoping that Celina would walk outside because she couldn’t sleep, either. Darius wondered if he had gotten under her skin the same way she had gotten under his. For all he knew, she was in the house having a conversation with her man in New York, because he didn’t believe for one second that she was single. Jealousy surged through his nervous system, making him want to rush over there and snatch the phone from her hand. She didn’t need him—a man who allowed her to face her dying father alone. Celina needed someone who would be a strong shoulder for her to lean on as she helped her father through his illness. If Mr. New York was too busy and too self-centered to provide that, then Darius would make sure he did.
Just as he closed his eyes, he heard the Hart’s front door open. Celina stepped out into the silver moonlight. It bounced off her flawless skin, which was covered with a simple white cotton nightgown. It stopped midthigh. Darius’s gaze traveled up her body, stopping at her ripe breasts, which protruded underneath the thin gown. Darius wanted to take them in his mouth and taste them and then travel down her taut body, sampling all of her treats and delights. Not wanting to frighten her, Darius continued to watch Celina in silence, letting his lusty thoughts heat him up all over again. He noticed that she had a sketch pad underneath her arm as she took a seat on the top step of the porch and turned her eyes upward. Darius wondered what inspired her art. Celina’s paintings were very sensual and romantic.
Before dinner he’d done an Internet search of her work, finding countless sites dedicated to it. Her most popular paintings were of men and women touching, kissing, and being together. The sensuality of her work made him wonder if she was a passionate lover. Darius’s mouth went dry as he watched Celina making long strokes on the paper, as the right strap of her gown slid down her shoulder.
“Weren’t you taught that it is impolite to stare at people?” Celina asked.
He’d been spotted and all he could do was smile. “I wasn’t staring,” he replied. “I was just trying to get some rest.”
“Outside?” She turned to Darius with a sly smile on her face. “I know this is Elmore, but no one sleeps outside on purpose.”
“I couldn’t sleep and this is what I do when I can’t sleep,” he said, as he stood up and walked to the end of the porch. What he didn’t say was that when he saw her in that skimpy gown, he knew that the only way he’d be able to sleep was if his bed were a block of ice. “What are you drawing?” he asked.
She shook her head, indicating nothing. Celina focused on Darius as he stood on the end of the porch. “I couldn’t sleep, either, especially after the phone call I got when you left.”
Darius hoped the call was from her inconsiderate boyfriend, ending their relationship when she needed him most. “Trouble in New York?”
She stood up, dropping her sketch pad on the porch. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I thought maybe your man called you with some bad news or something,” he said, keeping his voice nonchalant. “Or an excuse as to why he isn’t here.”
“Darius, subtlety isn’t your strong suit, is it?” Celina stood up and walked over to the fence that divided their yards. “I told you at dinner that I was single. Why don’t you believe it?”
He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands on the fence. Slow smiles spread across their faces.
“Remember when we used to climb this fence?” they said in unison, then broke out in laughter.
“Think you can still do it?” Darius asked.
Folding her arms across her chest, she gave him her hardest New York B-girl look. “Is that a challenge?”
“Do you accept?”
Celina answered him by grabbing the top of the chainlink fence. She stuck her foot through the metal links and climbed over the three-foot fence. As Celina leapt over the top, her gown caught on the fence, causing the back to rip. Darius struggled not to laugh as she tried to hold the gown together.
“Amused?” she asked, her face burning with embarrassment.
“Wouldn’t you be? But I’ll give you this, you’ve never backed down from a challenge, even when we were little.”
Celina placed her hands on her rounded hips, forgetting for a moment that her gown was ripped to shreds. “And what does that mean?”
Darius smiled. “Do you want a T-shirt to cover your gown—or what’s left of it, anyway?”
“Please,” she said. “I’m so embarrassed.”
Darius led Celina into the house, walking just one step behind her so that he could look at what the rip exposed.
“Red looks good on you,” he said, catching a glimpse of her hi-cut bikini briefs.
“Darius McRae, you still don’t play fair!”
“Still?”
Celina whirled around and held out her arm, pointing to a long faint scar. “Remember this? You just couldn’t stand being beat in a race by moi, a girl. So, what did you do?”
Darius stifled a laugh. “I don’t recall.” He knew what he’d done, but he had to, since all of the boys in the neighborhood would’ve given him hell if he’d let Celina cross that finish line first.
Celina hit him in the chest. “You pushed me into old man Johnson’s ditch and I cut my arm on a broken beer bottle. It took thirteen stitches to close this up, plus I had to wear a sling on my arm for two weeks in the heat of the summer,” she said.
“And I got the spanking of my life,” Darius said, incredulously. “I’ll say we’re even.”
Celina hit him again, harder. “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? I went to school that fall with two-toned arms.”
Darius pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. “What can I do to make it up to you?” He gently stroked her forearm, feeling her body shiver underneath his touch. He knew he was casting a sensual spell on her and he had her at a disadvantage. She was standing before him barefoot in a ripped gown, stripped of her trendy clothes and city attitude. It took every ounce of self control in him not to tear the gown from her body and take her right there on the floor. How many women could look that sexy in a ripped frock? Her breasts pressed against his chest as he pulled her closer to his body. When he saw the flush on her face, Darius knew she felt his arousal through his shorts.
“Darius,” she whispered. Her voice was a husky whisper. His reply was a tantric kiss on her lips that made her putty in his arms as he scooped her up.
Celina pushed against his chest, separating their lips. “This is so wrong. Please put me down.”
Darius did as she asked, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.”
Celina straightened her torn gown as much as she could. “Look, we’re both adults here, so I’m going to be blunt. I don’t want a relationship. No promises of forever and happily ever after, just today and the here and now.”
“Is that what you really want?”
“Yes,” she said, “Just sex. And when, where, and how will be my choice. Good night, Darius.”
Speechless, Darius watched Celina saunter out the door. No woman had ever been so blunt about sex. He was intrigued. Just what are your terms, Ms. Hart? Part of him wanted to follow her next door and find out what those terms were and when she planned to name the time and place. Instead, he decided to let things simmer, temporarily at least.
When Celina entered her bedroom, she pulled her ripped gown off and plopped down on the bed. What had gotten into her? She couldn’t believe that she had said those things to Darius about having sex with him. Celina was so tempted to let him take her into his bedroom and have his way with her. The way he kissed, she knew that he would handle her body like no one else had. Closing her eyes, she imagined Darius ripping her already torn gown off and kissing her breasts until her nipples hardened against his lips. And with one hand between her thighs, he’d stroke her womanly center to near climax because it’s been so long since she’d been touched and stroked there.
Lost in her fantasy, Celina didn’t realized it was her own hand bringing her pleasure until she called out Darius’s name and opened her eyes. Rising from the bed, Celina grabbed her robe, wrapped it around her body and headed into the bathroom to take a long cold shower. But she knew there was only one thing that was going to calm the fire raging inside her and that was Darius McRae.
But Celina wasn’t really in the market for a fling. She had to make sure her father got the care that he needed to begin fighting his cancer. Still, Darius was a temptation that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist. Closing her eyes, she imagined his hands roaming her body and making every nerve come alive with desire. Stop it! she thought. This isn’t why you’re in South Carolina and since you’ve laid down the just sex edict, you’re going to have to avoid that man at all costs.
Groaning, she turned the shower on and regretted every word that she’d said to Darius. How was she going to handle it when he came to collect on what she’d offered?
You’re an adult and you want him just as much as he wants you. It doesn’t have to go any further than the bedroom. Sex, Celina could handle, but she wasn’t trying to fall in love. Love, as her mother said twenty years ago, wasn’t enough. Besides, she had no plans to stay in Elmore once her father was on the road to recovery.
Celina shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. As she dried her body, she decided that her best course of action would be to avoid Darius all together.
“This is lust. What we have here is sexual heat and when and if we give in to it, things will change,” she said to her reflection.