Fighting Destiny (7 page)

“I came up here to tell you that I will not be bought this time with any of your little gestures. When you decided you didn’t want me and all of me, this marriage was over and it still is! I don’t know what kind of mind games you are trying to play with me here, but I didn’t decide to come to this hotel. If I had my way you would have never even known that I was even on this island! We had our time and that has passed by, let me at least enjoy this intensive without you ruining every single moment of it for me. Stay the hell away from me! ” shouted Candasee.

Good she had made her point! Let him digest that while she returned to her room. S
he whirled around to storm back down the hallway and away from Darius who for some reason had become even more handsome and refined than she had last remembered. Did his hair always have that extra curl to it and were his shoulders always that broad and his eyes were so grey and warm?

Her progress was interrupted by a f
irm hand which pushed the door closed in front of her face. Jumping back in surprise, she collided with a solid wall of muscle and that impact released a wave of heat and the characteristic male scent of his body around them. She hadn’t even seen Darius move but suddenly she was trapped between the heat of his body and the solid frame of the oak door. Trembling violently she wasn’t sure if it was because she was angry or if it was because she could feel how the heat from Darius’ body was radiating into her and how good he smelled. The scent of frankincense was always one of his favourites and clearly this cologne he was wearing contained that heady aromatic.

“Candasee, please wait!” he said softly against her hair
and he grasped her shoulder with his other hand willing her to stop trembling. He had no idea that she would take his welcome gift so badly and he knew that if he had any hope of seeing her again he had to get her to calm down. “Please listen to me for a moment!” he asked softly. “Please!”

Standing this close to Candasee was all Darius dreamed about for
months and it took all of his restraint not to turn her around and kiss her until she forgot what her true mission was to his suite tonight. It was as if nothing had changed; in fact she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

Slowly
, Candasee sensed the burst of anger ebb out of her body like a receding tide and her body slumped against the door now totally tired and spent! What was happening? She wanted to stay angry, damn him. She felt as though she was literally on a roller coaster since early this afternoon. She turned around and her face ended up being pressed into the break at the top of his slightly unbuttoned shirt, where he always applied his cologne. Why couldn’t she even maintain a good angry moment at this man? Why was his just standing so close to her affecting her so powerfully still?

She raised her eyes to meet his and found him watching her warily as though at
any moment she might run away. That was exactly what she knew she should do, but for some reason she was rooted to the spot. She was also forgetting exactly why she came up here and attacked him in such a manner just now. Whatever happened to hoping they never ran into each other?

Stepping backward slowly
now that he was more confident that she wouldn’t go bolting down the hall, Darius let her have her space. Standing there watching her as she looked back at him, he pushed his hands deep into his pockets to control his impulse to just grab her by the shoulders and kiss her deeply. Yes, he heard every word she said and by the looks of things she was still very angry at him, but that did nothing to quell the desire within to hold her close to him. Just that moment of inhaling her hair and touching her arm had awakened something in him that he’d thought died a while ago.

“Darius, I shouldn’t have come up here,” said Candasee
finally turning again to leave, feeling her face prickling with embarrassment as she recalled how out of control she must have seemed just now. The security guard must also have thought that she was out of her mind!

Darius ignored her last statement, hoping to engage her in even the shortest conversation before she left.

“Wait, I’m so glad to see you Candasee, you have no idea! Please don’t go yet!” he said earnestly trying to stay rooted to the spot where he was standing. Now that he had her in this room he did not want to let her go at all and he was racking his brain for something to say that wouldn’t offend her. “Will you come and sit for a while? I just ordered dinner, would you like anything?” he asked.

“No Darius, I am not hungry right now, I
already ate at the airport. Didn’t you hear a word I said to you just now?” she asked regarding his calm demeanour incredulously.

Darius paused before he responded to her. “Yes, I heard everything you said and I am
sorry if I offended you, it wasn’t my intention! I’m glad you are here,” he said sincerely.

