Serena delivered the glass of fruit juice, a pad of unlined paper, and a pencil to David. A mysterious smile played about her lush mouth when he thanked her with a smile that made her pulse quicken with its sensuality.
He sipped the juice slowly, watching Serena over the rim of the glass. She reclaimed the chair vacated earlier and picked up a book from the table. Once he’d drained the glass, he gathered the pad and pencil, drawing horizontal lines for treble and bass staffs. Notes appeared on the lines and in spaces in rapid succession as he half-sang and hummed softly under his breath.
The sound of his singing prompted Serena to glance up from her novel. His hand moved rapidly across the pad, drawing more staffs and filling them with notes just as quickly. She was transfixed with his intense concentration. After more than half an hour he put down the pencil and massaged the area over his left eye.
Closing his eyes, David clenched his teeth and prayed that the dull, throbbing pain would disappear so that he could complete the first phase of his music project. When he opened his eyes he found Serena staring at him.
“I think you’ve overtaxed yourself,” she stated, rising fluidly from her chair to settle down on the floor beside him. Peering at the page, she noticed it was filled with a profusion of sharps and flats as well as notes. “It looks very complicated.” He had written a musical composition that included parts for piano and guitar, horn and drums.
He stared, complete surprise on his face, his pain temporarily forgotten. “You read music?”
“My mother would be very disappointed if I didn’t, after eight years of piano lessons.”
Leaning over, David cradled her face between his palms. “You’re perfect. We’re going to make a wonderful couple. Will you collaborate with me?”
She shook her head. “Surely you jest, David. I’m not an accomplished pianist.”
“Let me evaluate how accomplished you are. I assume you have a piano at La Montaña?”
“Yes. There’s one in the living room.”
“Help me downstairs.”
“Not today.”
Releasing her, he reached down and picked up the cane. “Either you help me or I’m on my own.”
Pulling away from him, she rose to her feet. “You’re impossible. I’ve never met a man more stubborn, more vain—”
“And more arrogant than you, David Claridge Cole,” he intoned, finishing her statement.
“I don’t believe you. Now you’re finishing my sentences.”
Using the cane for support, he stood up. “Help me, Serena, or you’ll be responsible if I fall on my face and—”
“No.” She maneuvered close to his right side, then without warning snatched the cane from his loose grip. He nearly lost his balance, but managed to right himself. “I said not today.”
David glared down at her from his impressive height, seething. He knew he could easily take the cane from her, but decided it would serve no purpose. He was more than aware that he could not navigate the staircase without her help.
Vertical lines appeared between his dark eyes. “You win.” But only today, he added silently.
He did not protest when she led him back to his bedroom and settled him into bed. “Stay with me,” he whispered when she turned to leave. He patted a space beside him. “Lie down with me.”
Her eyes widened noticeably with his unexpected request. “Why?”
“I want to talk.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s all. Right now I don’t want to be alone.”
David felt a lump rise in his throat when Serena turned and walked to the door. He’d verbalized his vulnerability. He did not want to be alone because it reminded him of how alone he had been for the past nine years.
Since he left the band he’d felt adrift, flying from one country to another, sleeping in a different bed every month, and adjusting to different cultures and speech patterns within minutes after the company jet touched down on airport tarmacs.
He always returned home to Florida, reconnecting with his sisters and brothers, their husbands, wives, and children, yet feeling estranged from all of them. Both of his sisters were now grandmothers, while his brothers were fathers with four children between them. He was always “Uncle David” to the many grand- and great-grandchildren belonging to Samuel and Marguerite Cole.
Whenever there was a family gathering he was looked upon as the “loner” because he never brought a woman with him. He had not wanted to send double messages to his family and whomever he was seeing at the time. Introducing a woman to the Cole clan was viewed as an announcement of the imminent exchange of marriage vows.
But did he want to marry? Yes. Did he want children? Yes. He wanted that, and more. He wanted to marry, and get it right the first time, because he had taken a solemn oath that when he married it would be for life.
He closed his eyes, sighing audibly. What he wanted to do was wipe his mind blank in the same manner one erased a chalkboard. He could not understand why the urge to marry and have children was now so strong that it taunted him whenever he and Serena were together.
He wanted her. And the want had changed, become an aching need. He needed not just a small part of her, but all of the woman. He heard the soft click of the door as it closed, squeezing his eyelids tightly while welcoming the pain radiating along the left side of his face.
He lay, eyes closed, listening to the sound of his own heart beating loudly in his ears. The ache in his face slipped down to his chest, to his heart, and for the first time in his adult life he wanted to shed tears over a woman. And it was the first time that he hadn’t gotten what he wanted from a woman.
He detected her fragrance, then the warmth of her body. David’s eyes opened. He smiled and held out his hand. Serena stood next to the bed, smiling down at him. She’d removed her dress and sandals and stood clad only in her panties.
“Would you like me to share your bed?” she asked in the low, husky voice he’d come to adore.
“Por favor.” His smile matched the brilliant rays of the tropical sun coming in through the French doors as she placed her hand in his. Pulling her gently down to the bed, David shifted until she lay beside him.
