And when his mouth found the indention of her belly and begin placing kisses all around it, she became lost within a maelstrom of sensations that had her surrendering to pleasure of the most erotic kind.

"You also have a beautiful stomach," he whispered with a warm breath before placing another kiss there. And then he whispered a few more French words and phrases and she wondered if he knew she understood what he was saying. She doubted it. Not that he was expressing his love or anything of the sort, but he was telling her in explicit French terms how much he loved making love to her body and just what being inside her did to him each and every time he was there. His words were making her succ.u.mb to emotions she was trying to control and didn't want to feel. They were also causing another deep hunger to take place inside her.

Then she felt the warmth of his breath move lower, and she held still, knowing what he was about to do. By now she should have grown accustomed to him kissing and caressing her there, but she wasn't. It couldn't be helped. He had a skill with his tongue whenever he went down on her that she just couldn't control, deny or resist. After all the lovemaking they'd shared that day she wondered how she would be able to handle this. She didn't know if she could take her body shattering in a million pieces again.

She opened her eyes to tell him but all she saw was his head, down between her legs and she could only close her eyes the moment his tongue flicked over her sensitive flesh.

Instinctively, her body came up off the bed and he grabbed her hips, holding her to his mouth as he devoured her with a sense of hunger that left her gasping for breath. She closed her eyes as sensations tore into her body once again.

She reached out for him, held his head in place, inviting him to go deeper, and he did, as his sinfully skilled and seductive tongue continued nonstop, increasing the pace, redefining the urgency. Her senses were being driven wild and her fingers threaded through his hair as he continued to ply long, deep, drugging kisses into her.

"Don't stop. Please don't stop," she cried out over and over as a powerful throb overtook her. And then she felt it, some part of her that his tongue touched, that sent her over the edge, splintering her in two and making her scream yet again at the top of her lungs.

Slowly, deliberately, he continued to bestow the intimate kiss on her as she felt waves of heated pleasures float all through her, and she continued to writhe beneath his mouth.

She felt herself losing consciousness, and the last thing she remembered after moaning out his name was him pulling up and taking her mouth and she tasted herself on his tongue.

"What did you do to me?" Taylor asked moments after her lids fluttered back open. Dominic was leaning over her and wiping her brow with a warm, damp cloth.

He smiled down at her. "Do I truly need to answer that in full details, cherie? cherie?"

"No, but you did do something. I pa.s.sed out for heaven's sake."

Yes, she had, he acknowledged silently. And just to think when they had left the resort earlier that day he had fully intended not to touch her. But whether he liked it or not, the woman made dreams a reality. She was the only woman he knew who could do something like that-and with very little effort.

"Tell me what you did, Dominic."

He heard the urgency in her voice. He'd known her long enough to realize she was someone who thrived on being in the know, especially when it concerned her personally.

"La pet.i.te mort," he said, using a French accent. "It's the French translation for he said, using a French accent. "It's the French translation for the little death the little death and a popular reference for a s.e.xual o.r.g.a.s.m. When pleasure gets so overwhelming it's considered a short period of transcendence one encounters." and a popular reference for a s.e.xual o.r.g.a.s.m. When pleasure gets so overwhelming it's considered a short period of transcendence one encounters."

"By pa.s.sing out?"

"Yes."

He watched as she bit her bottom lip nervously before saying, "Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."

He was tempted to tell her nothing like that had ever happened to him, either. Although he hadn't pa.s.sed out, he had felt pleasure so intense, even now parts of his body felt as if they were on fire. "It might happen again. But don't worry. You will be in good hands if it does," he a.s.sured her. He could tell from her expression that she intended to worry. Anxiety lines were forming around her lips. Her very beautiful, kissable lips. Lips that he was tempted to devour again.

Thinking he couldn't let that happen, he glanced at his watch. "Come on, it's time to get back."

He pushed the covers aside and stood and then reached a hand to help her up. He couldn't help staring at her naked body. The woman was so sinfully gorgeous, it was a shame.

"We'll take a shower when we get back," he said so she wouldn't be surprised when he pulled her into the shower with him later.

