by Eve R. Hart
I held her hand as she began to tell me some of the things that had happened over the years. I got the feeling like she hadn’t meant to say so much but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. I hurt for her. But I could also see this amazing strength inside of her that I didn’t even think that she was aware of. I knew she was dealing with a lot right now and trying to process it all. It was going to take time but I had no doubts that she’d be able to move on from it. It would always be there, I knew that much, but she wouldn’t let it stop her from living the life that she had ahead of her.
As she talked about Axe, I could see the love in her eyes. I wondered if I looked the same when I thought about Derrick. Axe seemed a bit standoffish to me, maybe even a tad on the dark side but the way she described him made him sound caring and amazing. As long as he took care of her and Neriyn and loved them, then that was all that mattered.
It was just starting to get dark when the men returned. It strangely looked like they had bonded somewhat and I didn’t know what to think about that. Axe didn’t seem like the friendly type and Derrick, well, he was a bit of a loner too. Maybe they recognized that in one another. And it wasn’t like they didn’t really know each other, having done business together, or whatever you wanted to call it, for years.
Axe extended the offer for us to stay at the clubhouse. I wasn’t sure, but I also wasn’t ready to leave Allison just yet. In the end, we took one of the empty rooms on the side area of the compound. It was where the club girls had their own space. Was I comfortable with that? Well, not really. I had a pretty good idea what had gone down in that room, hell, in that bed. But I tried my best to shake it off and assure myself that the sheets were clean.
Things were looking up. Allison and I spent a few days together before Derrick and I headed on. After that first day, Allison and I carried on like no time had passed. I guess we really were best friends. There was a deep bond there that would last a lifetime.
-22-
No, This Is The Life
Clean
We left Moon Hill and headed south. Somehow I hadn’t gotten any calls this whole time and I couldn’t have been more grateful, but that didn’t mean that the next job wouldn’t pop up at any moment. We made it to the place I had down in Florida a few days later. I could tell the moment we walked in that she wasn’t a big fan of the space.
“It’s just so…” Her voice faded off as she did a slow spin in the middle of the living room. “I mean, do you even live here?”
I laughed as I dropped our bags right inside the door.
“There’s nothing about it that tells me this is yours. There is like no,” her hand did some sort of weird, floppy wave in my direction, “you in here.”
“Then let’s change that,” I said, scooping her up and taking her into the bedroom.
Her surprised squeal made me laugh. I tore the comforter away, hoping that the stale dust would go with it. Then I gently dropped her down onto the sheet covered mattress.
“This doesn’t count as making it yours,” she said as a fit of giggles erupted out of her.
“No,” I said as I descended down on top of her, then kissed the hell out of her slowly. “This is making it ours.”
She let out a low, long moan and I could feel her smile against my lips.
“I think I am okay with that idea,” she said then wrapped her legs around me.
I took my time, savoring her lips, her neck, while still fully clothed. It didn’t take long before her hips were rocking, her heated core rubbing up and down my hard as steel erection.
I couldn’t get enough of her. And it wasn’t just the sex. She made my days brighter. My nights more peaceful. My heart felt alive every time she smiled at me, every time she made me laugh. And believe me, she did that often. I hadn’t even realized that I had, in a way, lost my laugh a long time ago. I hadn’t realized that I’d forgotten and let go of a lot of things along the way until she came into my life.
We stripped each other, our eyes only breaking contact long enough to shed our clothes. I had been so absorbed in her that I barely remembered to snag a condom before she pushed my pants down my legs.
With a devilish smile, she pushed me onto my back. Her breasts swayed as she lifted her leg over me and straddled my hips. As she leaned down and kissed me, her slick core slowly ran the length of my hardness as it became trapped between us. She teased me, worked me, until I felt like I was ready to blow.
“Sweetness,” I grunted out as a warning, my muscles straining all over trying to hold back. “Luce, I need to be inside of you.”
She snatched up the condom and with nimble fingers, slowly rolled it down my shaft. She drew it out, her eyes never leaving mine. She was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. I knew right then I’d never give her up. I would never want to.
And suddenly the future opened up with so many possibilities that I’d never had before. I wanted them all with her.
She raised up, her back bowing, her peaked nipples poking out, and her creamy skin already flushed. She lowered herself down on me, taking her sweet time. I watched until I was completely buried inside of her. Her body was already shaking and she let out a satisfied sigh. My fingers made their way to her hips. I had to touch her as she rode me. Her movements were unhurried and she lifted until I nearly left her slick heat. Then she descended, her eyes rolling back into her head. She felt so amazing and it was all I could do to sit there and let her control everything. But I did and managed to not shoot off in a split second as well. Which was hard, especially when she tightened around me every time she rose up.
“Derrick,” she moaned out and I felt her pace falter.
She was so lost in us and I was right there with her. Her body rocked down on me harder and faster as her nails dug into my chest. I met her thrust for thrust, pushing up into her at the right angle. She moaned and begged and I gave her what she needed.
