by Vella Day
Her mind was in no shape to be figuring out complicated interpersonal relationships at this hour. She needed food and sleep.
“Need a ride?”
Startled, she turned around. “Derek!”
Kelly wanted to rush into his strong arms, but his stern look made her falter.
His gaze traveled the length of her body. “You good to go?”
She held up both her bandaged wrists. “That’s what the doc said.”
His whole body relaxed. Tentatively, he raised his arms for a hug, and she rushed into his embrace. Kelly pressed her face against his sweat stained shirt, but she didn’t care if he’d rolled in the cow dung. His solid body healed her better than any gauze and salve ever could.
The nurse returned. “Hear ya go.” She handed Kelly a prescription. “Take care.”
“Thank you.” She turned to Derek. “Am I glad to see you,” she said, half into his shirt.
“Oh, yeah?” Delight tickled his tone.
Kelly looked up at him. “I could really use some food and a hot shower about now. How about you?”
He smiled and her knees weakened. “I’m right there with you.”
Once she finished with the exit paperwork, Derek escorted her to his truck. She looked up at the sky to enjoy the view of the moon. Fast moving clouds skipped in front the orb, tucking them in darkness for a second. The sweet smell of the night blooming jasmine put a renewed bounce in her step. After all she’d gone through she couldn’t believe she was alive.
Kelly wove her arm through his. “How did you find me? How did you think to look in a train salvage yard or whatever that place was?”
The streetlamp cast a shadow on his face so she couldn’t get a good read on his expression.
He looked down at her with the sweetest smile on his face. “Let’s say I had a hunch.”
Derek opened the truck door for her and she scooted in, happy to be safe. He climbed in the driver’s side.
“What kind of hunch? I know you’re good, but no one’s that good.”
He bit down on his lip and jabbed the key in the ignition. Kelly waited for an explanation but none came. Too tired to dig deeper, she rested her head against the back of the seat.
“Wake up, sleepy head.”
Kelly started. The overhead cab light shone in her eyes. She squinted. “What?”
“I thought you wanted a hot shower, some food, and then jump into bed.”
“Shower, food, bed, good idea.”
Suddenly, she was in Derek’s arms—his wonderfully strong arms. Kelly dropped her head against his chest and took a deep breath. “Whew. You smell almost as bad as me.”
He laughed and when he placed a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek, joy tumbled in her belly.
When they reached her door, he set her down. “Where’s the key?”
“Look under the flowerpot.”
Derek retrieved her spare key, opened the door, and then lifted her into his arms again. With his elbow, he flicked on the hall light. Derek strode straight toward the bedroom.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To the shower, madam.”
Kelly couldn’t help but giggle. Only when he let her stand for the second time did it occur to her they were both in the bathroom.
Derek unbuttoned his shirt and slipped out of his shoes and pants before she could move.
“What are you doing?” she asked, not believing he was almost naked.
“I smell. You smell. I need a shower. You need a shower. What’s not to understand?” His cheeks dimpled.
Kelly’s jaw dropped open. “You’re not thinking we’re going to shower together are you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
33
Turn around,” Derek commanded.
Kelly gave him her back and palmed the shower walls to keep her balance. Derek took one step forward and reached around her to run his soapy hands over her breasts.
“You don’t know how good that feels,” she said, sinking in against the wonderful contact.
“You should be my hands.”
For a moment, Kelly tucked away the horror of the last day or two and thought only of being with Derek, who was ever so naked and very hot.
His jutting erection pressed against the small of her back, and despite the physical and mental trauma of the last thirty hours, her body couldn’t help but respond to him. Kelly let the steam fill her nose and relax her aching muscles. “I don’t think I’m supposed to get the bandages on my wrists wet.”
Derek nuzzled her neck. “Not a problem. You relax and I’ll clean you real good.”
“Hmmm.” She dropped her head back against his chest and let the hot water sluice down her body.