Darius, I
think I should go back to my room now, I don’t feel so good,” said Candasee as the room appeared to tilt a little.

Seeing her unsteady
movements, Darius knew from experience that she must be exhausted from the events of the day and he reached out to steady her. Just that contact with her sent a super charge of what felt like electricity through his body and from the wonder in her eyes he knew he was not alone in that feeling. Not even she was too tired to notice the intense connection which still crackled between them.

“
Ok ay, but at least let me get you something to drink first. I can’t have you stumbling back through the hotel like this. You must be very tired from travelling today. I’ll walk you back to your room or I can get Gerald to take you,” he offered.

“No, I’ll go back alone,” she protested and again she swayed as another wave of fatigue swept her body.
Her blood pressure must have spiked, she thought. Damn him! This man would be the death of her!

He took her hand gently praying silently that she would not push him away and led her over to the seating area where she followed and sat without the slightest resistance.
In the past whenever she became like this he knew she was almost beyond the point of exhaustion. She wasn’t the type to lose her cool just like that. The few times she did so, she was under extreme pressure working as an attorney on several important cases all at once; or when they had their arguments just before the divorce.

Moving over to the drinks caddy
, he knew he had at least two bottles of the sparkling ginger drink she’d always raved about there and he poured her a glass.  Whenever she got really exhausted in the past she always liked to have one of these to settle her stomach and usually she would just end up falling asleep shortly afterward.

He sat beside her
and offered her the glass and she drank the golden liquid quickly and then handed him the empty glass. He took it from her and rested it on the low mahogany coffee table in front of them.

Candasee knew that all the fight had gone out of her body and all she felt now was an overwhelming tiredness.
Coming up here was a huge mistake and now all she wanted to do was to sleep. But she couldn’t fall asleep here; she had to get back to her room somehow. All of her bravado and self-talk about how she would go out of her way to avoid Darius and make sure their paths never crossed during this trip was now a complete waste of time. She was the one who initiated contact. If she had the energy, she would’ve kicked herself in the shins.

“Darius, I can’t stay here,
I’m going back to my room. Just leave me alone, please,” she mumbled almost incoherently now as the overwhelming desire to take a nap grew stronger.

“Just rest a little and when you feel up to it you can go back to your room, okay!”
Darius replied watching her knowingly. She would be asleep in less than five minutes.

Her eyelids were feeling extremely heavy and sh
e found herself leaning against Darius’ shoulder and he raised his arm to encircle her shoulders and watched her silently as she rested against him. He felt so warm, so solid and so good against her cheek. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a few minutes she could pull herself together enough to get back to her room.

Candasee closed her eyes and kept saying to herself, just five minutes, and I’ll be fine, just five, she continued as her breathing became even and she fell asleep.

If anyone had dared to tell him even two hours ago that he would be sitting here with his
wife
in the circle of his arms again he wouldn’t have believed them. Once he knew she was coming to the hotel he’d cancelled his dinner plans in the restaurant and ordered room service so he could plan his schedule around the times she would be free during the intensive. Eloise had sent him a copy of her conference itinerary at his request. He didn’t want one moment to pass when he wasn’t available to at least be with her during her free time on this island during the next eight days if he could help it.

There was only one other time in his life that he re-arranged his schedule like that; when they first met.
As her head slid down from his shoulder to his chest, he revelled in knowing how right it all felt. She was his missing puzzle piece, the love of his life. He touched her hair gently and allowed himself to remember how much he enjoyed running his fingers through this curtain of hair when he kissed her and how much he wanted to do that now.

“
No”, he said, steeling himself against the natural pull of his emotions toward her. He wouldn’t take anything from her that she did not freely offer to him and based on all that she said when she entered this room, she wasn’t offering him anything, and in fact, quite the opposite. Biting his lower lip he reluctantly eased himself from the chair, allowing her head to rest on the seat and went to retrieve a pillow and comforter from the bedroom of the adjoining suite. On second thought, leaving her on the sofa wasn’t the best idea because based on her history she was down for the count. He would sleep on the sofa instead and allow her to have the bed.

