After You

by Sam Mariano

  We stop at the mall so I can swing by the jewelry store, then begin the long drive to Derek’s. It’s a lovely car ride, the loveliest we’ve had, because this time most of our problems have melted away. This time it’s like a peek at the life we’ll have together. I can picture date nights away from the kids… even though moving away from Bethany and Alex probably means Mike will be the one watching them.

  “He’s good with kids,” Derek assures me. “He’ll take good care of ours while I take you out and get you drunk on margaritas.”

  Cracking a smile, I look out the window. “I’m sure he will. He’s just never going to be my favorite person.”

  “I understand that,” he says, easily enough.

  Turning my gaze away from the road and back to him, I say, “Speaking of parents and disapproval, Alex doesn’t even know you and I are talking again, so the news that I’m moving back to the same town I ran away from and adopting your daughter? Probably not going to go over well.”

  Derek nods. “Yep, that does sound like something that’s not going to go over well.”

  “Bethany likes you already, so maybe that will help.”

  He cocks an eyebrow. “I didn’t even meet her, did I?”

  “Nope. But as you can probably tell by the fact that she married my father, Bethany doesn’t judge people on their past actions as long as she likes their present. Your whole Family Man kidnapping idea impressed her. She’s crazy,” I add, for reference.

  “Sounds like she just has good taste,” he decides.

  I smile, lightly whacking him in the stomach. He catches my wrist, then slides his hand until our fingers are entwined.

  ---

  Tonight is Cassidy night. Derek explained away my two week absence, blaming work on me being too busy to come over, but filling in with ideas of things we would do once I caught up and I could come around again.

  Cassidy thinks we need to do all of those things today.

  I can’t really complain though. The first place on our list is the bookstore I used to work at in high school. I still remember the first time Derek brought me here. It was such an unexpected trip. He was supposed to bring me home from school, but instead he took a twenty minute detour and brought me to my favorite place.

  It’s crazy to be back here. There are so many memories littered throughout this store. Everything looks more or less the same, like it’s the one place we used to go to that stood frozen in time, waiting for me to come back.

  Sighing with contentment, I squeeze Derek’s hand and lean my head on his shoulder as we follow Cassidy toward the kids’ section.

  “I’ve always loved coming to the bookstore with you,” I tell him.

  “Dragging me, you mean.”

  I shoot him a playful glare. “You loved coming here, don’t start with me.”

  Smirking, he frees his hand and wraps his arm around my shoulder instead, tugging me close. “Only because you liked it. You know I’ve never been a book guy.”

  “You like my books,” I point out.

  “I like those because they come from your brain. I don’t care what comes from anyone else’s brain.”

  Shaking my head, I tell him, “There’s one I want you to read. It’s crazy messed-up, it’s a thriller, not a romance. There’s a pinch of romance in it, but it’s about a stalkery creep. You’re gonna love it.”

  “You can read it to me naked, how’s that? Then I’ll pay attention.”

  Grinning, I look up at him. “Derek bedtime stories after Cassidy bedtime stories, huh?”

  “I approve of this nightly routine. You can read me all the books you want as long as you’re naked, but I want touching privileges. You try to focus on the page, I’ll try to convince you to put it down. We’ll see who wins.”

  “Sounds like we both win,” I state slyly.

  “It’s gonna take us like a year to finish that book,” he informs me.

  “It can’t take a year. There’s a sequel after we finish the first one. This is a good plan. After Cassidy looks at her books, we’ll go grab those so you can meet Joe tonight.”

  Stealing a kiss, he murmurs against my lips, “I look forward to it.”

  Chapter Thirty Four

  After a day filled with shopping, ice cream, blowing bubbles, foam sword fights at the park (Derek won), and a trip to the toy store so Cassidy could pick out a new accessory for her baby doll, it is finally dinner time. Since she loves Haury’s, we take her there.

  “Evening, Nobles,” Ryan says, delivering our menus. His gaze drifts to me, “And Harmon.”

  “You can just lump her in with us,” Derek advises him.

