by Kylie Walker
"Jesus Christ. That was amazing." Derek said staring into her brown rimmed blue eyes. He rolled onto his side and took a deep breath.
“Yes it was Mr. Stark.”
Chapter 11
Chloe woke up early; she could tell that the sun was just beginning to find its way into the portside window of the yacht. She was facing away from Derek, so she couldn’t see him, but she could feel the strength of his arms wrapped around her and the rise and fall of his chest against her back. She lay still, enjoying it and also wondering if she’d maybe lost her mind just a little bit. Part of her wanted to believe that the man who made love to her last night and was holding her this morning was fully aware that the woman he had in his arms was Chloe and not Sarah.
She knew that even if all the other risks of this relationship were put aside, that one alone would be monumental. When Derek spoke about Sarah she could still see the pain and the love in his eyes. He not only loved her when she was alive, he still loved her. He still clung to his memories of her and for two years he’d lived his life in a sort of limbo without her. Then along comes Chloe. Her twin...if not in birth then definitely her doppelganger. They were identical, or at least they would be if Chloe took out the contacts and stopped dying her hair brown. What if this was all some twisted fantasy in his head? What if she let her guard down and began to develop feelings for him only to find out that what he wants is a clone of his sweet, deceased wife?
Chloe thought about those photos she had looked at. Sarah looked like she was full of life. In every photo, she was doing something fun and she looked happy. There were pictures of her skiing...something that Chloe had never done; pictures of her in high school on the cheerleading team and singing in the school choir. There were photos of her and her parents at places like Disneyworld and Six Flags, riding roller coasters and hugging cartoon characters. There were pictures of her dancing and laughing and playing...and then there were the ones that had been really hard for Chloe to look at...the pictures of her life with Derek. She was looking at everything that she was denied throughout her life and it hurt like hell.
She had come to the page where their engagement announcement had been cut carefully from the newspaper and slipped into a plastic sleeve. The date showed that it was only four years ago but there was a more innocent, younger look to Derek’s face then. Likely it was because he hadn’t been through the horrible, tragic loss of the woman he adored yet. That would have to take its toll. There was a picture on the next page of the two of them standing underneath a tree. They were holding hands and she was looking up at him and him down at her. The look they were sharing was so intense that it almost jumped right up off the page. Was Chloe insane to believe that she could ever even come close to competing with that?
She felt Derek stir next to her and still self-conscious during the daylight of the scars that covered her back; she rolled so that she was facing him. His eyes were still closed, but he smiled. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said.
Chloe felt that flutter in her stomach and the catch in her throat. She knew that if this was a bad idea, she had already let it go way too far. But she was face to face with him and his gorgeous lips were a mere fraction of an inch away. She’d have to be made of stone to resist. She kissed him softly and when she pulled back, the arm around her waist tightened and pulled her in deeper instead. They kissed passionately then and she thought that he had to have the sweetest morning breath that she’d ever tasted on her own lips. When he finally let her up for air she said, “Good morning.” He tried to lean in and kiss her again and she pulled back and said, “I should probably head home.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
He opened his eyes and looked at her. God, she was beautiful. “Yes, why should you head home? If you stay, I will make you breakfast...”
“I thought you could only do stir-fry.”
“I did say that, didn’t I? The truth is, stir-fry is all I can do for dinner, but I’m a master pancake maker.”
Chloe laughed, “You seem to be a “master” at a lot of things.”
“This is true,” he said. “When I take an interest in something, I generally don’t give up on it until I’ve mastered it. I’m determined like that.”
“So, I’ve had the stir-fry and I guess I could stay for the pancakes...what else have you mastered?”
He laid his hand across his chest again and gave her a wounded look. “Are you out of arrows yet because one more direct hit like that and I’m not sure I can survive?”
Laughing again, she leaned in and kissed him softly. “I thought we were only talking about cooking. Of course you’re a master of things here in the bedroom as well.”
“Whew! I was worried. You want to see a little more of my mastery?”
“Maybe later,” she said with a grin. “I’m a little hungry.”
“That will teach you not to waste my fabulous dinner from now on,” he told her. “But, we can’t have you hungry so I’ll wash up and go get the pancakes started.” He kissed her again before he got out of bed. She watched him go, willing her heart to slow down before it exploded.
When he came out of the bathroom she said, “Would it be okay if I showered?”
“Sure, do you need any help?”
She would love his help, but she thought again about him having a perfectly lighted, unobscured view of her entire body and once again decided that she wasn’t ready for that...yet.
She patted her stomach and said, “Maybe next time. I’m awfully hungry.”
He grinned at her and said, “Alright, but I’m spoon feeding you next time so you wake up full and satiated...”
“I woke up satiated,” she said.
“I guess that’s something. I’m going to make pancakes.”
“Thank you. I’m going to take a shower.”
“Towels are in the cabinet and everything else you need should be in there. None of it smells as good as you do, so I apologize that you’ll have to smell like me the rest of the day.”
