AN: Thank you for the reviews, folks! Now it is time to heat things up. If this isn't your cuppa, the next chapter will be up soon. I think this is okay (It's lovemaking, it's not obscene!), otherwise I can move it to the coffee shop...Still, I'm going to say... WARNING: Sexual content (PS. Gosh, did I miss writing this stuff!)

Chapter 11

On the way back to her hotel, Penelope knew that something had shifted. Derek was very quiet, like he was thinking of something of great importance.

She had a feeling that he wasn't thinking the same thing she was.

When they arrived at the Stay Inn, he put the car in park and gave her a sweet, sultry, yet somewhat tentative smile. He reached over and brushed a stray tendril of hair off her cheek and tucked it back in place behind her ear.

"Ready to go in?" he asked, his voice a low, sensual purr that made her insides flip flop. No one had a voice like Derek. Ever since the first time he'd called her Baby Girl, there was something behind the timbre of his voice that made her core take notice.

"More than ready," she replied. And she was. Her blood hadn't stopped whooshing through her body like a river overflowing its banks since he'd kissed her in the kitchen at the youth center. Any thoughts of not making love to him had dissipated, leaving her eager—soooo eager.

After exiting the car, Derek opened her door and helped heave her out of the car. It wasn't the easiest thing, exiting a vehicle in a ball gown. Friends of hers who had married had told her in the past that large, flowing wedding gowns were a bitch in the bathroom and in cars. Now she knew exactly what they were talking about.

As they walked through the hotel, Derek kept a hand on her low back. His touch was warm, comforting, yet possessive, too, like he was saying to anyone looking, "She's mine." It only added to the delicious buzzing she was feeling in her body.

They reached her room, and Penelope removed her card key from the reticule she was carrying. She clicked it and opened the door.

"Just a minute," he murmured, tugging her into his arms.

She raised her gaze to his and was held spellbound by the dark chocolate depths. "What?" she whispered, her voice more air than noise at that moment.

He lowered his head, kissing her, a soft, sweet brushing of his lips against hers, before settling more heavily against them, coaxing them open and deepening the kiss. He held her tight in that doorway, kissing her like he was starving for her, yet not rushing anything. It was sexy, warm...lingering.

He raised his head, dropped his lips for another soft kiss, and then forced himself away. "Baby Girl... Penelope," he said softly, cupping her face in his hands. "I want you—I know you know that—but I don't want to rush you if you're not rea—"

She didn't allow him to finish. She grabbed him by his princely belt he was wearing around his tunic and dragged him into the room. Silly, silly man. Seven years of foreplay didn't seem to be enough for him!

When Derek lowered his mouth to kiss her again, she could feel a hint of a smile on his lips. She was smiling, too. Why shouldn't she smile? It was a joyous occasion. She was going to make love with someone she trusted with her life, her heart, her soul, her entire being. Derek was her everything, and now he was going to be her lover, too.

The heat built between them as they touched each other, finding areas of bare skin to tease while their mouths fused and melded in a lover's embrace. Penelope ran her hands up his chest, feeling the strong muscles of his pectorals, up to the column of his neck, before drawing him down closer for more.

Inside her body, she was growing restless, uneasy, wanting to strip him and make him hers before...before... Yet still, he kissed her lazily, like he could take all day just kissing. His hands, which had been petting her, soothing her, now did the opposite, making her twist and press into them.

"Derek," she breathed when he lifted his mouth again, only to kiss her neck. Her head fell back, like it was too heavy for her neck to support, and those wonderful stars started again.

"So delicious," he growled, the words vibrating against the smooth skin of her throat. He kissed lower, touching her collarbone and the start of the swell of her breasts. She brought her hands up to his smoothly shaven head, holding him still and encouraging him to keep moving. It was perfect torture. It was like her body didn't know what she wanted; it only knew she wanted more.

Suddenly, she felt the coolness of the air against her back as his long fingers drew the zipper of her gown down. His fingers felt cool and delightful against the hot skin of her back. The satin had been stifling before, but now she felt like she was boiling under her gown.

He stepped back from her and reached for her hands. "Here we go, sweetheart..." he cooed as he ran his hands up the sensitized skin of her arms to her shoulders, hooked his fingers under the tulle, satin, and lace sleeves, and tugged them down.

The entire dress pooled at her feet, leaving her standing in her pink cotton panties in front of him. The bodice of the gown had been fitted so tightly, there'd been no room for a bra or corset. The cool air of the room increased the tightness of her nipples, but the heat in his eyes was what made her shiver. He was fixated on her breasts, looking at them with such a look of lust, it made her smile yet again. There was power in knowing he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

Slowly, he reached one finger forward and drew a line from the top swell of her breast, over the rounded shape, to her nipple. He traced around the nipple and then pinched it gently between that finger and his thumb, and she could hear his harsh breathing matching her own.

"Fuck, Penelope," he said, lifting the weight of her breast in his hand. His gaze was still riveted on her chest.

She teased, "I take it you like the ta-tas?"

When he raised his gaze to hers, it was steamy and sultry. He grinned in return, a smirk. "Like would be far too mild of a word to describe what I am feeling, angel."

