Unconditional (6 page)

“Try stalked by three separate men, since she was sixteen years old. One of them came close to taking you, but didn’t anticipate your will to fight back. You’ve had bodyguards ever since. Your father was not willing to rely on your ability to defend yourself. The last guy was only captured two months ago.” Dominic stated the facts dispassionately, daring her to deny what he was saying.

“But I’m not being stalked any longer and I don’t need another bodyguard!”

“Last night proved otherwise. We’re not going to debate this.” The irritating man was cool as a cucumber, while she was royally pissed.

“Let’s go, Rin!” Bianca gritted her teeth in annoyance, turned, and marched from the room. Rinah followed her friend and they both got into Bianca’s car.

With them buckled in, Bianca revved the engine. Dominic suddenly rapped on the driver’s side window.

Bianca reluctantly lowered the glass. “What?”

“House number?”

Through clenched teeth, she told him what he wanted to know. On the journey to the party, with Dominic’s dark Porsche tailing them, Bianca spewed a constant stream of expletives and repeatedly warned her to stay away from him. She guessed her friend’s real frustration was in her surprise at Dominic’s attraction to Rinah.

“I’ve never seen him with a black woman! I don’t trust his sudden interest now! Why is he making an exception for you?”

“Bee, I think you’re overreacting just a bit. It’s not like he’s taking me on a date.”

“No man is going to put this much effort into following a woman around unless he’s interested in tail. Why didn’t you tell me about meeting him last night? Did he hit it? Is that it? He got some brown sugar and now wants more?”

“Now you’re just being crude. For the sake of our friendship, I’m going to ignore you said that.” Rinah was royally pissed at her friend’s negativity.

At the party, the crowd was less wild than the one from the night before. They seemed more interested in showing off their latest dance moves and having a good time than on ragging on each other. In no time, the hostile barbs between her and Bianca were forgotten and they were having a blast. An hour in, Rinah felt Dominic’s electric energy inside the room. Up to that point, he’d remained outside of the house. Rinah couldn’t believe how attuned she was to his presence. To see a white guy swagger into a predominantly black gathering, with such utter confidence, was sexy as hell.
Lord help me!
She did her best to pretend not to notice him and continued dancing with her current partner, one of Bianca’s cousins.

Two fast numbers later, he still hadn’t moved a muscle. He stood aloof, in a darkened corner, watching her intently. She knew because she kept sneaking glances at him. Every time she looked in his direction, he simply stared back at her, unwavering and emotionless. The men partnering her didn’t have a hope in hell of gaining her interest. In fact, she wasn’t responding to them in the least. She felt like every roll of her hips, swing of her hair, and twist of her body were mating calls to Dominic. Her movements were more sensual, more provocative, under his focused scrutiny. He made her feel desire so intense she hadn’t known it was possible to reach such heights without even touching.

Just then, the music changed to a slow dance. The lights darkened further and the mood changed drastically. She had intended to sit this one out, but her current dance partner, whose name she didn’t even remember, had other ideas. In less than ten seconds, Dominic’s strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her backward against his broad chest.

“Not fuckin’ happening!” he growled in her ear.

“Shit!” She exclaimed at the shocking jolt of desire. Sizzling butterflies in her stomach and every nerve ending quivered in awareness to his blatant aggression.

“Hey! Back the fuck off, man! Dis one’s mine!” her delusional partner protested.

She couldn’t see Dominic’s face, but could feel the volatile emotions rolling off him in waves. Just as she was about to intervene, the other man put both of his hands up, palms out.

“My bad, man!” Whatever he’d seen in Dominic’s glare was enough to convince him that he didn’t want to argue the point. He slowly melted away into the crowd.

She tried to step away from Dominic, but his arms only tightened around her further. The feel of him made her dizzy, and she clasped his forearms for purchase. He palmed her stomach and held her flush against him. He lightly roamed his other hand from the bottom swell of her breast to the curve of her hip, while nestling his face in her hair. She could feel him inhaling the coconut oil and vanilla fragrance in the silky strands.

Everyone around them receded from her consciousness. Suddenly it was only them in the room, in their own private world.

