Hi Guys,

So first off big thanks to everyone who has been following this story. Secondly though, a big welcome and thanks to a couple of new readers who have been leaving lovely reviews and catching up with where we are now. Glad you found and are enjoying this story.

I would also like to confirm that this piece is ongoing, I have a few chapters in the works that I hope to get up soon. There's lots more to come yet in RISK, so fear not!

Any way here's a new chapter for you all. Enjoy some CartWills excitement...

Chapter Thirty Eight – Good for You

"Ana, help me!" Karen was a mess. Heated rollers still adorned her head in a vain attempt to tame her wild locks into sleek and bouncy curls. Makeup brushes lay strewn across the bathroom vanity where she's dropped them down in frustration. She was trying to get ready for the fancy charity gala event Derek had invited her to attend with him that evening. She was running late, in true Cartwright fashion, even though they'd had a rare day off from the theatre that day. Ana appeared over Karen's shoulder in the modestly sized bathroom attached to the hotel room they shared. She gave her best friend a pitying look before making a start on removing the rollers from Karen's head. "Thank you," Karen told her as she continued applying her makeup with more precision.

"So what time is the devil director arriving?" Ana asked curiously, fluffing Karen's curls before adding a bit of hair spray to keep them in place.

"Now!" Karen said, checking the time again on her phone. "I'm not even dressed yet," she complained, throwing various bits and pieces back into her makeup bag.

"He'll wait," Ana told her with a laugh. "I'm so jealous of all these fancy affairs he keeps taking you to," the smaller girl told her, whilst snatching the eye liner from her friend's hand just as Karen had been putting it away. "Allow me," Ana said with a wide smile as she added a final few touches to Karen's dark and smokey eyes.

"Next time, I'll make sure he gets another plus one and we can go together," Karen told her with her eyes closed. "You'd love it Awn, it's like being in a fairy tale. Sometimes I really can't believe this is my life." Karen really was in a dream world lately, but there was a niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach that constantly made her feel like something big was about to happen. She'd been trying to ignore the worry, push it away, but she was terrified her fairy tale would start crumbling down.

"Well you better get used to it Princess, Kyle said the Vlog interviews he's been posting have been pretty successful hits online…especial yours," Ana told her, before they were both distracted by a knock at the door.

"Crap," Karen said looking down at her body still dressed in sweat pants and a scruffy t-shirt she was pretty sure had belonged to Jimmy at some point in time.

"Hold on," Ana shouted to the closed door. She grabbed Karen's dress from her bed and passed it into the bathroom. "Get ready, I'll entertain the Brit in the corridor for a minute of two," she said as she headed to the hotel room door. Karen could hear the pair of them chatting as she quickly slipped on her long black gown. It was plain but fitted with an open back. The dress hit the floor and but had a slit all the way up one side until the middle of her thigh. She paired it with strappy, emerald green heels and a matching green and sliver clutch bag covered in sparkling stones. After a last look in the mirror, to put in her small, sliver studded earrings and fasten her peacock pendant necklace that rested on a fine sliver chain, Karen was finally ready to go. She took a deep steadying breath and left the safety of the hotel room.

She could hear Derek chuckling at something Ana had said but he went silent when she opened the door and stepped out to meet them in the corridor. "Wow, you look amazing," Derek said immediately without thinking about Ana's presence.

"You scrub up pretty good to when you try," Karen said jokingly in response, entirely too aware of the fact Ana was watching their exchange.

"You are one hot chick baby," Ana said in excitement, giving Karen a quick hug. "Knock 'em dead Chica, and don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said with a wink as she headed back into the hotel room. Just before the door closed Karen shouted back, "That doesn't limit me much though does it!"

"You two are hilarious," Derek said as he offered his arm to the girl at his side. "And you really are a sight to behold," he said more softly in her ear.

"Let's go," Karen said, shaking her head at his words but smiling despite herself.

The night passed in a whirlwind of glamorous dresses, champagne, a lot of introductions and smiling, music, chatting, speeches and canapés. It was like a scene from Gossip Girl or something, that's all Karen could think as she mingled with the rich and glamorous. Many artists, directors, musicians and actors were in attendance and she was star struck on a couple of occasions. Ana would love to hear all about it when she got home – GG was one of their guilt pleasures to watch together.

Derek had wasted no time in showing her around, leading her up to meet music producers and directors alike. But it was getting late now and the event was winding down. Karen was in a far corner of the gallery staring at a beautiful, pastel-coloured painting of a couple of ballerinas. The attention to detail was outstanding, and Karen couldn't pull her eyes away. She was also enjoying a few quiet minutes to herself. Everything had been so full on since they had arrived together. Just as Karen was trying to surpress a yawn, she felt a hand on her waist, "Hi darling, I wondered where you'd gotten to…but I should have known," Derek said as he also studied the painting on the wall. Karen leant into his side as he pressed his hand a little more firmly around her. "Ready to get out of here?" he asked, his light stubble grazed the delicate skin behind her ear and made her shiver.

Karen looked up to the man at her side, he was incredibly hansom all dressed up, but she wanted nothing more than to go home and help him out of those clothes. It had been too long since they had been together properly, alone to enjoy soft touches and movements with no haste or fear of discovery.

