Only You

by Francis Ray

On his porch, Blade lifted the large ice chest Shane had left there. “Martin thought you might be and prepared food.”

  Sierra rushed up the steps and opened the multi-paned glass front door. Like her place, Blake’s house wasn’t locked. “Do you always leave your property unlocked?”

  “No. The staff was finishing cleaning and stocking supplies. They called Jenkins at the airport. I told him they could leave.”

  That answered one question and left another. “Is the food in there just for us? If so, I’d be insulted by the size of the chest if I wasn’t so hungry.”

  “Yes. A lot of it is ice to keep the food chilled.” Blade continued through the large front room with pale blue walls, a soft blue sofa, and buttery yellow side chairs. Two large cherry armoires framed the stone fireplace.

  “It’s lovely. Jacques again?”

  “Yes. You can explore later.”

  Sierra stopped staring up at the second-floor landing that probably held the bedrooms and followed Blade. In the kitchen, she saw him taking plastic containers out of the chest. Picking up one, she smiled. “I have container number five. Shrimp.”

  “He thought we might need some help with preparation,” Blade explained, taking out a container of fresh baby spinach.

  “He would be right.” Sierra went to the sink to wash her hands. “What about the others?”

  “They have their own chest.” Blade picked up the bowl marked #1. “Let’s see if we can do this.”

  “I’m game.” Sierra reached for the directions Martin had included and began reading.

  FIFTEEN

  Thanks to Martin’s detailed instructions, it wasn’t long before they had prepared the shrimp salad and were sitting on the wide steps of the back porch eating. A hundred feet in front of them the waves tumbled over themselves to the shoreline.

  “It’s so peaceful and beautiful here.” Sierra leaned back on her elbows.

  “It’s one of the last unspoiled regions in the area. I worked with a number of biologists and environmentalists before being given permission to build,” Blade told her. “Neither the government nor I wanted to see the commercialism of Cancún happen here. The coral reefs will remain unspoiled and so will the mangrove tree groves. We tried not to disturb the trees and planted over twenty-five hundred mangroves to beautify the homesites.”

  “You should be very proud.” Sierra nibbled on a cracker. “I can’t wait to see it in the morning.”

  “It came together just as I’d hoped,” Blade said with feeling. Now if the weekend would just do the same. “Want to go for a walk?”

  “I’ve love to.” She slipped off her shoes and rolled up the legs of her white slacks. He did the same. “You remembered.”

  “Every moment,” he said with feeling. Pulling her to her feet, he curved his arm around her waist. Her head naturally found a resting place on his chest as they strolled the white sandy beaches, the cool water of the Caribbean lapping at their feet.

  “The stars look close enough to touch,” she said.

  He stopped and stared down at her. “You never did tell me what you wished for.”

  She placed her hands on his chest. “You didn’t tell me, either.”

  A shadow briefly crossed his strong face. “I didn’t wish for anything.”

  Her fingers stroked his wide chest in comfort. “Why?”

  “Waste of my time.”

  Her heart ached for him. “Everyone should believe in something, someone.”

  “Don’t feel sorry for me, Sierra.” He tenderly cupped her cheek, but his jaw was clenched. “I make my own luck.”

  Arguing with him wouldn’t do any good. Besides, she wanted their first night there to be one they both remembered with happiness. “So how long have you been planning to get me here?” she asked, a half smile on her lips.

  “Since you sent me packing and I came here to brood and try not to think what I’d do next if you lost.” His body relaxed once again. “I didn’t dare look at the results until I arrived at the dinner because I wasn’t quite sure what I’d do if they weren’t what I wanted.”

  “There was no way I was going to lose. I had an extra incentive.” Her arms moved seductively around his neck.

  “I had an incentive as well. To kiss you again.” His mouth brushed against hers, once, twice, before tugging her lower lip into his mouth. Sierra groaned and opened for him. His tongue slipped inside to lazily stroke, taste, explore.

