Just Can't Get Enough

by Hodges, Cheris

  “Yeah?”

  “I see you didn’t waste any time calling the police on me,” Tiffany said. “Darius, I’m telling you, make them back off or you’re going to regret it.”

  “Tiffany, you need help. You need to do something with your life and leave me alone. When’s the last time you opened your store? You’re really going to throw your life away over a man who doesn’t want you?”

  She laughed. “You treated me like trash and you need to learn your lesson.” The dial tone sounded in his ear. When he heard a knock at the front door, Darius nearly leapt out of his skin, expecting to see Tiffany standing there. To his surprise and joy, it was Celina.

  “I thought you would have dinner waiting for me,” she said. “You’re still in your paint-stained clothes.”

  “Give me a second and we’ll go grab something to eat. Why don’t we go to Rudy’s?”

  “The rib joint?” Celina said, raising her right eyebrow. “Now, Darius you know, . . .”

  “They have a great grilled vegetable platter and the potato salad is to die for,” he said. “Just wait for me to shower.” Darius dashed down the hall.

  “Don’t forget your swimming trunks,” she said as she sat on the sofa. “Or on second thought leave them.” Darius jumped in the shower and washed the dried paint from his body. He left the bathroom door open, secretly wishing Celina would come in the bathroom. He wanted to feel her arms wrapped around him, her lips on his neck, her breasts pressed against his chest.

  “Are you drowning in there?” Celina called out.

  “Why don’t you come in and see?” he said. Darius listened out for the tapping of Celina’s sandals on the tile. He looked up and saw her standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

  “Trying to get me all wet, Darius?”

  He pulled the curtain back and smiled at her reaction to his nakedness. Then he reached out and pulled her into the shower by the arm.

  “Who needs the lake?” With his wet fingers, Darius unbuttoned the front of Celina’s sundress, pushed it off her shoulders, and discovered that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. A slow smile spread across his face. “I guess you were serious about skinny-dipping, huh?”

  Celina returned his smile with a sly one of her own. “I’m always serious,” she said as she shimmied out of her dress. Immediately, he pulled her against his body and the water from the shower poured on them, seeping through Celina’s loose hair. Leaning in, he kissed her lips gently as he backed her against the wall. Wandering down the length of her body, he kissed every enticing inch of her, causing her to writhe underneath his lips. Intense feelings of pleasure and desire rippled through her body as Darius reversed his kisses and took her hardened nipples into his mouth. Each kiss and each stroke made her skin burn with desire.

  “Darius,” she moaned as his tongue lapped up the beads of water that pooled on her body. She shivered underneath his touch, Darius continued lashing her body with his tongue. Clutching his back to keep her footing as he lifted one of her legs across his shoulder, she inhaled sharply as he slid between her legs. His hardness throbbed against her and, in a swift motion, he was inside her. Their hips thrust against each other and heat enveloped them, making the cold water falling on them easy to ignore. Celina pushed him over the edge when she reached down and stroked his erection while he pumped in and out of her. She dropped her hand as she ground sensually against his body and bit down on his neck to muffle her screams of passion as she began to climax. She wasn’t ready for the feeling to end and she lurched forward, urging him to go deeper, faster, and harder. Her muscles tightened around him, making him explode and growl like a lion leading the pride.

  It wasn’t until they’d pried themselves apart that it hit Darius that he hadn’t protected them. Looking into her eyes, he could see that she was thinking the same thing. Stroking her cheek, he muttered his apology.

  “We can’t keep doing this,” she said.

  “I know,” Darius said. “We don’t have anything to worry about, we’ve discussed . . .”

  “What about pregnancy?” she said.

  “Would that be so bad? We love each other.”

  “We’re not married and I’d never thought about marriage and babies until . . .” She stopped in midsentence and began squeezing excess water from her hair, not ready to open that much of herself to Darius.

  “Until what?” he asked.

  She cast her eyes upward, but didn’t look directly into his dark ones.