She only nodded as she got dressed. He finished before she did and glanced over at her to see her standing across from the mirror fussing with her hair. As he continued to watch her, he was amazed by the influx of emotions that consumed him, emotions he wasn't used to dealing with. Desire was something he understood. l.u.s.t was something he was used to, something he often craved. But he wasn't used to what he felt whenever he touched Taylor. And making love to her was another issue altogether.

She must have felt his eyes on her because she shifted her glance and met his gaze in the mirror. She smiled before twirling around for his inspection. "How do I look?"

He had to bite down to keep from saying, "Like you belong to me." "Like you belong to me." Instead he said, "Beautiful as usual." He meant every word. Instead he said, "Beautiful as usual." He meant every word.

And then he crossed the room to her, needing to taste her one long, last time before he went up top to take his place at the wheel. Once they set sail he would have to concentrate on what he was doing and not on her. As if she knew his intent, exactly what was on his mind, she took the steps and met him halfway. And when he came to a stop in front of her, she reached up and placed her arms around his neck. He leaned down and connected his mouth to hers, angling his head for deeper penetration and releasing a satisfied groan when he got it.

Yes, this was the desire he understood, the l.u.s.t he craved. But yet he couldn't discount that somewhere in the shadows lurked emotions he didn't want to cope with.

He didn't want to think about that now. He would find a way to deal with those unwanted emotions later.

"I had a nice time, Dominic," Taylor said as they entered their suite. The first thing she intended to do was take a shower and she couldn't help wondering if he would join her. She had never been a person who constantly had s.e.x on her mind but around Dominic such a thing seemed as natural as breathing.

"I had a nice time, too," he said, tossing the room key on the table. "It's almost dinnertime. Do you have a particular taste for anything?"

She was glad his back was to her and he couldn't see her lick her lips. If only he knew what cravings had begun controlling her appet.i.te recently. She shook her head, thinking that something was definitely wrong with her. She'd never been this hard up to get laid in her life and suddenly became suspicious of something. The resort had been the one to prepare the lunch they'd taken on board the ship, and she couldn't help wondering if perhaps some of the foods had contained some sort of the aphrodisiac-laced ingredients that the brochure had bragged about using in a lot of their foods. After making love most of the afternoon, the idea of doing so again should be the furthest thing from her mind, but it wasn't.

"One of us got a call while we were out," Dominic said, claiming her attention as she watched him cross the room to the phone and its red blinking light.

She couldn't help wondering who could be calling. Her secretary knew not to bother her unless it was an extreme emergency and- "It was for you," Dominic said, hanging the phone up. "A call from your sister Vanessa."

"Vanessa?" she said in surprise as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She had turned it off earlier since she knew the reception on the ocean wouldn't be good. As she punched in Vanessa's number, she hoped everything was okay. Vanessa knew why she was there and would not have called unless it was important.

"h.e.l.lo."

"Vanessa? It's Taylor. What's going on?"

"Taylor, I didn't want to bother you but Roz called."

Taylor lifted a brow. Roz Henry was Cheyenne's agent and good friend. "And?"

"And Cheyenne pa.s.sed out during a photo shoot and was taken to the hospital."

Taylor frowned. Wanting to make sure she had heard her sister correctly, she asked, "Cheyenne actually fainted?"

"Yes. Roz said she's okay but they are having a doctor check her out anyway."

Taylor knew how much her sister disliked doctors. "Where is Cheyenne?" she asked, knowing a photo shoot could take Cheyenne anywhere.

"She happens to be on one of those islands not far from where you are."

"Which one?"

A few minutes later Taylor was ending the call with her sister. She turned to find Dominic standing in the same spot he'd been standing when she had placed the call.

"Is there a problem?"

She glanced over at him and tried not to notice how s.e.xy he looked standing there with his hands inside the pockets of his shorts. He had nice legs for a man. Muscular and bowed. "I don't know. Cheyenne pa.s.sed out while doing a photo shoot. I need to make sure she's okay."

Dominic nodded and moved to stand in front of her. "Where is she?"

