Just Can't Get Enough (29 page)

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Authors: Cheris Hodges

BOOK: Just Can't Get Enough
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“Do you think she'd actually come here?” John asked.
Darius nodded. “If she was bold enough to break into the gallery, I think so. There's something she's going to need from this house.”
“When we see her, what are we going to do?”
“Call the chief so the police can finally do their job.”
John nodded. “I'll be glad when this is over and you and Celina can focus on what's important.”
Darius smiled. He couldn't wait for the day when the only thing he and Celina would have to worry about was planning their wedding.
John looked at Darius intently. “Celina is like a daughter to me and I don't want to see her hurt. So, you'd better protect her heart with the same fury you're protecting her with now.”
“I will,” Darius replied. “I know how hard it was for Celina to give her heart to me and I would never do anything to make her regret that decision.”
“You'd better not,” John warned. “Because I would have to come back here and hurt you. Baby girl needs happiness in her life and I know you can give it to her.”
Nodding, Darius shook hands with John before they turned their attention to the house.
After a few more hours of watching the house and seeing nothing, they headed for the police station. Once they arrived, Darius boldly walked into the chief's office without even letting his secretary announce him.
“Darius,” the chief said in an exasperated tone. “You're here about the break-in, aren't you?”
Darius nodded. “This is Celina's stepfather, John Malcolm,” Darius said. The chief stood up and extended his hand to John, but his gesture was not returned.
“When are you going to find the woman who hurt my stepdaughter?” he snapped. “You know she broke into the warehouse.”
Chief Wayman ran his hand over his face and sighed. “We don't have any proof that it was Tiffany, but she is a suspect. Mr. Malcolm, what happened to Celina was tragic and we will bring Tiffany to justice, but you have to let us do our job,” he said.
“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Live in fear?” John boomed. “I won't do it. If you all don't hurry up and find this woman, you're going to bring the south side of Chicago out of me.”
Darius and John stormed out of the office and headed back to the house. Darius knew this mess was far from over.
CHAPTER 29
As the days passed, Celina and Darius spent more time planning their wedding and the gallery opening than worrying about Tiffany, though she still loomed over them like a dark cloud.
Celina toyed with a strand of hair as she watched the workers place the columns in the middle of the gallery. The place was starting to come together nicely. The walls had been painted sea green so that they would contrast with the ocean-blue carpet that would be installed later that afternoon. Celina had about three hours to turn the wall into a moss-covered forest before the carpet installers came. Dipping her brush into the green paint, she used quick strokes to finish the painting. A pair of hands roamed up and down her back.
Celina's lips curved into a smile. “Darius, I'm working,” she said without turning around.
“And you look so good doing it,” he said.
Celina turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What a nice thing to say, but I don't have time to take a break.”
Darius pulled Celina against his body and stared into her eyes. “There's always time for a break,” he said, then playfully smacked her on the behind. “But you're right, we have a lot of work to do.” He let her go, then turned to the workers, asking if they needed any help.
Celina headed outside to grab more painting supplies from her car. She looked toward the woods, wondering if someone was out there waiting to ruin everything she and Darius had worked for.
Don't worry about that woman,
she told herself as she opened the trunk of the car and headed back inside. With all of the people in the warehouse, she knew she was safe. When she walked inside, the columns were in place and she returned to her work and pretended not to notice when Darius sent the crew away for a break. After the five men left, he closed the door and slid the bar lock in place.
“Darius, I needed that light to paint this wall,” she said as she dropped her brush.
He walked over to her with a smile on his face. “But I need something else,” he said as he ran his index finger across her collarbone, traveling down the front of her overalls. Darius quickly kissed her before she could muster a protest. When her body responded to his touch, he knew that sending the crew away was the best decision he'd made all day. He unsnapped the hooks on her denim overall set, allowing the oversized jeans to fall from her petite body. Underneath, she wore a simple pair of black lace panties and a cropped T-shirt. As Darius lifted the shirt over her head, he was thrilled to see that her breasts were bare and ripe for his lips. Her nipples were erect, reminding him of juicy berries ready to be sucked, licked, and devoured.
Celina pressed her lips against his ear. “We're never going to get this place up and running like this.” Then she reached down and pulled at the waistband of his nylon basketball shorts.
“If we're behind because of this—” He slipped his hands between her legs, stroking her inner core with his thumb. “—I really won't care.”
The tarp covering the floor became their love nest as Celina eased back, trying not to get the paint on her body, but not really caring whether or not she did, for it had been weeks since she and Darius had been intimate, because of her injuries. Now that she was healed, she yearned for him, hungered for his kiss and craved his touch.
“Is your back all right?” Darius asked as he covered her body with his.
Celina's reply was to suck on his bottom lip then flick her tongue across his top lip. “I'm fine,” she replied. “I want you. I need you.”
Those words made the nerves in his body sizzle, and he kissed her softly and then more aggressively, as he felt her arch her back against him. He reached between her thighs and felt her desire and Celina ached as she felt him throbbing against her thighs. Neither of them thought about the protection they needed as she stroked and caressed his manhood, guiding him to her center. Her body screamed “make love to me now” and Darius answered, thrusting his hips into hers, drowning in the warm wetness that was his woman. She shivered with burning desire, wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him into her as if she wanted to make him disappear inside of her. That would've been fine with him because he could live inside her love forever. Being with Celina opened his heart to so much and made him want things that he'd ignored in the past.
