A/N: Heeeeeeeeeello lovely readers! I apologize again for such a delay between updates, but I am currently in Hong Kong (I live in Canada) for work and getting internet here has been absolutely ridiculous! Anyways, here's the epilogue to this story, but never fear, my cousin and I have too much fun writing these joint stories, so we're planning another one starting in May. By then I will have graduated (at long last!) and I won't be able to use schoolwork as an excuse anymore! Please enjoy the last segment, review if you've enjoyed this story, and please feel free to make some suggestions about what we should be doing with the next story!
Disclaimer: We aren't Kelley Armstrong, we don't make any money from this and we don't own the characters.
Even a month after we had killed Mark, Derek was still blaming himself. No amount of me telling him I was the murderer made him feel better.
That evening, I was sitting on the couch with Derek's arm around me. The movie that was playing was one I had seen before and I decided that Derek and I needed some time together.
I was glad my dad wasn't home.
I looked up at Derek and when he glanced at me, I leaned up to kiss him. He returned the kiss, his lips soft, but part of me felt like he wasn't into it.
When he pulled away, his eyes didn't stay on me. They returned to the television.
This is getting ridiculous I thought, ready to scream. I wanted Derek back to himself. As terrible as it is to say, I had more or less moved past killing Mark. In all reality, I knew that the choice was either his life or mine and Derek's.
The choice had been simple. Still was.
I tried a bit more to get Derek engaged in kissing me, but each attempt seemed weaker than the next.
A brilliant idea struck me and I got up. "I'll be back."
Rushing to my room, I pulled out the sexy slip. I took off all my clothes, leaving on my panties and slipped the silky item over my skin. Looking in that mirror, the feeling of sexiness surged inside of me again. I practiced a seductive smile and, feeling a little foolish but satisfied with the result, threw a robe over my body.
This was either going to be an epic success or an epic disaster.
Coming back into the living room, I stopped at the doorway. Derek turned to look at me and I saw his eyebrow rise. "Everything ok?"
Mustering all the courage I could, I gave him a sexy smile and crooked my finger, telling him to follow me. He got up, confusion on his face, and I walked back towards my room. I looked back once to make sure he was following and when I saw he was, I let the top of my robe slip off my shoulder. I heard Derek's sudden intake of breath.
Where was this vixen in me coming from?
Just before entering my room, I let the robe slip all the way off. I kept my back to him as Derek walked into the room, clutching my robe.
"Chloe?"
I turned around and he gasped. His eyes glazed over and his mouth stayed open. "Derek…"
The moment his name left my lips, he rushed to me and grabbed me. He kissed me hard and I nearly fell backwards. I felt him pick me up so I wrapped my legs around his waist as he walked us towards my bed. He sat on the edge, pressing me closer to him. I took my lips away from his so that I could kiss his neck, biting softly. He moaned, which urged me to bite again.
Placing my hands on the hem of his shirt, I pushed it upwards, making sure to graze my hands along his skin. He lifted his arms and I struggled to get the t-shirt off. It got stuck on his head and he had to help me tug it off.
Guess I wasn't so little-miss-vixen after all.
Derek didn't seem to mind though, his eyes looking at me hungrily. I planted my palms on his chest and pushed him down.
Moving lower, I unbuckled his jeans and tugged them down, the boxers staying on, but barely. I could see the dark trail starting from his bellybutton going past the boxers and I couldn't wait to take them off too.
Looking at Derek, I was sure he wanted the same.
Easing myself down next to him, I started off slowly, teasing him with my fingers. I didn't touch the obvious bulge in his pants, but rather I danced around it. I made sure to brush his erection slowly and when he groaned, I placed my hand on the bulge. I could feel heat radiating through the material and, in a brave moment, I pulled down his boxers as well.
I smiled as I grasped him in my hands. Starting slowly, I moved my hand up and down as I got a rhythm going.
"Chloe…" When I didn't stop, he caught my arm, long fingers easily circling my wrist, stilling my movements. "Chloe," he breathed, resting his forehead against mine. His breathing was jagged, uneven. "If you keep that up, I won't be able to stop."
I didn't even waste time trying to get free of his hold; it wasn't going to happen. I used his proximity to my face to press a kiss to his cheek. His skin burned under my lips.
