Page 24 of Now You See Him
“Yes,” he said. He was stroking her ankle, then running a hand over her calf.
“Do you think I’m a bad person?”
She expected, no shehoped, that he would immediately answer in the negative. That he’d tell her exactly what she needed to hear to be able to sleep for the next few hours before she woke up and had to really focus on seriously tackling her relationship.
However, Derrick’s answer wasn’t quick. It didn’t come at all at first. He stared at her, intense in his focus, gentle in his touch.
“Derrick?”
“Yes,” he said.
Her jaw dropped. “Yes, as in I’m a bad person? Or yes, when I called your name?”
His smile was slow. “Yes, as in you called my name. And I can’t answer your question for you, Tina. As much as I know you want me to. I can’t judge you for sleeping with me instead of your fiancé.”
“Why not?”
He shifted, managed to sit up, then moved so that his legs were on either side of her hips. He maneuvered her so that she was turned around, resting her side against his chest. She smelled her soap on his skin. The fresh scent reminded her of how intimate they’d been, both in bed and in her shower. “Derrick?”
“I can’t tell you if you’re good or bad for sleeping with me instead of your fiancé because it’s not my position to judge you. I slept withyou, too. But more importantly, we don’t know each other that well. I want to get to know you better. That’s if youwant the same thing. But for now, only you can answer that question.”
They descended into a lull. The soft hum of the heat turning on. The deep sound of their breathing as they leaned against each other. He was being honest with her, and she appreciated that. She needed honesty in her life right now.
“I should tell him. My fiancé,” she said quietly.
Derrick pressed his lips against her temple. “Wait.”
She twisted so she could look up at his grim expression. “Wait? Why?”
His chest expanded and contracted with his deep breath. “Because I have a strange feeling that we’re all connected to what my brother is trying to tell us.”
Ahh, that’s right, she thought. They were still wrestling with a ghost. Poltergeist. Spirit. Apparition. She was beginning to feel more comfortable saying it in her head, as if the repetition of those words just made her circumstances less like a one-way ticket to a breakdown. Naming it rationalized her experiences.
“I don’t know how Logan would be connected to all of this…”
“Neither do I, especially if he’s not the Logan that…never mind. But let’s keep your dreams and what we did under wraps until we can get some more insight into what Damien is trying to tell us.”
Derrick pressed a kiss to the curve of her shoulder, and she felt the spark of desire again and pressed her thighs together. She swallowed hard, trying to quash the tickle in the back of her throat. The one that she felt when she was asking for what she wanted and was afraid the answer would be no. “When you say that we should keep what we did under wraps,” she started slowly. “Does that mean it’s a onetime thing?”
There was a long pause where his gaze traveled over every inch of her face. “No,” he said slowly. “Not unless you want it to be.”
“I don’t,” Tina whispered.
Derrick leaned over and turned off the light on the bedside table before slowly lowering her to the mattress again.
Chapter
Ten
SUTTER CONSTRUCTION:
Sorry I’ve been tied up with a construction delay for so long. Anything?
TINA:
Nothing
SUTTER CONSTRUCTION:
