by Ciara Cole
Leah looked up at him with shy eyes. At 5’9 herself, she rarely ever felt little or delicate, but with Derrick’s towering frame and alpha nature, he always brought out the fragile sensation that made her feel so soft and womanly.
As such, it was impossible to say no to dancing with such a handsome gent. Moving easily into his big arms, Leah placed her head on his broadly muscled chest. They moved to the music, and it felt like the whole world slipped away. That happened a lot when they were together. Leah could hardly notice or see anyone else. And neither did she care who saw.
“Thank you,” she whispered, running her hands up to rest on his neck.
“What for?” asked Derrick softly, and Leah looked up to meet his piercing gaze.
“Tonight, these past many weeks, and everything you’ve done to show you care. It means a lot and I want you to know that,” she told him, holding his gaze.
“For you, my beauty, anything.” Derrick kissed her forehead, and they stared into each other’s eyes, as if for an eternity. Leah then noticed his head coming closer, his gaze moving from her eyes to her mouth. Leah followed his movements and stood on tiptoe to meet him halfway. Soon, her lips were on his warm, soft pink lips.
It had never felt so good with just one simple kiss.
It lasted only moments and yet seemed like forever. Leah felt emotions bloom inside her heart and she decided she was ready. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to Derrick’s, her lips parting to speak. And then . . .
“Derrick? So it’s true!” a female voice said shrilly beside them. In surprise, both Derrick and Leah turned to see the blonde, slim and model-like woman standing there with two other women just behind. She nursed a cocktail in her hand and seemed slightly unsteady, making Leah suspect she was tipsy.
Leah recognized her instantly. Derrick’s ex-girlfriend, the lingerie model.
“Jennifer?” said Derrick with a frown.
“Why act so surprised? It’s not like this isn’t a favorite hangout of ours,” Jennifer said, distinctly snarky. Behind her, her friends snickered, their eyes just as mean as they viewed Leah.
“Someone told me they spotted you having dinner earlier, but I couldn’t believe it. Even worse—I can’t believe you came with her.” She waved her drink disparagingly in Leah’s direction. “I knew you’d be desperate to get over me, but seriously, Derrick. I expected better from someone with such high standards as you.”
“Why don’t you stop being rude and just go?” Derrick’s voice sounded the coldest Leah had ever heard, and she stiffened from the way she felt his whole body seem to tense in anger.
“Not until I say my piece. Because I can’t help but be curious, can I?” asked Jennifer with a sneer while glancing back at her girls, who giggled and seemed to egg her on.
“Because like everyone you and I know, we’re wondering the same thing—about how you could be so careless as to get this no-name pregnant,” added Jennifer, giving Leah another derogatory glare.
Oh, no, she didn’t. Leah couldn’t take another second of this and snapped, “Why don’t you worry about yourself? You only had a name because of Derrick Talbot. It must be tough trying to make it on your own now that you can’t use Derrick to prop your ailing career.”
As if in sync, Jennifer and her two cohorts gasped loudly. Leah was sure the whole beach was tuned in on their exchange, but she was too inwardly shaken to look around. Outside, though, she kept up a cool façade as she watched Jennifer get redder and redder.
“You bitch!” cried Jennifer after several sputtering moments. In a flash, she swung her hand, throwing her drink in Leah’s face. But Derrick was quicker, moving quickly in front of Leah and catching the liquid on his suit as Leah felt him pull her safely behind him.
As it happened, it wasn’t Jennifer’s drink he had to protect Leah from, but Jennifer herself as she lunged at Leah as if to grab her hair. An impossible feat, thanks to how tall and broad Derrick was, ensuring Jennifer couldn’t reach Leah no matter how she strained and jumped like a flea.
It took her friends to pull her away, cursing and kicking, before Derrick turned to Leah. “Are you okay?”
“Can we just leave?” she asked, sighing deeply.
In the car, her anger surfaced and she couldn’t help but round on him. “You could have at least warned me we could run into your ex since it was your ‘favorite hangout’.”
"I’m sorry,” said Derrick, sending a placating glance to the stewing Leah. “We did come here, but always with a group of friends. There was never anything romantic about it. We never watched a sunset together or walked in the gardens or danced on the beach. I only wanted to do those things with you.”
Leah huffed in disbelief but didn’t say more and turned her face away. Why was she so mad anyway? She should have known things were too good to be true. The nasty episode with Jennifer totally ruined her night, and Leah was hurt. There she’d been, catching strong feelings, finally beginning to think Derrick was different. Instead, he could simply be playing her like she’d feared. But to what end?
Chapter Six
“I appreciate you keeping your cool back there,” Derrick said, cutting into Leah’s morose thoughts. “I kept worrying about the baby, and of course, your getting hurt if things got physical.”
“I’m not stupid. Any other situation and I’d be giving as good as I got, but now that I’m pregnant, my aim is to have a safe, healthy pregnancy,” Leah asserted, then her tone softened. “Thank you for what you did when she threw her drink at me. I wouldn’t have relished having my dress or hair soaked.”
“Like I said before, anything for you, baby cakes,” rumbled Derrick, reaching for her hand and lifting it to his lips for a kiss.
Leah knew she shouldn’t, but she still felt that full-on tingle whenever he did that. A man who effortlessly gave a grown woman the butterflies should be the one to keep around, but Leah kept having second thoughts. Tonight’s drama with his ex, Jennifer, was a reminder that Leah should question whether she was ready for what it took to be in Derrick Talbot's world.
The air was subdued when they got to her place and Derrick walked her to the door. “You don’t have to worry about the things Jennifer said,” Derrick told Leah as she faced him after a long silence. “She obviously felt intimidated by you and lashed out. Can you do me a favor and forget the whole thing ever happened? We were on such a roll tonight.”
Despite herself, Leah chuckled. “I’ll admit, it wasn’t a total fail,” she agreed. Her eyes fell on the damp patches on his expensive suit and she sighed, wanting to swear out loud at that ratchet ex, Jennifer, for ruining such a sexy-ass suit.
“Would you . . . like to come in and clean up a little? It must be uncomfortable in that wet shirt.” Leah could hear how thick her voice had become, but she hadn’t meant to sound seductive. She couldn’t deny she felt some tell-tale stirrings, but sex was the last thing on her mind as she invited Derrick in. She just couldn’t send him home in dripping clothes and planned to at least clean and dry them for him first.
Her good intentions fell flat almost the minute they were inside the apartment, the door secured behind them. She felt Derrick grip her hand, making her pause in her stride and turn around. Without a word, Derrick tightened his hold on her fingers and pulled her closer. His eyes burned into hers and Leah forgot everything else, even her own name. Her temple barely leveled with his chest, and the height difference felt even more intimidating with the way arousal spun thick in the atmosphere. His grey eyes had gone a shade she’d never seen before, and they looked positively animalistic.
Leah’s legs instantly turned to jelly. This man could create sexual tension with a cardboard cutout figure! Being flesh and blood made Leah tons more susceptible to his magnetic appeal, her body unable to resist being drawn into his silken erotic web.
“Leah,” Derrick groaned, his breath on her neck. “You know I want you.” He nuzzled her collarbone and her breathing sped up.
I want you. It echoed in her ears with fierce hunger.
Desire wasn’t love, thought Leah. But she could settle for it right now. She needed him too, deep inside her, so deep she wouldn’t remember to think or even breathe.
She grabbed his hair and pulled him away from her neck, staring up into his gleaming eyes. Leah didn’t care how aggressive she was being, how out of character. She was completely under his spell. “I’m stupid, aren’t I? I shouldn’t let this keep happening.”
Derrick looked deep into her eyes and she knew that he understood her meaning. Each time they met, they ended up in bed together. Now that she was pregnant, they still hadn’t drawn any clear lines as to what ‘this’ was between them.
“And if I told you that you weren’t stupid?” Derrick growled and lifted her up to place her on the nearby table.
