Darnell’s hips undulated wildly. Her nails dug into Thad’s flesh. His name tore from her throat with such intensity that it became indistinguishable from her screams. She climbed the pinnacle as spasms of ecstasy rocked her. She was a shooting star flung into the universe, until finally she exploded into a million tiny pieces.
With the sound of his name resonating in his consciousness, the force of Thad’s completion shook his world off its axis. His body shuddered uncontrollably as a rainbow of colors swam in his head.
Later, weak and spent, Thad realized that his union with this woman had been much more than an incredible sexual experience. Reaching for her hand, he placed it against his heart—on the spot where she was nestled. The tingling in his limbs and the sensation of dizziness that lingered were testimony to the magnitude of what had occurred between them. For the first time in his life, he had made love and given himself to a woman completely. He had surrendered his mind, body, and soul to Darnell Cameron.
She snuggled up against him with her eyes still closed. Her skin glistened like satin with the sheen of their lovemaking. He placed a kiss in her hair as he softly whispered her name.
“My Doe.” His lips brushed her forehead. “I love you.”
Darnell stiffened, then rolled away from him. Her body missed his warmth.
Thad allowed the retreat, but repeated the words that he had been longing to say. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Doe, and I have no doubts about it.” He paused for a moment, hoping against hope that she would repeat the same words. There was silence.
He continued. “I’m not asking you to make a commitment right now. All I ask is that when you know how you feel about me, about us, you’ll let me know.’’
Darnell nodded, fighting back tears, knowing the words that Thad wanted to hear, unable to say them. Speaking carelessly was a mistake she didn’t plan on making. Time would define what she felt about him. Meanwhile, she would enjoy the moment.
As Thad pulled her body against his, they lay spoon fashion, reveling in each other’s warmth. As the shadows of the day gradually descended, sleep claimed them, and for the moment the anxieties of both were soothed.
CHAPTER 17
While Darnell slept, Thad rose from the bed, still shaken from the power of their lovemaking. He entered the bathroom, wondering how he could have allowed one woman to gain so much control over his emotions.
Running bath water, he watched the tub fill as he thought about his encounter with Darnell. Her response to him had showed an innocence that surprised him. As assertive as she was out of bed, he had expected that she would be the same when they made love, but she had been reserved. That is, until her passion was unleashed. He had not been disappointed. Her response to him had been everything he had hoped and more. Still, it made him even more curious about her relationship with Lance.
He was experienced enough to know that it had been a while since Darnell had shared herself. She had been dating Lance for ten years, and he knew in his heart that Darnell was a one-man woman. He seriously doubted that she had satisfied her need with anyone else, but how long had it been since she and Lance had made love?
What could have possibly happened between them? What was wrong with Lance? How could he not touch her? Wasn’t the man human? Darnell certainly was. Her passion was undeniable. Had their relationship grown stale after all those years? Did they no longer want one another? There was something wrong. He could feel it.
There was one thing that she had made clear. She did care about Lance, but she was not in love with him. Thad grinned. That meant that the door was wide open for him, and he planned on moving through it like a tornado. For the first time in his life, Thad Stewart was in love, and he would fight for her with every breath that he took.
Darnell lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. But the man in the next room wasn’t the man who was on her mind. She was thinking about Lance. He had told her once that the day would come when she would find someone she cared about more than him. She had denied that it would ever happen. Emphatically, she had declared that her career came first and that it always would. There was no time for romantic entanglements. Lance had laughed at her declaration and attributed it to her youth. He had made her promise that when the time came and she did find that special someone, he would be the first to know. She had made that promise to him, certain that it was one she would not have to keep. She had made a second promise as well—to keep a secret that she had yet to reveal. She’d always thought that she would be able to keep both promises because she had never planned on falling in love.
Darnell sat up in the bed. Love? Was it possible? Nearly every song she wrote and sang was about that feeling of euphoria when a person finds that special someone. It was the feeling that she was now experiencing. She had never known that such heated passion between two people was actually possible. She knew now because she was living it.
She could claim that what had happened between Thad and her had been unexpected, but she knew better. Their feelings for each other had been building steadily. Thad’s reputation with women was notorious; she had never planned on surrendering to him. She had willingly, thinking that after it was over she could walk away. She hadn’t expected the profound intensity, the tenderness, the sensation of completeness that Thad aroused in her. They came as a surprise.
Thad entered the bedroom, interrupting her thoughts as he scooped her up into his arms. She yelped.
“Why do you keep picking me up?” Darnell laughed, kicking her feet daintily. “I can walk, you know.”
Thad beamed as he moved across the room. “And it’s a sexy walk, too.”
Entering the bathroom with her in his arms, he approached the large claw-foot bathtub and submerged her in fragrant bubbles. In one graceful movement, he settled behind her, pulling her between his legs. The water felt good to her sore, love-spent body.
She sighed contentedly as she settled back against him. “And I know how to take a bath, too.”