“I’m so close. Derrick, please.”
“Right there with you, Luce. Come with me,” I said right before I knifed up and grabbed the back of her hair.
Our lips met, and not a tentative, soft kiss either. It was desperate and clingy but in the deepest way possible. Like we had to be connected as much as we were physically allowed to be. Like we were trying to touch each other’s souls.
We came together, crashing over the same edge, clinging to each other so tightly that I lost sight of where she ended and I began.
“Love,” she whispered out half lost in a body-vibrating orgasm haze.
Her head snapped down and her panic-stricken eyes met mine instantly.
“I loved it too,” I said holding back a smirk and letting her think that she got out of it for just a brief second.
I knew what she meant.
I knew that because I could see it in her eyes whenever she looked at me.
I knew it because I felt it too.
And because I wasn’t going to let her go on another second thinking that I believed the cover-up, I leaned in and brushed my lips softly against hers.
“I love you, too,” I said as I breathed the words into her barely parted mouth.
Shocked at what I’d said, she sucked in a sharp breath, taking those words down with it.
“I…oh, fuck, this is so insane. I love you, Derrick. It seems like it’s too soon, but I feel it. So deeply.”
Tears clouded her eyes. I brushed my thumb over one that had managed to escape and run down her cheek. Then I kissed her tenderly.
“Make this life with me,” I said after I broke away.
This life. Our new one. The one where we started to live for us. I knew I didn’t have to explain for her to understand.
“Yes,” she breathed out in an excited whisper. One that was on the verge of being shocked and baffled at the same time.
I held her as she buried her face in the crook of her neck. We stayed like that until the sweat began to dry and feel sticky. Until our breaths slowed. Until we came back down and realized the world around us.
“We should get cleaned up,” she said as she slid away from me and off the bed.
I sat there for a moment, watching her perfect cheeks sway as she walked away from me. Her hair swooshing back and forth down her back, drawing attention to those sexy dimples right above her perfectly round bottom. Once she was out of sight, I sat up, removed the condom and wrapped it in a tissue before I tossed it in the small wastebasket beside the bed.
“Ummm…there’s only a tub in here,” she called out from the bathroom, her tone apprehensive and I chuckled because I had a good idea what she was thinking. Yes, the bathroom only had a tub and not the romantic, claw-foot kind. This one wasn’t even porcelain. No, it was a tub, as in the old kind, a huge, oval, copper vat pretty much. Oh, I did have shower, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like that much better.
“Shower’s out back,” I said, getting to my feet.
She came walking back into the bedroom. She stopped right inside the doorway and cocked her hip, her hand flying up to rest on it.
“As in…outside?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a shrug. “There’s no one around for miles.”
“No, I got that much on the drive to get here,” she said but it wasn’t in a happy tone. “But you live in the swamp, Derrick.”
She blinked at me when I didn’t say anything back. I had a pretty good idea what was going through her head, but I couldn’t help and go on acting like I was clueless. She was so damn cute like this.
“There are gators. Gators, Derrick!” she shrieked as she threw her hands up in frustration.
“Yeah, probably,” I said like it wasn’t a big deal. I could feel myself losing my cool and I knew I’d be laughing at any second. “It’s not like they care. They probably won’t even notice that we’re naked.”
She eyed me for a long second.
“You’re messing with me right?”
“Nope. The shower really is out back. Come on, a little naked wash-up under the stars could be romantic.”
She shook her head as I crossed the room and took her into my arms. At this point, my body was shaking as I broke out in laughter.
“You’re not funny.”
“It’s all enclosed. Alligators can’t get in. I’ll even go out there and check to make sure it’s all clear for you if you want.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked and playfully fluttered her lashes as she looked up at me.
“Yes. Come on, you can stand at the back door while I look. I have a million flood lights out there so you can see.”
And so we showered outside, under the dark, star-filled sky. Yes, it was romantic and we stayed there kissing until the water ran cold. I couldn’t have been happier with her by my side. I found my home. The place I was meant to be. The one thing that I’d been lacking my entire life.
“I never got that amazing burger you promised me,” she said a little while later as we were lounging on the couch, tangled up in one another and watching something on the TV.
“I will take you there as soon as they open tomorrow,” I said then placed a light kiss on her temple. I would have gone out and gotten the damn thing right now if they’d been open, but once we got here time just seemed to slip by us. I wasn’t complaining, not in the least.
I was a man in love with the most amazing woman. I couldn’t have dreamed her up if I tried. She fit into every part of me. She pulled me out of a life that was all set for loneliness. I may have not realized it back before I met her, but I’d become old before my time. I may have been pushing forty, but that didn’t mean I had to start being an old man. She showed me life and joy. She showed me beauty and showered my soul with warmth. She didn’t make fun of me for the things I liked and the fact that I didn’t mind the simple life. Matter of fact, she was right there curled up beside me watching renovation shows at the end of the day.
But that didn’t mean that I kept her locked up. I loved our nights out as much as our quiet time. I loved taking her to new and exciting places. And we had many adventures on the road between shuffling around from place to place.