  “Until what?” he repeated.

  “Until I fell in love with you. Now, I think about it all the time. But I have so much on me right now. Motherhood isn’t in my immediate future,” she said.

  “So, what if we made a little one today?”

  She turned her head away. “I don’t want to talk about that. Let’s just cross that threshold if we get to it.”

  Darius picked up his towel and wrapped it around Celina’s shoulders, deciding not to press the issue. Even with the progress that they’d made, he knew parts of her were still afraid to surrender to love completely. He knew that he would have to give her all the time she needed to open herself to him. He dried her and pulled the towel around her body. An uncomfortable silence hung around them like dripping shower curtains.

  She pushed away from him. “Darius, we’d better get dressed if we’re going to make it to Rudy’s.”

  “Yeah,” he said, gently pulling her back into his arms.

  “Come on,” Celina said. “I’m starving.”

  Letting her go, Darius pulled his hormones under control as he headed across the hall to his bedroom, leaving Celina alone in the bathroom to get dressed.

  The couple emerged from Darius’ house a few moments later, still quiet, each one pondering the consequences of their lapse of judgment. As he drove, Darius stole a glance at Celina, “Are you all right?”

  “I just keep wondering—never mind.”

  “Wondering what?” he asked.

  “When this happiness is going to end,” she said, then sighed. “Sometimes this doesn’t seem real to me.”

  “It’s not going to as long as we don’t let it. Celina, I know you’ve seen the wrong side of love, the hurtful side. The difference between me and you is that I’ve lived it. I would never want to cause you a day of pain. I don’t ever want to see you crying because of what I’ve done.”

  “I know that’s what you say, now,” she said with the vulnerability of a child.

  Darius felt compelled to reach out and stroke her face. “Celina,” he murmured. “I’m more than a man of my word.” She closed her eyes and pulled away from Darius. He could only imagine what she was thinking. When they walked into Rudy’s, neither of them noticed who was lurking behind them.

  Celina hated being so cynical. Instead of reveling in the beauty of what they had, she kept looking for a way out. Yes, she loved him, but love didn’t last and giving herself to Darius was scary. He had his heart in her hands and at any moment it could be crushed and she’d be just like her mother had been all those years ago. Celina felt breathless around him. It was as if she couldn’t get enough of him—that scared her.

  He had already pulled her out of her guarded comfort zone and changed the way she felt about being in love. Still, she struggled with believing love would last.

  “Celina, talk to me,” Darius said as they took a seat in the dim restaurant. A melting candle sat in the middle of the table, the flickering light bouncing off Celina’s dark eyes.

  “I think I’ve said all I need to,” she said.

  “Celina, I can’t keep fighting the shadows. You’re hot and cold. When we’re in the moment, it’s so good, then you sit back and borrow trouble. Have I given you a reason to believe that I’m going to act like your father?”

  Shaking her head, she had to admit that Darius made her feel safe and if she were honest with herself, she’d realize that he was everything she needed and wanted. Celina couldn’t bring herself to say that.

  Darius con
tinued, leaning against the table and fixing his full stare on her. “How many ways do I have to say it, show it, and prove it? I love you, Celina.”

  “And I love you, too, Darius. But . . .”

  “Oh my word, do my eyes deceive me?” an older woman said as she waddled through the tables to get to Celina and Darius.

  The couple looked at the woman and smiled. “Miss Rudy,” Darius said as he stood up and kissed the woman on her meaty cheek. Celina smiled at Miss Rudy, who stared at her with a wide smile on her face.

  “Baby, you look just like your Daddy. How’s Thomas doin’?” the older woman asked.

  “He’s fine,” she replied. “A lot better than when I arrived here.”

  Miss Rudy leaned in and kissed Celina on the cheek. “You’re a good daughter,” she said. “Not too many children come back here. Velma was in here talking about you the other day. She said that you’re a painter or something like that and you live all the way in New York City. I don’t know who she was talking about more, you or Thomas.”