"Take me home please," she replied with a nod. Then in a quieter voice she added, "I've had a wonderful night but I have a feeling it could get better still." Karen kissed his cheek lightly before pulling away from his side so they wouldn't attract unwanted attention. Most people still didn't know Derek and Daisy had split up, he had told close friends and those who had asked off his ex-fiancé's whereabouts that evening, but Derek hadn't publicly spread the news. So having his arms wrapped around a young, beautiful woman was bound to catch the eye of some nosy bodies in the room. Karen turned towards to cloak room and he followed closely behind, shamelessly checking out the pale soft skin of her back, before letting his eyes drift lower.

They made it to the hotel and into the elevator with their composure intact, even if the taxi ride home had left them both suffocating, the air tight with anticipation and desire. Derek pressed the button for his floor only, glancing over for her approval. Karen was bouncing on the balls of her feet, partly because she'd been standing all evening in heels and her feet were aching, and partly because she couldn't stop the excited buzz running through her body. She nodded in answer to the question he hadn't voiced out loud.

Derek took her hand as the doors slid open and led her to his door. Once inside he flicked on the light and shuck off his jacket before standing behind Karen and helping her out of her own coat. "Thank you for taking me tonight, it was fun," she said before this time placing a soft kiss on his lips over her shoulder.

"God I've missed this," Derek sighed before turning her around in his arms, pulling her up on her toes to kiss her properly. He walked their bodies over to his large bed and placed her softly on the edge. Then Derek took his time, running his hands over her silky legs kissing the spot behind her knee and unbuckling her shoes. He massaged her foot before moving his hands back up the flesh of her calf.

Karen let out the breath she was holding and watched his gentle movements, as he started on her other shoe. "You are the most beautiful creature I have even laid eyes on," Derek said in a firm but quiet tone. Karen could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. As he leaned back up to meet her eyes, she pulled on his tie, bringing him in for another kiss. As their mouths moved, she pushed of his suit jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt.

Derek was caressing her thigh and lifting up her dress to reach where he really wanted to touch. Just as Karen pushed his shirt down and released his tie completely Derek gasped. His fingers, expecting to reach the material of her panties had instead met only sweet flesh.

"You drive me mad, and you know it? To know you've been bare and ready for me all evening...I'm going to make this so good for you," Derek's sentence trailed off and his fingers trailed across her begging entrance making Karen's breath hitch. "So wet and delicious," Derek smirked before quickly removing his hand to instead begin freeing the lovely girl before him of her dress altogether. Karen frowned at the loss of his touch, before eagerly helping him unfasten the gown. He placed kisses on each of her rib bones as he peeled the dress from her body. She was exquisite. The way her body responded to his touch drove Derek insane. She gave him almost all of herself, and the closer they grew the more she revealed to him. He never wanted to stop learning more about this girl.

They spent the night caressing and touching all parts of each other at a lazy pace. They had no rush and no fear as they shared each other's welcoming bodies. Eventually they fell into a peaceful slumber, Karen wrapped up tightly in Derek's arms.

When Karen woke it was still dark outside the small hotel window. Derek was snoring lightly behind her shoulder; she couldn't resist a little glance at his sleeping form. He looked younger as he slept. The stress that was normally visible through his frowns and stiff posture ebbed away when he was dreaming. He looked happy. Karen couldn't quite bring herself to wake him, instead she shuffled gently out of his grasp and sat up on the edge of the bed. Derek mumbled in his unconscious state but just snuggled back into the warm duvet in her absence.

She dressed quickly and made sure she had all of her things before tiptoeing out of the door, shoes in hand. She slipped them on in the hallway and checked the time on her phone, 4am. That wasn't too bad, if (and it was unlikely as Ana slept like the dead) Karen woke her roommate upon entrance to her own room in the hotel, she could still pretend she was just getting in from the event. Luckily though no explanation was needed; and Karen managed to get undressed and into bed without disturbing the sleeping body in the room.

The second time she woke that morning was at a much more reasonable hour, and quickly Ana was upon her bed getting under the duvet with her best friend. "Tell me everything you dirty stop out" Ana squealed. She was far too excited for this time of day. "Tell, tell, tell…" she demanded.

"It was amazing, the gallery was beautiful and everyone I spoke to was really interesting and friendly. Though I still feel like an absolute novice at these things," Karen started to relay the previous night's events, leading up to but excluding the section of the night in Derek's bedroom. When the two girls finally got up and ready they were running late for rehearsal. The show had been doing really well at the theatre in Boston, but so far they hadn't heard much about what would happen when this run was over.

When they arrived backstage, Kyle leapt on them, "OMG, you'll never guess what's happened," he told them eagerly. Kyle was such a gossip.

"Nope, can't guess even with those clues you helpfully gave us," Karen said sarcastically, looping her arm through Kyle's as they continued to walk to her dressing room.

"Daisy has done an exclusive interview with Perez, she's announced her and Derek's split!" Kyle divulged. Karen felt a lump form in her throat.

"Did she say why they broke up?" Karen tried to keep her voice light and only vaguely prying.

"She mostly talked about herself, shocker, but she didn't make Derek seem very lovable right now. But then again I can't imagine living with him anyway, he's so uptight and intense," Kyle rambled on. Karen let out a small breath that Daisy hadn't made some wild accusations about Derek's personal affairs. But that didn't mean she wouldn't. Derek wasn't the type to speak to the tabloids about his love life though, even when he had been dating a pop sensation. Still Karen was a bit distracted throughout the run through of Hit List that afternoon. Daisy seemed practically gleeful for someone who had just called off an engagement. Karen didn't trust the woman at all.

As always thanks so much for reading and please let me know what you think! XxX Sparks