Defying Desire (11 page)

“No, that’s normally the best time to sleep.” Pulling her shirt on, she flipped her braids through the collar and stood to stare at him with annoyance.

Taking her hand, Trent pulled her out of the room, heading for the front door. “It’s quiet and the humidity has usually gone down so you’re not sweating bullets as you walk.”

“But my bed felt so good.”

“It did,” Trent readily agreed. “And you felt beyond good in it.” Keeping her hand in his, he made a right turn and led her toward the opening of the apartment complex.

“Obviously not better than the cool night air,” she snapped.

For the next few moments they walked in silence until
Trent pulled her in front of him, cradling her back against his front. “Look up,” he instructed.

Tia tilted her head back as best she could with his massive chest so close behind her. “What am I looking for?”

“What do you see?”

“It’s dark.”

Trent chuckled. “Come on, relax and look at the sky. Tell me what you see.”

He’d bent his head closer so that the warmth of his breath kissed her cheek. She inhaled then exhaled and gave it a try. “It’s like the sea, a deep, dark abyss capable of swallowing secrets, burying fear.”

Trent wasn’t really surprised that her mind would instantly relate the darkness to fear. Her accident had happened at night, her greatest loss had happened when the sky was a deep, dark abyss.

“I see hope,” he told her. “If I stand here and watch long enough, the deep indigo will lighten, gorgeous golds and reds will peek through. The sun will rise and daylight will come, a new day with new events. The hope of tomorrow.”

His words were worth so much more than any therapy session Tia had ever participated in. Hope. That’s what she should have for her future. Not this innate sense that she was forever doomed to wallow in sadness. With a jolt she pulled out of his arms. Too much, too soon, she thought.

“So how often do you walk at night?” She began moving, walking slowly until he caught her drift and picked up pace beside her.

“Whenever I get the chance. You only work out at the gym?”

“Yes. Carlo is great and can always fit me into his schedule.”

“I’ll bet he does.”

With a tilt of her head she stared at him. “I don’t believe it, the infamous Trent Donovan is jealous.”

“Whoa. Don’t talk so loud, someone might hear you and start a rumor. I am not jealous.”

Tia laughed. “It’s after midnight. Who’s going to be outside to hear us? If anybody is up at this hour they’re down on the Strip losing their week’s pay. And I know jealous when I see it. Although I don’t know why—Carlo’s just my trainer. He’s not my…” Her words trailed off.

“He’s not your lover,” Trent finished for her, wondering why it was so hard for her to say that. “And he’d better be real clear on that fact in the future.” The mere thought of Carlo or any other man touching her had Trent’s temples pounding. Hell, yeah, he was jealous, and that made him even more lethal.

“Carlo’s engaged to a really nice blonde who works at one of the bars at MGM Grand.”

“Good for him.”

He’d pulled her hand into his again as they’d turned at the end of the street two blocks away from the apartment complex, and headed back. They weren’t talking a lot at the moment but that was okay. Every now and then Trent would look up to the sky and Tia would follow suit.

She could walk like this for hours with him. It was a bit of a shock to realize that she and Trent Donovan could spend time together without having sex. It was a comforting revelation, one she would no doubt contemplate all day tomorrow.

Tomorrow, she thought wistfully. What would tomorrow bring? Would Trent be in her bed in the morning? Would he want to do something else with her, like have lunch or dinner or simply take another walk at midnight? It had been
so long since she’d thought about what tomorrow would bring, so long since the thought had held any appeal for her.

But Trent had given her that. He’d given her tomorrow. He’d given her hope.

Chapter 10

I
t was almost noon when Tia climbed out of bed on Saturday morning. She and Trent had spent another long night exploring each other’s bodies. And just as she had every night, after the first one, she’d sent him home.

Spending one night wrapped in his arms had been a mistake. While she was cool having sex with him, she didn’t want to confuse things. They were just lovers, they were not a couple.