"I don't want you to stop." Letting my body ease back onto the bed, he was forced to follow or relinquish his hold on me. With his body braced over mine, it was all I could do to not beg him to kick his jeans the rest of the way off and give both of us some relief. "Besides, you'd stop if I asked you to."
He stretched out on top of me, keeping my hands in a gentle hold over my head as he nuzzled my neck, making me squirm as his scruff tickled. His sides expanded on a huff of laughter. "You think I'm such a hero that I could stop on a dime?"
I waited quietly until he met my eyes and I smiled, touching my nose to his. "Yes."
The emotion that flared behind his eyes made my heart stutter. I had accepted a long time ago that I was in love with Derek; the hard part was finding the words to tell him. But that look gave me courage, so I held his gaze as I whispered the words I had waited so long to say to him. "I love you, you know."
If it's possible, the deep forest green of his eyes darkened even more and he just looked at me for so long that I squirmed a little, suddenly realizing how momentous those words were, words that once spoken, could never be taken back. Had I totally mistaken the depth of his feelings for me?
His fingers brushed a stray lock of hair off my face. Belatedly, I realized his hand was trembling, and a slow smile began to spread across my face.
"I love you, too," he said quietly, a tentative grin starting to match mine.
I wanted to hear him say the words again.
Easily breaking free of his hold, I threw my arms around his neck and hauled him down for a kiss that had him chuckling. He rolled onto his back so quickly that I squeaked when I found myself taken along and deposited over him, not that I minded once I wriggled myself into position and then shifted around a little more, just for good measure.
Derek groaned and I couldn't help but grin. He put his hands on my hips, shifting me oh so slightly on top of him.
Kissing him again, I moved from his lips to his neck, biting the soft skin there. "Chloe…"
"Nope, no talking," I ordered, lapping at the mark my love-bite had left. "No thinking, no analyzing." I pulled back and pointed a stern finger at his nose. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, buddy."
He looked up at me, hair mussed and a half-smile playing around his lips. He'd never looked better.
"I don't want to hurt you."
Aaaaaand cue Derek's irritatingly predictable protective instincts. The man was determined to protect me from everything, even himself.
"You might," I said simply, and it was the truth. "But- no, shut up and let me finish! You might hurt me, but it'll only be this once, and it's natural. Derek…" I softened my tone coaxingly and stretched out on top of him, rubbing my cheek affectionately against his. "I'm ready for this, I-" My breath caught as he undulated his body under mine.
"I w-want you." The words came out a breathy whisper. I licked my dry lips while he watched intently. "I need you. Please."
The world literally stopped turning for a little while, I swear. I could feel every ridge and valley of Derek's body and how mine fit them all perfectly. I could hear my blood pounding in my ears and I could count the golden flecks in Derek's eyes.
Suddenly, he chuckled, hands cupping my shoulders. "What if I'm not ready to give up my v-card?"
"W-what?" Seriously?
His face got all level and serious. "This is a big step in any relationship and I want my first time to be special."
Goldfish had nothing on the shocked opening and closing of my mouth. He was joking, right? Right?
"Uh, Derek…"
His eyes crinkled as he grinned at my befuddled expression.
"Your face!" he snickered. "That was priceless!"
"Smartass," I grumbled, and let one of the straps of the slip slide off my shoulder. His eyes followed it instantly and I shivered with heady delight as I shrugged my other shoulder and the remaining strap obediently followed suit.
His eyes were dark when they met mine and he moved suddenly and precisely, flipping me so that I was under him and somehow managing to dispose of his shirt and jeans at the same time. His lips touched mine softly before cruising down my neck, where my pulse pounded like a marching band, to my collarbones, which he nuzzled before carefully catching the silk of my negligee in his teeth and drawing it down.
I never suspected that my slinky little negligee would seduce me just as much as it would please him. The silk rasped against the tight puckering of my nipples and I bit my lip hard, arching up as my breasts were exposed. I thought Derek would stop then, but he didn't. He just kept easing down my body, dragging the slip with him, until the lacey top of my panties showed.
But even that didn't slow him down; hooking his fingers under the elastic at my hips, he just pulled them off with the slip, everything whisking away from my body with a silky rustle as they hit the floor.
"Derek?" My voice was breathy with excitement and nerves.
