At the knock on the door, he didn’t need a crystal ball to tell him who it was. “Go away!”
Instead, the door flew open and Destiny stormed inside. “I will not go away. This time you’re going to talk to me.”
Miles turned on her. Even in cotton pajamas and damp hair, she was able to claim his heart. “There is absolutely nothing I have to talk to you about. So please, feel free to return to your prey across the hall.”
“I told Steve to leave.”
“Well, that makes it all better now, doesn’t it?”
Destiny’s fists jabbed at her sides as she glared up at him. “Will you shut up? You sound like a complete ass.” She shook her head. “What happened between us last week was a mistake. We should have never crossed the line.”
Miles clenched his jaw, in part, to prevent himself from spitting fire.
“Just look at us,” she demanded. “We went five years without fighting. One weak moment and we can’t stand to be in the same room for more than five minutes together.”
Miles stepped toward her. “Is that all it meant to you—a weak moment?”
She exhaled. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Sure you didn’t,” he said coldly. “Are you finished?”
Her eyes glossed with sudden tears. “So you’re still not going to talk to me?”
He exhaled in a long, slow breath. “How about I ask you a question instead?”
She straightened and lifted her chin, but her eyes refused to desert his. “Okay.”
He moved closer. “How do you feel about me?”
“What?” She gave him an incredulous look.
“You heard me.” Miles wasn’t going to let her off the hook. He was tired of pussyfooting around and he wanted an answer.
Destiny retreated as Miles bore down on her.
“What’s the matter—is it a difficult question?” he asked. At this moment, even he was surprised by his intense emotions.
“N-no. Yes,” she finally admitted. “My feelings for you are complicated.”
He stopped. “You’re not going to give me some ridiculous crap like you can’t separate me from your brother again, are you? Because if you are, what we did last week was illegal in most states.” He never saw her move, but her powerful slap jarred him. Panther-quick, he snatched her wrist and held firm.
Destiny responded by slapping him again with her free hand and, just as fast it, too, was seized.
“Fine. You want to know how I feel? I hate you. You’re nothing but a selfish ass—”
Miles silenced her with a deep, hungry kiss. The sweet taste and warmth of her mouth was all it took to calm his temper and soothe his soul. In truth, this was all he wanted—to have her in his arms again.
Backed against the front door, he released her hands and pulled her against him. Her breasts pressed against his chest as his mouth took total possession. He didn’t want to hear that she hated him. Hell, he didn’t want to hear that she liked him. He wanted nothing less than her love. When he’d made love to her, he’d made up his mind that he could no longer settle for being just her friend or business partner.
Miles dragged his mouth from her swollen lips to nuzzle her neck. “Stay with me tonight,” he said, raggedly, and braced himself for rejection.
In answer, she curled toward him and reclaimed his lips with a kiss as hungry as his own.
Leaning down, he swung her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom, where a king-size mahogany sleigh bed awaited them.
Gently, he placed her onto the bed and positioned himself above her. For the past seven nights, he’d yearned for this moment and was afraid that it would never come again. Now that she was there, he planned to savor every kiss and touch as though it was the last.
But as much as he wanted to take his time, their clothes flew off in a flurry of movement.
Moonlight poured through the bedroom windows and illuminated the lovers’ bodies.
Miles groaned as he kissed and caressed Destiny and took great pleasure when she shivered and trembled beneath him. Every sound she made heightened his passion and deepened his obsession.
Destiny, meanwhile, floated languorously on lofty clouds of sweet ecstasy and was unable to remember their previous discord. How could her body readily forgive him for his cold behavior toward her this week?
Miles took his time, subjecting her to a slow, delicious torment that threatened Destiny’s sanity.
“Miles, please,” she begged in a thin, hoarse whisper. Her pride be damned.
“Please what?” he taunted; his lips had moved to pay homage to her sensitive breasts.
Destiny tossed her head back onto the pillows and Miles slid down the bed, his lips and tongue burning a hot trail down her skin.
“Please what, Destiny?” he asked again. His mouth traveled farther south where he gently parted her legs.
Destiny arched and gripped the pillows as tears swelled and slid from the corners of her eyes. She was completely unprepared for the jolts of dizzying pleasure that shot through her—unprepared for her very breath to evaporate from her lungs.
He took his time with this gentle assault and just when she thought she’d die from the sheer ecstasy of it all, her body erupted in a series of explosions while she withered helplessly beneath him.
Miles slid back to hover above her. She could feel him hardened against her. He rained more kisses across her breasts, along her collarbone, and settled into the nape of her neck.
She slid her arms around him, drawing him closer, yet he still didn’t enter her.
A dull ache pulsed in the core of her being. As the slow torture continued, the ache became a hard throb, and she felt, once again, her pride leave her. “Miles, please.”
“Please what?” he asked in the same teasing tone as before.
More tears slid from Destiny’s eyes. “Please, make love to me,” she pleaded in a passion-filled voice. She could feel his smile against her neck.
“Are you sure?”
“Dear God, yes,” she panted.
He shifted his weight, and effortlessly, smoothly, he slipped on a condom and entered her.
