Page 53 of Threat of Danger
Jess knew Derek was doing his best to distract her. Since she needed the distraction, she went with the flow. “How about the others?”
Derek launched into an update. A lot of people had moved away, but a surprising number had stayed. Some of his stories were funny, some were sad. All were interesting. He was a born storyteller, and he knew just how to string her along, make her forget about everything else. Little by little, Jess relaxed again.
Then, in the middle of a sentence, Derek put an arm around her waist from behind like he’d done at the top of the stairs, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Like before, Jess wanted to push him away. But, like before, her body sagged into the comfort of his. And this time, she stayed there.
Derek’s strength was a solid brick wall behind her, a familiar shelter, the embodiment of her girlhood fantasies. Sinking into his comfort was ridiculously easy.
Yet while her body rested, her mind couldn’t. They couldn’t go back tothis, whateverthiswas. They’d barely had it ten years ago, and then even that brief connection had been gone in the blink of an eye. “We’re different people now.”
“I know.”
“We have too much of a past.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think I can ever get over that shared past.”
“I know.”
Was that frustration in his tone or sadness?
His warm breath fanned the tip of her ear, feeling like a caress on the sensitive skin of her neck. “I’m not asking for anything, Jess. I’m here to give you whatever you need.”
She had no idea why she suddenly had moisture in her eyes.
What did she need? Other than to run fast and run far.
Closure. Yes, closure would be nice.
She needed closure in the form of certain knowledge. She needed to know for sure what had happened to the masked man. She needed to know that he wasn’t still out there preying on innocent young girls. She needed to know that nobody else would be hurt by him like she had been.Or worse.
She needed to move out of Derek’s arms.
Just another second or two, she told herself. She didn’t understand why connecting like this had been difficult with Eliot earlier, why she’d turned away from his embrace when she could have turned to him. Why did this feel so natural with Derek? It had nothing to do with logic or reason or even what she really wanted. Thispullbetween them bypassed her brain completely. Pure physical, instinctual response.
She shifted forward, easing into slipping away.
“Where is Eliot?” Derek asked without letting her go.
She wished she could see his eyes, and at the same time she was glad they weren’t face-to-face. “Out taking pictures of the cliffs.”
“Are you in love with him?”
Did Derek’s embrace tighten ever so slightly, or was she imagining it?
She thought about his question for a second or two. “I could have been.”
“Under different circumstances,” Derek agreed. “But you need a man who will jump off a cliff for you for real, who would take a bullet for you for real, no safety equipment. You need real, not special effects and sleight of hand.”
She pulled away to face him as anger boomed to life inside her chest. That anger made it possible to put a little distance between them. The real world had hurt her. She liked the make-believe of Hollywood. She liked when the victim washed off the blood after the shoot and walked away laughing.
“I can jump off a cliff for myself,” she snapped at Derek. “I can fight for myself.”
The rest remained unspoken, but from the frustrated look on Derek’s face, he heard it loud and clear. He hadn’t been able to save her from torture back then, and he wouldn’t be able to protect her now. She was healthy and in the best shape of her life.Hewas injured.
“I don’t need a man to protect me,” she told him in a gentler, more reasonable tone. She didn’t want him to feel bad, but she needed him to understand who she was now.
“I know,” he said. “You became who you became to make sure. I think we both did.” His tone held a note of ... regret? Wishing that their past hadn’t determined the rest of their lives?