She smiled and said, “I’m looking forward to it.”
*******
Chloe tried to leave again after breakfast but when Derek asked her what she had to do at home, she realized she had nothing. She didn’t have work at least for a while and hopefully Lexi was getting to spend time with the Incredible Hunk.
“Don’t you have to go to work?” she asked him.
“I need to meet an owner at one of his properties today. It will be quick and you can go with me....”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to get in the way of your job...”
“Trust me; you wouldn’t be in the way one bit. I’m looking at this house to see if it’s something I might be interested in selling for him. All I have to do is a quick tour of it. You can give me a female perspective on it.”
“I don’t know anything about houses,” she said.
“You know what you like, right? A second opinion is always good.” She finally agreed, glad that the sundress she’d worn over the day before was conservative and something appropriate for an impromptu business meeting. She listened as Derek called his driver first. She heard him tell the driver that they would need a ride to the airport. When he hung up she said, “Airport? Where is this house?”
“It’s in Maine,” he said.
“You spend a lot of time in Maine. That’s where we went the first time we went out.”
He laughed, “I have several clients that do business here in Rhode Island, but choose to live in Maine. I like it there. It has that small town friendly feel to it.”
“I liked it there too when we went. Are we going to the same place?”
“No, this place is even more casual. Walk-up dining and you eat outside. But the lobster is phenomenal and sometimes it’s just fun to do something that doesn’t require a suit and tie and reservations.”
“Yet we’re taking the luxury helicopter...” she said with a grin.
“True, but that’s only because it’s a
bout business. Next time we can drive if you prefer.”
Next time. He was already planning another date and she hadn’t said yes to this one yet. She had gotten so she almost prided herself on her ability to keep everyone at an arm’s distance. Something about Derek muddled her brain and attacked her sensibilities. She kept warning herself to be careful, to not let her guard down. Then she would look into those beautiful blue eyes and she would see nothing there that she shouldn’t trust. She might be wrong. She had definitely been wrong before and she had almost paid the ultimate price.
“Right there and back after this meeting and lunch?” she asked.
“Right there and back,” he said.
“Okay,” she said. She wanted to trust him so badly.
Chapter 12
The driver took them back to the same small, private airport they had gone to before. They boarded the helicopter and buckled their seatbelts. It wasn’t quite as nerve wracking this time, since she had done this before, but when Derek reached for her hand, she let him take it.
“You doing okay?” Derek asked her.
“I’m good,” she said, looking out the window.
“We’re going to do lunch first if you don’t mind,” Derek said, looking at his phone. “My client is running late.”
“Sure, lunch is good,” she said.
“So tell me something that I don’t know about you, Chloe.” She was glad she was still looking out the window. What he didn’t know about her could fill the pages of a novel. With a neutral expression she turned back towards him and said, “Like what?”
“I don’t know. What was the last book you read?”
“Pole dancing for dummies,” she said.
He laughed, “Come on, tell me something real. What kind of books do you like? What kind of movies do you hate? What kind of music do you have in your I-Pod?”
“Okay, let’s see...I like to read books with history in them. Not just dry, boring history, but when they weave it into a novel, I like that. I don’t like the sappy romance stuff, Heathcliff and all that tortured romantic hero stuff never really did it for me.”
“Okay, good. See, you revealed something and the sky didn’t fall in on us. Let’s try another one. What kind of movies do you hate?”
“Sappy romance,” she said.
He smiled and said, “I’m detecting a theme here.”
She shrugged, “It’s just not real life. I like mysteries, biographies, stuff that makes you think.”
“Me too,” he said. “But I haven’t quite given up on the possibility that sappy romance can exist.”
She didn’t respond to that. Instead, she said, “My I-Pad is mostly classic rock. I like some of the new country rock and I love jazz and the blues. I’m not a huge fan of pop music or rap.”
“Food?”
“I like it,” she said.
Smiling, he said, “What’s your favorite kind?”
“Chinese,” she said.
“Chinese is good. What about Japanese? Sushi?”
“I like my food to be cooked,” she said. “But I do like tempura vegetables and rice.”
“Okay, so no anchovies on the pizza?”
“Only if you want to eat it all yourself,” she said. They were both silent again and Chloe looked back out the window. It was nice just having “ordinary” conversation with him. It had been so long since she’d done that with any man that it was strange, but nice.
“We’re getting ready to land,” he told her. She felt his hand tighten on hers slightly...almost protectively as the helicopter descended. A man who was protective instead of exploitive was an anomaly to her as well.
The car took them to a harbor. At the end of the pier was a tiny little restaurant. There wasn’t much else there except for a few little bait and tackle kiosks.
“Where are we?” she asked him.
“This town is called Round Pond. This place is the Round Pond Lobster House and the lobster here is worth dying for,” he said.
“Well let’s get in there then,” she said, “I can’t wait.”