Every muscle throbbed, but Derek’s fingers massaged the kinks away. He soaped her neck, and then dragged a finger down her throat. “Are you doing okay? Do you want me to stop?”
Kelly could hear the teasing in his voice. “You better not stop. If you do, I’ll fall asleep on my feet. Your hands are the only things keeping me awake.”
He nudged his erection against her back. “Oh, yeah.”
“In your dreams. As soon as I’m clean, I’m falling asleep.”
He said nothing as he methodically worked his way up and over her breasts and down her belly. When he squirted more liquid soap onto his hands, the strong scent of lavender dispersed throughout the hot shower stall. She’d almost relaxed to a point of dozing off, when his slippery fingers slid in between her folds.
Kelly jerked to attention, and her eyes opened wide. Her hips seemed to move in rhythm to his sensual plunging fingers. How could she be turned on after all she’d been through? Like an alien invasion, her emotions took over her mind.
“I think your front’s clean,” he announced.
She groaned. Soon her back, bottom and legs were soapy, and she let her mind wander to the wonderful ways she’d explore his body.
After he washed and rinsed her hair, she faced him. “Now it’s my turn.”
He shut off the water. “I washed in between cleaning you up. It’s time for you to get some sleep. It’ll be dawn soon.”
As much as Kelly wanted to experience running her hands down his rippled muscles, fatigue claimed her. “You’re right.”
Dark circles rimmed his amazing eyes, but before she knew it, Derek had the towel wrapped around her head and body. He swatted her bottom, and then helped her out the door. “March.” On his way out the bathroom, he grabbed a towel for himself.
The bed loomed large, and Kelly could barely keep her eyes open. Derek rifled through one drawer after another until he found a rather skimpy black lace nightie. “This will do,” he said with a smile.
Too tired to argue, she let him slip it over her head. A second later she was airborne in his arms and then on the cool sheets.
He tucked her in, kissed her gently on the mouth and eyes, and then crawled in next to her. Before she could figure out if that was his hand on her thigh, sleep overtook her.
Kelly jerked awake, the smell of bacon and coffee teasing her senses. Coffee. Now that was pure Heaven. She sat up and winced, and then fell back against the soft pillows. She felt as if she’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight.
Closing her eyes again, the fought off a vision of Lilly’s hateful face and concentrated on Derek, on how tender he’d been the night before when he washed her and put her to bed.
When Stefanie’s smiling face came to mind, Kelly acknowledged her sister would always be with her in times of need. For now, Stef would be safe and always loved in Kelly’s mind. Without a doubt, her sister would want her to move on.
Derek carried in a tray, laden with a steaming cup of java and a plateful of eggs and bacon. “Here ya go.”
“You are too sweet,” she said, tucking thoughts of her sister away for now.
“Wait until you taste the food. A cook I am not.”
Kelly didn’t care if the eggs tasted like rubber. No one had made her breakfast in bed bef
ore. Derek placed the tray next to her, unfolded the linen napkin and placed it on her chest.
She laughed. “You going to feed me too?”
“Depends on whether I can have kisses in between bites.”
Kelly dragged the plate to her lap and began to shovel the food into her mouth. She didn’t care if her table manners embarrassed her. “This is divine. Aren’t you eating?”
“Already did.”
A pang of depression stabbed her. She pushed her food around on her plate as she remembered Justin. “I can’t believe Justin is dead.” She looked up at him. Tears blurred her vision. “Why did he step in front of you like that?”
Derek took her hand in his, and she drew in his strength from his rough palms. “We have fairly strong evidence that Justin killed Carl Vanderwall.”
“Justin really did kill someone?” There had been times when she suspected he might have harmed Stefanie and Rayne, but never someone else. “Why?”
“Vanderwall’s sister brought in some documentation that claimed Justin was cheating the Seminoles. You remember the photo of Justin by the Waters Edge Condominium that your sister took?”