  “Oh really,” Celina said as she and Miss Rudy exchanged a knowing glance.

  “Well, your father will be well taken care of now,” she said as she rubbed her hands together. “What can I get for you? Ribs and chicken, with a side of my potato salad and some slaw?”

  “Well,” Celina said, choosing her words carefully so as not to offend Miss Rudy. Turning down food in Elmore was equivalent to slapping the cook in the face. “I’m a vegetarian, so I would love the slaw and potato salad.”

  “I have something special for you, then,” she said, not showing offense, to Celina’s relief.

  “Darius, chicken and ribs?”

  He nodded and winked at her. “You know what I like.”

  Miss Rudy waddled down the hall to the kitchen. “It’s like I never left here,” Celina said. “Everybody remembers me. It’s really comfortable here.”

  “It can be like that every day,” Darius said. “Just think, once we get the gallery off the ground, you’ll be able to see so many other people. They’ll be so proud of your work and what you’ve accomplished.”

  “I know,” she said, forcing herself to smile.

  Darius grabbed her hand and kissed it gently. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

  “Yes, Darius. This is what I want to do. Haven’t you noticed that I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do?”

  Darius kissed her hand again. “I know that you’re terrible at hiding things, too. If you don’t want to leave New York, you don’t have to,” he said.

  Celina released a sigh of relief and squeezed Darius’s hand. “I don’t really know what I want right now. Part of me wants to stay here and get this gallery built and running, but I have so many other things that I want to do in New York. I want to go back to Paris and I want you to be a part of my life. It sounds like I want you to just put everything on hold for me while I chase my dreams and asking you to do that wouldn’t be fair. Please tell me you understand.”

  Darius nodded, but his eyes showed his confusion.

  “I just need some time to go back to the city to get some things together. Then I’ll come back and we can look into starting the gallery. I did have a life there and I can’t just leave it without making sure I’m making the right decision,” she said.

  “Are you talking about us or your life in New York?”

  Both, she thought, but didn’t say anything. Luckily, Miss Rudy returned to the table with a platter of roasted carrots, peppers, broccoli, and zucchini. She set the platter in front of Celina. A waiter followed her with grilled ribs, chicken, and potato salad.

  “I’m sorry, we ran out of slaw. Celina, what do you think of the veggies?” Miss Rudy said.

  “They look great,” she said with a bright smile on her face. She was glad for the distraction. Darius forced a smile when he looked at Miss Rudy. Once she left the table, he turned to Celina.

  “So, when are you leaving?” he asked struggling to keep his voice even.

  “In a few days,” she said quietly as she cut into a slice of zucchini.

  Darius rubbed his chin and looked at her. “Were you going to tell me or was I just going to see you drive down the road while you waved good-bye?”

  “Don’t be like that. I just made this decision, but I was going to tell you before I left.”

  He nodded, then cut into a chicken breast. “I hope you find whatever it is that you’re looking for,” he said before taking the chicken into his mouth.

  “Darius, I’m not looking for anything,” she said. “I just need to . . .”

  He put his hand up to silence her. “Celina, do what you have to do, all right? I’ll be right here when you come back.”

  Her heart swelled when he said he would wait for her. Celina didn’t feel as cynical about love anymore.

  CHAPTER 17

  Three days later, Celina was on a plane heading back to New York and, for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel as if she was going home. This trip felt like a formality because Elmore and Darius’s arms felt like home now. She was finally beginning to fully open her heart to him, although she was still afraid.

  “Excuse me,” a woman, dressed in a floppy hat and sunglasses, said as she passed Celina’s seat. “Is this 4-A?”

  Celina looked up at the woman. She looked familiar, but Celina couldn’t place her. “Yes, it is,” she said as she stood up to let the woman pass.

  “Thank you. I haven’t been on a plane since September 11th, so I’m a little nervous,” she said as she strapped into her seat.

