Tyrone sighed deeply, not believing he was that much into a woman. Since he had discovered there was a difference between the sexes, he had taken pleasure in dodging every beautiful woman who’d been intent on finding some definite place in his life. He always figured it must have been a “twin thing” because Tyrell was of the same mind, dodging them right along with him. Both saw a serious commitment as something to avoid. And he couldn’t leave out his older brother Noah, who had been such a good role model for him and Tyrell. For years they’d watched Noah enjoy his life as a bachelor, much to the chagrin of their mother. She complained that it seemed her three sons would never settle down with wives, which was robbing her of grandchildren. Her complaints had fallen on deaf ears since none of them were serious enough about a woman to contemplate marriage.
His mother’s obsession with grandchildren suddenly made him think of the two times he’d almost slipped in the protection department with Sydney on the first night they’d made love. Somehow the magnitude of what they’d shared hit him on an emotional level.
Tyrone shook his head. This can’t be happening, he told himself. The two of them were having a fling, nothing more. He’d had flings with women before, although he’d be the first to admit this one with Sydney was different. However, he couldn’t lose sight of what was between them, which was nothing more than satisfying overactive hormones and an attraction that was more irresistible than any he’d ever known.
But even with all the intensity they shared, he was convinced that he was getting her out of his system, and confident that all the time they had spent together would do the trick. When she left for Memphis, he would remain in New York an additional week before heading back to D.C. to resume his daily routine. Their time together here would soon be fond memories.
He rubbed his hand across his face. Then why in the hell was he feeling so damn bad at the thought that in two days she would be leaving? Why did the possibility of not seeing her again once Linc and Raven moved to Memphis bother him?
He frowned, refusing to get emotional again. That wasn’t his way. He buttoned up his coat while Denzel danced impatiently around his feet, reassured himself that he would make their last night together special, and when he watched her board that plane to go back to Tennessee, he would be okay with it. There was no reason for him not to be.
“Well, what do you think?”
Tyrone’s slow, hot gaze traveled down the length of Sydney’s body, as he gave her his hand to assist her out of the car. He took in the way the short, clingy dress hugged every curve on her body and how well it showed off her gorgeous legs. “I think you’re tantalizing, Miss Corbain.”
Sydney chuckled. “Thanks, but that’s not what I was asking you. I meant what did you think of Donna.”
“Oh.” He shrugged. “She’s nice, but then I figured she would be since she’s such a good friend of yours.”
Tyrone had met Donna when he picked her up at five o’clock.
She had raised a curious brow when Sydney announced that she would not be returning that night and would see her tomorrow. Donna knew better than anyone that a casual relationship with a man was not the norm for Sydney.
The plans were that Tyrone would return her to Donna’s place to pack in the morning and around noontime, when his class was over, he would take her to the airport. From the look on Donna’s face Sydney knew that she and her best friend had a lot to talk about tomorrow while she packed.
After sitting and chatting with Donna for more than an hour, they had left for dinner.
Sydney smiled, thinking of their time together. For some reason she was glad Tyrone liked her friend. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going tonight?”
“No, I thought I’d let it be a surprise.” Since his hotel was located in the heart of Manhattan, he left the car in the parking garage so they could walk the few blocks to their destination. He had made special plans for them to dine at one of the most elegant restaurants in the city, located on the sixty-fifth floor of Rockefeller Center, the Rainbow Room.
They entered the beautiful lobby of Rockefeller Center and caught an elevator to the sixty-fifth floor. She leaned back against a paneled wall on the long ride up and considered everything she now knew about Tyrone Hardcastle. Over the past three weeks they had made love plenty of times, but he had also shared a side of him that she had appreciated getting to know. The term “the man and his music” suited him. She had also discovered that he was a warm and caring person who spent time giving free music lessons to underprivileged kids at a couple of the youth centers in the D.C. and Maryland areas. She also found out that he had played at the White House when President and Mrs. Clinton had been in residence, and he had been part of a group that had performed for President Bush’s inauguration. What she had discovered most of all was just how giving he was. No matter how many times they had made love, and no matter how fierce a sexual hunger had raged within him, he had withheld his pleasure until he was sure she had gotten hers.
“Here we are.”
Tyrone’s words broke into Sydney’s thoughts and she noted they were at the entrance of a very elegant restaurant. They stepped out of the elevator and her breath caught in her throat, in awe over how posh the place was. The walls were made of glass.
“Oh, Tyrone, this place is simply beautiful and the view of New York City at night from up here is incredible.”
He smiled warmly, taking her hand in his. “I wanted to make our last night together special,” he said, pleased with the unabashed look of happiness on her face.
“And you have.” For Sydney, not only tonight, but the past three weeks she had spent with Tyrone were already special, a time she would not forget.
Dining with him at the Rainbow Room was nothing short of a dream. The food was excellent, the atmosphere elegant, but nothing could compare to the company she kept.