“Dominic?”

“Not a word. I was willing to give you some time, but dancing with that fool was a deliberate challenge. What the fuck did you think would happen?” His voice was like liquid fire against her sensitive skin.

She felt every flagrant, hard inch of him along her back. With bent knees and his hips aligned with her ass, rolling in time with the music, she couldn’t help but note his granite length pulsing into her softness.

“I can’t let that go unanswered,” he whispered.

Rinah was drowning in his scent and the hard masculinity that seemed to engulf her. “I did no such thing,” she said softly, now helplessly swaying to the music and trying to get even closer to him. How could she possibly resist the music and lyrics playing loudly throughout the club, encouraging them?

He passed my damn test with flying
colors!

“Who knew?” she whispered in awe, meaning both his continued pursuit despite her resistance and his spectacular public display of interest. From what she’d heard from Bianca, she hadn’t expected such a strong response from him, for him to be possessive of any woman.

“Knew what?” his husky voice devastated her further.

“Who the hell knew white boy could dance?” She had no intention of ever telling him about her test. She loved his dominating, virile demeanor. “That shit’s so unfair!” She wanted to make light of her devastating fascination with him.

He laughed at her disgruntled complaint.

“You have a problem with the fact that I’m white, or that I can dance?”

Despite the humor in his voice, she knew how serious the question really was. And she answered him, leaving no doubt of her sincerity.

“I couldn’t care less what color you are. I’m too stressed about how easily you destroy my equilibrium. I’m drowning right now.”

She felt him tremble against her in reaction to her confession and his soft “fuck!” said it all.

“Let’s get the hell out of here before I show you what else white boy can do.” He stepped away from her and turned her to face him.

She devoured his striking facial features. His physical beauty was difficult to contend with, given her already impaired state.

“Lord have mercy!” She breathed out. His sinful grin told her that he’d heard her awed appreciation. She should have been mortified, but was too intensely aware of him to care. She didn’t have the energy to feel any caution.

Pride be
damned!

He gripped her hand and started toward the exit.

With a last-ditch attempt to gain some sanity and control over the situation, she tried reasoning with him. “Dominic, please, I can’t do this. Going off somewhere with a guy I just met is crazy! I don’t know you from Adam!”

He didn’t respond or break stride, only continued to pull her along with him.

“Dominic?”

“Hey, Rinah! What’s going on?” Bianca’s angry voice intercepted them.

“Ah, I—”

“We’re leaving.” Dominic interrupted her.

“Rinah, what the hell? I told you to stay away from him. You don’t want to be just another one of his playthings!”

Rinah didn’t know if her friend was angry because she was interested in Dominic herself, or if she was truly concerned for her.

“This is your choice, sweetheart. No more games. Do you want to be with me or not?”

You’ve got to love a guy who declares his interest in a room full of strangers. He has giant balls, I give him
that!

She knew what he was asking of her. Her decision now would either sever their budding relationship, or she could give them a chance to explore their amazing attraction.

Not even a
contest!

“Bianca, I love you like a sister. But I do want this, whatever this is.” She moved closer to Dominic and took his hand.

“You know you’re my girl and I don’t want to see you hurt. But I can’t let you go with him without reminding you of our talk last night and in the car. This isn’t you and you’ll hate yourself tomorrow for making such a reckless decision.”

“Thank you for your concern, Bianca. I’ll ensure she gets home safely.” The impatience in his voice was evident. Dominic gripped her hand and they briskly exited the house before she could respond to Bianca’s impassioned plea.

But he had nothing to worry about, she felt absolutely certain of the course she’d set.

The atmosphere in the car was just as electric as before but with much less uncertainty. After crossing the bridge to Paradise Island, he parked the car in the garage of an apartment building and walked around to assist her. Placing a commanding hand at her waist, he escorted her to the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse. Upon entering the condo, he led her into a large living room with huge ivory sofas and chairs, mahogany and glass tables and furnishings, triple French doors, and glass windows overlooking the scenic ocean as a backdrop.