"Mmm?" He started kissing a lazy trail up one thigh, his hands looking bigger and darker against the smooth, pale skin inside my leg.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Shh." It was a soothing hush, not one of his usual barked orders. Lying back, I watched from under half-lowered lids, still a little shy about all this, but painfully aroused nonetheless.
His lips were soft and his tongue was magic and within minutes I was clutching handfuls of the sheets in my fists as I cried out, my body trembling as I came. Only then did Derek finish his return journey back up my body, a "I'm the man" grin on his face.
"You ok?"
"Unh," I replied, completely unable to form a coherent sentence for my life.
"Good."
He kissed me then, and that's when I had a chance to finally pay him back a little, raking my nails down his back, making the little noises that I knew made him wild, until we were both panting, nose to nose.
"Please," I whispered. "It'll be fine, you'll see."
He looked torn, but when I hooked a leg around his, bringing his erection to rest against the entrance to my body, he groaned in surrender, pulling away to strip off his boxers and put on a condom from the stash I had hidden in my bedside drawer a week earlier.
"Chloe-"
I dug my nails into his ass and pulled him towards me. "God, Derek, would you just-"
And before I could finish my sentence he was inside me, and I won't lie, it wasn't the best sensation I have ever experienced. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed deeply and slowly.
"I need a minute," I said quietly, feeling his hand stroking my hair, my shoulder, my hip, patient and gentle.
"I'm sorry," he said gruffly. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"I know." After a minute, the pain was receding, and I wriggled around a little.
Derek groaned and his hand tightened on my hip. "Easy."
Delighted with his reaction and much less sore than I had been, I squirmed a little more, pulling Derek's head up. "I'm alright now, just go slow."
I hate to say it, but I hadn't gotten my expectations too high for our first time together. I knew it would most likely be painful for me, but I was pleasantly surprised as Derek started to move. I had thought it would be awkward, but my body rose up automatically under his, following the simple point-counterpoint rhythm that came naturally.
The pain had receded to a dull ache, and the sliding pull of Derek's thrusts set off a warm tingle deep inside me. I gasped at one particularly deep one, and he dropped his face into my hair with a groan.
"I can't-" he rasped, and I could feel how tightly coiled his muscles were, bunched under the sweat-slicked skin of his back.
"It's ok," I whispered, lifting my hips to encourage him to start moving again. "I'm fine, keep going."
When he lifted his head, he brought his hands up to frame my face as he kissed me deeply, moving faster now. After another minute, his smooth rhythm faltered and with a harsh growl, his eyes closed as his entire body seized.
It was amazing. I could actually feel the ripples of his orgasm inside me, and the sensation was just unbelievable. Wrapping my arms and legs around him, I buried my face in his neck and held on, my breath whooshing out in a rush when he collapsed his full weight onto me.
"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled, rolling to the side. Still clinging like a barnacle, I was pulled along, and I hooked my leg up over his hip so that we were still snuggled tightly together.
He was quiet for so long that I finally looked up to see if he had fallen asleep. He was wide-awake, his eyes unreadable. A hand came up to brush some hair back from my face and his fingers lingered on my cheekbone.
"You'd better not apologize," I warned him, my hand coming up to idly stroke his chest.
Surprisingly, he laughed, bear-hugging me and rolling me on top of him. "I wouldn't dream of it. That- you're amazing."
I – predictably – blushed, but I met his gaze. "Ditto."
We lay there for a few more minutes, luxuriating in what I've always heard described as the afterglow. An apt name; my skin was pleasantly flushed and my whole body felt rosy and tingly.
Derek's stomach growled at one point, and I lifted my head with a smile. "Time to eat, huh?"
Eyes still closed, his lips quirked. "Mm, food."
I sat up and swung my leg over to get off of him. "Can I grab a quick shower first?"
"Can I grab you while you grab a quick shower?" he teased, sneaking in a quick butt squeeze while I hunted up my underwear.
I raised a brow suggestively and started backing towards the bathroom. "Come and get me first."
Suddenly, he was crouched on the bed, eyes tracking me intently as he started to slink off, instantly becoming a hunter as I became the prey. "Oh, that's a promise."
Putting out my hands as if to ward him off, I laughed and then squealed as he growled and chased me into the bathroom. "Derek!"