Everything about him was as thrilling as ever. Broad shoulders, tapered hips . . . Leah shivered thinking how those long, masculine legs felt wrapped around her thighs. His gorgeous chiseled mouth that kissed her so knowingly, always leaving her senseless. Those thick lashes of his, making her so envious and turned on at the same time. A man really shouldn’t have such sexy eyelashes. Those sharp angles of his face that enhanced his attractiveness made him too irresistible for words. His grey eyes sparkled warmly and it felt like it was just for her. She knew he could be warm, caring, and funny, and he was, of course, a fantastic lover.
Leah was certain Derrick would make a fantastic father too. She was aware of all these things, but not about just where she stood with him. And that was what really mattered right now.
Was he hoping for more sex without commitment? And was Leah ready to keep being in this kind of situation with him? Didn’t he know what he was doing to her?
“We don’t have to have all the answers right now,” whispered Derrick in her ear, kissing her down her neck. It was almost as if he could read her wandering thoughts.
Okay, thought Leah in agreement. Her mind had gone completely blank anyway. Anything Derrick said would make perfect sense now that she was so turned on and wet for him.
“Maybe we should at least slow down,” Leah heard herself say, surprised her brain was still active. “We could talk, I could make you some tea . . . if you’d like.”
Leah tried slipping off the table, but before she could get an inch away from Derrick, he snatched her hard against his chest. “There’s only one thing I’d like. Tasting you.”
“Derrick . . .”
Before Leah could finish, Derrick kissed her, so warm and gentle. Then the kiss went from soft to hard, and she lost it. She moaned as he deepened the kiss, and that was when she bit on his bottom lip.
Derrick groaned, peeling his lips from hers to attack her neck. His huge hands cupped her ass, pulling Leah up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Instinctively, her spine arched, causing her full breasts to thrust out in juicy temptation. Derrick nuzzled the brown, bouncy flesh, already making his way to her bedroom.
Leah barely had the chance to process it all as she was soon dropped on the bed. Derrick instantly climbed over her, wasting no time as he tore off his clothes and then hers, tossing them across the room.
Just as her eyelids drooped dreamily, Derrick’s powerful body was on hers. Her hands ran along his chest, tracing his abs as she gazed at his beautiful facial features. The room remained quiet in the moments that followed, the only sounds their heavy, mingling breaths.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she panted. “It’s not our first time, but it feels so different this time. So wrong, yet so right.”
“Different, yes, but far from wrong. Tonight, with you . . . is a gift which I don’t intend to waste,” Derrick said with husky resolve.
Leah remained silent, her eyes shut. Every part of her responded to Derrick, her deepest fibers attuned to Derrick’s caresses. His lips, his hands, and his masculine body sliding over hers sent endorphins surging through her.
She was sweating, her hair beginning to stick to her skin. Derrick kissed her neck again and then trailed down to her naked breasts to give each equal attention with his mouth.
Leah’s soft moans hitched as Derrick started moving his hand downward to brush two fingers over her hairless sex. Leah thrust up, needing him to relieve her now. She spread her legs wide in invitation and his growl of approval made her shiver. He slid the first finger into her while seeking her clit with his thumb. Leah’s eyes opened to look at Derrick while he caressed her.
He circled her tiny nub with his thumb and rubbed gently. It feels so good. Leah fought to keep her eyes open and saw the passion blazing in his eyes as he watched her drown in pleasure.
She couldn’t hold back anymore. Her eager hands squeezed his firm muscles and Derrick recaptured her mouth to catch her whimpers as she peaked. Another finger joined the first inside her, and Leah felt a sharp rise in her internal body heat as she came to close to combusting. Derrick's touch was electric, his fingers like a magnetic force. His kiss was so hypnotic, like falling into the depths of the deep blue ocean.
When Derrick broke the kiss, he left Leah gasping for breath. His lips dipped to her nipples, bringing each to taut submission. He savored the softness of her chocolate flesh. At the same time, he thrust his two wedged fingers in and out of her with a steady, pumping rhythm. A sensation of bliss speared Leah wildly, radiating out of control within her system.
A few strokes against her g-spot, and Derrick pulled out his fingers just as Leah would have tripped over the edge. She almost yelped at the deprivation.
“Not yet,” Derrick reprimanded. “I told you I wanted to taste you and I meant it.”
