She frowned. “I think I look okay, but beautiful would be stretching it a bit. I know you told me that earlier today and I thanked you for it because all brides look beautiful on their wedding day. But saying I’m the most beautiful woman you know is really going overboard,” she said. “Beautiful is women like Vanessa Williams, Tyra Banks and—” she nervously stroked the ring she now wore on the third finger of her left hand “—someone like Diamond Swain.”
Sterling’s dark eyes were hooded as he watched her face. He reached out and lifted her chin so their eyes could meet. “Beautiful is also Colby Wingate Hamilton.”
She lifted a shoulder in a self-conscious little shrug. “If you say so.”
Sterling shook his head. Other than Kimara Garwood and Diamond Swain, most of the women he knew were shallow and thought too much of themselves at times. Colby, he had discovered long ago, was just the opposite. Although she didn’t lack any self-esteem, she didn’t have a clue of just how beautiful he thought her to be. Feeling the need to kiss her again he leaned forward, opening his mouth over hers with drugging urgency. Although incredibly tender and painstakingly seductive, his tongue pledged promises of more things to come.
He gave up all control as her mouth moved under his with a passion so ravenous he thought he would not survive its fire. And when she pressed her body deeper against his, he released a groan from low within his gut. He tuned out everything around him as he again explored and tasted her mouth. Cupping her bottom, he brought her even closer to him, pulling her hard against his hips, kneading her backside and grinding against her, letting her feel the hard length of his arousal. He felt her squirming against him, trying to get even closer to him. Without realizing it, her body was instinctively seeking out that part of him that was more than ready for her.
It was that part of him that was hungry for her. It was starving for her.
“Sterling.”
He heard his name escape her lips in a passionate, agonizing plea. Slowly, he lifted his mouth from hers. His control shot to pieces.
She opened questioning eyes to him and the look of desire in them nearly took his breath away. For a moment, he wanted to believe they were the only two individuals on the island. He wanted to believe she was a temptation he could yield to, and that she could bring more joy to his life than pain. He regretted that tonight would be just a fantasy—an awesome fantasy the two of them would share.
Each time they came together would be for a purpose, but tonight, against his better judgment, he wanted more pleasure than purpose. Tonight he wanted their coming together to be one special moment. Just like she’d said it would be. And for her, tonight, he would make it so.
Unable to help himself, he slowly lowered his head to hers again at the same time he swept her off her feet and into his arms. He headed for the bedroom. Once there he placed her on her feet beside the bed.
“Tonight, Colby, we’re not going to remember the purpose we’re here together or the reason we got married in the first place. Tonight I need you in a way I’ve never needed any woman. I don’t understand it, and I don’t want to question it. At least not now. All I know is that you’re an ache inside of me and have been from the moment I saw you on that video.”
Colby tipped her head to him. “What video?”
“The one my investigator sent me of you. It was from watching that video that I made my decision to choose you as the mother of my child.”
A confused look touched Colby’s features. She didn’t understand. She had known nothing about a video, but tonight, like him, she didn’t want to understand. She had a need, too. She needed him as much as he needed her.
Her body shuddered with desire when he reached out and began removing the clothes from her body. He enjoyed inhaling her soft scent, and when he had her naked before him, he began to remove his own clothes.
Colby looked at Sterling, his body intrigued her and challenged her to touch it. So she did, surprising herself more than surprising him. His body felt hot to her touch and it felt hard.
The more she touched him, the more fascinated she became with his body. She continued to let her hands gently move across his chest and shoulders, down his arms and around his midsection.
“You want it?” he asked, huskily. He felt his heart beat faster with her touch.
She looked up at him and saw desire in his eyes and knew it matched her own. “Yes, I want it.”
“There will be pain,” he pointed out, at the same time sucking in a deep breath when he felt her hand move lower over his body.
“You know what they say, no pain, no gain.”
Her sensuous reply sent trickles of sensations racing over Sterling’s body. His eyes narrowed at her playful challenge. “For your sake, I hope you really believe that, baby. There’s nothing we can do now that won’t be proper.”
He then pulled her down on the bed with him. Pulling back the spread he placed her on the silk sheets. “Feed me,” he growled in her ear. It was a guttural sound from deep within him. “I’m starving for you. Feed me, Colby. Feed me, now.”
He laced her fingers with his and angled his body over hers. He kissed her again, hard and urgent at the same time the lower part of his body entered her in a long, explosive thrust that rocked his entire world. His body began trembling. He took one deep breath, never feeling so out of control with desire as he did at this very moment. He reined in his control to look down at her to make sure she was all right.
“How do you feel?” he asked in a voice he couldn’t even recognize as his own.
Colby looked up at him and smiled. She had done the right thing by remaining untouched all these years, she thought. This was how it was supposed to be the first time, joining as one with her husband, the man she loved and the man she had committed her life to before God.