Making love to her, he thought about a family, their son or daughter and growing old with Celina by his side. Feeling her against his body, her round hips against his, drove him mad with desire. She did things to his body and made him feel pleasure that he'd never known.
With his head thrown back in ecstasy, he cried out, “Oh, I love you.”
She arched her back, wanting to say the same thing back to him, but the words died in the back of her throat, as she reached her climax and every emotion that she felt seemed to spill out of her. Darius had become more than a lover—he was her protector, her friend, and she couldn't wait for him to be her husband. They lay on the floor wrapped in each other's arms. Celina grabbed a dry paintbrush and began stroking it back and forth across Darius' chest.
“How long did you send the crew away for?” she asked.
“About an hour,” he replied, grabbing her hand and placing it on his chest. Celina stroked his chest and leaned against his shoulder.
“I never knew I could feel this way,” she whispered.
Darius glanced down at her. “And how is that?”
“Loved. Totally and completely loved. You wrapped your love around me when I really didn't want you to. I came here angry with my father, sure that every man in the world was out to hurt the woman he professed to love. But you,” she said, pressing her palm against his cheek. “You proved me wrong. Thank you.”
Darius kissed her hand. “I didn't know I had that effect on you, and you changed my life, too. I've never had a woman that I could relax and be myself around or know that the only thing you want from me is my love. I've met so many women who wanted what they thought I represented. You love me because of me, not my money or anything else.”
Celina squeezed Darius tightly. “So, what are we waiting for? Let's get married so that we can start on our happily ever after,” she whispered.
“What are you saying?”
“We have about a week left to finish this place. I want to get married here. This is our place, a place of love.”
Darius kissed Celina gently on the lips. “As you wish, my dear. We'll get married right before the grand opening.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly and then climbed on top of him and ran her fingers down his wrists. She felt him throb against her, then he pressed into her and captured her lips, savoring her sweetness. A soft moan escaped her throat as his tongue danced in her mouth. She rocked her body back and forth against him, drawing him inside her. Then, as if he wanted to send her over the edge, he reached up and teased her nipples with the tip of his tongue, sending a shock through her system. Darius pressed his pelvis into hers and when she tightened her love walls around him, he released himself with a satisfied groan. Darius grabbed her waist, pulling her against his chest, and she fell against him and sighed. He clutched her, following a bead of sweat down the small of her back with his fingertip. They rocked back and forth, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.
“We'd better get dressed,” Celina whispered. “I would be so embarrassed if the crew came back and found out what kind of work we've been doing.”
Darius kissed her collarbone and smiled. “If this is work, then how are we going to follow it up with some fun and games?” She turned around and smiled at him.
“I can think of a few ways . . . later tonight, I might even show you,” she replied.
When the crew returned, Darius and Celina were sure they could tell what had transpired while they were gone. As Celina tried to focus on her painting, her mind drifted back to Darius and the way he made her feel. Her wanton thoughts of ripping his clothes off in the middle of the gallery in front of the workers made her cheeks warm. Celina dropped her brush and headed outside. She needed some fresh air to clear her head so that she could get back to work. Just as she expected, Darius walked out behind her.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I just needed some air,” she said. “It was getting a little stuffy in there.” He stroked her shoulder. She turned around and smiled at him. “You think they know?” she whispered.
Darius shrugged his shoulders. “Who cares? You're the woman I love and if all of those people in there know we made love, I don't care.”
She kissed him on the nose. “I agree. I've got to get back to work,” she said as she turned toward the door.
Darius and Celina toiled in the gallery for the rest of the day. Celina finished the water scene on the walls just as the sun began to set. Darius walked the crew outside. Celina stood in the middle of the space and closed her eyes. She envisioned the walls filled with her work and the work of local artists. Her picture,
H2Love,
along with a portrait of Thomas, would anchor the center of the gallery. Celina smiled and rocked back and forth. In her mind's eye she saw patrons walking into the gallery, oohing and ahing over the art.
“I hope that smile is for me,” Darius said, breaking into her thoughts. Celina opened her eyes, still smiling.
“I was just daydreaming about our grand opening.”
Darius pulled Celina into his arms and gently kissed her nose.
“I love that sparkle in your eyes. I've missed that,” he said.
“We've had so much craziness going on in our lives. I just can't wait for normal.”
“It's coming,” he replied.
“She's still out there, watching us, waiting to hurt us again,” Celina whispered.
“Tiffany can't hurt us,” he said as he gently stroked her back. “We have each other and nothing is going to come between us. We can take whatever she throws at us.”
 
 
From the rear of the gallery in the woods, deep enough not to be seen, but close enough to hear everything that was going on around her, Tiffany steamed as she listened to Darius and Celina talk about what she couldn't do.
You think so,
she thought.
You're not going to have a day of happiness. If she wants to be Mrs. Darius McRae, then she's going to suffer right along with him. No one chooses someone else over me and embarrasses me the way Darius has since that tramp wiggled her way into his life.
If Tiffany had been honest with herself, she would've taken stock of all that she'd lost. Her business had closed down because she spent so much time following Darius, and then there was the talk of the police watching her. No one in Elmore wanted anything to do with her. Squaring her shoulders, Tiffany thought that if she was going out, she'd do it with a bang.

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