"On an island not far from here called Bimini Bay."

He appeared to consider her response for a mere second before saying, "Okay, then, let's go."

Taylor was amazed how quickly Dominic had made things happen. A half hour later a private plane had been chartered to take them to Bimini Bay. At twenty-three, Cheyenne was the youngest in the family and after a brief stint as a television reporter she'd tried her hand at modeling, saying it would give her the chance to travel and live in some of the most beautiful and exotic places. A few years ago she had purchased a home in Jamaica, but traveled back home for important family events, and like Taylor, she was on the board of the Steele Corporation.

Taylor couldn't help but smile when she thought of her sister, the rebel. She had taken being the baby in the Steele family to all-new heights. Her male cousins had thought Vanessa was a handful while growing up, but nothing had prepared them for Cheyenne. Whereas Vanessa and Taylor favored their father, Cheyenne had inherited their mother's strong Native American features, bestowing upon her an exotic look, which is why she was given the name of her mother's ancestry. She had beautiful brown skin, high cheekbones and dark eyes. Even as a child Cheyenne had gotten her share of admiring looks. It hadn't come as a surprise to anyone that while working as a news reporter a few years back, the president of a top modeling agency, who had seen her on television, had made Cheyenne an offer she couldn't refuse to come work for him.

"Here, drink this. It will calm your nerves."

She looked up as Dominic placed a cup of warm tea in her hand. From the moment she had told him of her concern for Cheyenne, he had seen to her every need. "Thank you," she said, taking the tea cup from him. She took a sip and liked the taste.

"We should be landing soon."

"Okay," she managed to say, not sure what Dominic was thinking. This was probably not the way he had envisioned their day ending. "Dominic, I know you must think it's silly that I'd want to see my sister just because she fainted and that-"

He placed a finger to her lips. "No, cherie, cherie, I don't think that at all. In fact I think it's rather sweet that you care for your sibling so much. But then I find that you are a very caring person." I don't think that at all. In fact I think it's rather sweet that you care for your sibling so much. But then I find that you are a very caring person."

He had given her the tea to calm her but she wondered if he knew the turbulence going through her at that moment being so close to him. In a way she felt she was out near the ocean, steadily getting pulled in by the tide. The man had that sort of effect. Even after what they had been doing that afternoon, she still wanted more of him. His heat was reaching out to her, warming her in one instant and sending shivers through her body in another.

"We'll make sure she's okay," he was saying. "And then we'll return to the resort later tonight."

"All right," she said, taking a sip.

His eyes seemed to have turned another shade of green, almost emerald. And there was a deep meaning in their dark depths. It was one she understood. He still wanted more of her, too. That thought sent more shivers through her and stirred her all the way down to her toes.

"Come here for a second," he said in a ragged breath. "Lean closer."

Placing the teacup aside, she leaned closer to him. When Dominic connected his mouth to hers, she thought that his kiss was like a drug. Highly potent. Very effective. It was electrifying every nerve in her body, uncoiling sensations she only felt when they were together.

"Buckle up, folks. We're about to land."

The pilot's voice intruded and she pulled away, reluctantly, from his hot and hungry mouth. "We will finish this later, right?" she couldn't help but ask, breathing the question against his moist lips.

"You can count on it, Taylor," was his quick response and she had no reason not to believe him.

Cheyenne Steele placed a faint smile on her face when she met Taylor's intense gaze. "I can't believe you came to check on me just because I fainted."

Taylor had found Cheyenne at the hotel where Roz had told her she was staying. After getting checked out by a doctor, Cheyenne had returned to her room to rest for the remainder of the day and had been surprised to open the door later that evening to find Taylor and a man she knew to be Dominic Saxon. After Taylor had officially introduced them, he had left to wait downstairs in the lobby.

"Believe it," Taylor said, frowning. "You just better be glad Vanessa and I decided not to mention anything about it to Mama. I noticed you didn't look well when we were home a few weeks ago and have been concerned about it ever since. I figured you're working crazy hours and not taking proper care of yourself. So tell me what the doctor said. Am I right? Are you not eating enough for that vigorous schedule you're keeping? Starving yourself to keep your weight down?"