She nodded. “Yes. It was dark and we couldn’t see much.”
“Right. But it places him at the scene the night Carl took his dive.”
She took a sip of her coffee, letting the hot liquid sear some sense into her. “If he hated Indians, why did he save your life?”
His thumb made small swirls on her palm, distracting her for a moment. “We’ll never know, but I spent all day with Justin. Either he wanted to make amends, because he could tell how hate had destroyed his mom, or he couldn’t stand the idea of spending the rest of his life in jail.”
Poor Justin. His hate had driven him to a place where he couldn’t survive. She picked at the rest of her food, trying to put the events that led up to the four deaths—make that five—in order.
Derek sat quietly next to her. She appreciated he understood her need to think. When she finished, he lifted the tray from the bed. “You rest and I’ll clean up.”
Derek tiptoed into the bedroom a while later. Kelly’s face, though scratched on her cheek, looked peaceful, beautiful, and strong. Her eyelids fluttered open. She smiled and his heart expanded to fill his chest.
“You’re awake,” he said. He pinched the strap of her purse with two fingers and let it swing in front of him.
“What time is it?” She rolled over to face the alarm clock. “Oh, my, it’s late.” She looked up at him, and her eyebrows shot skyward. “My purse! How? When?”
“Medina just brought it over. The salvage company found it in the back of your car.”
The light on her face disappeared. “And the car?”
He could tell she’d guessed the truth. “Crushed. Totaled. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“I know.”
She plopped back against the pillow and closed her eyes again. A second later she sat up. “I wonder if everything is still in there. Have to get a new license and changing all my credit cards will be a nightmare.”
Kelly shoved her hand in her purse and began to pull out her checkbook, make-up, a pack of gum, and a few pens and pencils.
She held up a round object, about a half-inch in diameter. “What’s this?” She twirled it around in her fingers.
Derek stilled. He knew what the device was, but how had it found it’s way into her purse? “It’s a tracking device.”
Fear flooded her eyes. “Someone knew where I went?” She held up the device. “I never look in that side pocket. No wonder I never noticed it.”
“I’m guessing Lilly planted this in your purse. Maybe that’s how she knew we were in Utah.”
Kelly rubbed her temples. “I feel...violated.”
“I’ll have my men check out your house. If she was able to track your whereabouts, she might have bugged your place.”
“Derek?
“Yeah?”
“Tell me again that horrible woman is really dead.”
He sat down on her bed and wrapped his arms around her. Kelly belonged in his arms. She was already deeply in his heart. “She’s dead.”
Sun streaming in the window made her hair glisten like diamonds. “Derek?”
He leaned back, tilted up her chin ,and searched her eyes. Gone was her fear, and in its place was need, want and... “What?” he whispered.
“Make love to me.”
He went rock hard, and his mind couldn’t form any words. The baser part of him wanted to pounce and conquer, but Kelly needed all the tenderness he could muster.
She pushed out of his embrace. “Let me do something about all these clothes first.” She reached up and grabbed his shirt, and then undid one button. Then the next one. No surprise, she went agonizingly slow. In between each button, she leaned forward and kissed his chest.
“I can’t take this anymore,” he panted. His fingers itched to tear off his top.
“Be patient.” She pulled back his shirt and licked a nipple. “It’s Sunday. We don’t have to work.” Kelly rubbed her hands down his chest and stopped at his pants.
“You’re killing me.”
She widened her eyes and smiled. “I think you’ll live.” Her fingers gently squeezed his pulsing shaft, and he nearly came right there.
He drew his hands down to the hem of her gown and began to tug off her nightie, but she shook her head.
His mouth went dry. “Kelly, I don’t know how long I can last with you torturing me like this.”
She winked, and then with fierce determination managed to unbutton his jeans. Damn woman. “Let me,” he said.
He leaned over and shucked off his shoes before stepping out of his pants. His bulging erection sprung from his boxers.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my.”