Once inside, they ordered their food at a long, redwood counter. The little place served lobster, steamers, corn on the cob and chips. That was all that was on the menu and when Chloe looked surprised, Derek said, “Trust me, it’s enough.”
Trust me, she thought. She’d been doing that a lot.
They got their food and took it out to one of the picnic tables outside looking out across the harbor. Once they dug in, Chloe had to admit that Derek was right. She had never tasted anything that melted so readily and so lusciously in her mouth. It was like heaven in a shell and she ate way too much of it.
“Go away! Shoo!” she heard Derek say while she was gazing adoringly at what was left on her plate.
She jerked up her head and said, “Who, me?”
He laughed, “No, the big gull right there that keeps staring at us.”
Chloe looked down where he was looking. On the ground was a white seagull that was not big at all. He was average sized at best and he seemed to be there picking crumbs off the ground.
“He’s big?” she asked.
“Big enough,” he said with a distressed look on his face.
“Oh my goodness! Stingrays and birds! You’re afraid of birds!”
“I am not afraid of birds! I’m just...I just don’t care for them,” he said.
“Any of them?”
“The ones in cages are alright.”
She laughed, “You know that you could probably step on that bird and do some serious damage, right? You’re a big guy.”
“Have you ever seen The Birds?” he asked.
“Alfred Hitchcock? Of course.”
“They have talons and beaks that are sharp and they could do serious damage if they wanted to...”
She was cracking up. “You weren’t exposed to many animals as a child were you?” she asked.
He shrugged, “I guess not. We had a dog and horses and I visited the Bronx zoo a few times.”
“We’ll have to take you more often and get you used to the idea that they’re not all out to kill you.”
He smiled then and said, “Good, my plan worked.”
“What plan was that?”
“The one where I pretend to be scared in order to get you to spend more time with me.”
Chloe laughed. “Good try, scared-y cat.” Chloe leaned down and held out a piece of a cracker. The seagull came over and took it right out of her hand. Derek shuddered and she laughed again.
******
After lunch the car took them to a place called Rockport where the house they were meeting the client at was located. Derek told her that the house was at the end of a private drive on over five acres of land. It had 350 feet of deep water shorefront, five bedrooms, six bathrooms and over eight-thousand square feet of space.
“Wow, who needs an eight-thousand square foot home?” she said.
“He and his wife were very active in charitable events in the community before their retirement. They hosted a lot of events there. Which reminds me, I have an event I have to attend in New York on Saturday night? Would you be interested in going along with me, as my date?”
“Oh, um...”
“We are dating, aren’t we? I mean we’ve had dinner, re-decorated a park...”
“That one wasn’t a date, you were stalking then.”
He smiled, “Oh that’s right. But anyways, now we’ve had our second helicopter ride and lunch. We’ve spent two nights together...two of the better nights of my life I might add.”
Chloe didn’t miss the part where he said, “Two of the better nights,” and not “Two of the best.” But he had a point, technically, what they were doing would be considered dating by most people. The idea of going to New York disturbed her more than the idea of “dating” Derek however.
“Where in New York is this event being held and what is the charity?”
“It’s in Rochester at a private residence of one of my clients
and it’s a children’s hospital foundation. They have a fantastic dinner and a silent auction and dancing. It’s a good cause and a great time. Please say you’ll go.”
“I’ll say that I’ll consider it,” she said with a smile.
“You consider a lot of things,” he said, smiling too. He leaned in then and pressed his lips to hers. After kissing her lips he let his lips slide up to her ear and he whispered, “Would you consider spending another night with me?”
She leaned her head back into the seat so that her neck was exposed. Derek took the hint and she suddenly felt hot breath against her neck and the gentle brush of his lips. His kisses were so hot that they practically burned on contact. He reached up and put his hand in her hair and as he kissed her neck, he ran his fingers through it. His other hand slid down around her waist and pulled her in close while his mouth dropped down to her shoulder and began to spread kisses there. She could hear his breaths speeding up to match her own and she felt herself tingling all over.
“Here we are, sir,” the driver who had put the window between them down a discreet inch said.
Derek growled. He took a breath and composed himself before saying, “Thank you, Mason.” He looked at Chloe and the desire was apparent on his face and in his eyes. “Can we pick this up later?” his voice was husky and still breathless.
She smiled and in a husky voice of her own she said, “I’ll consider it.”
Chapter 13
Chloe spent that night with Derek and when she got home the next day she was assaulted by Lexi hugging her.
“Wow that was some hug. What did I do to deserve that?”
“It’s Brock! He’s amazing!”
Chloe laughed, “I’m glad you’re so happy,” she said. “I was afraid that you’d be upset with me for abandoning you for two days.”
“No, it was perfect! Brock and I had dinner in the sunset the first night and we took a long walk on the beach yesterday morning. He was a perfect gentleman. He didn’t try a thing, but when we got back he gave me the sweetest little kiss. I invited him in but he said it was “too soon,” that he didn’t trust himself to be alone in the house with me and still be a gentleman. Where did this man come from?”
