AN: Thanks so much for the reviews... These two need to get on the same page, pronto...

Chapter 2

"Of all the Neanderthal, stupid things!" Penelope snapped. "Stop this car, and let me out."

"No," he answered, heading up on the entrance ramp to I-95.

She growled deep in her throat in frustration. "This is stupid. You are stupid. Stop the truck."

The look he shot her immediately made her silent. "Don't fuck with me, Penelope. I am not in the mood."

"Fuck with you?" she hissed in outrage, feeling kind of strange using that word. She wasn't one for swearing, but sometimes, the situation called for it. Like if one was kidnapped and handcuffed in an SUV. That situation called for swearing.

"Yeah," he said, gripping the steering wheel as he drove.

"Ha," she muttered under her breath, but loudly enough that he could hear. "You wish."

She saw the corner of his mouth twitch in the faintest hint of a smile. "That I do."

The primitive, sexy look on his face did something strange to her, and in spite of herself, in spite of the fact that she was handcuffed in the front of his damned truck, she felt a wash of wetness between her legs. It was...disconcerting. She'd never been one that liked the caveman approach before.

Well, to be honest with herself, she really didn't know if she liked the caveman approach. She'd never had it before. The kind of guys she'd dated—fellow tech geeks like herself—were not the sort that tossed a girl over their shoulder and ran off into the woods with them to have their wicked way with her and do as they pleased.

Penelope shifted in her seat, hoping the second round of wetness she was feeling didn't seep through.

He arched a brow at her. "Comfortable?"

She scowled at him. "No! I was handcuffed in an SUV by an idiot!"

He didn't even bother to answer.

"Well, you are!" she snapped.

"Not an idiot," he replied after a moment. "Just a man on a mission."

"A mission to ruin your credit rating for life!" she snarled, and then added, "Or a death mission!"

He chuckled.

"Ooh!" she cried, wishing she could toss something at his head. Instead, she was sitting, stewing, when they passed the exit for Derek's house. That made her stop struggling at her bonds and look at him. She'd thought for sure they were headed to his place.

"Where are we headed?" she demanded.

"My cabin," he answered flatly. "Near Rossi's."

She was thunderstruck. "Your cabin? I didn't know you had a cabin."

That corner of his mouth twitched again. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, sweetheart." He looked over at her and shot her a heated look. "I think it's about time you found out."

She felt her heart skip a beat. Oh, sweet circuits...was he...? He couldn't be...could he?

Her heart, performing its usual evasive maneuver when it was dealing with Derek, helped her brain think of something else quickly. Suddenly, she thought about poor JJ, her ride to the party, waiting for her and wondering where she was at. "Oh, God! JJ has to be—"

"Before I followed you, I told Hotch, JJ, Rossi, Blake, and Reid that I was stealing you away."

She snorted. "I am sure you didn't tell them you meant it literally."

"Actually—" he turned his head to look at her, pinning her with piercing dark eyes "—I did."

She could feel the heat rising up her neck to her face and that insidious heat pooling between her legs.

He'd obviously planned this out, and now she was more curious about her fate than ever.

"You told them you were taking me." It was a statement, not a question.

He nodded and kept his eyes on the road.

"Derek...what is going on?" she questioned after a few more miles riding in silence.

"It's time."

Her brows went down in a harsh slash. "What's time?"

"Time to show you where you belong," he answered.

"Belong?" she squeaked, more confused than ever. "What do you mean...belong? What are you talking about?"

"And who you belong to."

Derek could see the steam coming out of Penelope's ears. He almost smiled but bit it back. Good. He was fine that she was a little irritated with the whole thing. The whole four years she was with Kevin Lynch had irritated the fuck out of him, too.

He finally told her what he'd been thinking in no uncertain terms. Soon, she was going to see a lot of other things. Mainly, the two of them and how they could be—should be—as a couple. He was tired of teasing, tired of pretending he didn't want more. He was tired of sitting back and not being the man he was supposed to be with her all along—her man.

This Christmas, watching her with that nincompoop Lynch, he knew straight up: he'd been wrong to sit back. He should've stepped up to the plate. Should've claimed her and made her his months ago...no, years ago. Instead, he'd let what her decide what she thought she wanted. Playing at a relationship. Playing it safe with that asshole she never intended on marrying. Keeping her life the same status quo so she didn't have to fear losing someone important again—or unimportant. Watching her with Kevin, it was obvious—she didn't have a clue what was good for her. Not when it came to love.

Real love meant calling each other first when you were hurt, being each other's support and caring, standing firm against the world with one another if needed to be. Real love was worrying about each other in times of trial, kissing away tears, and laughing and cheering with each other for triumphs. Real love was being giddy together and shining so bright, others took note.

Real love, honest-to-goodness love like his folks had had, was what they'd had for eight years running now.

Derek needed to prove that. He had always had a dominant side, one that lay dormant with most of his girlfriends. It took the right woman, one that he wanted to claim, one that he felt was his, to really bring out the feelings he was having now. Penelope had always been that woman for him.

He'd wondered how she would feel, what she would do, if she knew about his darker fantasies. He'd had so many about her in the past, ones he'd acted out with far less deserving women because he'd held back with her. He wanted to be her best friend, but he wanted to be her lover, too.

No. That was too mild for how he really felt. There was something about Penelope Garcia from day one that told him she was the other part of his soul. The missing piece he needed to be whole. He loved her, he desired her, he needed her.

But it was more than that. He wanted her to see and experience every part of him. He wanted to make love to her, he wanted to get down and dirty with her...he wanted to fuck her. There was no middle ground, there was no simple niceties. It was him, bare and raw, offering himself up to her like the goddess she was. She wasn't meant to beg or plead for love—that should be a given for someone who gave like her.

He watched out of the corner of his eye how she shifted in her seat, crossing her legs—those legs, long and curvy, with well-turned calves and plump thighs—and he had to adjust in his seat. Where Penelope saw gushy excess, Derek saw luscious curves, breasts, and hips, places where he could bury his face, his tongue, his cock. He saw softness to comfort him, valleys to caress, delicious ripeness that screamed woman. He knew she felt more in a negative way about herself; she'd been vocal when they'd shopped together.

"Doesn't Lynch let you know how perfect you are, peaches?" he'd asked, reassuring her when she'd groaned over her size tag.

"You're sweet," she'd said, rifling through a rack for something a bit less fitted. "But Kevin is honest with me. He knows I have to lose about fifteen, too."

It had irritated him to no end that day. That fool Lynch didn't see what he had in her then, and he didn't see what she was now. He didn't see what he had in her ever.

Derek did. He always had, and he always would.

Turning off the highway onto the winding road that led to the lake cabin, he was even more assured he was doing the right thing.

He'd given her his heart a million years ago, he'd been her champion more times than he could count, and she was his best friend and soul mate. Now, it was time to be her lover. Now, it was up to him to make her see exactly why they were so right for one another...even if he had to keep her handcuffed to the bed the whole weekend.