Chapter 22

AN: Hey everyone! Didn't want to keep you waiting for the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews: I promise to answer ASAP...Will be posting sometime after 12/26...Happy Holidays!...Whew, I was in a mood when I wrote this one! Heed the warning...

Derek trailed Penelope into the SUV then sat on the bench seat beside her. She smiled at him, her hands in her lap in a rather demure fashion. It made Derek smile. The way she was sitting, she looked so damned innocent; anyone looking at her would have no idea she wasn't wearing her panties.

She gave him a shy grin, and kind of twiddled her thumbs in nervousness.

"What's the matter, baby?" he asked.

"Contrary to popular belief, my wild and wanton reputation," she teased, "I don't have much experience making out in the backseat of a car."

Despite the nervous look on her face, her eyes were still very hot and her nipples were quite obviously pebbled beneath her shirt.

Playing it cool, he looked at his nails and said,"Well, if you'd rather wait until-"

They made love.

Derek's dark chuckle and Penelope's giggle rang out through the foyer as they reentered the house- disheveled, happy, and carrying bags of fast food.

Penelope made a slurping sound with her malt she was drinking, then said, "Race you upstairs!"

Derek had been taking off his shoe when she announced that. He whipped the other shoe off, then followed quickly, slipping on the bottom stair and nearly falling. He was still quicker and almost passed her. In a desperate lunge, he caught her ankle like a defensive lineman would a quarterback.

She tried to shake off his tenacious hold.

Grinning, he leaned forward some more and kissed her ankle.

She gasped. "No fair!"

He reached the other ankle and ran both of his hands up her legs. "No one said I had to play fair."

She giggled again. "Well, I'm saying it. Besides," she sighed. "It's getting late… I should head home."

"No, stay," he said, kissing the side of her knee.

She arched an eyebrow at him sardonically. "Haven't you had enough?"

"Of you?" he replied, returning the arched brow look. "Never."

She groaned and shivered when he kissed a particularily sensitive spot. "D...I have to go home."

"Woman, this is your home," he said, dragging himself to his feet.

Giving him a sidelong glance, she retorted, "No, honey, it's not."

He looked indignant. "Yes, it is. What's mine is yours."

"No," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I spend enough time here as is, but it isn't."

"Well, it should be."

The way he said it gave Penelope pause. It was a joking, silly sort of statement in her mind. How Derek said it, however, with an air of strict seriousness, did not sound at all teasing.

She gave him a look. "D, are you serious?"

"You should know I am," he replied, holding her hands. "Anything of mine you want, you can have, Baby Girl. That was before we started dating, and hasn't ever changed."

Penelope smiled. That was a sweet thing to say. It was still rather hard to comprehend every thing that was happening in their relationship. It seemed fast to her, but it definitely seemed right, too.

"Thanks, angelfish," she said, touching his cheek. "I appreciate it, and everything that is mine is yours, too. But I still have to go home and do some laundry."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do," she said, shaking her head. "I have no clean clothes, and the underwire from this bra poked-"

"No, you need to do laundry," he said with a smile that caused the little crinkles by his eyes to pop out. "But you don't need to go home. I don't want you to go home, at least not to that home. Never again. I want you to stay here, with me, come home, with me-" he smiled softly, cupping her face in his hands – "just simply be with me."

"Now?" she asked, confused.

"Now...later...always." He smiled at her. "Twenty-four, seven."

Her heart started pounding, as realization dawned in. Was he suggesting they become roommates? A thrill starting in her belly raced up her spine and coursed over the rest of her body. She tilted her head to the left and narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying you want me to move in with you?"

"No, sweetheart," he said, then dropped his hands and sighed. "I mean, yes, but no, too."

"That's clear as mud," she said with a slight frown. "So you want me to move in, but you don't want me to."

"Penelope, I don't want you to just move in," he said with a smile. "I want to marry you. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together."

Her mouth fell open. She wasn't expecting that, not in the slightest. "Holy crap!"

She didn't realize she'd said that out loud until he started laughing.

"Holy crap is right," he said, still smiling. "I feel the same thing. It's quick, it's intense, it's amazing…but it is so right. Penelope, I know it is right. You do, too."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. She was glad, she couldn't have answered if her life depended on it.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to do it. I wanted to be on my knee with a sparkling diamond, but my heart is telling me to do this now." He held her hand, then put it in the middle of the strong plane of his chest, where she could feel his heart beating fast and hard. "After six years, it is telling me to never let you go again."

She snickered a little through teary eyes, and teased, "What took it so long to tell you?"

"Oh, it told me before," he said seriously. "So many times, but I didn't listen. I was too damn stupid and stubborn to listen before."

Her eyes widened as he dropped to his knee and held her hand.

"I'm listening now. Baby, will you marry me?"

AN2: And one minor cliffhanger for the road! Tee hee!

For More of this chapter, please see my profile!