His lips lightly caress her trembling flesh as his mouth moves from her neck toward her left breast. The stubble on his chin brushes against her nipple, causing her to moan. His tongue flicks at her nipple for several seconds before his mouth continues its erotic journey down her body. Just as she's about to feel that exquisite ecstasy that only Todd knows how to demand from her body, Tea awakens.
She rubs her fingers against her forehead, not only sexually frustrated from her unfinished dream, but emotionally frustrated, as well.
Before she fell asleep, Tea had spent hours lying awake thinking about her ex-husband, trying to convince herself not to go to him again, not to offer him another opportunity to humiliate her. She wants so desperately to eradicate him from her life, to end the on-and-off relationship that has dominated her life for the last six years, even though it has been more off than on. But, as her dream has vividly reminded her, Todd, as off as he is, is an impossible man to ever remove from her life completely. Her heart, along with other body parts, would never allow that.
Tea gets out of bed and walks to the nearby window. She stares out into the darkness, wondering how dark Todd's soul will be this time.
Despite her claims to her brother, she's certain that Todd is on the island they once intimately shared. She's known since she received the plane ticket to Hawaii where she would ultimately find him. She's dreaded since that moment what will come with the rise of this day's sun.
They did have fun together on that island. They did share some special moments. But, he also abandoned her on that island, humiliating her in a way that she had come to trust he would never humiliate her.
His heart shutting down just as she feels them growing closer has never surprised her. She's always expected it. She's always prepared herself for it. But, for him to declare that he was choosing another woman over her was a new hurt. She'd certainly felt that sting before, but never from Todd.
Tea shakes her head. She should have known that Todd would choose someone else someday. Before she met him, that had been one of her expectations of all men. He had convinced her years earlier that he would be different. He might leave her to protect himself. He might, in some deluded sense of reality, leave her to protect her from him. But, for him to leave her for another woman, especially one who they both know will always love his money far more than she will ever be capable of loving him, was a humiliation she had come to trust Todd would never put either of them through.
Tea steps away from the window. If she thinks too hard about what Todd did, she may not get on that boat and go to him.
She knows that any rational woman would never return to that island, or to an ex-husband who has put her through as much as Todd Manning has put her through. Tea also knows that she has never been able to be rational about her charismatic ex-husband.
Charismatic? Thinking of Todd's reaction if he knew that she thought of him that way, makes Tea smile. He has always underestimated his charm. His oblivious attitude about his own appeal has always been something that attracted Tea even more to him.
Tea takes several deep breaths. She's about to risk everything again for a man who hasn't shown for a very long time that he deserves her trust, her understanding, her love. She can't help it. She still loves him, despite everything that has occurred between them in the past, and despite everything that she knows will probably occur in the future.
She loves him.
Such a simple statement. Such a complicated man. Such a confused woman.
Thirty minutes later...
Tea and Del are on the boat, awaiting the sunrise to begin their journey to paradise, or hell, depending on what additional surprises Todd has in store for Tea when she returns to the one place she never wanted to find herself again.