  His hands were doing their own exploring as they slipped under the tunic and found hot, bare skin. He reveled in the silken softness, before lifting his hands higher, stopping just beneath her heaving breasts.

  His thumbs found and stroked the budding nipples, twin assaults that had her trembling in his arms, pressing closer. Inserting one leg between hers, he let her feel his arousal, feel his need just as he felt hers.

  He unhooked her bra. They both seemed to grow still as his hands moved over her naked flesh. She shuddered. He wanted to. Just as he wanted to throw off her blouse, pull her down onto the sand, and surge into her. The only thing that kept him from doing exactly that was his promise that she’d have time. Jumping her the first night, even if her body seemed as hungry and needy as his, wasn’t the thing to do.

  With supreme strength, he refastened her bra and lifted his head. Her eyes slowly opened. She stared up at him, her breathing as off-kilter as his own.

  “I think I’d better take you back to your cottage,” Blade said, his voice hoarse with suppressed sexual need.

  She didn’t want to go … unless he was going to continue doing those delicious things to her body back at her place. Even now her breasts felt heavy, her nipples tight with wanting his hands back on them. Mercy help her. His hot mouth. That would be the most exquisite sensation.

  He hadn’t moved away, so she felt his hard desire against her lower body. It was all she could do not to rub against him. He was taking it slow. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to anymore.

  “Do you have to call your family?”

  Mentioning her family had the desired effect. She stepped back. “Yes.”

  “Thought so.” Taking her hands, he started to her cottage. “Whatever time you wake up, you can come to the main house for breakfast.”

  “Will Martin and Jenkins be there?” she asked, wondering how long the wanting, the tingling of her body for his, would last.

  “Yes, then they’ll probably desert us.” They climbed up the steps to the guesthouse. “They both plan to be tourists, visit the Maya ruins, go snorkeling, then stay at a hotel where they’ll be waited on for a change.”

  With his home two miles from the nearest residence, he and Sierra would be alone. She looked up at him, expecting to feel a tinge of fear; instead, there was anticipation. Blade was what she wanted and tomorrow she’d show him. She lifted on tiptoes and kissed him softly on the lips. “Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  Going inside, she closed the door, then went to call her family.

  The next morning Sierra woke slowly, languidly stretching in the wide bed. Through the billowing curtains at the open window she saw the tips of palm trees, the blue sky. The day promised to be a beautiful one and she didn’t plan to waste another minute in bed. Jumping up, she went to the dresser in her bedroom for fresh undergarments.

  She’d worked off some of her sexual frustrations unpacking last night. She picked up the expensive bits of clothes she’d purchased from Lavender & Lace and wondered how Blade had worked his off. One day she might just ask him.

  A grin on her face, she turned toward the bathroom, then halted abruptly when she heard what sounded like a thump from the other room. Picking up the iron candlestick from the dresser, she crept toward the bedroom door, berating herself for not locking her front door. She cracked the door just wide enough to see the broad back and long legs of a man going out the front door.

  Blade.

  Going into the living room, she watched long strides carry him away until he disappeared a
round the corner of the house. She glanced around the living room and saw the imprint of a head on one of the decorative pillows on the sofa. To make sure she was all right he’d spent the night on a sofa a foot too short.

  Her fingertips gently touched the imprint. It would be impossible for a woman not to fall in love with such a caring man. She was already a goner, and she couldn’t wait to see him again, hold him, lose herself in his kisses. Smiling, she went to the shower.

  Sierra hummed all the way to Blade’s house. She’d dressed for comfort in a pair of white walking shorts and a blouse. The sterling silver and turquoise bracelet cuff with matching earrings and necklace added a little punch of color and style. So did the turquoise slides and blue/green bead and turquoise belt. Since Blade liked her hair free, she’d left it that way.

  As she thought of him, her smile grew. Bounding up the steps, she crossed the veranda and lifted her hand to knock, only to let it fall when she saw the man she’d been thinking about coming toward her. He must have been watching and waiting for her.