“I know.” His silken voice caressed her. “But there are baths and there are baths.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “Now, the average man sits back on his bottom and relaxes in an ordinary bath. But as we both know, I’m not your average man.” Gently, he turned her to face him, fitting her delicious frame against the curve of his body.
“I see.” Darnell wrapped her legs around him.
Taking a bar of scented soap between his long fingers, Thad worked up a soapy lather. “Now, the ordinary bath would include contact with a washcloth, which, of course, is meant to remove the dirt from the average body. But—” He began to massage the soft flesh at her neck, the concavity of her shoulders, moving down her body slowly—so very slowly—to her chest, where he teased each turgid mound. Darnell’s head fell limply against his shoulder as his steamy breath evaporated into her ear. “As we both know, yours is not an average body.”
Expert hands snaked down her flat midsection to briefly taunt her navel, then spiraled in circular motions to linger in the bushy apex at her entrance.
“And, as we both know, there’s nothing average about you at all.”
Soap slick fingers moved from her silken thighs to take command of the secrets within, where they began to work their magic. Darnell mewed like a kitten. She lost all control over her limbs, as she relinquished all that she was to him. The result was spontaneous combustion.
As Darnell recovered from her release, she lay limply in Thad’s arms. Looking at him in wonder, she caught a look of pure male satisfaction on his face. Inwardly, she smiled. He had the right to be smug. His erotic bath was driving her to madness, but she had a few tricks of her own. She might not be as experienced as he was when it came to lovemaking, but there were a few things she did know. Reaching down, her hands moved slowly along the planes of Thad’s muscular thighs, then across to his inner thighs where she gently began to knead the sensitive flesh.
Thad stilled, inhali
ng sharply. When Darnell’s hand moved to encircle his manhood, already throbbing out of control, he gasped. “You little devil.”
When her warm hand started to manipulate his manhood, his speech slurred and his eyes glazed. It was Darnell’s turn to smile smugly.
Thad held on desperately, exhaling in ragged gulps, his sides heaving. His knees weak, he panted, “No, Doe! Please, not yet!” But Darnell was relentless as her hand made its point.
His head fell forward involuntarily, and she captured his lips for a kiss that left him drugged. When they parted, both of their bodies dictated that it was, indeed, time for a union. Darnell placed the protection on him much too slowly, as Thad traced a loving finger down her cheek.
“I love you, Doe Eyes,” he whispered, “and I’ve never been in love before.” They were his last words before passion consumed them and reason vanished.
* * *
Darnell pulled Thad’s oversized T-shirt over her head and smiled at the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. Their attempt at bathing together had proven to be so arousing that they had been forced to separate. Never in her staid, perfectly planned life had she been so uninhibited, and she had enjoyed every minute.
She had read long ago that Thad was reported to be an “excellent lover”—now she could testify to that fact—but rumors and gossip had never reported what a very special human being he was.
I’ve never been in love before. She would always remember those words. He was a major movie star, a heartthrob. It was hard to believe that some woman hadn’t captured his heart.
He had also told her that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the feelings that he had for her.
“I’m not sure if I’m saying the right thing when I’m with you,” he said as he wrapped her in a towel and dried her body. “Or if I’ll do the right thing, but I sure am going to try, and I want to thank you.”
“Thank me for what?”
“For sharing yourself with me, and I’m not talking about just your body. You can’t imagine how that makes me feel.”
He was proud that she had chosen him as the man with whom she made love, and he’d made it plain that from now on it would be his kisses, his caresses, his passion for her that she would always want and need. Darnell was touched by his declaration and gave him a kiss of gratitude that left him drugged. Falling in love with Thad had not been in any plan that she had for her life, but right now it felt wonderful.
Dressed, Darnell wandered from the bedroom to Thad’s office, the memory of their steamy bath together still fresh. Strolling to the patio doors, she opened them and inhaled. The shadows of the evening were beginning to appear over the horizon. The day was half over, and she and Thad had yet to make an appearance outside of these two rooms. She didn’t care. Right now she was walking on sunbeams, drifting on clouds. The rest of the world had ceased to exist. She was a woman in love.
Moving to Thad’s desk, Darnell fiddled absently with the fastidiously placed items. Then, remembering that he had been reading a script earlier, her curiosity peaked. She slid open the middle desk drawer in which she’d seen him place it earlier. Withdrawing the script she read the title—Senusous.
* * *
Thad couldn’t bathe and dress fast enough. He didn’t want to miss a moment with Darnell. Not finding her in the bedroom, he hurried into the sitting room and found her at his desk reading a script. He knew instantly which one she was reading. She glanced up at him as he entered, but continued to rifle through the script. He took a seat across from the desk.
Completing the page that she was reading, she looked up at him steadily, pausing as if to gather her emotions before she spoke.
“There’s a note I found inside the cover page from your attorney that says I’m perfect for the role in this script.” She indicated the note written in red in the margins. “It also says that you are to get me any way you can.” She tossed the script on the desk in front of him. “Do you want to explain to me what all of this is about?” Her expression was unreadable.
