SCARRED - Part 2 (The SCARRED Series - Book 2) (9 page)

Laughing again, she leaned in and kissed him softly. “I thought we were only talking about cooking. Of course you’re a master of things here in the bedroom as well.”

“Whew! I was worried. You want to see a little more of my mastery?”

“Maybe later,” she said with a grin. “I’m a little hungry.”

“That will teach you not to waste my fabulous dinner from now on,” he told her. “But, we can’t have you hungry so I’ll wash up and go get the pancakes started.” He kissed her again before he got out of bed. She watched him go, willing her heart to slow down before it exploded.

When he came out of the bathroom she said, “Would it be okay if I showered?”

“Sure, do you need any help?”

She would love his help, but she thought again about him having a perfectly lighted, unobscured view of her entire body and once again decided that she wasn’t ready for that...yet.

She patted her stomach and said, “Maybe next time. I’m awfully hungry.”

He grinned at her and said, “Alright, but I’m spoon feeding you next time so you wake up full and satiated...”

“I woke up satiated,” she said.

“I guess that’s something. I’m going to make pancakes.”

“Thank you. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Towels are in the cabinet and everything else you need should be in there. None of it smells as good as you do, so I apologize that you’ll have to smell like me the rest of the day.”

She smiled and said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

*******

C
hloe tried to leave again after breakfast but when Derek asked her what she had to do at home, she realized she had nothing. She didn’t have work at least for a while and hopefully Lexi was getting to spend time with the Incredible Hunk.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” she asked him.

“I need to meet an owner at one of his properties today. It will be quick and you can go with me....”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to get in the way of your job...”

“Trust me; you wouldn’t be in the way one bit. I’m looking at this house to see if it’s something I might be interested in selling for him. All I have to do is a quick tour of it. You can give me a female perspective on it.”

“I don’t know anything about houses,” she said.

“You know what you like, right? A second opinion is always good.” She finally agreed, glad that the sundress she’d worn over the day before was conservative and something appropriate for an impromptu business meeting. She listened as Derek called his driver first. She heard him tell the driver that they would need a ride to the airport. When he hung up she said, “Airport? Where is this house?”

“It’s in Maine,” he said.

“You spend a lot of time in Maine. That’s where we went the first time we went out.”

He laughed, “I have several clients that do business here in Rhode Island, but choose to live in Maine. I like it there. It has that small town friendly feel to it.”

“I liked it there too when we went. Are we going to the same place?”

“No, this place is even more casual. Walk-up dining and you eat outside. But the lobster is phenomenal and sometimes it’s just fun to do something that doesn’t require a suit and tie and reservations.”

“Yet we’re taking the luxury helicopter...” she said with a grin.

“True, but that’s only because it’s about business. Next time we can drive if you prefer.”

Next time. He was already planning another date and she hadn’t said yes to this one yet. She had gotten so she almost prided herself on her ability to keep everyone at an arm’s distance. Something about Derek muddled her brain and attacked her sensibilities. She kept warning herself to be careful, to not let her guard down. Then she would look into those beautiful blue eyes and she would see nothing there that she shouldn’t trust. She might be wrong. She had definitely been wrong before and she had almost paid the ultimate price.

“Right there and back after this meeting and lunch?” she asked.

“Right there and back,” he said.

“Okay,” she said. She wanted to trust him so badly.

––––––––

T
he driver took them back to the same small, private airport they had gone to before. They boarded the helicopter and buckled their seatbelts. It wasn’t quite as nerve wracking this time, since she had done this before, but when Derek reached for her hand, she let him take it.

“You doing okay?” Derek asked her.

“I’m good,” she said, looking out the window.

“We’re going to do lunch first if you don’t mind,” Derek said, looking at his phone. “My client is running late.”

“Sure, lunch is good,” she said.

“So tell me something that I don’t know about you, Chloe.” She was glad she was still looking out the window. What he didn’t know about her could fill the pages of a novel. With a neutral expression she turned back towards him and said, “Like what?”

“I don’t know. What was the last book you read?”