"I'm glad, Hot Stuff," she said—and she'd intended on saying more, but then her words were smothered by his mouth as his hand started toying, tickling, teasing her nipple. He caught her moans with his mouth as he brought the other hand up and squeezed, delicately kneading the roundness, flicking and deftly tugging the nipples. She'd never thought they were all that sensitive before. She'd heard that big-breasted women lacked feeling that their sensitive, smaller-breasted sisters had, but that was obviously a bald-faced lie. Every motion he made made her purr and twist into him, like a kitten that needed more stroking.

He dipped his head to her neck and then secured his hands on her waist as he kissed his way to her breast. His tongue took the same circling route that his fingertip had, arousing the same, wonderful sensations—only this time, it was hotter, wetter, his breath licking at her like flames. One more teasing lick, and then he drew her nipple into the hot cavern of his mouth.

Penelope arched against him, gripping his head in her hands, as a steady throb passed from her nipple to her center. Each suckle he did made her mouth and tongue and clit tingle with sensation. She could feel the heat and wetness pooling, hotter and wetter than she'd ever been. She'd never come from just breast play before, but there was a first time for everything, and good God, she was well on her way to one now.

Before he started on the other breast, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Laying her down on the soft surface that had been turned down by maid service, she watched as he removed his belt and his tunic, revealing the gorgeous, mocha skin of his sculpted chest and perfect abs. He reached into the pocket of the thin pants he was wearing that showed most of what God gave him and withdrew his wallet. He took a condom out, tossed it on the bed, and then a second later, he was completely naked.

This time, it was her gaze that was fixated on him. Whoa, she thought to herself. It sounded cliché, but she seriously wasn't sure he was going to fit. He was as thick as her wrist, and she did not have dainty little wrists like some women had.

"Holy cow, chocolate thunder," she said, looking up at his smiling face, unable to hide her wariness.

"Trust me, vanilla sunshine." He hooked his fingers in the band of her panties and pulled them down her legs and off before settling between her legs to kiss her again.

Soon, any nerves she'd had were replaced by more heat and delight. She arched against him, feeling the heavy heat of his erection resting against her stomach. She spread her legs more as he dropped his lips to the other breast, suckling from her, causing those rivers of sensation ricocheting between her pleasure points.

Penelope's skin prickled, her body bloomed with heat, and her loins ached like fire, and then he reached his fingers between them and she came apart, shooting upward against his hand. It was a boom, an explosion that registered on the Richter scale. She bucked under him, but he continued stroking her, continued suckling her breast, even as the spasms and throbbing began to wane and she fell back to the bed, panting and satisfied.

While she rested, he cloaked himself in the condom. A second later, he was rubbing himself in the copious moisture at her slit. The wanting immediately came back as he brushed over her most sensitive skin, teasing entry, only to withdraw. She felt open, empty, when he removed his shaft, and she moaned in frustration...and then she felt him push inside in a slow, heavy slide.

Penelope panted, holding onto his shoulders—grasping him without digging her nails in—to encourage him, as she adjusted to his size.

"You okay?" he asked, and she knew it wasn't an easy task for him to stop. He was panting, and he shuddered slightly with effort.

"Mmm hmmm," she said, trying to arch her hips to adjust. As she made that little movement, he slid in even deeper than before, and she gasped out. Sensation rippled over her, and pleasure washed over her with that little movement.

"Oh, shit, baby...you're so tight," he growled.

"Ohhhh, Derek..." she cried, as a throb of pleasure morphed into aching want. She arched against him for more.

He smiled down at her. "That's my girl," he said as he withdrew and plunged back into her. He was thrusting back and forth, like he was massaging her from the inside, exactly how she wanted it. Each slide built the pleasure and the pressure up, and she found herself close to orgasm again.

Derek moved his hips in a slightly different angle, and her eyes opened wide as he hit a particular spot that made her see stars. His grin increased as he kept the same thrusting.

"Ahhhh, oh, God!" she screamed, and she was coming, her legs shaking and vibrating like they'd been electric shocked. She'd never had an orgasm like that, one that sneaked up on her and came without warning. Blessed moisture poured out of her as she came, and she felt herself drifting off into pleasure.

"Come on, baby, stay with me," he ordered as he continued thrusting even deeper and harder. Soon, he was pounding into her, driving toward his orgasm. He ground his hips into hers with every down stroke, and not to be undone, she arched up into him. She looped her rubbery legs over his, her heels behind his knees, and held on for dear life.

Suddenly, he cried out as his movements became unsteady. He thrust one more time into her, and then his breath and his hips halted. She opened her eyes to see him, his eyes closed, and a look of pure pleasure that she'd given him on his face. It was the best moment of her life up to date.

She had a feeling many, many more moments were on the horizon for them.

Afterward, Derek rolled off her to his side and disposed of the condom he'd been wearing. He was sweaty, tired-looking, with a nearly comical grin on his face of pure delight. She had a feeling that she looked the exact same.

She rolled onto her side to face him and cupped his cheek. "I love you... You know that, right?"

"I do know it," he said, leaning forward and kissing her nose. "I love you, too."

He reached an arm under her neck and shoulders and pulled her closer, and then he pulled the comforter up on top of them. He reached an arm up, shut off the lights, and they both fell into a sleep filled with happy dreams that were going to come true.