Cheyenne waved off her words. "I'm fine. Just got a little overheated. Now enough about me. Tell me how things are going with you and Dominic."

Taylor knew Cheyenne was trying to shift the focus off her and onto Dominic, but she refused to let her. For some reason Taylor didn't believe Cheyenne's story about heat exhaustion, although with the island's hot temperature, getting overheated was a possibility. Taylor had a feeling that there was something else, something Cheyenne wasn't telling her. She could feel it. And for one thing, Cheyenne was looking everywhere but at her.

"Forget about me and Dominic. What's going on, Chey?" she asked softly "You're lying to me and I don't like it. Are you on an anorexia kick or something? I know how crazy you get sometimes about keeping your model figure and how you-"

"No, that's not it," Cheyenne said quickly.

Taylor breathed in deeply. "Then what is it? What aren't you telling me?"

The silence that suddenly descended upon the room was unnerving. And just when she thought Cheyenne would not say anything, her sister opened her mouth and spoke. "Okay, I'll tell you, but you must promise not to tell anyone. Not Van or the cousins and especially not Mama. I'll tell everyone when I come home for Marcus's high school graduation in a few weeks."

Taylor's brows drew together in a frown. "Tell them what?"

"You have to promise."

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, I promise. So what are you going to tell them?"

Cheyenne's eyes, a color so dark they looked black, stared straight into hers when she said, "That I'm pregnant."

"Are you all right, Taylor?"

Taylor glanced up at Dominic. "Yes, I'm okay."

The plane had landed and they had returned to the resort. After getting over the initial shock of what Cheyenne had told her, she had talked her sister into going out to dinner with her and Dominic at one of the restaurants near the hotel. The three of them had had a nice time and she could tell that Cheyenne liked Dominic. When it came to men Cheyenne could be downright nitpicky, which made Taylor wonder about the ident.i.ty of the man who had fathered Cheyenne's baby. He'd certainly had to have been someone Cheyenne had been quite taken with. When she'd asked Cheyenne about the man, she had refused to talk about him, only saying that he was someone she had met once and would probably never see again.

"Are you still worried about your sister? She seems to be doing okay now," Dominic said, breaking into her thoughts.

If only you knew, she thought. Of course she hadn't mentioned anything to Dominic about her sister's condition, and didn't want to think what the family would have to say when Cheyenne dropped her little bombsh.e.l.l. Although Taylor had made plans to do the baby thing solo, her family wouldn't have been surprised if she was to pop up pregnant without the benefit of a husband because they all knew how much Taylor loved children, and with her methodical mind, having a child without a husband would seem like something Taylor would do.

But Cheyenne was another matter altogether. Besides being the baby in the family who got all the attention, Cheyenne was never a person to fawn over babies and had never mentioned that she wanted any of her own. Her modeling career was the only thing she really cared about and the thought of gaining weight was simply a no-no.

But when Taylor had inquired if she was contemplating getting an abortion, Cheyenne had surprised her by saying under no circ.u.mstances would she consider such a thing. That made Taylor proud of her baby sister's desire to accept full responsibility for her actions and accept whatever sacrifices that had to be made.

Once again, Taylor's thoughts shifted to the man who had gotten Cheyenne to lower her guard. Cheyenne was one to get annoyed with men easily, especially those who got stuck on her features. She said she would never know if the man loved her for herself or her looks. Since she had been oohed and aahed over most of her life, to Cheyenne a man loving her for herself and not her beauty was important. Although Taylor wasn't sure about the mystery man's feelings, she knew her sister well enough to know that during their brief encounter, Cheyenne must have fallen in love with him.

"Taylor?"

She then realized she hadn't answered Dominic's question. "I worry about Cheyenne out of habit," she said. "Vanessa and I both do, although Cheyenne has shown us time and time again that she's quite capable of taking care of herself. She's traveled more places than I ever have or probably ever will, and lives in Jamaica, a long way from home. I'm also her wealth and a.s.set manager so I know that she's doing very well financially."