Thad reached for the Sensuous script and grinned. In his excitement about the possibility of their working together, he didn’t notice the questions in her eyes or the coolness in her voice.
“It’s a script I wrote! If you’ll finish reading, I think you’ll see that you would be perfect for the role. That is, if you like it. Just read it and let me know what you think.”
Darnell’s eyes narrowed. “Let you know what I think, huh?”
“Yes! I know you’ll like it!” Exhilarated, Thad leaped from his seat and began pacing the room as he explained his plans for the script’s subsequent production. Finally running out of steam, he settled back in his seat and turned glowing eyes to Darnell for her reaction. The glow dimmed quickly at the look on her face. It was not enthusiastic. He frowned. “What’s wrong? You don’t like the idea?”
Closing her eyes against the confusion she saw in his eyes, Darnell told herself to calm down and not jump to conclusions. She could hear that the dreams that he had been harboring for so long were also her dreams. They were reflected in every word that he said, and she hoped against hope that what she was thinking wasn’t true. It couldn’t be! But she had to know. The doubts that she harbored had been like a weight on her soul from the moment that she read that note, so she was blunt.
“Just how far were you willing to go to get me to be in your picture, Thad?”
The furrows in his brow deepened. “What do you mean? I don’t under—” The meaning hit him. For a moment, he couldn’t speak. He simply stared into her incredible eyes, stunned. If she had taken a knife and plunged it into his flesh, it couldn’t have hurt him more.
Darnell saw his pain and instantly regretted having posed the question. “Thad, I—”
“No!” He held up his hand and slowly rose. “Don’t say it! Because if you think so little of me that you believe that I would use you like that—after making love to you, after confessing my love for you—then there’s nothing else to be said.” He started for the door, then looked back at her. His voice was hard. “Pack your things. I’ll have the pilot fly you back to the States today.”
He turned to leave. Darnell moved quickly across the room and planted herself firmly in front of him, halting his progress.
“Thad, I was wrong to think that you would use me sexually, so please don’t go, and I don’t want to leave this island without you.”
He glared down at her, not bothering to mask how much she had hurt him. Darnell winced. Her careless tongue had done this damage, and his rigid stance showed her that his acceptance of an apology might not be enough to bridge the sudden distance. Desperate, she kept talking.
“I should never have questioned your integrity, and I know that the words ‘I’m sorry’ aren’t enough. You know me well enough by now to understand that trust isn’t one of my strong points. Yet I have come to trust you more than you know.” Tears threatened to flow. She swallowed. “For me to even think anything like that, and worse to say it when I know how much I lo—” Darnell caught herself, hoping that he hadn’t noticed her slip of the tongue. He had.
“When you know how much you what, Darnell?” His stance had relaxed and his voice held a challenge as he watched her struggle with her words. Was she about to say that she loved him? “Exactly how do you feel about me? Do you care about me at all?”
Darnell stepped closer to him. “Yes, I do. I care for you more than you may ever know. That’s why hurting you hurts me.”
Thad searched her face and saw the sincerity, but those weren’t the words that he wanted to hear. She couldn’t—or wouldn’t—say them. Perhaps her love for him simply wasn’t there. Still hurt and angry, he set her aside gently and left the room.
“I’m not going home without you,” Darnell shouted after him, but he kept walking away from her.
Darnell sat alone in Thad’s office, re-reading Sensuous. The sun had set by the time she finished. Every word she read held new meaning for her, knowing that
they were his.
The story was about a man and woman so in love with each other that the realities of the world around them ceased to exist. The result was heartache and a new awakening for them both. His writing was magical, passionate, introspective, and insightful, as was the man. In Sensuous, Thad had revealed his vulnerability and his sensitivity. Both were qualities that Darnell had come to love and admire in him, and she was not willing to let them or him go.
With script in hand, she went looking for Thad and found him sitting on the patio outside his bedroom. She sat in the lounge chair beside him. He didn’t acknowledge her presence as he continued to stare out toward the sea. Darnell sat quietly for a few moments, gathering her thoughts before she spoke.
“I’ve read Sensuous before today, Thad. I have the script at home.”
He didn’t respond, but she continued divulging her own plans for the script and the future. “So, as you can see, our dreams are similar. I think that if we combine those dreams, we would be a quite a team.”
Quite a team. Under other circumstances, Thad would have been turning cartwheels, but now he heard her words with a heavy heart. “You don’t trust me, Darnell. There’s no future for us at all without that.”
The truth in his words couldn’t be denied. “Despite my foolish lapse in judgment earlier, I do trust you, Thad, and I hope that you believe that. Even when we were at each other’s throats, you showed respect for me.” She swallowed the lump in her throat for the second time in less than an hour. “You’ve respected my privacy, too. I know that you’re curious about Lance and me, and well—”
She paused, hoping that he would interrupt her nervous chatter. He said nothing.
She sighed. “It’s a complicated situation, and right now, I can’t tell you any more than that.”
“You and he aren’t secretly married, are you?” Thad asked jokingly to break the tension, but his pulse didn’t stop racing until she shook her head no.
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