Lifting her gently
, and noting that she was indeed fast asleep, he carried her over to the bedroom and laid her gently in the middle of the giant king four poster there, taking care not to wake her up. He removed her shoes and tucked her in. For several moments, he simply gazed at his ‘
wife
’ as she slept with her skin glowing under the gentle rays of the lamp across the bed on the side table, before he finally turned it off.

In his heart, she would always be his wife and even though he knew two years ago that signing those divorce papers would be the biggest mistake of his life, he did it anyway, because he wanted to save his pride! Damn his stupid pride now! Look at all it had cost him! He lost the trust and love of the only woman beside his own mother whose love mattered to him, whose opinion he sought and whose touch he craved. As far as he was concerned, Candasee Brogan was back in his life and before these eight days were up he swore to make sure that it was the last time she would ever consider herself a Maxwell again.

Mmm,
what a delicious dream she was having! She was lying down on a massive four poster king-sized bed looking out of a full glass wall overlooking the Caribbean Sea, watching the first morning rays come over the horizon. Everything in the room shone with a golden glow and she stretched luxuriantly deeply inhaling the scent embedded in her pillows. This was a scent she had grown to love, that on more than one occasion had kept her in bed for hours at a time in the morning while she explored, tasted, touched and caressed! Darius’ scent was all over these sheets, and embedded in these pillows and all she wanted to do was to bury herself deeper in this bed and in this moment!

Sudd
enly, as if a light was switched on in Candasee’s mind she sat up with alarm.

Darius?
Bed
?

The realization that she was
n’t dreaming but actually waking up in Darius’ bed in the Derrien Island Grande slammed into her consciousness with full force!  She vaguely remembered seeing red after receiving the roses and barging into his private office and letting him have a piece of her mind!

The recollection
now filled her with unspeakable embarrassment that the first words she could muster after an entire year were the ones she spat out last night after his efforts to make peace between them.  All that it showed was that she immature, and was clearly still not over all that happened while he was the clear-thinking one. There were so many times she wished he would just show up on her doorstep in Barbados with flowers, with anything, and now that he finally did, she practically threw them back into his face.

She sank back
deep under the covers with a groan and squeezed her eyes tight to block out the memory.  A quick peek revealed that she was still fully dressed in the clothes she arrived in yesterday and she breathed a sigh of relief! More than anything else she just wanted to leave here unnoticed and return to her room and have a bath. Sliding out from under the covers she tiptoed across the bedroom not sure where Darius was, but wanting to leave before he could see her escaping like this!
And where on earth were her shoes
?

As s
he stepped out of the bedroom her plans immediately evaporated because there he was, already sitting in a chair facing the bedroom wide-awake and staring at her quite intently. He looked rough and slightly dangerous with his shoe clad feet spread wide apart and both his hands resting lightly on the arms of the chair like that. Didn’t this man sleep at all?

“Good morning, did you sleep well?” he asked
her simply.

She felt
literally pinned to the wall with the surprise of seeing him sitting there so calmly, yet so powerfully in control of his domain.

“Yes, I did. Look
I don’t know what I was thinking last night. Don’t worry I am leaving now, sorry for the intrusion,” she apologized with the words rolling off her tongue lightning fast.

“You didn’t
, so don’t worry about it. Listen, I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of sending a bellboy for your suitcase so that you could change your clothes before you went downstairs this morning. You can use the shower or the hot tub in here, whichever you like and when you are done I ordered your favourite breakfast for you! I know how much you loved strawberry pancakes, bacon and gourmet coffee. This is just my way of apologizing for upsetting you last night. If it is too much I will just ask to have your things transferred back to your room again.”

