Chapter 14

AN: Thanks for the review! This story is really fun to write. Hope you are all enjoying reading it, too...Now, here comes another huge chapter...

"Oof! " Derek exclaimed, all the air whooshing out of his lungs. "Watch the knee, Baby Girl." He was trying to hold himself up while Penelope moved into a rather tricky position they wanted to try. She'd just bumped a very important part of his anatomy with her knee when she'd tried to move, one that she probably shouldn't bump too roughly.

"Sorry, sweets," she replied with a sheepish grin, looking up from her twisted position underneath him. She crawled carefully back out and sat back on her heels, letting out all of her breath in defeat. "I think maybe some positions just aren't for us."

It was now their third weekend, and sixteenth position, together. It was amazing, really. She'd wondered if they would make it that far.

After she'd announced the need to cool it off a bit, Derek had been a little colder and a lot more aloof with her throughout the rest of that week. There'd been very little talking, even less holding, caressing and touching, and she'd really missed it. Several times, she'd glanced over at Derek, seen the chilly look on his face, and wondered: did he miss her, too?

By Thursday of that week, he hadn't called; they hadn't even had lunch together, and they always had lunch together at least once a week. She was certain he'd been angry with her. So much so, she'd asked him, "Derek, are you mad at me?"

"No," he'd said quickly, looking apologetic. He'd given her a fierce hug and kissed the top of her head. "Never. Just ignore me; I've just got a lot on my mind."

Then the weekend came around, and he'd burned the sheets up with her so much, she'd felt limp come Monday.

The whole next week, he'd talked with her like normal, seemed like normal...but by Wednesday, he'd started avoiding her again. She'd been rather irritated by it, so much so, she'd gone to the FBI gym to have it out with him. She thought back to it, with a slight frown...

The weight room was full for a Wednesday night. When she walked in, several cadets and agents gave a low whistle, which bolstered her confidence. She searched all over, before finding someone who knew where Derek was. She found him, pumping iron in the back room that was filled with several other men. He was bench pressing a whole lotta weight, sweating like a dog, with some other massive dude standing over him, spotting him. The man looked a lot like a bulldog, and sounded like one, too.

"Come on, Morgan. Get the piss out of it and push!"

"Fuck...you," Derek barked back, shoving the heavy weight upward.

"Derek?" Penelope asked, sounding meek even to herself. There was way too much testosterone in the room for her to feel comfortable.

"Baby Girl," he said immediately, sitting up and wiping his sweaty face with his hand. The tank top he was wearing was positively saturated with moisture, and was sticking to every gorgeous muscle. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," she firmly said.

He looked over at the bulldog. "Fifteen, Kyle?"

"That's all it's gonna take you?" Kyle answered with a smirk.

Derek grabbed his water bottle, then looped his arm around her waist and lead her out of the room into a smaller room with tables. He took a pull of his water, and then asked, "What's wrong?"

"I want to ask you the same thing."

He frowned. "Nothing's wrong. What—"

"Nothing's wrong?" she interrupted, scowling at him. "You've been ignoring me, and—"

"Ignoring you?" he interrupted back with a growl. He pulled her hard against his chest and looked down at her. "Woman, I can't ignore you. I've tried. I think about you every minute of every day. It is completely impossible for me to ignore you."

She looked at him, her mouth gaping open. That wasn't what she'd expected him to say.

Derek released her, bit his bottom lip, and then ran a hand over his face. He sighed heavily, hanging his head. It was obvious he hadn't meant to say what he'd just said which confused her. "Baby, I'm sorry. I'm working off steam, talkin' stupid. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded, and then left the room quickly...

Now, with a quick movement, he picked her up and flipped her onto her back, taking her effectively out of her past thoughts.

"Nonsense," he purred, wiggling his eyebrows with obvious wicked intent, pressing his sweatpant covered crotch in between her legs. "Every position is ours..."

She burst out laughing. "You crazy man. That was not a good position for us. If you were even a touch more interested, I would've hurt you big time."

He looked affronted. "I was interested. In fact, I've still got a chubby, and you didn't actually hurt me. It's all good." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Just roll wit it, baby."

She gave him an incredulous look, just barely hiding her mirth. "Roll wit it?"

He gave her a half grin. "Yeah. What's so bad about that?"

"Gangsta Derek of the FBI?" She started laughing again.

"Fine. Reject me." He rolled off of her, pretending to be upset, scrambling to stand up.

"Oh, good Lord. It just sounded funny," she said, rolling her eyes. She tugged at the waistband of his sweats, pulling them down and away from his body, revealing his cute, tight butt to her gaze. She gave it a smack with her free hand. "Come on, my dulcet darling. Let's practice this one and get it right."

She smiled as he sat back down and pulled her across his lap again. They started pretzel twisting again. It was such fun, these crazy positions. She always picked the craziest-looking pose in the book. She'd looked forward to doing this one all week.

After Wednesday, he'd driven her crazy Thursday and Friday, touching her, smiling lasciviously at her, just making her plain old hot...and making her wish she'd never called off the weeknight sessions. Actually, he didn't have to do a thing to make her wish she hadn't changed her mind. She missed having him there, and after the weight room, she knew he'd missed having her, too. He still called her on the phone, like he'd always done, still flirted like mad with her, and she with him, but it just wasn't the same...

"Oh, damn," he groaned again, as her knee made the same contact, only this time, a little harder.

"D, I'm so sorry!"

"You gotta concentrate, and you weren't. In fact, it looked like you were in left field." He chuckled lightly and helped her back to sitting. "Sweetheart, what are you thinking about?"