“I feel this moment is very special, just like I told you it would be when we came together as husband and wife,” she whispered. “And nothing would make me happier than for you to put your baby inside of me now.”
Her words made him lose it.
In the past he had done everything in his power, whenever he made love to a woman, to make sure his seed never reached fertile ground. But tonight, for the first time in his life, he was not using any sort of protection. Tonight he would willingly release his seed into Colby’s body. That very thought pushed him forward in rapt anticipation.
His mouth found hers and he made love to her with his mouth and his body. He made love to her in a way he had never made love to another woman, giving and sharing a part of him he had never shared with anyone. And when he felt her moving beneath him, lifting her hips to receive him, branding his back with her fingertips and holding him tight within her, he knew he couldn’t last much longer. When he felt her body shudder in pleasure beneath him, he knew it was time for him to let go.
And he did, spilling into her body the very essence of his being and somehow believing in his heart that at this one special moment, he was giving her his child.
CHAPTER 16
Sterling eased from the bed, careful not to awaken Colby. He stood for a moment and watched her sleep. Her features were calm, relaxed, satisfied.
He backed away slowly. Unlike her, he couldn’t sleep. He needed time away from her to think and to put things back in perspective. Making love to her had shaken his world more than he thought was possible.
He walked out of the room into the other connecting bedroom. Pulling back the covers, he got in the bed. The moment the cold sheets touched his naked skin, he couldn’t help but remember the warmth in the bed he had just left. His mind was filled with Colby’s body heat wave and how time and time again he had literally drowned in it.
Unable to sleep, he propped his body up on the pillow. Colby’s scent, that special fragrance of hers, was all over him and he knew there wasn’t any place he could go without some reminder of her.
He leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. He couldn’t help but think about the softness of
her skin, the heat of her body and the sweetness of her smile after the first time they had made love.
Her smile.
Tonight, each time she smiled at him he felt like a man on top of the world. A man with a very special woman. And he had gotten more than just a glimpse of heaven. Just as she had predicted, he had become a part of it. He had found heaven in her arms.
Sterling reopened his eyes and raked a hand across his face, releasing a deep gutted breath. “What is she doing to me?” he asked himself quietly. Before the question had fully left his lips he knew the answer.
She was breaking his resolve, messing with his mind, and undermining his determination to keep things on a business level between them. She had taken advantage of a weakness he hadn’t known he had, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, it went beyond mere physical desire. She was easing her way into his very soul.
His hands balled into fists. I don’t want this in my life! I don’t need this! All I want is my child! Not a mother for my child nor a wife for myself! I want my original plan, where she’s history a year after my child is born. I want her out of my life!
But as his mind thought those things, another part of him ached with different emotions. His breath thickened in his throat, almost making it impossible to breathe. A turbulent war was going on within him, and he fought desperately for control of the situation. The last thing he wanted was to become a victim to love like his father had done. He didn’t want his life dictated by the whims of a woman who might not be there for him when he needed her most. But he couldn’t stop his thoughts from drifting back again to earlier that night. Colby had made love to him in a way no other woman had before. He had felt her sincerity in everything she did. There wasn’t a pretentious bone in her body.
At that moment, Sterling heard the sound of the connecting bedroom door opening. Moonlight washing in through the curtains made out Colby’s form in the darkness. She stood in the center of the room wearing a short, skimpy silk robe. The sight of her barely clad body and the floral scent of her assaulted his senses. The silk robe showed off her long, slender legs, the feminine curve of her hips and her high, rounded breasts.
His breathing thickened even more and the hands, which were balled into fists at his sides, trembled. She stood in the room, a few feet from the bed with the same expression on her face that had been there when she had been underneath him while they had made love. It was a look of total trust and surrender. She was again offering him peace and calm from the turbulent storm raging within him. He knew he should rebel at the pull she had on him, and fight her all the way. He shouldn’t let her get any closer to his emotion than she already had.
But when she took another step into the room, coming closer to him, the only thing he could think about was keeping her even closer. He released a deep breath and gave up the fight. At this moment, he wasn’t strong enough to fight her and what she was offering him: a sweet, steamy sexual healing of his mind and body.
He extended his hand to her, and unhesitantly she took it. Her hand felt warm in his larger one. He eased the robe off her shoulders and he pulled her to him, making room for her in the bed.
“I woke up and you were gone,” she whispered as he cradled her close to him. “I missed you.”
He didn’t say anything. At the moment he couldn’t say anything. He just continued to hold her in his arms. He didn’t want to think about what she was doing to him and how she was making him feel. He only wanted to savor this moment. This very special moment with her. Tomorrow he would face the reality that she was not a permanent part of his life. Tomorrow he would remember the contract existing between them. But for now, for tonight, he wanted to find the pleasure he knew awaited him in her arms.
* * *
It was early morning when Sterling wakened to find Colby still sound asleep in his embrace. Her position next to his body caused a deep ache in his groin. And when she sighed and snuggled even closer to him, bringing her backside even closer into the cradle of his hips, all he wanted was to wake her up and make love to her.