Serena rose slightly and draped herself over his chest, positioning her legs between his outstretched ones. “I told you I like being on top,” she whispered in his ear.
He laughed, the sound rumbling deep in his broad chest. “And you also like your men submissive.”
“Not too submissive.” Angling for a more comfortable position, she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes at the same time his arms tightened around her waist.
There was a comfortable silence, both of them listening to the even, rhythmic sound of their own breathing. Serena’s breath caught in her throat when one of David’s hands moved down to cradle a hip between his splayed fingers.
“You must think me very brazen to—”
“You’re not brazen enough,” he countered, interrupting her. “A passive woman is boring—in and out of bed.”
“Are you saying that I’m exciting?”
“Just looking at you is exciting, Serena.”
Raising her head, she rested her chin on his chest and stared down at him smiling up at her. “Should I take that as a compliment?”
“Sí, mi alma.”
“Where did you learn to speak Spanish?”
“My mother taught me.”
“With the name Cole?”
“My mother was a Diaz before she married my father. She was born in Cuba, and migrated to the States with her family when in her teens. The Diaz wealth was the result of producing some of the finest cigars to ever come out of Cuba.
“Marguerite Josefina, or M.J., disgraced her very proper family when she became a photographer’s model at sixteen. She redeemed herself four years later when she married my father.”
“Are you an only child?”
“No.” He laughed. “I’m the youngest of five. My mother gave S
amuel Claridge Cole two sons and two daughters. My father claims a third son from an illicit affair. It’s taken many years, but both my parents have redeemed themselves.”
“That’s a lot of redemption.”
“Fifty years ago having five children was the norm. Having more than three is considered a lot nowadays.”
Lowering her chin, Serena pressed her cheek to his shoulder. Why were they talking about children? And why, she thought, was she lying practically naked on this man? Was it because of Luz Maria’s prophecy that their destinies were linked?
She knew the answers even before her mind formed the questions. She was in David Cole’s bed and in his arms because she had fallen into the sensual trap he had set for her.
It had nothing to do with his looks, his name, or wealth. It was the man. A man whose kisses took her beyond herself, and whose arrogance made her angry enough to lose whatever self-control she had so that she came on to him like a whore offering up her body. She’d shocked him, but he had come back for more. A man who said he wanted her, and had promised to wait for her. But could she afford to take the chance and lose her heart to him? Sí, whispered a voice that sounded like Luz Maria’s.
Smiling, she rubbed her chin sensuously against his shoulder, the crisp, black hair sprinkled over his chest tickling her nose. She gasped loudly when she felt David’s hand slide under the waistband of her lace panties. The heat from his fingers warmed her lower body.
She stiffened once, then relaxed as his fingers traced the outline of her bottom, lingering along the indentation separating the two spheres of firm muscle.
“David!” Serena did not recognize her own voice when his hand moved to capture the heat from her sex hidden under a mound of tight, moist curls.
The fire raging throughout her body swept to his, and David could not stop the lust and his aching need to claim Serena for his own. Every nerve in his body screamed with the fury of a storm battering everything in its wake as he tightened his hold on her body and reversed their positions.
Staring down into her large eyes, he saw the pinpoints of gold darken with her rising passion. He lowered his head and tentatively tasted her mouth with soft, nibbling kisses, while his hands were busy undoing the waistband of his shorts. He shed the shorts and boxers within seconds, but was forced to pull his mouth away when he reached down to pull the T-shirt over his head.
Serena felt his loss when he pulled back, even though his gaze had not strayed from hers. She refused to acknowledge that she was offering her body to a man she’d known less than a week, or that she was going to sleep with a man under her parents’ roof for the first time in her life. All she craved was the man looming above her, who with his possession would sweep away the pain and distrust of her short-lived, failed marriage.
Naked and resplendently aroused, David knelt over Serena. A wolfish, lopsided grin creased his cheeks. Afternoon shadows flooding the room, outlined the perfection of his golden-brown, hard body and glinted off the gold earring hanging from his left lobe.
Holding up her arms, she welcomed him to partake of the feast laid before him. He looped his fingers in the waistband of her panties and pulled them down her hips and legs. His large eyes widened once he gazed upon all of her.
“Me gusta ésta,” he whispered, touching one breast. “And I like this one, too,” he continued, leaning over and dropping a kiss on the other.
Serena closed her eyes and gave herself over to his slow and tender lovemaking. His mouth charted a path from her mouth to her throat and lower to her aching breasts. Supporting his greater weight on his elbows, he drew one breast into his mouth, biting gently on a swollen nipple.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered over and over, placing moist kisses down the length of her body.
She thought she was going to explode when his hand searched between her thighs and found the distended bud of flesh hidden under the tangled curls. Arching off the bed, she shivered and shuddered violently as his hand closed, holding her tightly.
“David,” she moaned when the flame he’d ignited in her threatened to consume her, leaving nothing but minute particles of cinder.