So she worked during the day, well, not all day. CK Davis Designs had her pretty much booked through the next couple of months but they didn’t have a runway show planned until early spring. So for now work for Tia consisted of three to four hours of photo shoots for newspapers, magazines and the CK Davis catalog. The rest of her time was either spent in the gym or closed in her apartment.

Since Jake and Jessica’s deaths she hadn’t been out to
dinner or the movies or done much socializing or hanging out at all. She hadn’t wanted to do any of those things. She felt guilty for being the sole survivor. And how could life ever be rich and enjoyable again after the unbearable heartache she’d endured? She didn’t think it could.

Today, she was moving even slower than usual. Trent had left around three this morning so she’d had more than eight hours of sleep. She shouldn’t be moving in this sluggish manner but her destination was playing a big part in her mood.

Jade’s baby shower was in two hours.

An elaborate luncheon had been planned to celebrate the arrival of the first Donovan grandchildren. These would be the most famous twins in Las Vegas history for some time. The press were chomping at any tidbits they could gather regarding Jade and the sex of the twins. But Linc was determined to keep the secret. So determined that Trent had even paid Jade’s doctor a surprise visit, telling him in no uncertain terms what would happen if the sex of the twins became public.

When he’d told her that Tia had laughed, then she realized he was quite serious. Trent was not a man to be crossed. And he would do whatever was necessary to protect the people he loved.

Stepping into the shower Tia thought seriously about that. What type of woman would capture Trent’s heart? In the last two weeks she’d had time to get to know him better than she thought any woman had in a really long time. And over this time she’d confirmed what she already knew—Trent Donovan was a great catch. He was everything a woman could ever dream of in a man. Handsome, protective and fiercely loyal. So why did she continuously put him out of her house?

The answer was easy: Tia wasn’t looking for what every other woman was. She’d had it once and it was taken away from her.

No sense putting herself in a position to be hurt again. She didn’t think she’d be able to take it.

Turning her back on the spray of water, she let her forehead rest on the tiled wall of the shower.

Yes, Jake and Jessica had been taken from her through a power too high for her to question. But in those first months she’d done just that. Asking God why He’d done something so cruel and so heartless to her had been futile and as her mother had told her, just plain disrespectful. God did not make mistakes, Madeline had said.

And after a while Tia had begun to believe her. Well, she’d actually remembered that she’d believed that all along. Through her pain of losing them she realized that the plan for their life just didn’t include her. And she’d started to accept that. Throughout that time she’d also begun to accept something else: that her life obviously did not entail that type of happiness.

As good a catch as Trent was, he wasn’t meant to be her catch. They were having fun together but that was as far as it would go. He would not be falling in love with her, nor she with him. That was not their fate.

When she was through showering Tia stood in the mirror taking an extreme amount of time to style her hair. Each time Trent saw her and she’d had it up he’d simply taken it down. While they had sex he would continuously thread his fingers through the tiny braids. He liked when they draped over onto his chest as she rode him, or fanned out on the pillow as he moved on top of her. And when she realized that the reason she was fussing with her hair so fervently was because she
wanted to do something that he would like, she immediately stopped. Leaving the top pulled up with a clear clip and the rest hanging down her back.

Going to her closet, she decided on dark, flare-leg jeans and a yellow blouse. Her yellow Donna Karan jeweled sandals were one of her favorites and she sat on the bed to tie the thin straps around her ankles. Standing before the wall-length mirror, she surveyed herself and liked what she saw.

The ride to the Donovan estate would take her about forty minutes. Checking her clock she realized she’d taken a little too long on her hair and had exactly forty minutes to get to the shower on time. She hated being late for anything. Moving into the living room she spotted the box that had been delivered yesterday afternoon. For the shower gift, she’d decided on a double changing table with a cascade trim and honey-oak finish. Camille had mentioned that Jade was designing the nursery with oak furniture and shades of yellow and green. The changing table was beautiful and would fit into the décor splendidly.

Grabbing her purse and her keys, Tia lifted the box and headed out the door. She was allotted two parking spots for her apartment and always parked in the one closest to the mailboxes. Getting closer to her car she noticed that she had a flat tire. She was in the process of cursing when she came around to the other side of the car and noticed that tire, too, was flat. Propping the box up against the door she went to the back intending to open the trunk and get out her spare when she noticed that the back two tires were flat, as well.