He walked lazily to his kitchen, indicating quite clearly that any decision made would be hers. No persuasion would be forthcoming.

Rinah remained rooted to the spot, afraid and unsure of what to do next. She’d never been in this situation before.

“Do you want a drink?” he asked.

“No, thank you,” Rinah muttered back, now becoming annoyed by his sudden cool in the face of her doubting her decision. She had let her emotions dictate her actions, something she’d never done before. Now he didn’t seemed to be as vested in them as she was.

“Would you like to freshen up? There’s a bathroom in the spare bedroom if you need it,” he said as he came back into the room, carrying a bottle of beer his hand.

“No, I wouldn’t like to freshen up. But I would like to go home.” She glared at him, daring him to contradict her. She wanted to shatter his control as he had already done to her so effortlessly. He was too self-assured, too arrogant. Watching his careless stride as he crossed the room, she was even more intimidated by his aura of sexual sophistication.

Dominic returned her stare with amused indulgence. “Is that right? I thought we agreed no more games.”

“This isn’t a game! You’re just too damn arrogant for my taste.”

“Whatever. The spare bedroom is through there. I have no desire to drive to the mainland tonight, but I’ll take you back in the morning.” Turning and walking nonchalantly into his bedroom, he left her standing in the middle of his living room in stunned silence.

“I want to go home now!” she spurted in outrage, following him into the bedroom. “Can you at least call a taxi to take me? I have to travel to Trinidad tomorrow. I shouldn’t have come here. Bianca’s right, this isn’t me. I don’t have random hook-ups with strange men.”

Dominic ignored her and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“What are you doing? Did you hear me?” She knew she was behaving hysterically, but she couldn’t help it. He could test the patience of a saint, and God knew she was no saint. His absolute confidence infuriated and aroused her at the same time. And if she was honest with herself, she would admit that that was the real reason why she was so angry. She wanted him to make the decision for her, to display the same passion for her as he’d done at the party. Terrified and completely out of her depth, she wanted to know he was as enamored with her as she was with him.

Walking farther into the room, Rinah was momentarily distracted by the sight of the huge, king-sized mattress with charcoal silk sheets. The bed dominated the room. She gasped audibly and her eyes widened at the opulence before her. Bianca had warned her he was so woefully out of her league!

There were glass surfaces and mirrors everywhere. It had a dominant theme of black and gray. The dark wood and glass furniture with chrome fittings, softly lit wall lamps, and gray carpet did nothing to diffuse the starkness of the decor. Everything about the room screamed ultra-male and dangerous passion—and the enormous mirror on the ceiling above the bed made her blush.

She knew her eyes must be round with awe. To redirect her thoughts, she instead turned her gaze unwaveringly on him.

She soon realized her mistake, as the acute desire of a few moments earlier returned with a vengeance. Awareness reverberated throughout her body at the sight of his impressive physique. His muscled, naked chest was peppered with a light mat of hair that disappeared to just above his chiseled eight-pack abdomen. Indecipherable Latin letters and a few symbols were tattooed on his huge biceps. Encased in tailored trousers, his lean hips and trunk-sized thighs hinted at his simmering power, and his rampant erection was unabashedly displayed. She’d thought him beautiful before, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

Confronted with such masculine perfection, she licked her suddenly dry lips. She couldn’t hide her awed reaction to him. The cold amusement on his face told her he was well aware of her response.

Completely discarding his shirt, Dominic took his watch off and walked over to the bed, then perched on the edge in order to remove his shoes and socks.

She was fascinated by the sight of his hard, corded, muscular chest, his stomach and arm with the vivid tattoos that conveyed he was no ordinary man. He was obviously capable of inflicting a whole lot of pain on an adversary. “Wh-what, do your tattoos represent?” She grimaced at the hesitation and stammer in her voice.

He gave every indication that he intended to ignore her presence and that her watching him did not affect him in the least. “They’re a tribute to the men we lost in battle.” His lips twisted in mocking nonchalance, clearly not willing to disclose more on the subject. He suddenly stood and unzipped his trousers. Only then did he look at her directly, with a dark, brooding regard.