“Oh, shit,” he said.
Her face fell. “What?”
“Condoms.” He picked his pants up from the floor, pulled out his wallet, and ripped the condom from its hiding place.
“You carry them all the time now?”
He chuckled. “I was hoping to get lucky.” Derek wasn’t a fool to think Kelly loved him. She was grateful for saving her life, nothing more. But he wanted her. Always had. Always would. He would never stopped loving her.
As soon as he crawled onto the warm sheets, Kelly pulled off his boxers. In no time, he returned the favor. Naked, he rolled her on top of him, and then ran his hands down her back and over her lovely round butt—smooth, silky, and oh so sexy. He sniffed her hair. “Hmm. Lavender. I like it.”
Kelly ran her hands over his stubbly head. “Maybe you should grow your hair.”
“You sound like my dad.” His heart turned heavy.
“What’s wrong?”
“Right when you were kidnapped, Dad was taken to the hospital.”
“Is he all right?” Her hands stopped.
“I called the hospital while you were sleeping. Lily claimed she’d poisoned him.”
Her eyes widened. “Will he be okay?”
“Yes. Billy’s with him now.” Billy and his dad made a great pair. They needed each other and could learn from each other. Derek was at peace—at last.
“Who poisoned him?”
“Don’t you remember her telling us?” He waved a hand realizing that much of Kelly’s short term memory was probably gone. “Lilly Bladen. She was posing as Rayne’s maid. After she killed Rayne, she went to work for Dad. It gave her the perfect opportunity to harm him too.”
Kelly slowly shook her head. “How long had she worked for your sister? And why would she since she hated Indians?”
“It’s only a guess, but I’m thinking she wanted to watch Justin. She’d already tried to frame him twice for murder. If at first you don’t succeed, try... Well, you get it. When she learned Rayne was expecting, and that she was part Native American, the woman broke.”
Kelly and he remained locked in an embrace, with her heart beating against his. They were one. “Kelly?” He wanted to te
ll her. Needed to tell her, even if she rejected him.
“Yes?” He leaned her back to see her face. Her dreamy expression made him push on. “I love you.”
Without hesitating, she answered, “I love you too, Derek Benally.”
He tensed. “But how? You think my visions are a figment of my imagination and that—”
She placed a finger on his lips. “Not anymore. I know that are real. If they hadn’t been, you wouldn’t have found me.”
“True, but are you ready—”
“Shh. Let me finish. While I was sleeping, Stefanie came to me.”
Derek leaned forward, forcing his heart to calm. “What do you mean she came to you?” He crooked his fingers to punctuate the words.
“I was dreaming, or at least I’m pretty sure I was, when I heard her voice. It was like she was right next to me.”
“That’s why dreams seem so real.” He wanted to offer encouragement, not put words I her mouth.
“I swear Stef was right here. When she smiled, my heart nearly leaped from my chest. I reached to touch her, but couldn’t.”
He’d had the same experience when he’d dreamt of Kelly in the boxcar. “What did she say?”
Her gaze dropped to her hands. Surely she couldn’t be embarrassed, especially after how he’d bared his soul. “It might not have been some out of body experience like you’re used to, but it was real to me.”
As if he wouldn’t think visions were real? “And?”
“She said she was happy and wanted me to be happy too. Stef also said that we were right for each other.”
He smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. “I wish I would have known your sister better.”
A flash of sadness flitted across her face. “Me too, but I liked her message about being happy. She’d always encouraged me to love myself. I know she’ll always be with me.”
Derek had enough of talking. He wanted to make love to Kelly, needing to touch her, taste her, and show her how much she meant to him.
He ran his fingertips down her chest, between her breasts and over her flat abdomen. Oh, how he loved the sweet curve of her hips and how her soft triangle hid her mound of joy. Derek leaned her back against the bed and then slipped a finger into her opening. Kelly gasped.