“Dammit!” she swore.

There was no way she could wait for the auto club to come and fix the tires and get to the baby shower at a respectable
time. And as much as she didn’t really want to go she didn’t want to disappoint Camille, either. With that thought in mind she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.

“Hello?” Camille answered sounding a little winded.

“Hi, Camille. It’s me, Tia.”

“Hey, Tia. What’s up? Are you on your way?”

“I was but I have a flat. Or rather a couple of flat tires. If you’re not too busy do you think you could pick me up?”

“You know I would but I’m already at the house trying to get some last minute things together. But wait, Adam just walked in. I’ll see if he can pick you up. Hold on.”

“No, that’s…” Tia was about to tell her that was okay but in the background she could hear Camille asking her fiancé to come and pick her up.

“Okay, it’s all set. Adam said he’ll be there within the hour,” Camille said returning to the phone.

“That’s okay, Camille, I just won’t come. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone.”

“It’s not an inconvenience. Adam left our gift at the house so he’s heading out toward your direction anyway. Just sit tight, he’ll be there soon.”

Closing the phone Tia decided not to go back into her apartment. If she did she knew she’d come up with another reason not to go to the shower. So instead she walked around the car noticing that not only were the tires flat, they’d been slashed so that the rubber was hanging out in jagged intervals.

Looking around she tried to see if this was a group act of vandalism or just her car. None of the other vehicles in the lot were affected. Taking a deep breath she opened the door to her car and took a seat, turning on the radio to listen and wait for her ride.

Trent was more than an hour late for the shower. It wasn’t a big deal since this get-together was more for the women of the family. Still, Jade had insisted that Linc be there. And in turn Linc had browbeaten his brothers into enduring the torture with him.

Pulling up behind a line of cars coming out of his parents’ driveway, Trent got out and walked toward the house. He wasn’t at all surprised to see his brothers along with his cousins Max, Ben and Brandon standing out front, beers in hand.

“What’s going on? You guys get kicked out of the party?” he joked.

“You try sitting in a room full of women talking about the joys and pains of pregnancy,” Max joked extending his hand for Trent to shake.

“Yeah, every few minutes they’d realize men were in the room and then we’d get these sizzling looks as if all the pain and dreariness of pregnancy were our fault.” This was Brandon Donovan whom Trent was completely surprised to see. Brandon lived in Houston, where, last Trent heard, he was a junior investor working for a new but solvent hedge fund called TJB Investments.

Brandon was Uncle Albert’s son whose mother had passed away seven years ago. Since then Uncle Albert hadn’t been to many of the family gatherings. Brandon and Bailey, his twin sister, tended to stick close to their father, keeping an eye on him. Their adopted brother Brock lived in Maryland and didn’t come to many family functions.

“Well, well, well. What brings you out to Sin City, little cousin?” Trent asked thumping fists with Brandon then giving him a hug.

“It’s not everyday one of the Triple Threats prepares to be a father,” Brandon said, smiling at Linc.

“True. Congratulations again, man.” Trent shook Linc’s hand, then caught the questioning glare Adam was giving him.

“What’s up, Adam?”

“I’m just wondering where your head is at right now.

“Not now, Adam,” Linc warned.

Trent was confused. The last time he’d seen his brothers they’d left things on an even keel. “What’s the problem?”

“I had to pick your woman up today. Where were you?” Adam said, ignoring Linc’s glare.

“Whoa, what are you talking about ‘my woman’?”

“Yeah, you know Trent doesn’t keep one woman,” Ben joked.

“Look at him, he doesn’t even know which one you’re talking about,” Max added.

Trent, however, wasn’t getting the joke. “Speak your mind, Adam, and stop beating around the bush.”

“Okay. Tia’s car was vandalized. She called Camille for a ride so I went to pick her up.”

“What? When was this? I didn’t know anything about something happening to her car.”