Chapter Fifteen
Jenna
“You slept with him?!”
I grimaced at my mother’s exclamation through the phone. “Just one time. I just thought—”
“Jenna Rose Collins. I raised you better than to run into some strange man’s bed. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” I said. “It just happened. Neither one of us planned it out.”
The smell of mayonnaise hit me hard as I scooped one cup of it into the cooked macaroni salad I planned to take for the barbecue.
“I didn’t call to talk about this,” I said, stirring the mayonnaise in. “I just wanted a recipe from you is all.”
“Then why did you tell me about what happened?”
“I have no idea,” I groaned out. It had clearly been a mistake to confide in my mother about things like this. “I just needed someone to talk to about it.”
“Well, he does have a point about all of this,” Anna said. “You should be concentrating on finishing your degree rather than babysitting for him. There needs to be a balance in your life.”
“My life is balanced though. What does everyone want from me?”
“It’s not what people want from you. It’s what you want from your life. That’s all I’m saying. That’s what everyone is saying to you. You just don’t want to listen.”
“I am listening though,” I said, running a hand through my hair in aggravation. “No one is listening to me. That’s the problem.”
“You’re so much like your father, honey, stubborn and proud.”
I glanced up at the clock above the kitchen door. “One of our many happy qualities I guess. I have to go, Mom. The barbecue starts in a few minutes.”
“Whatever you do—”
I hit the end button before she could finish her sentence: don’t sleep with him again. I wrapped the salad with a piece of cellophane. A part of me readily agreed with that. It wouldn’t be healthy to have it happen again. While I knew Derek would never physically hurt me, I could sense the emotional scars in him. He was warm one second and cold the next. He didn’t know what he wanted, and I didn’t blame him. There was also Owen to think about, who was already confused enough about what had happened. It was too damn complicated to even think about, but I couldn’t help it.
That morning played teasingly in the back of my mind more than I wanted. I craved Derek’s touch again, but he was right. I needed to do something to balance out my life besides watching Owen every night.
After slipping my feet into a pair of flip-flops, I slipped out of the house to head out through the hot evening to Martha’s house. Cars were parked in front of the sidewalk, and the sound of laughter reached my ears as I ventured up the driveway. I went to the fence gate that Martha had told me to come through earlier when she’d handed me the flyer.
Laughter and the sizzle of hamburgers reached my ears when I came around to the backyard. My eyes immediately landed on Owen as he played happily on a swing set with Julie and a few other kids from the neighborhood. I swept my gaze along the back patio, which had hundreds of flowerpots covering it, to where Derek stood talking with a group of men, a beer in one hand. He looked extremely uncomfortable.
My heart raced when his gaze caught mine briefly before he looked away.
“There you are!” Martha called out from the kitchen window. She motioned for me to come inside. “Bring that delicious-looking salad. We’ll put it in the fridge while the men finish up with the burgers and hot dogs.”
Martha’s kitchen was spacious but filled to the brim with various trinkets, jars, and plants. She took ahold of the salad with a smile before managing to make space in the fridge.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said. She turned to look at the group of women standing in her kitchen with wine glasses in hand. “Ladies, this is Jenna Collins. She lives right next to Derek Summers.”
Their eyes swept up me critically. I tensed under their stares, but Martha kept an assuring hand on my shoulder.
“You look so young,” one of them said. “I’m Clarissa. I live right next to Martha and her husband.”
“She’s not that young,” Martha said. “Although she is compared to us older ladies. This is Vanessa and Margaret. They live a little farther down the street.”
“I’m surprised that Derek is even here,” Vanessa said, sipping daintily at her wine. “How did you manage that, Martha?”
Martha picked up a wine glass from the kitchen island and, ignoring my protests, poured a hearty glass of sweet wine. “A little persuasion is all.” She winked at them mischievously. “There is a gentleman underneath all that hostility of his.”
“I haven’t seen it yet,” Margaret said.
“Neither have I,” Vanessa added, and she gave me a long look. “The only person he lets into that house is you, Jenna.”
I gathered from the tinge of jealousy in Vanessa’s eyes that she was one of the women in the neighborhood who craved Derek’s affections. Sipping at the sweet wine, I briefly contemplated what their reactions would be if I told them I had ended up in Derek’s bed, and he was good at it too. It wasn’t just our hopeful imaginations that he was good in bed. He actually was.
Too good at it. I took another sip of wine while trying to keep my expression as clear as possible.
“He’s a jerk to me too,” I said. “So, there really isn’t anything different about it.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed slightly. She really was a pretty woman in her mid-thirties, more around Derek’s age, and she had brunette curls and tanned skin.
“I wouldn’t say that,” she replied, suspicion lacing her voice. “I saw you playing a game with him and Owen a few weeks ago.”
Did you hear us in bed too? My fingers curled around the rim of my wine glass. I shrugged my shoulders, because I didn’t know what else to say to that. They wanted information, and I wasn’t going to give it to them no matter how hard they pried.