He gently moved his hand along her body, touching places he had discovered last night were her erotic zones. Just touching those places made her heated, aroused and filled with desire. And he was determined to concentrate on all of them.
He let his thumb move across her breasts, before moving lower to tease her belly button. She moved against him in sleep, her back arching as he let his hand move lower. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him with sleep-filled eyes.
Raising up on his elbow, he gazed deep within her eyes. His gaze shifted to her mouth, then slid lower to her breasts. He saw a shiver pass through her and watched as her nipples hardened beneath his gaze. He pushed the covers aside and his eyes were slow in their appraisal of the rest of her body.
He closed his eyes in an attempt to force himself to get a grip. But when he reopened them and saw her watching him with the same intensity, he lost it again. And when he leaned down, her lips eagerly met his. He felt her body tremble when his mouth clung hard to hers, his tongue exploring her mouth relentlessly.
His kiss dared him to ask himself why he couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never had a problem controlling his sexual desires before.
But now he did.
If making love to her last night had been a unique experience for him, then making love to her again this morning was doubly so.
He almost lost control when he felt her body respond to him, taking everything he was giving her and at the same time, giving him all of herself. He had no idea a wife could be so passionate, so exciting, so giving. And he had no idea a wife could completely satisfy all his needs. The sound of her moans of pleasure pleased him, making his desire for her spiral totally out of control.
He lifted his head and looked at her. “I want you, even more than last night,” he whispered before taking possession of her lips once more. And with gentle hands and techniques born from his experience, he slowly and completely brought her to flaming readiness.
“Please, Sterling. Now!”
Sterling shifted over her and gently eased into her body, once again joining them as one. He groaned at the pleasure he felt being inside of her, and when he felt her body once again stretch to accommodate him, he slowly began moving within her. He didn’t want this time with her to end. His eyes riveted to her face and stayed there, watching her watch him. Her need and want of him was there plainly in her features for him to see.
Not able to hold back any longer, he groaned aloud his pleasure at the same moment he felt her shudder, lifting her hips and locking her legs around him.
He bent his head and took her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss, holding her tighter until her body had taken all the essence of him, and then more.
Afterward, Sterling held her in his arms. Her dark eyes were still glazed with spent passion. And he could smell the warm intimate scent of their lovemaking. It surrounded him and pulled at him, making him feel calm, soothed.
A few minutes later Colby spoke. Her voice was a soft whisper in the room. “You know what I think?”
“Mmmm,” he murmured, not having the strength to say anything more.
She lifted her head and looked down at him. “I think we’re good together.”
Sterling didn’t give a response to her comment. But deep down, although he didn’t want to think so, he thought the very same thing. But at that moment, he could not…he would not admit it to her.
CHAPTER 17
“How does your food taste?”
Colby glanced up from her meal. Her eyes locked with Sterling’s and she drew a deep breath. Why did one man have to look so good?
Since arriving in Barbados three days ago, they had remained at the cottage, venturing out only to take short walks on the beach in the early mornings or late afternoons. But today they had taken a grand tour of the city.
Sugar was the primary crop in Barbados and many, many years ago, the British colony’s numerous sugar plantations were work
ed by African slaves. Most of the residents of Barbados were direct descendants of those workers. While out and about today, she had enjoyed the Barbados people as much as she had enjoyed the island’s scenery. The Bajans, the name the residents of Barbados called themselves, were very friendly, and as she discovered, the best-educated in the Caribbean. At the marketplace she had conversed with them on a variety of subjects. She had been amazed at how easily they could blend their West Indian identity with a heavy British influence. One of the islanders had recommended this restaurant as an exclusive and sophisticated place to enjoy some of the Caribbean’s cuisine.
She had looked forward to coming here, but now the only thing she could think about was getting back to the cottage, being in Sterling’s arms and feeling his bare skin against hers. For someone who had just discovered her passionate side only days ago, she was constantly anxious at the thought of them making love.
All she had to do was watch his mouth at work doing something as relatively simple as chewing his food, and she would remember that same mouth leaving trails of tender kisses over her body. He could arouse her to the brink of mindless ecstasy with that mouth.
“The food’s fine,” she replied silkily. “How’s yours?”
“It’s okay.”
“Do you think you’ll want dessert?” she asked after several minutes had passed and he was still staring at her with a seductive look in his gaze. The heated desire she saw in his eyes made her pulse jump.
“Yes, I’ll want dessert. But the dessert I want isn’t on their menu,” he answered huskily.
Colby couldn’t help staring at him as the meaning of his words became clear in her mind. A warm, melting sensation rushed through her already heated veins. She briefly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her nostrils didn’t pick up the smell of the spicy food before her, instead it picked up the scent of him, all male, arousing and enticing.
“Let’s finish our meal and get back to the cottage,” he suggested softly.
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