She glanced at him, and then looked away. "I was...um...thinking about the weeknights."

"Really."

She nodded at him. "I was wishing we still were on for weeknights."

He cocked a brow with a very surprised look. "You do?"

She looked at him and nodded again. "If we weren't so tired, and Em and Rossi didn—Ooh!"

Derek had pulled her across his lap, cradling her in his arms. He started kissing her. Between kisses, he said, "We...can...do...just...one..."

"Yes," she moaned against his mouth. God, she needed this!

"One...a...night," he finished, as his mouth went towards her throat.

"Yes," she said, her head dipping back to give his searching mouth greater access. What a fool she was to ever stop this! "Oh, yes."

"Damn, I missed you," he murmured against her neck, his breath scalding hot against her.

She clutched his head. "I missed you, too."

"Here," he said, putting her aside. He stood up, bent his knees, and then scooped her up into his arms like she weighed nothing, carrying her towards the bedroom.

"Oh, be careful!" she cautioned.

He gave her the look.

She smiled sheepishly."Sorry, bad habit!"

She kissed his jaw, his neck, his ear, everything she could reach from her perch in his arms.

He lay her on the bed, and then moved on top of her, looking deep into her eyes. "Do you have any idea how much I want you?"

She grinned saucily. "Pretty much so, yes."

He chuckled, although his eyes were still on fire. "Sweetheart...I really don't think you do."

Kissing her gently, deeply, fiercely, he stroked her body, arousing her passion. Their clothes were quickly dispersed of, and they were straining against one another.

When he went to reach in the bedside table for a condom, she stopped him. She'd been thinking a lot about that, too.

"I'm on the pill, Derek. I know you'd never lie to me. You're clean; I'm clean. You don't have to use one...unless you have a trigger problem," she teased.

He smiled at that, but his eyes were concerned, tender. "Baby, are you sure?"

They made love.

They were back in their sweats again, in the living room, giving some other positions a try.

"One thing," she said, bending and reaching for her feet while Derek gripped and raised her hips. "This is a good callisthenics workout."

He laughed. "Damn right. I don't think I'll be needing the gym for awhile!"

She was raising one foot, trying to rest it on his shoulder, when he'd said those words. "Don't make me laugh," she chastised, bouncing on her one foot. "I'll lose my balance."

A second later, they ended up in a pile on the floor as both of them collapsed. They were laughing too hard to maintain any pose that took that much work.

She grinned at him. "Maybe we should try something less adventurous for once."

He smiled and cocked his head to the right. "Okay. What do you think?"

"Well, how about the lotus?" she asked, standing up to get a drink from the water bottle on the counter.

"Sounds good."

Moving to a seated position, Derek sat cross legged and then raised his arms for her.

She straddled his waist, and then sat down, wrapping her legs around him. He wrapped his arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding her close.

They were holding each other so closely that way, they could feel each other's heart beat. There was such an awareness, their faces inches apart, their breaths mingling, their mutual body heat creating a warm, temperate environment.

Penelope closed her eyes, rested her head on his shoulder, and simply breathed. The scent of Derek, the feel of him, and the warmth of his skin, filled her senses, along with the beat of his heart. Hers was close, beating in tandem with his. She felt so secure, so good, so perfect. She'd never had such a peaceful, wonderful feeling in her life.

She opened her eyes and met his, warm, melted chocolate that caressed her more than his fingers ever could. Her breath and her heartbeat quickened, as she realized more than anything, she wanted to kiss Derek—

—and for the first time, it had nothing to do with sex.

His cellphone began to ring, the sound so jarring, it caused her to gasp. He growled deep in his throat.

"Ignore it," he said.

A moment later, it did stop, but then his landline rang. He closed his eyes, sighed, and shook his head, then gave her such an irritated look, she chuckled.

"Derek? It's Terry," the soft female voice on his machine began. "Are you around? Can you get together tonight? I really need to see you. Are you home? Call me."

She felt him tense and stiffen immeasurably. "Shit." He began to lift her off of him as he began to unfold his limbs. "Baby, I need to get that." He stood and headed to the kitchen.

Stunned and feeling confused, Penelope watched him. Her heart ached, and she fought looking miserable. It didn't matter; he wasn't looking.

"Sure," she said, but it was to his back as he rushed to pick up the phone.

"Terry? Yeah, I'm here. No, it's okay," he said, searching for something. He picked up a paper and pen. "Okay. I got it. I'll meet you there."

He hung up the phone.

She stood and wandered into the kitchen. "Anything I can do?"

"No, sweetheart," he said, smiling at her. "I really have to go."

She nodded, a painful coldness rolling in her stomach. "Fine," she whispered, starting to turn. "I'll get my bag and head home."

"No," he said, holding her hand. "Please. Please don't go. Wait for me here, okay?"

Her heart soared; he wanted her here still. She was very glad for that.

"After all," he said with a grin, "we have a few more positions still to do."

He was obviously trying to lighten the stress of the moment, but it didn't work. As quickly as it had soared, her heart plummeted. She wasn't guarding the hurt look on her face. She couldn't; it wasn't possible. She nodded, but she didn't mean it, and turned to walk away.

"Baby," he said, pulling her into his arms. He put his hand under her chin and made her meet his eyes; his dark, pleading, soft eyes. "Promise me you'll be here when I get back, and then we'll talk."

There was a warmth and a promise in his eyes that was undeniable, and it strengthened her. She smiled back at him. "Hurry home. I'll leave the light on for you."

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