“Pole dancing for dummies,” she said.

He laughed, “Come on, tell me something real. What kind of books do you like? What kind of movies do you hate? What kind of music do you have in your I-Pod?”

“Okay, let’s see...I like to read books with history in them. Not just dry, boring history, but when they weave it into a novel, I like that. I don’t like the sappy romance stuff, Heathcliff and all that tortured romantic hero stuff never really did it for me.”

“Okay, good. See, you revealed something and the sky didn’t fall in on us. Let’s try another one. What kind of movies do you hate?”

“Sappy romance,” she said.

He smiled and said, “I’m detecting a theme here.”

She shrugged, “It’s just not real life. I like mysteries, biographies, stuff that makes you think.”

“Me too,” he said. “But I haven’t quite given up on the possibility that sappy romance can exist.”

She didn’t respond to that. Instead, she said, “My I-Pad is mostly classic rock. I like some of the new country rock and I love jazz and the blues. I’m not a huge fan of pop music or rap.”

“Food?”

“I like it,” she said.

Smiling, he said, “What’s your favorite kind?”

“Chinese,” she said.

“Chinese is good. What about Japanese? Sushi?”

“I like my food to be cooked,” she said. “But I do like tempura vegetables and rice.”

“Okay, so no anchovies on the pizza?”

“Only if you want to eat it all yourself,” she said. They were both silent again and Chloe looked back out the window. It was nice just having “ordinary” conversation with him. It had been so long since she’d done that with any man that it was strange, but nice.

“We’re getting ready to land,” he told her. She felt his hand tighten on hers slightly...almost protectively as the helicopter descended. A man who was protective instead of exploitive was an anomaly to her as well.

The car took them to a harbor. At the end of the pier was a tiny little restaurant. There wasn’t much else there except for a few little bait and tackle kiosks. 

“Where are we?” she asked him.

“This town is called Round Pond. This place is the Round Pond Lobster House and the lobster here is worth dying for,” he said.

“Well let’s get in there then,” she said, “I can’t wait.”

Once inside, they ordered their food at a long, redwood counter. The little place served lobster, steamers, corn on the cob and chips. That was all that was on the menu and when Chloe looked surprised, Derek said, “Trust me, it’s enough.”

Trust me
, she thought. She’d been doing that a lot.

They got their food and took it out to one of the picnic tables outside looking out across the harbor. Once they dug in, Chloe had to admit that Derek was right. She had never tasted anything that melted so readily and so lusciously in her mouth. It was like heaven in a shell and she ate way too much of it.

“Go away! Shoo!” she heard Derek say while she was gazing adoringly at what was left on her plate.

She jerked up her head and said, “Who, me?”

He laughed, “No, the big gull right there that keeps staring at us.”

Chloe looked down where he was looking. On the ground was a white seagull that was not big at all. He was average sized at best and he seemed to be there picking crumbs off the ground.

“He’s big?” she asked.

“Big enough,” he said with a distressed look on his face.

“Oh my goodness! Stingrays and birds! You’re afraid of birds!”

“I am not afraid of birds! I’m just...I just don’t care for them,” he said.

“Any of them?”

“The ones in cages are alright.”

She laughed, “You know that you could probably step on that bird and do some serious damage, right? You’re a big guy.”

“Have you ever seen The Birds?” he asked.

“Alfred Hitchcock? Of course.”

“They have talons and beaks that are sharp and they could do serious damage if they wanted to...”

She was cracking up. “You weren’t exposed to many animals as a child were you?” she asked.

He shrugged, “I guess not. We had a dog and horses and I visited the Bronx zoo a few times.”

“We’ll have to take you more often and get you used to the idea that they’re not all out to kill you.”

He smiled then and said, “Good, my plan worked.”

“What plan was that?”

“The one where I pretend to be scared in order to get you to spend more time with me.”

Chloe laughed. “Good try, scared-y cat.” Chloe leaned down and held out a piece of a cracker. The seagull came over and took it right out of her hand. Derek shuddered and she laughed again.