Even from
across the room, Candasee noted how he clenched and unclenched his hands on the arm of the chair in the way he did when he was uncertain about something! It was one of the few emotional giveaways he had which she’d noticed about him over the years. What others thought of as a show of power on his part and nonchalance was actually as sign to his sense of vulnerability. Well he was right to be nervous! He had the nerve to go into her room?

“
Darius, no thank you! I was on my way back to my room anyway. It’s best if we don’t see much of each other while I’m here. That includes respecting my right to privacy in my room,” she snapped feeling her irritation grow once again. Didn’t he have any boundaries he wouldn’t cross in his attempts to manipulate her?

“
I figured you didn’t want anyone you knew seeing you walking the halls so early in the morning still in the clothing you wore yesterday. I was only thinking of your reputation! I know you get concerned about things like that,” he replied still slowly clenching and unclenching his hands on the arms of the chair.

“My reputation is just fine!” Candasee fumed. Trust him to try to excuse his intrusiveness as being considerate! He just didn’t understand he couldn’t control everything and everyone!

He continued as if he hadn’t even heard her, “Look I left it in the inner powder room area of the bathroom so you could have full privacy. I can also leave for a while if that would make you more comfortable,” he added quickly as he slid forward on the chair preparing to stand.

What did privacy mean from someone who had already seen, touched and tast
ed every millimetre of her body, she mused silently and trembling slightly at the memories which suddenly flooded her mind. Was she trembling in anger or from the deep attraction she was still feeling even in this moment?

He was already freshly dressed in a clean
deep blue shirt and black slacks which made the grey of his eyes look so much more appealing. His short dark-brown hair was still slightly wet from his shower and curled invitingly on his head. He was what one would describe as being biracial, having a white Scottish father and a black mother. His light-brown skin tone favoured his father’s side of the family while he inherited his nose and thick lips from his mother’s African side. A towering six foot three to her medium frame he always made her feel so secure, protected and very aroused whenever he stood near to her. Maybe that is why her anger dissolved so quickly last night! Coming up here was a colossal mistake and the faster she could get out and get back to her room and forget that any of this ever happened, the better it would be for all of them. There was no way she would let him know that she still carried a blazing torch of feeling for him, not to mention the tell-tale moisture she was beginning to feel seeping between her legs. It was too embarrassing to think about.

Still feeling apprehensive about accepting his honourable gesture, Candasee again considered leaving the suite. Checking the time
by the clock on the wall, she saw that it was just after seven thirty and by now Nathan would probably have come looking for her to go for the early morning jog they spoke about in the elevator last night.

Nathan!
Oh no!
He was the last person she wanted to explain her state of dress to and where she was returning from. He would never understand that it wasn’t what it looked like! When she didn’t answer her door, she hoped Nathan would assume that she was sleeping in late and leave her be.

She could see Darius examining her expression closely and waiting
patiently for her response. Thinking quickly, she decided that Darius’ suggestion would be best considering her limited options.

“Okay Darius,
I will change here, but only if you leave. I should be done in about twenty minutes, but no breakfast,” she replied finally.

At her response Darius smiled exposing a straight row of white teeth
but he stopped himself suddenly with some effort as though he realized she’d noticed his immediate, jubilant reaction. Clearing his throat from some imaginary blockage, he was soon walking out through the door promising to be back in twenty minutes saying that there was something that he needed to discuss with her.

She had no intention of staying that long though! This whole scene was already too intimate for her.
She had a fiancé now for crying out loud, an exclusive relationship with a man who actually loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her! She would take a quick shower and change and try to be gone in ten minutes, eleven if she was late. Seeing this tender side of Darius was unexpected! Gone were the judgemental and angry expressions with which he regarded her in the past. He actually seemed happy to see her and she didn’t know why that thought alone unnerved the heck out of her. So the faster she could get out of there, the better.