Tyrone was the most gracious of dinner companions. She sat across from him and marveled at just how sinfully, incredibly sexy he looked dressed in his dark suit.
A few hours later, Sydney sighed as she entered Tyrone’s hotel room. When he closed the door behind them, he would be hers alone, their final night together. Since he had made dinner special for her, she wanted to make this part of their night special for him.
“I want to thank you again for tonight, Tyrone. Everything was wonderful.”
“Like I said earlier, I wanted it to be special.” His voice was a deep, soft rumble of sound that immediately made Sydney’s entire body tingle from the irresistible attraction they had given into for three weeks, and despite the hunger they had continually fed over those weeks, it was now at its sharpest.
“If I live to be over a hundred years old, I’ll never come to understand this sexual chemistry that exists between us, Sydney,” he said, placing his hands at her waist. “I’ve never experienced anything like it in all my days.”
She met his gaze while red-hot desire pooled in her body, and knew that she would never love another man the way she loved him. It would be a love she would take to her grave.
She moistened her bottom lip with her tongue as she eased her short leather jacket off her shoulders, then slid the thin straps of the little slinky black dress she was wearing, and within seconds it had slithered down her body to join her leather jacket on the floor. She then stepped out of her high-heeled shoes and stood before him wearing nothing but a black lacy bra-and-panty set and silky black thigh-high stockings with a lacy top.
Tyrone’s breath caught in his throat as he gazed at Sydney. During the past three weeks, he had come to expect that what she wore underneath her clothes was just as sexy as what she wore on the outside, which only made him anticipate what was to come. He had gotten more than a glimpse of her passion for sexy, skimpy, and revealing underthings, and her curvaceous body was made for them.
Like his body was made just for hers. She constantly made him remember what a hot-blooded male he was, a man who appreciated the sight of a gorgeous woman.
“Strip for me,” he said silkily, hoping that she would. All the other times he had been the one to undress her, but now, tonight, he wanted to see her bare it all for him. Her breath rushed from her lungs and she flushed. Although over the past weeks the two of them had shared one wild sexual fling, in essence there was an innocence about Sydney that always touched him. He was well aware that having casual sex wasn’t anything she normally did, and a part of him was grateful to be the man she felt comfortable enough with to have this onetime liaison. For some reason, the idea bothered him that she might one day decide to engage in this sort of activity with someone else. His heart thundered in his chest at the mere thought that some other man would one day share the same pleasures.
He pushed that idea to the back of his mind, and when Sydney began to slowly unfasten the front hook of her bra and her lush breasts spilled from their confinement, he became excited beyond reason. His tongue tingled in anticipation of devouring the generous swell of flesh exposed before him.
He tensed and his breathing became labored as he watched her hand move slowly down her belly toward the waistband of her panties. She was wearing a pair of the sexiest, most provocative pair he had ever seen on a woman, and the flimsy, itty-bitty garment was contoured just for her shape. It teased more than it covered.
His erection hardened at the thought of what was beneath that scrap of material and just how much he wanted it. He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes and without speaking a word, he told her blatantly what he wanted to do to her. He silently told her how he wanted to use his mouth on her, and how he wanted to get between those long, gorgeous legs of hers.
He saw her flush of excitement as she slowly began easing the panties over her hips and down her legs. He gritted his teeth at the sight of the bounty she was uncovering and his body ached to touch it, taste it, and get connected with it in the most primal way. When she had finally stepped out of her panties and kicked them aside, she stood before him completely nude and completely gorgeous.
A satisfied smile touched his lips and his nostrils flared at the womanly scent she emitted. His gaze dropped to that part of her and his vision caressed it as intimately as his tongue soon would.
He began removing his clothes, giving her the same strip show she had given him, although he took off his clothing a little more hurriedly.
He heard her huge sigh of anticipation when he began removing his briefs. Her reaction to seeing his erection was sensuous and he knew he wanted her with a passion that overrode any common sense he had left.
Tyrone felt a compelling need to take her now, to sink his body into hers, as a hunger more fierce than he’d ever experienced before tore through him.
His control snapped when a desperate need to brand her as his own filled his head. He lifted her into his arms, carried her into the bedroom, placed her in the middle of the bed, and immediately joined her there.
“I have to get inside of you,” he groaned against her ear, too filled with emotions he had never felt before and too out of control to think straight. Hunger for her gripped him. Intense. Enthralling. Wild.
Automatically she spread her legs open for him and when she took her soft fingers and wrapped around his throbbing erection, his entire body shook. He knew if he waited even a second longer before possessing her, he would go mad.
As soon as the velvety tip of him touched her wet opening, he thrust deeply inside of her while her moans of pleasure filled his head. Her inner muscles had him in a tight grip and she did some branding of her own when her fingertips raked his back, urging him to move.
And he did.
The thought that this would be the last time he experienced passion this rich, mind-boggling, and provocative made him move faster and thrust deeper. Never before had he been filled with such raw desire for a woman, and with a growl of need that rumbled through his clenched teeth, he relentlessly pumped his body into hers.
