CHAPTER EIGHT

When Trevor and Derek got back from their ride, Trevor went in to shower and Derek found Chloe clutching another of Sarah’s journals with fresh tears staining her face. He understood that she needed to know her sister and the journals were the best way for her to do that, and he wished so badly that they could have known each other…but it broke his heart to see her cry over anything.

He sat down next to her on the patio and said, “Are you okay?”

She smiled and touched his face. “Yeah. It’s funny, but I feel like I miss her. Do you think it’s possible to miss someone that you never even knew?”

He nodded. “She’s a part of you. She always has been and always will be. It makes perfect sense to me that you would miss her.”

Chloe leaned in close and said, “You want to know something else?”

“What’s that?” His breaths were speeding up. He wanted her so badly that his whole body ached when she was so close. Between worrying that Trevor and Samantha would hear them, and worrying about hurting her arm, they had barely had a chance for a make-out session in the past three weeks.

“She had great taste in men.” She let her tongue slide out and glide across his bottom lip. It caused him to shiver. “You like that?”

“Oh baby, I love it. I love you. I want you so bad…”

Chloe smiled and covered his mouth with hers. She parted her lips and let his tongue tangle up with hers. He brought his hands up and fisted them in her hair. He tugged on it gently, angling her head to one side while he delved deeper. The front of his jeans was suddenly uncomfortably tight and when she laid her palm on his thigh as they kissed, he actually growled.

Chloe pulled back just slightly and said, “I want you too.”

“How about a walk to the barn? I saw a fresh stack of hay and a blanket.”

Chloe stood up and held out her hand. Derek suddenly felt guilty. He looked at her other arm which was healing, but still far from 100% and said, “Are you sure that you’re up to this?”

Chloe stepped in close again and after looking over his shoulder to make sure neither of her parents was around, she rubbed the palm of her left hand against the front of his jeans, causing his swollen member to throb even more. “I’m as up for it as you are, baby.”

Derek gave her another quick kiss and took hold of her left hand. They made it out to the barn in record time. He took a quilt that was folded up on the tack shelf down and spread it over the top of a fresh pile of hay. Then he kissed her again, this time tugging back on her hair to expose her long, sexy neck. He planted kisses on it and then using his teeth very lightly, he gave it a few nips.

Chloe lay in Derek’s arms after they made love, tracing the lines of the muscles on his chest with her finger. He had his eyes closed, but every so often as she dragged her fingers down his abdomen or across his nipples, he would shudder and moan. After several minutes of that, he opened his eyes and said, “You’re going to get me all excited again.”

She stopped and let the palm of her hand rest against his chest. Kissing him lightly on the lips she said, “It’s hard not to touch you.”

“I didn’t say you had to stop.”

She smiled. Propping herself up on her left elbow she said, “We probably shouldn’t. We’ve been gone from the house for a while. I don’t want them to worry.”

Derek groaned. “Okay, but we have to get our own place soon.”

Chloe looked down at him. “Our own place? You mean together?”

“You don’t want to live on a yacht, do you?”

“Not really.”

“Well, I don’t want to live with Lexi and Brock…no offense to either one of them.”

She giggled. “Yeah, that would make for a crowded house. I just didn’t realize that you wanted us to live together.”

“I guess I just assumed the baby will be here soon and we’re committed to each other. I guess that I should ask you first how you feel about it, huh?”

“I feel…excited and impatient. I mean this with all of the sincerity in the world: I would love to live with you…and I would live on a yacht if that’s where you want to live.”

They kissed again and when they came up for air Derek said, “I want a house for you and our child. I have a big question for you though…where do you want to live?”

“I have choices?” she asked.

“Of course. You, my love, will always have choices.”

She smiled. “I just meant, I thought we would need to stay in Rhode Island because of your business.”

“I can do business anywhere. If you want to live in Jamaica or on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro…I’m there.”

Laughing she said, “Mt. Kilimanjaro might be difficult to maneuver a stroller up the side of.”

“I’ll hire someone to carry it and you up.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Give it some thought, and maybe next week we can go house hunting. Oh, and don’t forget to factor in where you want to go to school.”

“School?”

“Don’t you still want to be a teacher?”

“Yes, but…”

“No buts. You’ve waited long enough…to long, for your dreams to come true.”

“You’re the embodiment of every dream I’ve ever had, you know that?”

He answered her with another kiss.