There was a perfect balance to it all. She made me laugh and feel free, while I pushed her into the light and helped her overcome her anxiety.
She was…
The other half of my soul.
Epilogue
Lucy
Eventually, the rest of the world penetrated our bubble. Work came calling for Derrick and it seemed like Mr. Clean was very much needed. I dove back into some of the things I’d done before. I helped seek out missing persons cases that I knew needed extra help.
I continued to work with Ashburn Security and it seemed like they were happy to hear from me again. I mean, not the fact that I was bringing them a case because that meant that a kid had been picked up and was missing. But they were glad that I was, in a way, a part of there team. Which, they did officially make me, offering to pay me for the cases I brought them and the information I was able to hand over.
I didn’t spy on the groups I had before. In fact, I’d come clean with the Steel Paragons about the invasion and that it had been me. I actually ended up becoming close to their hacker, Bocca, and we never talked about what I knew and that I’d had the displeasure of seeing him wearing those things he called underwear. I found out that he spent his free time much like I did and sometimes we would work together. If I had something that I thought his club might be able help out with, I’d take it to him. And if he found something that they couldn’t handle, he’d send it over to me. We talked often enough and not always about work things. I would have called us good friends at this point. Considering I knew how big of a flirt he could be, it surprised me that he never was that way with me. It was respectful, which for some reason really shocked me. I guess all those years watching him, I hadn’t truly seen the real man. Then again, Derrick’s presence probably had something to do with that. And Bocca had seen how well my man could disappear a body.
We kept all of Derrick’s places. I ended up giving up my apartment at the end of my lease. Which wasn’t that long really, only a couple of months. I wasn’t sure why I’d held onto it for that long but that didn’t matter now. We had started to make all of them home, picking out different decorating themes for each one. It fit us and I loved them all.
Sometimes, I’d stay at whatever home we were at when he got called away. If the job was close enough to where he’d come straight back, then I’d stay put and throw myself into my own work. If he had a job that was far away, most of the time I would go with him. I’d find something to do in a nearby town if the place was isolated while he did his thing. Then we would head on to the closest home and stay there for however long.
Allison and I talked all the time. It seriously was like all those years we were separate hadn’t even happened. She did open up and talk more about it and I was always there to listen. Derrick and I dropped in often to see her. Axe and Derrick bonded a little more each time we came in.
And then there was Diesel. I learned the story behind that and it honestly made my heart swell even more for my cleaner. Derrick had taken Diesel in at a low point in his life. I understood Diesel a little more now that I knew his backstory. My heart ached for the man but it was clear that he’d found happiness again. His woman and child were absolutely adorable. And while Ellie was the last person I would have expected to see him with, I saw how well it worked when I was there.
Speaking of backstory, I eventually kind of figured out how Derrick got into this whole cleaning business thing. It sounded like it started with a couple of kittens in a barn. He wanted their poor souls to be at rest and so he dug a hole and buried them. My heart ached for that little boy. Then, barely on the edge of being a man, he witnessed the girl across the street finally snap. He told me how his bedroom window looked directly into hers. He had no idea what was going on over there at night even though he could see in. Probably because it happened when he was asleep. But still, I could see the guilt in his eyes as he told me wha
t Cindy Taylor’s father did to her at night. Derrick may have not seen what her father did, but he did happen to be looking the night that Cindy got her revenge. He said it was all the screaming that alerted him and caused him to peek out of his window that night. I think it was some higher power tossing him a sign. A dark one. That was the night he figured out the best way to break down a body and bury it so no one would know. He also learned how to clean things so well that the cops didn’t have a clue that night. To this day, Cindy’s father was still thought of as a man that abandoned his family in the middle of the night.
Despite how horrible it was, I was glad to know that this his work was born from a good heart.
It just seemed to go from there. He wasn’t really sure how it all came about after that, but it sounded like he had ended up in the right place at the right times. And as his skills improved, the right kind of people began to take notice.
Things were amazing, to say the least. I wouldn’t change a single thing. Not even having to use that outdoor shower when we stayed in Florida. And no, I still was hugely paranoid about the things lurking in the swampland.
“I think we’re going to get snow. I feel it in the air,” Derrick said as he walked into the back door shaking like he was trying to brush off the cold.
We were at the house in Connecticut. I loved this house. It had way more room than we needed but there was that thought that one day we might fill it. Whether it be with stuff or kids, I wasn’t sure just yet. Neither of us were ready to quit our jobs and we both agreed that it was something we should do before we started a family. Well, him more so than me. But the thought of having a child, or more than one, didn’t scare me as much as I thought it would have. And I saw that twinkle in his eye when he thought about it, too. I didn’t think I’d ever completely give up the searching and the need to rescue people, but when I became a mother, I wanted to put most of my focus on my kid. I sometimes tended to get lost for hours, and let me be honest, even days, when I picked up something. I knew I couldn’t do that as well as raise a kid.