She clutched a fistful of his twisted hair and the pain was overshadowed by the intense spurts of pleasure that ripped through him each time her muscles tightened around him.
“Tyrone!”
Her scream of pleasure as she climaxed sent sensations tearing through his insides, and when she went for a second round he released another growl, this one of extreme satisfaction.
Lifting her hips, he gave one final, deep thrust into her, and with that powerful thrust he met her gaze. Over the past three weeks they had given into the irresistible attraction that had overwhelmed them from the first, and now, with an unexpected surge of emotions that had consumed him from the moment she had dropped that final piece of clothing, he lowered his head and kissed her at the same moment that he exploded inside of her, sending his release deep within her womb.
His heart turned over in his chest upon realizing what he’d done, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Then the thought that he was possibly giving her a part of him that he had never dared share with another woman sent a surge of unexpected tenderness through him. And for a moment, the idea that she could get pregnant filled him in a way he didn’t think he could ever be filled.
And when another orgasm approached its crest, he clenched the muscles of his buttocks, wanting his release to go into the deepest part of her, as yet another wave of pleasure consumed them both.
Ten
Sydney glanced down at her watch. “I have another hour before my plane leaves. You don’t have to wait with me if you have something else to do.”
Tyrone tipped his head back as he studied her. Even now, that all too-familiar irresistibility flared between them. Last night had done nothing to tame it. Not that they had tried taming it. They had ridden its crest to get their fill of each other, only to discover their hunger was never ending.
He let out a deep sigh. “We need to talk, Sydney,” he said huskily.
Sydney lowered her gaze, knowing what he wanted to say. They had made love last night, numerous times, without protection. While one part of her wanted to assure him it was all right, that the chances were she hadn’t gotten pregnant because the timing was wrong, another part wished she had. It was the part of her that loved him and had decided that if she couldn’t have his heart, then his baby would do. The thought that she would have a part of the man she would forever love touched her deeply, although she knew the ramifications.
“About last night, Sydney,” Tyrone began, breaking into her thoughts. “I owe you an apology for not acting responsibly, and I will—”
She suddenly reached up and placed a finger to his lips to stop any further words. “We promised, Tyrone, no regrets.”
He met her gaze. “This isn’t about regrets, Sydney. It’s about being man enough to admit a mistake and taking a stand to do the right thing. I should have used protection, and if you’re pregnant I want to know.”
She saw deep concern in his eyes. “Tyrone, I don’t—”
He cupped her shoulders. “No, Sydney. If you’re pregnant it will be my baby. Our baby. And I will take full responsibility for our child and for you.”
Sydney swallowed hard, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Tyrone Hardcastle was such an honorable man in every sense of the word, which was why she had fallen so helplessly in love with him. And although he didn’t love her, even now his actions proved that he did care.
“You will let me know one way or the other, won’t you?”
He moved closer and tucked a stray strand of hair away from her face. The look of tenderness in his features caused her heart to ache. “I’m probably not pregnant. The timing isn’t good,” she said softly, trying to reassure him.
“But still, there’s a possibility, and I want to know one way or the other.” He pulled one of his business cards out of his wallet and flipped it over, then took a pen from the top pocket of his coat and wrote a phone number on the back.
“This is my home number. If you can’t reach me there, I’ll probably be at Leo’s.” He handed her the card and met her gaze intently. “Promise that yo
u’ll call me.”
She took the card and slowly nodded. “I promise.”
A smile tilted the corners of his lips and he gently pulled her into his arms and kissed her, deeply, hungrily, and she returned the kiss in equal measure.
He released her but kept her close to him and whispered, “I will never forget these three weeks, Sydney.”
She forced herself to smile at him. “And neither will I.”
Then she caught his face between her palms and kissed him, a kiss she felt all the way to her heart. And for a moment, she wanted him to feel it, too, and to know just how much he had come to mean to her.
And to know that, no matter what, she would never have any regrets.
Three weeks after her return to Memphis, Sydney placed a call to Tyrone to let him know she was not pregnant. She could not reach him at his home or at Leo’s and called his home again and left a message on his answering machine, merely telling him, “I’m fine and everything worked out the way you wanted.” She hadn’t been able to say “the way we wanted,” because a part of her had held out until the last, hoping she was pregnant.
When a week passed and she didn’t hear back from him to acknowledge he had received her message, a part of her felt hurt at the thought that he could so easily toss aside what they had shared in New York. To rid herself of that pain, she became absorbed in her work and lost herself in a new case. Several times she had caught her parents looking at her with concern over what was causing her dismal mood, but it was something she could not talk about to them, although she had come close to confiding in Raven a few times when they talked on the phone.
Sydney, who’d never had a sister, had bonded with her sister-in-law, thanking God for not only giving her brother a wonderful wife but also for providing her with the sister friendship she needed. Although she and her mother shared a rather close relationship, telling one’s mother about an intense three-week fling wasn’t something she felt comfortable doing.
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