by Lacey Silks
“Let’s get out of the water.” I couldn’t say that he was the gentlest of men I’d ever met. One who made me feel things I never thought possible.
Derek took my hand and led me through the water until we reached a nook in between the rocks, completely concealing us from the outside world.
CHAPTER 11
Annabelle
Derek pulled me up on a rock and sat behind me, wrapping me into his body. I leaned back against him, feeling his firmness between us.
“Figures it’s my luck that they choose to fish here. No one ever fishes on this side of the lake.”
“No one except you.”
“Yeah. You know, you really shouldn’t be swimming naked around here.”
“Derek?”
“Are you going to run from me, Annabelle? Please don’t shut me out.”
“No, I’m not going to run.”
“Good, because I’m beginning to think that I can’t stand being away from you.”
“Me too.” I sighed. “You know I wish life was easier.”
“Then it wouldn’t be life. Tell me what’s troubling you. Maybe I can help.” Derek kissed my shoulder. The warmth trailed down from his lips all over my body. It felt so comfortable being with him. Maybe it was time to give Derek a chance?
“Your secret first.” I bit my lip, looking ahead at the man fishing out a hefty catch from the flat lake.
“You remembered.” He sighed. “All right. Annabelle, if I tell you this, you need to swear not to repeat it.”
I shifted my body, turning to the side so that I could see Derek’s face. “Sounds like a conspiracy.”
“I think it’s pretty close to one of those things we don’t say because someone else’s life could be ruined.”
I knew exactly what he meant. I felt my eyes widen, patiently waiting for Derek to reveal his secret.
“I never went to Haiti,” he said.
“Where did you go, then?”
“I was drafted, with your brother, to the SEALs.”
“My brother?”
“Yeah, a few of our other friends too. We could never tell anyone because the mission was classified.”
“What did you have to do?”
“It still is classified, Annabelle. I’ve already said enough to risk your life. But I trust you not to tell anyone about this.”
“Of course.”
“We completed the mission but came back more damaged than we expected. I can never serve again. A friend of ours was left behind. I... I should have done more.” He lowered his head, looking over his inked arm. “So many lost souls.”
I smoothed back the wet patch of hair that fell onto his eyes. “Derek, are those stars for the people you left behind? I’m sure you did everything you could.”
“Each one represents someone I knew.”
But there were so many of them!
Derek pointed to the largest star on his arm. “He left a girl behind. Her name is Caroline. She lives in Ogden. Brad just found out that she was pregnant too. Before he took his last breath, I promised him I’d take care of her and their baby. She has a beautiful little boy who never met his daddy, and every morning I wake up and fight everything inside me because all I want to do is tell Caroline what a brave man Brad was. He saved my life. Instead, I have to tell her that he fell off a scaffold and landed on a bunch of prods that pierced his body.”
“I’m so sorry.” I leaned against his chest. His heart beat into my cheek. “You’re a brave man, Derek Fields. One of the bravest men I’d ever known.”
“Please, Annabelle. Promise me. Not a word to anyone. Not even your brother.”
“Yes, I promise.” A cooler gust of wind blew, my skin peppered with goose bumps.
“Let’s get you home before you catch a cold, pretty lady. We have some unfinished business to do and to discuss.”
We jumped off the rock and I put my clothes back on, wishing we could jump right into the “doing” instead of “discussing, but something told me that I wouldn’t be able to avoid the subject of San Francisco for much longer.
We drove in silence. Grateful how much Derek had opened up to me, I wondered if there was a way I could do the same without having to mention Rick. I was afraid that if Derek found out about his true nature, he’d jump in his car and drive to San Francisco to rip his throat out.
At home, I changed into dry clothes and crossed the kitchen to hang my shorts that had soaked through during the drive. When I turned around, Derek was leaning against the kitchen counter. His arms were crossed over his chest. He lifted one finger and with a smug look on his face beckoned me to come closer. And at that moment I’d give up everything if Derek could look at me that way every day. I could already imagine where that finger would end up if I listened, and I really wanted to comply with his request.
Feeling his gaze eat me alive, I sauntered closer to where he stood until he lowered his hands to my hips, pulling me against his hard body.
“I don’t think we’re finished, Annabelle.”
Derek’s thumbs circled around my hipbones. The simple touch roused thrilling anticipation through my veins. The rush inside my body and the way I was reacting to him, like to a drug, made me wonder whether Derek was the world’s biggest drug dealer, offering me every last ounce of euphoria available.
“Finished with what?”
“Annabelle, I told you my secret, now it’s time for you to tell me yours.”
Derek’s question caught me off guard. I thought he wanted me. I was certain that Derek was referring to how close we were to being with each other. I completely forgot that he wanted an ounce of my honesty. And I knew that I should have told him the truth. It was the least that I owed him. But would the truth possibly hurt him more? I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet... not when I could still fix things and keep my family and friends free of my troubles.
I lowered my hand to Derek’s shorts, smoothing my hand over the hard curve underneath. Derek’s eyes seemed to have doubled in size as he held his breath. Awareness of what I’d just done seized my body, but I couldn’t stop.
