One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [29]
Dressed comfortably in shorts and both wearing sunglasses and big straw hats, they had blended in well with the numerous other tourists.
“Wow! This place is beautiful,” Colby said of Jesse Owens Park. The twenty-acre park named in honor of the black Olympic gold medal track star had a huge gym, a large indoor pool, basketball, volleyball and tennis courts and a three-par golf course. Quite a number of people had chosen the park that day to have a picnic.
Leaning against a guardrail, Colby watched a group of teenagers play a serious game of basketball against a group of older men. Sterling, who was standing beside her, turned to her and began softly stroking her shoulder. At first she had stiffened at the contact but then she relaxed. His touch was both surprising and welcoming. She had done some heavy-duty walking that day and her entire body was beginning to get achy. His slow, gentle massage of her shoulder was helping to relieve the tightness lodged there.
She gazed up at him, her eyes filled with appreciation. “How did you know I needed that?”
His expression was soft as he gazed down at her.
“Somehow, I just knew. I think it’s time for us to return to the hotel. You’ve done enough sight-seeing for one day.”
Taking her hand in his, he led her back to the area where his car was parked.
They walked together silently. When they reached the parking area, Sterling turned and, placing light pressure on her hand, gently pulled her to him.
Colby fixed him with a mildly surprised look.
“Don’t look now,” he whispered, “but there’s a photographer who’s been following us for the last half hour. We may as well make his day and give him a picture worth taking,” he said. He tipped her chin up to him and lowered his mouth to hers.
The kiss, although a lot gentler than the one they’d shared in the hotel room yesterday, was just as greedy, possessive and passionate. Colby’s heart pounded furiously in her chest, as her body shivered from the feel of his mouth taking hers with such breathtaking thoroughness.
She dismissed from her mind the rule against kissing in public. She didn’t understand exactly what she was feeling or the type of passion consuming her senses. And at the moment she didn’t feel compelled to understand. She just wanted to enjoy what was taking place between them. So she clung to him with all the strength she possessed. And his hold on her was both protective and powerful.
When Sterling finally ended the kiss, he rested his forehead on the top of Colby’s head as he fought for control. Again he had lost it. Kissing her always made him lose control; control he didn’t like losing. Whenever he kissed her, an exquisite weakness seemed to take over his entire body, and all he wanted to do was to crush her against him and kiss her like there was no tomorrow.
He sighed heavily. Those thoughts were disturbing.
Colby was also absorbed in her own thoughts. She stepped back out of Sterling’s arms, annoyed with herself for responding to him that way.
“I can’t believe I let you kiss me here,” she said, nervously running fingers through her hair.
Sterling leaned against a wooden post. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts, he gazed down at Colby with an unwavering absorption that made his eyes appear even darker. “I really didn’t give you a choice,” he said huskily.
“No, you didn’t,” she agreed. At least not in the beginning, her mind taunted. But you could have stopped him afterward anytime you wanted to.
“Was that kiss necessary?” she asked, still reeling from the effects of it. His kisses left