“It’s too bad though,” Vanessa said. “I heard him telling Mr. Cooper that he’s going to find a new babysitter.” Those words washed over me coldly. “He said something about you having a commitment to going back to school.”
“Excuse me,” I said sharply. “I have to—I have to get some air. This wine is hitting me a bit strong.”
I set the glass down on the kitchen island. Before any of them could say anything, I slipped out of the kitchen door to the back patio. My head felt warm and fuzzy from the few sips of wine. I wobbled over to where Derek stood next to the barbecue with a few other husbands. He looked at me with an indifferent expression when I came to a stop in front of him.
“It’s nice to hear that I’m fired from the neighbors,” I said, not bothering to hide the anger radiating from inside me. “Couldn’t face me?’
Derek’s lips thinned into a displeased and uncomfortable line. He glanced over at the kitchen window, where Martha, Vanessa, Clarissa, and Margaret were looking out at us in avid curiosity.
“Don’t do this here,” he said tightly.
“I agree with Derek,” one of the husbands said, turning to look at the women in the window. They all immediately backed off when he waved the barbecue tongs at them. “My wife, Martha, can be so nosey sometimes. Go talk out of earshot and eyesight. I have enough gossip to deal with without you two causing more.”
“I’m sorry, Bob,” Derek said, setting his beer down on the table. “We’ll go somewhere to talk.”
He grabbed ahold of my elbow with tight fingers. I stumbled slightly down the porch steps as Derek guided me out of Martha’s backyard in the direction of my house. The second we were on the front porch step, Derek turned on me with a glare.
“What is wrong with you?” he hissed. “We agreed to—”
“I agreed to keep quiet,” I said hotly. “That was what we agreed to. You changed your damn mind about it.”
“Because I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt.” He grabbed for my keys, but I danced away from him. The wine was giving me a shot of bravery. “I was going to tell you Monday about finding a new babysitter. Who told you about that?”
“Vanessa,” I said flatly, “the woman who is stalking you from across the street.”
Derek rolled his eyes in exasperation. “That doesn’t surprise me that she told you. I told you those women can’t mind their own damn business.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I waved a dismissive hand. “I just want to know why you’re pulling back from me after what we agreed to.”
“Shit, Jenna,” he said, sighing in aggravation. “I was just trying to do the right thing. None of this is easy for me.”
“So you don’t want me to go then?”
“Of course not. I don’t want you to, but I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
That answer satisfied me to a degree. The wine in my veins felt good, and Derek looked equally good in the pair of loose gym shorts he wore along with a simple white shirt. His hair was styled messily as usual. My fingers itched to run through the soft strands.
A devious thought washed over me. There was no doubt in my mind that Martha and her gabble of women were watching intently from the living room windows. I knew Martha had set this up for a reason, and I planned on taking advantage of it.
I brushed by Derek to unlock the front door. Pushing the door open, I turned to look at him. He was watching me with a heated look.
“Come prove that to me,” I said as sultrily as possible. “Let’s give those women across the street something to really talk about.”
I stepped inside and held the door open while I waited patiently for Derek to weigh his options. He stepped inside a few moments later. The second I let the front door close on its own, our lips were against each other’s, hot and needy.
Nothing could ever replace the feel of Derek’s strong and hot body pressing up against mine, or the way his hands cupped and gripped me in all the right places. We stumbled up the stairs without breaking contact. Shivers shot up my spine in anticipation as Derek’s hands ripped my tank top up, followed by my bra a second later. He pinned me up against the upstairs hallway wall before dipping down to kiss and suck at my breasts until I could barely see straight.
Hardness pressed against me through the fabric of my jeans. I reached between us to rub at the hotness there. That earned a throaty groan of approval from Derek against my right breast. His fingers smoothed down my back before slipping around to work at the button of my shorts. I reached around blindly for his shirt while Derek’s mouth came up to attack me again in a brutal and dominant kiss.
We barely made it into my room before we were both dripping with sweat from the lust searing between us. Derek’s fingers brushed between my legs to set a rough rhythm there. A cry of pleasure escaped my mouth from the friction. I moved against his hand shamelessly for a release, but he pulled away to push me back onto the bed.
A shiver went up my spine at the feeling of Derek slipping between my legs as though he belonged there permanently. I didn’t think of anything else when he thrust into me with a relieved sigh. All I could do was cling to his strong shoulders, feeling the muscles there work as he set a hard and deep pace that had us both dangling sweetly near a much-needed release. Tears pricked my eyes when my release came barreling down violently. I dimly heard Derek let out a deep groan before collapsing against me.
His heart slammed into his ribcage against my own frantically beating heart. I stared up at the sunlight dancing across the ceiling of my room while I tried to calm my breathing. Nothing could replace the feeling of Derek cradling me in his strong arms. I felt protected. His nose nuzzled against the crook of my neck. I felt even a bit loved in a way, something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
It wasn’t smart to get involved, but I was beyond caring. This felt entirely too good to let it go.