Destiny gasped as her body played a familiar song that only she could hear and soon her hips rocked to its rhythm.
Miles took her in sleek, powerful strokes and the room was filled with their heavy breathing. His heart soared when she called his name in a mindless continuum, but he still ached to hear those three simple words.
His hands moved over the curves of her back, then held firm to her small hips. His pace quickened as his breath hitched and the promise of a glorious release loomed on the horizon.
Destiny clawed at his back as she tensed; her muscles tightened exquisitely around him. He clenched his teeth and gave into the powerful force that rocked and bound them.
When he slumped over her, their breathing still labored, he heard the words his heart longed to hear.
“I love you,” she said. She turned her head and kissed him tenderly. “I’ve loved you for years.”
His smile was bright in the moonlight. “I knew it,” he said and kissed her back, and then asked, “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Destiny snuggled closer. “No. I guess not.” Her gaze probed his. “When did you first know?”
“Honestly?”
She nodded.
“That night of the blackout five years ago. We spent the night in a room lit with candles and I kept thinking how beautiful you looked.”
Playfully, she pushed him away. “Please. I remember that night. I looked like who did it and what for.”
Miles chuckled lightly. “Yeah, you were looking a little rough, but that’s not what I meant.”
She grew warm beneath his gaze. “What did you mean?”
“You were funny, smart, and easy to talk to. But I have to tell you. I was physically attracted to you the first day we met—gay or not.”
“Oh, my gosh.” She covered her mouth with her hands, and then spo
ke through the open gaps of her fingers. “I totally forgot about that.” She laughed. “That really was a bad joke they played on you.”
He laughed along with her. “Yeah, well. You certainly didn’t win any brownie points when you pepper-sprayed my eyes.”
She lightly hit his chest. “You deserved it and you know it.”
“What?”
“You did. I hardly knew you and you’d cornered me in an elevator talking about how you thought I was attracted to you.”
His laugh deepened. “When you say it like that, it does sound bad.”
“It was bad. It’s a good thing you’re good-looking, because if you had to depend on your pickup lines, you would be a forty-five-year-old virgin.”
His rumble of laughter shook the bed.
Destiny laughed, too, and then leaned over to kiss his chin. “You know I’m right.”
“Probably.” He tilted her chin up and stole a feathery kiss. “Tell me you love me,” he said. “I want to hear it again.”
“I love you,” she responded without hesitation. “I love you.”
This time, his mouth covered hers in a sweet hunger and for the rest of the night they explored every inch of their bodies and their love.
Chapter 28
“Somebody got laid,” Lu Jin surmised with a smile.
Blushing, Destiny’s coffee cup stopped midway to her lips. She opened her mouth with no idea of a good response.
“Don’t bother lying.” Lu Jin waved her off. “I know that look.”
“What look?” Destiny sipped her coffee and frowned.
Lu Jin shook her head. “You really are lousy at this, aren’t you?” She laughed. “Do you realize that you’ve been humming ‘Natural Woman’ for the better part of an hour?”
Had she? She hadn’t noticed.
“And,” Lu Jin went on, “you just put a ton of cream and sugar in your coffee—you always drink it black.”
Destiny looked down into her cup and noticed for the first time the hot liquid was a light tan color. “All right. So you caught me.”
Lu Jin perked as she wiggled her brows. “Was it with who I think it was?”
Another wave of heat scorched Destiny’s face as she bit her lower lip and nodded. “I can’t believe what’s happening between us.”
“Well, thank God for small miracles. Maybe we all can breathe a little easier around you two.”
Destiny’s brows slanted. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. I’ve been afraid to mention Miles’s name around you all week.”
“Why?”
Lu Jin rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding. I think you called him everything but a child of God after what happened the first time.”
“Oh, that.” Destiny waved off her observation. “That’s over with now. We’ve talked it through and we decided that we’re going to take our relationship to the next level.”
“So you guys are officially a couple now?”
“Yep.” Destiny nodded.
Lu Jin stood from the bar stool and walked around the counter to hug her. “That’s great. I’m so happy for you.”
Destiny’s gaze drifted. “Yeah, everything’s great.”
Lu Jin surveyed her friend’s expression. “So what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Destiny answered with a flat-line smile.
“Well, you’ve convinced me.” Lu Jin crossed her arms. “Come on, spit it out.”
Destiny drew in a deep breath. “The problem is everything is so good.”
Lu Jin’s brows cocked. “You want to run that back by me?”
With shoulders dropped, eyes leveled, Destiny confessed, “I’m afraid to believe in this feeling—I’m afraid that it’s not going to last.” She waited for her friend to say something cynical, but when she didn’t speak, Destiny continued, “It’s like I’m expecting at any minute for it all to be snatched away.”
“I don’t believe it,” Lu Jin finally broke through her stupor.
“What?”
With a bark of laughter, she said, “You actually believe in that family curse.”
“No, no. That’s not it,” Destiny emphatically denied, but her protest sounded hollow. She closed her eyes. “I know it’s stupid.”