  Her heart thudded; her body tingled in that familiar way. He was absolutely magnificent. He moved with an animalistic grace. He had a strength of will that had taken him to the pinnacle of success. He also carried a burden that made her heart cry for him. One day she hoped to be able to ease whatever it was that too often took the light from his beautiful eyes.

  As soon as Blade opened the door, she stepped inside and looped her arm through his. She might have kissed him if she wasn’t sure Jenkins and Martin were somewhere nearby. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” He smoothed her wind-tossed hair behind her ear. “You’re very cheerful this morning. You must have slept well.”

  “With you watching over me, how could I not?” She watched his eyes widen and realized he hadn’t wanted her to know. “You didn’t have to, but thank you.”

  “You’ll never know how hard it was for me not to open that bedroom door.” His voice dropped to a husky rumble.

  “Was it as difficult as saying good night last night?”

  “A hundred times worse.” He tilted her head up toward his. “I couldn’t keep from trying to imagine what you were sleeping in. I don’t imagine you’re the flannel type.”

  Her hand lifted to rest on his wrist. He had the most sinful, incredible mouth. She wanted it on hers again. “You imagined right.”

  His hand tightened in her hair. “If we keep this up, I’m going to send Martin and Jenkins away. And, since they’ve both been driving me crazy wanting to know when you’d get here, they’d probably quit on the spot.”

  “I’m surprised they’re not in here already.” She peered around his shoulder, saw Jenkins and Martin peeping around the kitchen door frame. They both jumped and disappeared. Her lips twitched.

  “I suppose they were watching, right?” Blade turned, slipping his arm around Sierra’s waist.

  “Who?” she asked innocently.

  Blade grunted and headed for the kitchen. “They would have beaten me to the door if I hadn’t told them to stay put.” Blade hugged her closer and entered the kitchen. “Here she is.”

  “Good morning, Sierra,” Martin greeted her. “Breakfast is waiting for you.”

  “Good morning, Sierra. I trust you slept well and the cottage was satisfactory,” Jenkins said.

  “Good morning,” she greeted, hugging them. “Thank you, Martin, for dinner last night. It was wonderful. Jenkins, the cottage was perfect. Thank you.”

  Both men beamed. Jenkins pulled out a chair at the round breakfast table. From the wide windows there was a magnificent view of the sea. Martin turned to the commercial stove. Jenkins placed a blue linen napkin in her lap, then poured her a tall glass of fresh papaya juice. Blade shook his head, took his seat, and bowed his head.

  When she lifted her head from saying grace, Martin slid fluffy cheese and ham omelets onto her plate and Blade’s. “You fellows really know how to make paradise paradise.”

  “Thank you,” they said in unison; then they disappeared.

  Sierra picked up her fork. “I can see why you travel with them. They make life more enjoyable.”

  “They have their moments.”

  “Come on, Blade. Give them a little credit,” she teased, knowing he was kidding. He cared about them, just as they cared about him. They enjoyed more than an employee/employer relationship.

  “You deserve the credit. They enjoy doing for you, but that’s understandable; any man, once seeing you, would feel the same.” His face grew serious. “You make a man want to move mountains for you.”

  His admission stunned her, pleased her, thrilled her. Her fork clattered on her plate.

  Blade blinked as if he was surprised by his admission. He picked up his coffee cup. “After breakfast, I’ll show you around the property.”

  She picked up her fork with a hand that refused to steady. “Blade?”

  “Yes?” he answered, not meeting her gaze.

  She waited until he set the cup down and looked at her. “Some men might want to move mountains for me, but you’re the only man that moves me.”

  An hour after Sierra made her startling statement, Blade was still reeling. He’d known she cared, but her confession sounded like something much deeper. Glancing at her sitting beside him in the Jeep with a contented, beautiful smile on her face, he felt his heart clutch. He wanted her and, as he’d told her, had planned to bring her here to make that desire a reality.