He answered her plea, positioning his sex at her wet, pulsing entrance and pushing gently. His own groan echoed hers as he felt her body opening, stretching to accommodate the length and width of his blood-engorged maleness. It appeared to be minutes, but in actuality it was only seconds before he buried himself up to the root of his manhood.
He fit into her body like a glove a half size too small, and he feared exploding if he attempted to move. Her body was small and tight—inside and out. But he had to move or succumb to the lust and desire merging in a conspiracy to drive him crazy.
Serena alleviated his dilemma when she searched for his mouth and pushed her tongue between his parted lips. Her kiss was nothing like the one they’d shared earlier that morning. Her thrusting tongue unlocked the control he had always maintained when he took a woman to his bed.
Her conditioned body was like the taut skin stretched over a conga, and the rhythms coming from her body were the sounds of primal Africa—wild, unrestrained. He rolled his hips, answering the call of the drums of his ancestors, pounding out a rhythm so ancient that no one knew from whence it had come; their moist bodies writhed in an uncontrollable frenzy. Her body moved in concert with his, arching to meet his powerful thrusts.
Everything faded for Serena—everything except the man lying between her legs and taking her to a place where she soared with the eagles to escape the volcanic eruption spilling lava and incinerating everything in its wake.
Whimpers of ecstasy escaped her when the first ripple of release swept through her. The pressure built steadily as David’s hardness swelled until there was no more room for it.
He felt her wet flesh close around him in long, measured, pulsating intervals at the same time that his own passions spiraled beyond his control. “Let it go, Baby,” he pleaded hoarsely.
But Serena did not want to let it go. She wanted the fire and passion to last until she burned or drowned in a raging torrent of uncontrollable ecstasy.
“No,” she moaned under the unrestrained assault of his powerful thrusting hips.
Holding her head firmly between his hands, David pulled back and drove his swollen flesh into her wet pulsing body, quickening his rhythm until the dam broke for both of them. Burying his face between her scented neck and shoulder, he bellowed his explosive triumph of surrender into the pillow, while Serena sobbed out her shivering delight against his shoulder.
Both lay motionless and breathing heavily, savoring the aftermath of completion. Serena closed her eyes and trailed her fingertips over his damp back.
David’s breathing finally slowed and he gathered enough strength to reverse their positions. Pulling her close to his moist body, he reached down and drew the sheet up over Serena and himself. “Let’s take our siesta now,” he whispered against her ear. “We’ll talk later.”
Nodding, she pressed her bare hips against his groin and smiled. She did not want to talk, because she couldn’t talk. Not when she wanted to relive the smoldering passion she’d found in the arms of the man cradling her to his heart.
She drifted off to sleep, and minutes later David found his own solace in a sated sleep reserved for lovers. What he wanted to say to Serena could wait, but he wondered how long he would have to wait to make her his wife.
Chapter 16
David woke hours later to find himself alone. The space where Serena had lain was cold even though the scent of her body lingered on the linen and on his body.
Rolling over on his back, he could barely make out the furnishings in the bedroom. Lengthening shadows from the setting sun shrouded everything in an encroaching darkness, and it was obvious that his siesta had exceeded the normal two- or three-hour limit.
Stretching like a big cat waking from an afternoon of rest, he smiled, recalling the passion Serena had offered him. What surprised him was that he’d offered all
that he had, too, holding nothing back. Once he’d entered her he knew he was lost, lost to the ecstasy she aroused by their just sharing the same space.
Serena had come to his bed, soft and purring, and their brief moment of shared ecstasy would remain with him always. He closed his eyes and relived the feel of her smooth skin, the heat radiating from between her silken thighs, and the exact moment when he touched heaven where his heart opened to the love he had saved for the woman he would share his life and future with.
He could not have imagined when he boarded the jet for this last business trip to Costa Rica that he would also negotiate a deal that would include an affair of the heart—his heart.
An audible rumbling from his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten anything since early morning, and he knew he had to leave the bed where he had placed his invisible claim on a woman. When he looked at her he saw his unborn children in her eyes.
Serena hummed to herself as she added a half-dozen culantro leaves to a large pot filled with soup stock. She radiated a glow that was obvious to all who saw her.
Luz Maria was surprised when she walked into the kitchen and offered to help her cook. Even though she’d noticed the tiny, dark red abrasion at the base of the younger woman’s throat she did not say anything. She quickly reminded herself that Serena was the daughter of her employer. Even though she lectured the younger woman on occasion, she knew when not to overstep the invisible boundary set up for employer and employee.
But she did not have to say anything to Serena, because she knew she had taken her advice and opened her heart to Señor Cole.
Serena added a coarsely chopped onion, green pepper, and two sweet chili peppers to the pot. “How long will it have to simmer?”
“About an hour and a half,” Luz Maria answered.
“Señorita Vega, Dr. Rivera is here.”
Serena and Luz Maria turned at the sound of a man’s voice. Rodrigo stood less than five feet away, his dark eyes missing nothing. Neither woman had detected his approach, and both were unsettled by his silent stalking.
Serena recovered first. “Thank you, Rodrigo. Please have Dr. Rivera wait in the sala.”
Heaven Sent Page 13