His lips skimmed down her shivering form and over her navel, till he reached her soft-centered moistness.
“Please don’t,” Leah moaned as she watched his head disappear between her parted legs. “Unless you want to hear me scream the roof down.”
“I’m counting on that.”
Oh, my. Leah felt her pelvis instinctively rise, her spine bucking. This man and his tongue were too good to be true, she thought in sweet agony. He twirled the tip of that tongue into her depths, laving and urging her sensitive nether lips to pulsating life. She couldn’t stand the thought of stopping him now. How often had she dreamed, wondered, what this would be like with Derrick? The reality was beyond her wildest imagination.
He used not just his lips, but his knowing fingers to jellify her aching slit with mind-bending pleasure. The blinking lights, the colored sparks flowing in her vision were a result of her every nerve being electrified by Derrick’s ravenous feasting on her dripping honey. Leah almost passed out from the intensity of feeling but just barely held on enough to shatter into tiny pieces and scream in ecstasy as she came. She lost control of everything, her body wracked with spasms, as Derrick lapped away the last droplets of her juices.
“You’re sensational,” he muttered thickly.
Leah shuddered as Derrick’s huge body leaned over hers. The heated swell of his manhood pressed hard and thick against her. He curved his large hand beneath her buttocks, molding her into more intimate contact and imprisoning Leah just where he wanted her.
Bringing her to the height of desire once more by suckling on her nipples and strumming her engorged slit with his fingers, he soon had her giving in to wild abandon. “Take me, Derrick!” she cried.
He chuckled darkly, his fingers busy stretching her insides until she felt a cataclysmic contraction in even her tiniest vaginal muscles. Just as she threatened to erupt, Derrick parted her thighs wider and then drove in.
Her hot gasp rang in the air like a clanging cymbal. Derrick stilled, feeling her so tight around him like it was the first time. Slowly, as he waited, he felt her relax again, and ever conscious of the baby bump, he gently dipped into her wetness.
He was inside her, hard and powerful, filling Leah completely. It was an exquisite torture as he began to move, prodding deeper, then slowing down, then suddenly picking up the pace, driving into her with ravenous force. His hands cupped her hips, his every strok
e virile and strong as he plumbed each stroke to the neck of her sheath. Derrick was thrusting harder and harder until wave after wave submerged Leah.
The unbroken pace, the angle, and the measured intensity of Derrick plunging into her repeatedly were too much for Leah all at once. Everything inside her disintegrated into molten lava. With their bodies pressed so tightly together, Leah could almost feel Derrick's heartbeat against hers, the hard-packed muscles of his chest flush with her soft, tingling flesh.
Those first ripples of her orgasm ignited, building faster with Derrick’s quickened tempo. Together, they reached a crescendo before exploding in a vortex of beauteous pleasure. Derrick surged into Leah one final time, the rhythm of her spasms matching the pulsing beat of his essences filling her to the brink.
Losing breath, Derrick momentarily rested his sweat-glistened body on Leah, and she gripped his shoulders with the last of her strength.
You were perfect. That felt so good. They shared the words in whispers between them. Smiling, Derrick pressed a gentle kiss on Leah’s mouth. Shifting carefully, he lay back and kept her in the crook of his arms. He held her tight and made Leah feel like he would never let her go again. The feeling was amazing, sending Leah’s mind on a soaring cloud of joy.
She still felt stunned by it all. Finally. Both of them opening up more to each other and then sharing this consuming lovemaking had Leah greedily wanting more and more. She could feel Derrick’s breath in her hair and sensed he’d fallen into a doze, enclosing her snugly in his arms. With no other place she’d rather be, Leah nestled closer than ever into him. Derrick’s passion felt . . . special and gentle. No more boundaries. Could such a thing be possible? Leah could already see it. A whole world of expectations before them. What more could she ask?
***
“Good morning,” Derrick said as Leah’s eyes opened.
He smiled as he could see how happy she was. It was all in her eyes. If our child gets her eyes, I’m fucked, thought Derrick. He could never say no to her when he looked into those honey brown orbs. He was weak to them.