  Yet he was finding there was more to his own emotions as well.

  No woman had ever taken up so much of his thoughts. After he’d lost Mary, he had never gone out of his way to protect or please another woman. Occasionally he took women out and they went to bed. Always at the woman’s place, and afterwards he always went home, forgetting the woman as fast as she had probably forgotten about him.

  He hadn’t even made love to Sierra, yet he knew instinctively that he wouldn’t want to leave her, that he wanted the first time to be in his bed. Somehow she’d slipped past his defenses. She awakened his compassion and passion. He’d been right: whatever there was between them wouldn’t be easy.

  “This community is so well laid out,” she said as they passed a residence painted in brilliant hues of burnt orange and red. “I don’t think I could make up my mind which area to live in.”

  “That’s the idea. The residences will be inland, on the lagoon or beachfront. Water canals will connect the lagoon properties. The amenities will be the most comprehensive anywhere.” He looked over at her. “Even more than those at Navarone Place. We plan effortless ownership.”

  As they passed the construction workers, many of them looked up and waved. “They know you.”

  He nodded. “When we were trying to get workers, I wanted Mayan carpenters and masons. They remember.”

  “What is that?” She pointed to a platform in the trees.

  “A treetop spa.” He shook his head. “There’s already a waiting list for when it opens.”

  She sighed. “Imagine waking in your own luxurious lagoon or beachfront each morning and boating on the canal to the beach club or restaurants,” she mused.

  “Or playing on a championship golf course,” he interjected. “All at pre-development pricing.”

  She sat up, pulled the sunglasses from her eyes, and turned to him. Twin furrows marched across her forehead. “You’re selling already?”

  He flexed his hands on the steering wheel, dreading the coming conversation. “It’s standard procedure. Just like for Navarone Place.”

  “I see.” She slipped on the sunglasses, then the wide-brimmed floppy straw hat with a turquoise scarf around the band, and went back to watching the scenery.

  He tried to see if she was upset and still keep his eyes on the paved road as it twisted through the development. With the sunglasses and hat shielding her eyes and her face, it was impossible. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that she had put the hat on. “There’s been an explosion of resort properties in this a
rea. It was imperative that we let prospective buyers know about us and be competitive.”

  “Where is the sales center?” she asked, staring out her window.

  He pulled into the driveway of a finished residence and cut the motor. They might as well get this over with. “There’s no office. Everything is handled online on the Web site. Prospective buyers read, print, and sign an agreement to fax to us, and pay a refundable fifty-thousand-dollar deposit to be on the list when we’re ready to show.”

  She removed the blue-tinted sunglasses and finally looked at him. Her steady gaze was more interested than hurt. He took that as a positive sign and explained further: “We plan to have an invitation-only party in about a month for those who have signed the agreement and paid the deposit.”

  “About the time Navarone Place will be finished?”

  “Yes,” he said, and waited.

  “A large number will buy. You’ve given them choices and luxury in an exotic setting.” She glanced around. “Did we stop here for a reason?”

  “I thought I might have to kiss you out of being upset with me.” He hoped it came out as teasing rather than frantic. No, “frantic” wasn’t the word. “Concerned,” yes, that was the right word.

  “Why would I be upset?” she asked with a lift of one luxurious brow.

  Since she didn’t back down from a fight or an argument, he might think he had been worried for nothing … but he didn’t think so. “You’re one of the best brokers I’ve ever worked with, yet I didn’t offer you the job to sell Riviera Maya,” he explained.

  “Which obviously means I’ll be old news by then.”

  She said it so matter-of-factly that he simply stared. It was as if she had already moved on. The knot easing in his stomach tightened. Honesty warred with desire. With Sierra, honesty would always win. “I can’t imagine a time when I don’t want you, but I can’t make any promises.”

  “I’m not asking for any.” She turned more toward him, a small smile curving her lush lips upward. “It’s just my competitive spirit kicking in. Don’t mind me. What’s next?”