  Celina smiled politely, but silently prayed that the woman wasn’t a Chatty Cathy. It wasn’t as if she was a fan of flying herself, but once she got on the plane she was on it. There was nothing she could do to make the time go faster and conversations with strangers weren’t something she liked to do. Her seatmate, however, seemed determined to talk to her.

  “Haven’t we met before?” the woman asked.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Celina said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out her sketch pad.

  “You’re Celina Hart, aren’t you? The artist.”

  “Guilty.”

  “Wow,” she said. “You look a lot different up close. I’ve seen you around town.”

  Celina raised her eyebrow. “Around New York?”

  The woman shook her head. “Elmore. I’m Tiffany Martin.”

  “What are you doing here?” Celina asked.

  Tiffany smiled, removed her hat and glasses, and crossed her legs. “I’m here to warn you about that man who claims to love you. Darius McRae is a user and you’re just his latest victim.”

  “I don’t have to listen to this,” Celina said as she reached up to press the stewardess button. Tiffany grabbed her hand and the strength of her grip surprised Celina. “Let go of me,” Celina ordered.

  “We’re about to be thirty-thousand feet in the air, and you have nowhere to go, so just listen to what I have to say.”

  “Let go of my hand,” Celina said again. This time, Tiffany let her go. “What do you have to say?”

  “Celina, I’m not the bad person that Darius has made me out to be. He thinks I’m stalking him and that I’ve done some bad things at his store. I’m not that kind of person.”

  “Yeah, okay. What do you want? Because right now, you sound like a bitter, scorned woman who just wants to get in my head. Darius doesn’t want you and you should just let it go.”

  “You don’t know Darius and I’m just trying to warn you. He’s going to throw you away like trash, just like he did me. He says all the right things, but he doesn’t mean them. To him, women are interchangeable like socks and boxers.”

  “Why in the world would I listen to anything you have to say? If Darius is so horrible, why are you working overtime to get him back in your life?”

  Shaking her head, Tiffany denied wanting Darius. “You think that you’re special and he loves you more than anything. He said the same thing t
o me. You’ll be crying over him before too long. Then you will understand. Darius is a user. Why didn’t he come to New York with you? He has to make time for his other women since you’ve been taking up a lot of his time. I bet when you told him that you were coming to New York he didn’t even put up a fight.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about and I tell you what, you’d better stay away from me and Darius when I return to Elmore,” Celina said, struggling to keep her voice even.

  Tiffany smiled devilishly. “You’d be better off if you stayed in New York. I’m trying to save you from a broken heart.”

  Celina shook her head. “What did you expect to accomplish here? Did you think I was just going to believe what you had to say and tell Darius it was over so that you could have a clear shot at him? News flash, Tiffany. Darius doesn’t want you. He’s with me.”

  Tiffany turned her head away from Celina and looked out the window of the plane. “We’ll see for how long,” she snapped.

  Celina pressed the button for the stewardess. The woman walked over to the seat.

  “Yes ma’am?” she asked.

  “I need a new seat, because I’m not sitting next to this woman,” Celina said as she stood up and grabbed her backpack. The stewardess led her to a seat across the aisle from Tiffany. Luckily, Celina got a window seat and she didn’t have to look at Tiffany anymore.

  When the plane touched down at LaGuardia Airport, Celina didn’t move from her seat until she saw Tiffany exit the plane. It was obvious that the woman was a stalker and the last thing she wanted was for her to know where she lived.

  That woman is crazy, Celina thought as she stood at the boarding gate, watching Tiffany disappear in the crowd.

  Darius sat in the office at the hardware store trying to stop thinking about Celina. What if she didn’t come back from New York? Rising to his feet, he walked over to the window looking out over the town. Why would she want to live in a town like this after all these years? I can’t expect her to just drop everything she’s worked for to be with me. He wished desperately that she would. The silence in the shop was deafening; it seemed as if everything was on hold now that Celina was gone.