Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I've been sick today, so with nothing to do, I've been writing more of the story. I was thinking about boosting this up to a Mature rating in future chapters, but decided to keep it tame lol. Maybe I'll make a Mature Casey/Derek story for my next fanfic ;-) What do you think? Alright, on with the story...
I woke up the next morning to the sound of the alarm George had put in mine and Lizzie's room. It was 8AM.
"Ugh," I heard Lizzie groan and shuffled over to the alarm clock to shut it off.
I squinted at the bright sun coming in through the blinds and sat up with a sigh. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and looked over at Lizzie. "It's way too early."
Lizzie nodded, rubbing her eyes. She stopped and looked at me strangely. Coming closer to me, I asked her what was wrong.
"What's that on your neck?" she asked.
My heart stopped for a minute. I thought last night had been a dream. A very twisted dream, but a dream nonetheless. I quickly jumped up and ran over to the mirror near the door. Sure enough, there was a dark bruise on the left side of my neck.
A hickey.
I tried to cover it up with make-up as best I could. Mom was shouting for me to come down for breakfast.
"Coming!" I shouted, finishing up with my neck and pulling on a bikini and a pair of shorts. I slipped on my sandals and hurried downstairs, where everybody was already eating.
Derek looked up at me and gave me a smirk. I blushed and looked away, sitting down next to Lizzie. I didn't like the way my heart skipped every time Derek looked at me during breakfast.
"I think that we should go to the fireworks show they're having tonight," George suggested.
"Yay!" Marti yelled, holding her spoon up in the air triumphantly. Droplets of milk landed on her head.
"And there's a barbecue tonight, too," Mom added, stirring her coffee.
"Barbecue," Edwin seemed to approve of that.
"But for now, it's beach time," George said.
We all assembled out of the house and into the hot sun. Marti, Lizzie, and Edwin immediately ran to the cool water. George and my Mom set up lounge chairs and got out the newspaper. I just stood there as if I didn't know what to do.
"What's wrong, Case?" Derek sidled up beside me. He rested a hand on my bare side. "Not up for the heat today?" he whispered, his lips gently brushing against my shoulder as he spoke his double entendre.
My whole body shivered involuntarily. I was both troubled and elated by the way he made me feel so out of control.
"I—I forgot my iPod," I said quickly, and ducked from his grasp. I ran back into the house and up to my room. I picked up my iPod from off the nightstand and was about to exit the room when Derek stuck his head in.
"You know, you sure know how to make a guy feel unwanted, Case," he said, his eyes sparkling with smug amusement.
"What do you want, Derek?" I asked him, feeling my pulse quicken as he moved closer to me. I backed up slowly until I hit the wall.
"I already told you what I want," he said in a low voice, his hand reaching out and pushing my dark hair off of my face. He smelled so good. "But you never told me what you want." He moved his warm hand down from my cheek, all the way down my neck, around the curve of my breast, down to my hip, his eyes following his movement the whole time. Every part of my body that he touched felt like it was on fire. He looked deep into my eyes then. I glanced from his eyes to his lips and felt myself give up.
"You," I breathed and allowed him to capture my lips in a hot, passionate kiss.