  “Yeah,” Cassidy agrees. “She’s gonna have my baby sister.”

  Ryan’s eyes widen and his gaze shoots from me to Derek. “Uh, then I guess congratulations are in order?”

  I cover my face with my hands while Derek laughs. “No, no, not yet,” Derek tells his friend. “Cassidy just subscribes to the notion that if she says it enough times, it will be true.”

  “Baby sisters are so cute though,” Cassidy insists.

  Ryan grins, then looks at Derek. “Looks like you better get to work, man. Princess Cassidy demands a sibling.”

  Derek leans back, shooting me a look. “Hey, as soon as I get this one on board…”

  Shaking my head, I inform them all, “My reproductive schedule is not determined by a vote, I’m sorry to disappoint everyone.”

  “How about Jenga?” Derek suggests. “We can play for it.”

  “We’re going to have to reevaluate the Noble decision-making process,” I inform him.

  Once Ryan leaves to find us a waitress, the babymaking talk dies down. Now that I really am moving forward in a relationship with Derek, though, I can’t help getting pulled right into their baby talk. I won’t let them know that yet, of course. They’re both too eager. Derek will be trying to put a baby in me tonight if I let him know the thought of a blue-eyed Derek-baby makes me feel mushy, too. We have too many other things to get in order before we can even think about having a baby.

  While we play tic-tac-toe and wait for our food to be cooked, I exchange glances with Derek. He nods and shrugs, like this is as good a time as any, so after I mark my X in the center block, I reach into my purse and draw out a little white jewelry box and set it down on the table.

  “So, Cassidy, your dad and I had something we wanted to talk to you about,” I begin.

  “Okay,” she says, marking her crooked O, then handing me the crayon. “Your turn.”

  I mark down another X and give her back the crayon. “You remember when we talked about how since your mom isn’t around anymore, you’re in a unique situation where you can sort of pick out a replacement?”

  “Uh huh,” she says with a nod, studying the tic-tac-toe board.

  “And remember how you asked me if maybe I’d like to fill the position?” I ask, hoping she does remember that.

  “Of course,” she says, swinging her legs and drawing an O before handing me back the crayon.

  Setting down the crayon for a moment, I tap her hand to get her attention and hold her gaze. “Would you still like that?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she says brightly.

  “It would mean a lot would change,” I tell her. “I would move here and live with you guys. I wouldn’t just be visiting anymore, I’d be there all the time.”

  “Good, I already said you should do that.”

  “I know, I just want to make sure you really mean it. We wouldn’t be joking around, we would be a family, for real. Your dad and I were even thinking, if you wanted me to, I could adopt you and make it official.”

  “And you’d be my new mom?”

  I nod, watching tentatively. Moving in wasn’t a problem, I figured she would be on board for that part. It’s the adoption I’m less certain of.

  “What about my old mom?” she asks.

  “Well, since she lives so far away and she wasn’t really ready to become a parent when she did
, she said it would be okay with her if we wanted to do it. All of us just want what’s best for you, and we thought maybe a mom who is here for you and who wants to be in your life forever might be more beneficial than one who lives far away and doesn’t really fill the role for you.”

  Her eyes move across the table as she considers this, then snap to mine again. There’s no sadness in her tone, only matter-of-factness, and that makes my heart hurt. “What happens if you decide to leave, like she did?”

  Placing my hand over hers on the table, I shake my head. “Never. Never ever. If I adopt you, you’re my daughter for real and forever. No matter what happens, that would never change. Even if things didn’t work out between me and your daddy—”

  “Excuse me?” Derek interrupts, cocking an eyebrow.

  “Which of course won’t happen,” I add to appease him.

  “Damn right, it won’t,” he mutters.

  Turning my attention back to Cassidy, I say, “But even if it didn’t, you would still be my daughter, and I would never leave you. Normally when parents split up, the mother doesn’t leave her children. Your mother is…” The worst. An evil, conniving slut bag. My least favorite person in the whole universe. “…an exception.”