A
s Darius walked away from his room, some lightness entered his steps. As much as he would have liked nothing more than to reacquaint himself intimately with his wife in the shower, he knew that he needed to regain her trust first and if that meant leaving his own suite for twenty minutes then so be it. She said no breakfast but he was undaunted. He wasn’t a big fan of large breakfasts, preferring to drink coffee and perhaps eat a Danish roll on some occasions, but this morning he was looking forward at least to sharing a meal with Candasee again. This would be a wonderful beginning to these eight days. He had a lot to make up for! He wouldn’t be taking her no for an answer!

He took his private
elevator downstairs and decided to take a stroll around the property to see what was happening as the staff worked on the preparations for two events the hotel was hosting. Occupancy was high at this time of the year and the hotel would be full for the next few months.

Already
several guests were swimming in the pool and a group had spread out yoga mats and were doing some stretches on the pool deck. Darius assumed that they were part of the arts intensive because most tourists to the hotel slept in late and were hardly interested in exercising. If they did, they tended to concentrate their activities to the state of the art gym where it was cool and air-conditioned.

Leaning against a hut that sold locally-made souvenirs, he watched the yoga group, allowing his mind began to drift back to the times he would see Candasee stretching and dancing at their home in the past. She always looked so beautiful and so graceful when she moved and it always bewildered him then why that always stirred so much darkness and anger in him simultaneously. She was an excellent dancer but he held a secret in his heart that he’d never shared with her about why he wanted her as far away from dance or any kind of career in the arts. She had even invited him to see a few of her public performances with her dance troupe, but he never attended any of them, preferring to schedule a conflicting meeting so he had the perfect cover. Finally bribing her dance company had been the lowest he ever thought he could go and yet he still did it. The thought of it now filled him with regret and revulsion at how far he’d been willing to go to get what he wanted.

He’d
thought that if he could express enough displeasure and disapproval about her career choice that it would somehow cause her to rethink leaving her work as an attorney. He tried every angle, the money angle, the loss of social standing, and the accusations that she simply wanted to parade her body on stage in the full view of other men but none of them worked. The more they fought about it, the more agitated and frustrated they both became and finally he did the unthinkable. When she found out, she didn’t want him or their marriage anymore and who could blame her?

The very thing he feared happening to him still did
, even though he tried to stop it! He knew she would probably have reconsidered her stance if he had shown some regret but his pride got in the way. He was a powerful business man that influenced the way people spent their money, the way they thought and invested and yet he had no power over his own headstrong wife. That rubbed at him until he was raw and somehow he convinced himself not to let go of his stance! He told himself that she should have respected his feelings on the issue and recognized that what she did affected his life too!  It was selfish, stupid and it was the biggest mistake of his life, because beneath all of those raw emotions and the pride that he held up like a façade was the truth that he loved her desperately and never ever wanted to live his life without her.

The months following their divorce saw him become even more of a workaholic than he’d
ever been before, just to put her out of his mind. Of course it never worked and his ridiculous work schedule saw him spending more time here at the hotel or travelling than at their home. In fact, he had not gone back to the house in Willercrest Heights once in the last three months, preferring instead the convenience of his office suite. Too many memories haunted him there, memories that that he still could not deal with till now.

The divorce was his fault.

He was the one who pushed her away by trying to control her decisions. He was the reason he’d lost the privilege of waking up beside Candasee every morning and being the recipient of her love.

As he glanced
impatiently at the watch on his wrist to see the progress of the time and to determine whether he should return to the suite, he overheard a man asking around to some of the persons stretching,

“Has anyone seen or heard from Candasee this morning?”

This immediately piqued Darius’ interest as he studied the concerned expression on the other man’s face!

Someone in the yoga group
replied no and the man made a 360 degree turn looking all around to see if he could somehow spot her. Partially concealed by the standing sign outside the hut he was able to observe the man without attracting his attention. One of the male members in the group walked up to where he was standing and grabbed his bottle of water from the wall surrounding a low garden with low growing bromeliads.