“See, I thought there was something else you wanted to finish.” I pressed my hand harder, stroking him. His cock pulsed in my hand every few seconds as he grew larger and larger.
“Oh, Annabelle. What am I going to do with you?”
I could already tell that I’d swayed his attention away from our conversation. His heart raced, and I drew my other hand underneath his shirt, dragging my fingers against his sunken abs, up to his chest.
“Why don’t you show me, Derek?”
The energy between us sizzled as his mouth lowered to mine, gently capturing my lips between his. “I want you, Annabelle, but I won’t take you without your permission.” His whispered breath snaked into my lungs, and I found it difficult to breathe or reply when he was so close to me. With one simple kiss, Derek managed to turn the tables on me.
“Do I have your permission, Annabelle? Do you want to feel me inside you as badly as I need to be there?”
The power of his words forced my thighs to tense and nipples to bunch. The moment he pulled me against his full length and I felt my sensitive breasts press to his hard chest, I knew there was no way out. I lost my grip on him, but it no longer mattered. My entire body screamed for him. It pressed me to say the magic words no man had ever asked me to say, to give in to his request at my will, not his.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“I want you inside me, Derek.”
He lifted me up into his arms. I tied my hands around his neck and legs around his hips as he carried me upstairs to his bedroom. At first I thought he’d opt for the couch, in fact, for any spot downstairs, even the kitchen counter, but Derek chose to take his time. It was as if he wanted our first time together to be perfect. He set me down on the bed and pulled his shirt over his head before lighting the few candles around the room and turning off the lights. The atmosphere immediately turned from hot to scorching. T
he low glow bounced off his body. Since he’d told me about his time with the SEALs, his muscles took on a new meaning and made that much more sense. And I couldn’t stop staring.
“I’ve been wanting to have you in my bed since the first night you spent here. Take off your shirt, pretty lady.” He winked.
I chuckled, pulling the fabric over my head. “I’ve been in your bed since that day. You’re the one who’s been missing.”
“Hhm, let me shut those smart lips of yours,”
He crawled toward me, never letting go of my gaze, but Derek didn’t take my lips right away. He didn’t do anything to close them the way he’d said. Instead, he unzipped my shorts and slowly lowered them off my hips. I sat against the headboard, curious about his next move. Derek took my foot into his hands and pressed his fingers into my sole. My shoulders lowered and I closed my eyes. The pleasure from the pressure points he touched whipped up my leg to different parts of my body. He rubbed my foot as if he’d studied reflexology for years. Yet there was much more to his touch. He manipulated each toe with precision, kneading it, altering the movement of his fingers, making me wish for his hands to move north.
“You’re amazing,” I heard my voice say as my head lolled to the side. My eyes felt lazy and I thought I was dreaming.
“Don’t fall asleep on me yet, pretty lady.”
Oh, there is no chance of that! Derek just had a way of making me feel amazingly safe.
His hands drew up my shins, and his fingers pulsed wonderfully at the back of my calves. He lowered his lips to my legs, kissing my knees lightly before spreading them apart. His mouth grazed up my inner thigh until he reached my panties, pulled his tongue over the fabric, and ventured up toward my belly.
“Absolutely stunning.” I heard the words but I couldn’t believe them. No one had ever talked to me this way. No one had ever been this gentle nor given my body time to react to new excitement every second. Where did he find the control?
When he grasped my hips, pulling my body down to the bed I could no longer just sit back and watch. Yet Derek found another ounce of restraint.
“A lady like you deserves many tender kisses.” And with that, he slid up my body, latched his mouth to my neck, and kissed me there. His lips trailed lower to my breasts and gently bit my stone hard nipple with his teeth. “Undiscovered pleasures.”
I couldn’t help but smile as he looked up at me and continued sliding down my body, pursing his lips over my belly button. A rush of odd nerves and anticipation flew through me.
“Full attention.”
As he grasped my legs, lifting them up onto his shoulders, excitement dripped out of me. His fingers smoothed over my wet flesh, pulling the moisture upward. And how had I not noticed him removing my panties was beyond me.
“Utter respect.” His lips gently grazed over my small triangle before he swept his tongue over my swollen folds.
By this time I was starved for this man. I needed him more than air, and I was willing to give him everything he asked for. Reaching up to his face, I cupped it in my hands and brought him down to my lips. He had me so turned-on by now it’d take an explosion to force us apart.
“Take me, please,” I said into his mouth. “I’m ready.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” I felt his smile just as the clasp of my bra was released with one swift flick at my back.
He dove in for my breasts first, licking the rim of my nipple before pulling it up with his lips. But Derek didn’t waste time on my chest. Panting, I waited until his mouth trailed down the center of my tummy, right to between my legs.
I closed my eyes, listening to his mouth and tongue prepare for a feast. The lazy licks at my groin, just on the outskirt of my wet core had my hips adjusting to be underneath his mouth. When he finally closed it on me, I felt like I’d floated somewhere far away. Once every few laps, as Derek pulled his mouth away from my clit I heard his words, “lust, care, devotion, love.” He repeated them between his slurps, his breath cooling my heated core each time he spoke, spiking my need to new heights. Derek’s fingers were inside me, massaging against that one spot that zapped pleasure through my entire body each time he touched me there. I grasped the sheets at my side and felt my back arch slightly and my pelvis tilt for that perfect angle as he sucked on me until I couldn’t hold on any longer and screamed his name over and over again, fearing every glass in the house would break from the high pitch that Derek drew from within me.