  Nodding rather easily, all things considered, she says, “Okay, you can adopt me.”

  “Yeah?”

  She nods, then looks pointedly at the crayon I abandoned on the table. “It’s your turn.”

  “First I want to give you something,” I tell her, dragging the little white box close.

  Cassidy brightens. “A present?”

  “Yep. I figured a proposal should probably come with accompanying jewelry.” Lifting the top off the box, I tilt the silver necklace to show her. It’s a double heart necklace—a big heart to represent the mom, and a smaller heart to represent the daughter. On the back there is an inscription that reads, “My daughter, always a part of my heart.” It is intended for an adult, but I bought a smaller chain and swapped them in the car so I can draw it right out of the box and fasten it around her tiny neck.

  “Ooh, it’s so pretty,” she says, tipping her head down and looking at it around her neck. “We should take a picture,” she informs me.

  I smile, reaching into my purse for my phone. “We could do that.”

  Derek holds up his phone. “I’ve got it. I’m always ready to take a picture of my girls,” he says with a wink at me.

  His girls. My heart fills up and I squeeze Cassidy with a big, cheesy smile on my face. She giggles and Derek snaps the picture. She reaches across the table and grabs his phone to make sure it’s a “good one.” It’s not just a good one, it’s perfect.

  ---

  I am trying my damndest to get through the first chapter of Derek’s naked bedtime story, but his proposed touching rule is already becoming a problem. From the first utterance of the first word in the first paragraph, he began eyeing me wolfishly. I managed to flip a page before his big, rough hand covered my bare breast.

  I’m about halfway through the chapter when he takes touching to a new level, prying my legs apart and sliding a finger inside me.

  “Derek Noble,” I reprimand, cocking an eyebrow at him.

  Sliding his finger deeper, he reminds me, “Touching is allowed. I’m not breaking any rules. I can get you off while you read about this crazy chick eating a stranger’s Twizzlers. Who does that?”

  “I warned you everyone in this book was crazy,” I state. “If you’re expecting anything else, you should adjust your expectations accordingly before we proceed.”

  “All I’m saying is, she’s gonna get murdered.”

  “Maybe,” I say, reaching down to push his hand from between my legs. “But unless you let me finish at least a chapter a night, it really will be a year before you find out. We’re halfway there. You can handle a few more minutes before sex.”

  “Unlike Joe,” he mutters. “This asshole’s ready to fuck her because she has a broken phone. This book is weird.”

  “It is delightfully weird,” I agree. “Embrace the weird and take the journey.”

  “I want to take the journey between your legs,” he informs me.

  I fix him with a stare. “Derek Michael Noble.”

  “Aw shit, not the middle name.”

  Nodding solemnly, I tell him, “You’re in big trouble now.”

  Drawing his finger out of me and using two fingers to rub against my clit, he tells me, “Not as much trouble as you’re in as soon as you slide that bookmark between the pages.”

  I smile faintly, leaning in to kiss him and murmur against his lips, “Promise?”

  He cradles a hand behind my neck and deepens the kiss, his tongue tangling with mine. Once he has me good and breathless, he pulls away and settles back into his spot, crossing his arms over his chest. “Finish your damn chapter.”

  I’m distracted now, but I find my place and get through the rest of it. As promised, the moment I slide the bookmark between the pages, he snatches it out of my hand and transfers the book to the bedside stand. I wrap my arms around his torso as he climbs on top of me, taking my lips like he’s been waiting forever. I’m heavy and weightless all at once as he kisses me. I don’t know if it will always be this way between us, but it’s still such a pleasure to be invaded by him, even if only my mouth.

  Then he nudges my knees and plants himself between my thighs. I sigh against his mouth, chills moving across my skin as he reaches down and guides his cock to my entrance. I feel him there, the smooth skin of him against me. He pushes the tip inside and teases me.

  “Wait, condom,” I remind him, while I still have my wits about me.

  “We’re out.”

  My eyes open. “What?”