Lu Jin exhaled and when she spoke, there wasn’t a hint of her previous amusement. “I wouldn’t say it was stupid.”
Opening her eyes, Destiny’s gaze darted to Lu Jin to evaluate her sincerity. “We’re talking about seven generations of Stafford men. What would I do if the curse proves true?”
Lu Jin draped her arms around Destiny’s shoulders and gave them a supportive squeeze. “Maybe you shouldn’t dwell on what-ifs. You could go crazy doing that.”
Destiny lowered her head. “How can I do that? When I’m watching him sleep, those questions damn near smother me. And I can’t help but feel that we wasted ten years finding our way toward each other.”
“Wishing you should have taken him up on his offer in the elevator that fateful day?”
Despite her misery, Destiny laughed. “Not quite.”
Smiling, Lu Jin returned to her stool and picked up her coffee cup. “Frankly, I don’t think you two would’ve gotten too far ten years ago—or even five. You were different people.” She shrugged. “People change.”
Destiny tilted her head and frowned.
“What?” Lu Jin asked.
This time, Destiny shrugged. “I don’t know. I get the sense that you weren’t just referring to me and Miles.”
Lu Jin waved her off. “Don’t be silly. Of course I was.”
Destiny watched her, but said nothing.
“In my heart of hearts,” Lu Jin said, “I think this is your time to be together.”
“I hope you’re right.” Destiny drew in a deep breath. “Because I couldn’t handle it if I lost him.”
* * *
“To Destiny and Miles,” Adele saluted and held up her champagne glass.
“I’ll toast to that,” Violet heartily agreed as they clinked their glasses together.
“I can’t believe it’s finally happened—and without our help,” Adele marveled. “Or do you think we played a small part in it?”
“As much as I would like to take some credit for this wonderful miracle, I don’t think so.”
“Too bad,” Adele said, disappointed. “I guess at this point it doesn’t matter how it happened. So what do you think about a summer wedding?”
Violet drummed her jeweled hand against her chin as she thought about it. “Summer is good, but spring would be better, don’t you think?”
Adele nodded. “Yeah, and it would be sooner.”
Violet laughed. “And here I was thinking I was being subtle.”
“About as subtle as a hammer over the head.” Adele laughed. “What about a ceremony at Calloway Gardens?”
“Ooh, nice. But what about on a cruise ship?”
Adele snapped her fingers. “I like the way you think.” Then she frowned. “You think Destiny and Miles would be upset with us planning their wedding? I mean, they’re not engaged, yet.”
Violet waved off her concern. “No sense in splitting hairs. They can thank us later. Besides, I want a wedding as soon as possible and a grandchild nine months later.”
“Here, here.” Adele raised her glass again.
* * *
Miles, drenched in sweat, faked to the right, then turned left and made a beautiful three-point shot into the basketball net. His four-man team erupted in a roar of victory.
Wes mumbled his congratulations.
“Don’t look so disappointed.” Miles drew in large gulps of air. “You guys haven’t been able to beat us in over a year.”
Wes glanced at his team of Juan, Zack and Theo and noticed they wore the same bleak expression. “We’ll get y’all one of these days,” he panted.
Jared slapped Wes hard on the back. “Never give up on your dreams,” he said.
Miles’s team laughed.
“Everyone’s a damn comedian,” Wes frowned.
Kyle slapped Wes on the back. “Hey, we get our best material from you guys.”
“Ha. Ha.” Wes tried to remain sour, but a smile crept across his lips.
“So, lunch is on you guys again,” Elliott happily reminded them.
“Hell, you still have money left over from the pool, I say you buy lunch.”
Miles frowned. “What pool?”
All, except for Wes, looked sheepishly at him.
Miles rolled his eyes. “Never mind, don’t tell me.”
Wes shrugged. “You just couldn’t wait one more night, could you?”
Despite his annoyance, Miles laughed. “Technically, it was close to four in the morning.”
Wes’s head jerked toward Elliott. “That made it the first of September. Hey, give me my four hundred dollars.”
“Four hundred?” Miles asked shocked. “It was that much.”
Wes ignored Miles. His gaze remained locked on Elliott. “I want my money.”
The other guys laughed.
“You guys are going to have to do lunch without me.” He looked at his watch. “I’m having lunch with Destiny today.”
Jared smiled. “So you two finally made up?”
Miles’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why—was there another pool for that, as well?”
Guilt covered their faces and Miles had his answer.
“You guys are impossible.”
“Maybe so,” Wes conceded. “But you and Destiny yield a higher return than anything on the stock market. I’ll give y’all that much.”
“I’ll put that in my stack of useless information,” Miles replied with a roll of his eyes. “Maybe the next pool should be on what year you finally hook up with Lu Jin.”
Theo chuckled. “Now, that’s a bet I wouldn’t mind getting in on.”
All humor faded from Wes’s expression as Miles read his friend like an open book.
“You sly devil,” he said.
The other men looked at Wes, dumbfounded.
“Mind your own business,” Wes warned with a humorless grin.
Miles shrugged. “I’m just following your example.”
In a burst of good cheer, the guys pounded Wes’s back and congratulated him.
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