And when he was done, Derek slowly kissed his way up my body. We both sunk into the bed as my legs parted, preparing myself for him to enter me.
“I need to go back to get a condom, Annabelle.”
“I had my injections before I came back. I’m safe and... I’ve been checked. It was part of our curriculum.” While it was the truth, it wasn’t the entire truth, and the guilt began eating at me as soon as my words left my lips.
“Annabelle, there’s no need to explain. I trust you. And if it makes you feel better, we get tested in the army. I’ve been clean on the last one and celibate since then.”
I raised a brow. “Really? How long is that?”
“Eight months. What were you expecting?”
“I expected every woman in Ogden to drool over you when you walk around shirtless.”
“They can drool all they want, Annabelle. But I don’t fuck around.”
“I didn’t mean to insinuate.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have....”
“Don’t be. You know I’m not made of glass. You can say the F-word around me.”
“F-word?” he chuckled and I felt my cheeks heat. Derek leaned into my ear and whispered, “Fuck.”
Somehow, the way he’d said it made it the biggest turn-on I’d heard in my life, and so I nodded a response. That was exactly what I wanted him to do to me.
Derek’s mouth was inches away, and after a gentle whisper of another F-word into my mouth, his kiss hardened. He adjusted himself between my legs, easily sliding inside me. Derek braced his upper body on his arms. Lifting my legs up to his shoulders, the tilt of my ass allowed him to penetrate me deeper.
I shifted from hugging him inside me to completely clasping around him, giving my whole self to him. Soon enough, Derek’s momentum picked up, and his low grunts filled with lust curled through my body. I could feel myself seep as my ass jolted up, joining his rhythm. Derek’s relentless hips moved back and forth, filling me to my depth. The slap of his balls against me, my pants, and his heavy breathing resonated in my ears.
I’d never thought that making love to a man you cared so much about could feel so good. His every thrust ignited a new desire that had been burning deep inside me. When he shifted his position and moved onto his knees, sitting back on his heels and pulling my ass onto his thighs, I couldn’t stop looking at him. Glistening beads of sweat rolled down his chest. His hand lowered to between us as he began strumming my clit with his thumb.
The pleasure burst from inside me within seconds, and I shook underneath him as he pushed twice more before stilling. He shut his eyes and opened his mouth, “Ah, Holy Mother of....”
I guess we had more in common than we both realized. “Unbelievable,” I heard the words leave my lips, but they didn’t sound like my own. They sounded like they came from a woman who for the first time in her life felt satisfaction. Derek turned me around and my body sagged against his. He held me until my pulse and breathing calmed.
Stroking along my spine, he asked, “Annabelle, when I licked you the first time, you said you thought you were coming. Have you never had an orgasm?”
Heat rushed through me as I tried to remember voicing my pleasure but for the life of me all I could remember was the pure sensation of reaching the heavens.
“No. Me and... I tried... but I never. Oh God! This is so embarrassing.” I buried my face in my hands.
He tapped my chin with his finger, bringing my gaze back to his. “What about masturbation?” he asked.
And now I prayed
the ground could open and swallow me whole. Instead, I shook my head.
“Wow.” He sighed. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m honored to be the first man who made you come.”
His face neared mine as he whispered in my ear, “And from now on, I promise to do it more often so you can catch up on what you’ve been missing out on.”
His words may as well have been his tongue lapping between my legs because the swell that had built there was beginning to curl through me in zaps and tingles. And I couldn’t believe I’d just thought about his tongue between my legs. Lifting my head to meet his gaze, I said, “Thank you for understanding.”
“There’s nothing to understand, pretty lady. You deserve to come undone in more ways than one, and I’m going to ensure that you do.” Derek lay down at my side, nuzzling into my neck. After a long sigh he shifted, smoothed his finger over my brow, and said, “I will never let anyone hurt you again, Annabelle. No man will ever lay his hand on you again.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just say that I’ve seen enough abused women to know the signs.”
“I don’t want to go alone to San Francisco,” I whispered. I wasn’t exactly sure where the words came from, but I knew there was a huge possibility that Rick wouldn’t allow me to return to Ogden—ever.
“I’m coming with you, then.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Of course I would. And if anyone tries to touch you, I swear I’ll kill them. No asshole or ex-boyfriend will lay his hand on you.”
Unfortunately, Rick was much worse than an ex-boyfriend, but at this moment, I believed Derek. While my worries hadn’t been eased, and I didn’t think they ever would be, this was the best I’d yet felt about going back to write my exam.
“But for now, I need to be inside you again.” And with that, I felt him shift to behind me and slide down my body. His lips pulled along my skin, leaving a wet trail of lust as his erection slid from between my legs, right into my still-wet core.
“I have a feeling we may need to repeat this a few more times tonight.”