******

A
fter lunch the car took them to a place called Rockport where the house they were meeting the client at was located. Derek told her that the house was at the end of a private drive on over five acres of land. It had 350 feet of deep water shorefront, five bedrooms, six bathrooms and over eight-thousand square feet of space.

“Wow, who needs an eight-thousand square foot home?” she said.

“He and his wife were very active in charitable events in the community before their retirement. They hosted a lot of events there. Which reminds me, I have an event I have to attend in New York on Saturday night? Would you be interested in going along with me, as my date?”

“Oh, um...”

“We are dating, aren’t we? I mean we’ve had dinner, re-decorated a park...”

“That one wasn’t a date, you were stalking then.”

He smiled, “Oh that’s right. But anyways, now we’ve had our second helicopter ride and lunch. We’ve spent two nights together...two of the better nights of my life I might add.”

Chloe didn’t miss the part where he said, “Two of the better nights,” and not “Two of the best.” But he had a point, technically, what they were doing would be considered dating by most people. The idea of going to New York disturbed her more than the idea of “dating” Derek however.

“Where in New York is this event being held and what is the charity?”

“It’s in Rochester at a private residence of one of my clients and it’s a children’s hospital foundation. They have a fantastic dinner and a silent auction and dancing. It’s a good cause and a great time. Please say you’ll go.”

“I’ll say that I’ll consider it,” she said with a smile.

“You consider a lot of things,” he said, smiling too. He leaned in then and pressed his lips to hers. After kissing her lips he let his lips slide up to her ear and he whispered, “Would you consider spending another night with me?”

She leaned her head back into the seat so that her neck was exposed. Derek took the hint and she suddenly felt hot breath against her neck and the gentle brush of his lips. His kisses were so hot that they practically burned on contact. He reached up and put his hand in her hair and as he kissed her neck, he ran his fingers through it. His other hand slid down around her waist and pulled her in close while his mouth dropped down to her shoulder and began to spread kisses there. She could hear his breaths speeding up to match her own and she felt herself tingling all over.

“Here we are, sir,” the driver who had put the window between them down a discreet inch said.

Derek growled. He took a breath and composed himself before saying, “Thank you, Mason.” He looked at Chloe and the desire was apparent on his face and in his eyes. “Can we pick this up later?” his voice was husky and still breathless.

She smiled and in a husky voice of her own she said, “I’ll consider it.”

––––––––

C
hloe spent that night with Derek and when she got home the next day she was assaulted by Lexi hugging her.

“Wow that was some hug. What did I do to deserve that?”

“It’s Brock! He’s amazing!”

Chloe laughed, “I’m glad you’re so happy,” she said. “I was afraid that you’d be upset with me for abandoning you for two days.”

“No, it was perfect! Brock and I had dinner in the sunset the first night and we took a long walk on the beach yesterday morning. He was a perfect gentleman. He didn’t try a thing, but when we got back he gave me the sweetest little kiss. I invited him in but he said it was “too soon,” that he didn’t trust himself to be alone in the house with me and still be a gentleman. Where did this man come from?”

Chloe laughed and said, “Roxi found him, you’ll have to ask her.”

“So, what about your two days?”

“They were good. He’s also a gentleman. I’m enjoying getting to know him.”

“I’m so glad. I was starting to really worry about you, sitting in this condo every day and every weekend. You’re too amazing to always be alone.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Chloe said with an appreciative smile, “But, you’re right I guess, it’s about time. Is our large shadow outside still?”

“Brock went home to get some rest, but there’s another one out there. He seems nice, but he’s no Brock.”

“No one is,” Chloe said with a faux sigh.

“I know!” Lexi squealed.

Chloe went to her room with a smile on her face. She sat down on her bed and took out her journal. When she opened to the last page she saw what she had written and just like that, the darkness returned. Jesse was getting out...and soon. She could “date” Derek and laugh and giggle with Lexi and act like everything was okay, but the truth was that in just a little over a week, she would have to be on constant alert. She wouldn’t have time to take helicopter rides and eat lobster...she better enjoy it now.