  “Used the last of them at your house. We need more.”

  He is so exasperating sometimes. “Derek, that’s not something you thought to mention?”

  Since he knows he won’t win with words, he switches to his strength—making me mindless with his damned body. Nudging his smooth head against my clit while he leaves soft kisses along the sensitive column of my neck, he asks innocently, “Want me to stop?”

  I should say yes. That’s the responsible thing to do. He probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway. He’d keep pushing and teasing until I relented. It’s our first night together in this house, knowing we’re really together, knowing the future really belongs to us, and we belong to one another. No insurmountable obstacles, just us and the rest of our lives.

  “We’ll risk it just this once,” I tell him. “But one of us has to buy more condoms tomorrow.”

  “Deal,” he agrees readily, pushing his cock lower and filling me up.

  ---

  My fingers move against the soft down material of Derek’s blanket, my hand catching his. I think he’s trying to hold my hand, but I don’t know why; I’m still half-asleep. Cracking an eye open, I note the room is bright, so it is definitely morning. It must be early. I went to bed much earlier last night than I have been while I prepared for Dreamcatcher, but my eyes still burn with the effort of opening them.

  “What time is it?” I mutter.

  “Early,” Derek murmurs, leaning in and pressing a kiss to the side of my face. He repositions his body behind mine, wraps his arm around me, and holds me captive in his embrace. “Go back to sleep.”

  “You woke me up,” I inform him, closing my eyes.

  “Nah,” he says dismissively, tangling our fingers together and giving my hand a squeeze as he holds me. “That doesn’t sound like something I would do at all.”

  My stomach drops and my eyes fly open. When he squeezed my fingers, I felt something foreign. Something hard and cold pressed against my finger. Now I stare, mind momentarily empty, at the engagement ring on my left hand. It sits on my finger like it belongs there, but I’ve never seen it before. It’s absolutely stunning—three emerald cut diamonds, the largest in the center with a smaller one positioned on each side.

  “What is that?” I
ask Derek.

  “What’s what?” he asks.

  I turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. “There’s a ring on my finger.”

  “Of course there is,” he replies, like that’s to be expected.

  “Why is there a ring on my finger?” I demand.

  “Because we’re engaged,” he informs me, giving my hand another squeeze. Pressing his lips to my bare shoulder, he adds, “Together for six years, we’ve got a kid and a house—we should probably think about having that wedding soon, you know. You really should’ve married me years ago; I don’t know what you’re making me wait for.”

  Grinning, I tell him, “You can’t Family Man into an engagement, Derek Noble, you have to ask.”

  Sighing, he says, “Fine.” Grabbing my hand and bringing it to his lips, he kisses my knuckles. His familiar blue eyes twinkle with every bit as much mischief as they held at 18-years-old, and he asks, “Nikki Harmon, will you marry me?”

  The grin on my face grows until my face can’t stretch another centimeter. It’s hard to fathom my heart can be as full as it is right now, impossible to imagine it could ever be fuller. I’d given up on all this so long ago, it really does feel like a dream. As I squeeze my hand into a fist and feel the cool band on my finger, I wait for the inevitable moment when my eyes open and I’m alone in my bed, alone in my life, and this was all a cruel dream. A lump forms in my throat at the thought, at the possibility of all this being snatched away from me.

  It might take a little time before I can believe all this is mine, and the floor isn’t going to fall out from under me, but unlike before, I know Derek is equipped to handle it this time. If I wake up one day with doubts, I know he’ll be right beside me, shoving them away. If the ugly fingers of fear ever close around my heart again, Derek will pry them away and wrap me up in his love.

  Sighing, I lean in and kiss his lips. “Yes. Yes, I sure will.”

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Rummaging through a box in search of my pretty navy blue shorts to go with the white lacy top I’m wearing today, I hear Cassidy call out for the 15th time that she can’t find her red, white, and blue pom pom headband. I know Derek hid it because he thinks it makes her look like an alien, so I call back and remind her we bought her a new one with red, white, and blue sequins.