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And without a second of hesitation Taylor gently lifted the covers and spooned in close to her husband.
* * *
Taylor let outher first sigh of relief as she slid into bed, an actual bed, with her husband. When he put his warm arm around her and kissed the top of her head Taylor felt the ton of stress she had been carrying lift off her shoulders.
They laid together, both quiet for a bit, when Taylor noticed the nearly hidden tattoo on his chest again. “Hey,” she said softly to him as she traced it with her finger. “How come you never…” Her voice drifted off when she looked up and found Derrick fast asleep. His face was relaxed and Taylor was so glad he had persuaded her to stay with him, because she felt more relaxed, too.
Taylor stayed in place watching Derrick sleep for a while, and then her stomach let out a loud gurgle and she realized she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten. So she eased herself from Derrick’s side as quickly as she could without waking him and left the room.
Taylor was starving. She had been rushed out of the hospital and into her house, hounded by officers, thrown a curveball by Henry, dealt with her advisors’ temper tantrums, and then doted on Derrick. Nan had made sure that food was sent to them in their room, but Taylor had only been focused on Derrick and so it was cleared away before she ate it, and she was paying for it now. Checking her phone, she noticed it was nearly eleven, way past when Nan may have still been in the kitchen.
And then Taylor rolled her eyes at herself. She was an adult. She didn’t need Nan or anyone else to make her food. She was more than capable of making it herself, no matter how exhausted she was.
“Quite the spoiled brat you’ve become, Taylor,” she quietly chastised as she made her way to the state-of-the-art kitchen. She swung through the doors only to send Marty and Henry springing apart from each other.
Immediately all of Taylor’s tension returned, full force. Taylor rolled her eyes and looked up to the ceiling. “Really?” she asked the universe. “Now?”
Marty and Henry looked around, as if there was something in the room that could draw Taylor’s attention away from the fact that she had just caught her sister-in-law and the head of her security team in a compromising position.
Finally Marty spoke, “Uh. Taylor…”
Taylor held up a hand. “Save it,” she said. “To be honest, I am not surprised by this at all and I don’t want to hear your lame excuses,” she said truthfully.
“It’s not what you think,” Henry offered, looking nervous and beet red which was a look Taylor had never seen on him. Angry and fire-engine red, yes. Frustrated and ready-to-pop-a-blood-vessel red, lots of times. But never nervous and that hue of red.
“You guys,” Taylor said in complete exasperation, “I have had enough of people treating me like I am an idiot. Whatever you all are doing is none of my business and I honest to God don’t care. But,” she said as she raised a finger and pointed it between the two bad actors before her, “if this is serious then you need to come clean to Derrick, because I willnothave him upset by this.” Her stern voice echoed in the room as she walked past the two whatever they were and walked over to the fridge, where Nan had left a sandwich with her name on it.
Bless that woman, Taylor thought. She was the only one Taylor really liked treating her like a child.
Especially if it involved food.
Eight
Derrick woke the following morning,reached for his wife, and a hot poker of pain seared into his chest. He had to lie back in order to catch his breath. The incision sites were definitely tender still. And then he sulked for a bit because he wanted sympathy from Taylor and she wasn’t there.
Derrick shifted himself to the side of the bed and found a note, a glass of juice, and some pills.
Derrick- I went to the main dining room to get some work done. I didn’t want to wake you. Please take the ibuprofen I left you, it will help with the soreness. I love you, T.
Derrick didn’t want to take the pills. He had popped a lot of pills in his life and had tried really hard since then to not even look at anything in tablet form. He took a drink of the juice instead, ignored the medication, and went to the bathroom. On the back of the toilet was another note.Please take the pills. It will help you heal faster.
Derrick smirked and walked over to the sink to wash his hands when he was finished. He jumped back when he saw written on his mirror:GOD DAMN IT DERRICK TAKE THE PILLS!!!
“Fine, fine,” he muttered and went and took the tablets Taylor had left him, but he wasn’t happy about it. Once he had choked them down, he went on the hunt for his persistent wife.
Derrick made his way down to the dining room on the main floor, threw the doors open, and then stood frozen as he looked at not only his wife but Charlie, Todd, and about a dozen other Preston Corp employees. Everyone stared back, eyebrows raised, some with their mouths hanging open.
Because Derrick was in just his boxers.
Taylor looked up and her eyebrows joined everyone else’s. “Morning babe, are you hot?”
“Well, yeah,” Derrick said doing a little turn. “I mean, look at me.”
Taylor nodded. “I am glad to see that being shot had no effect on your self-esteem,” Taylor said dryly and made her way over to Derrick. “Did you take the pills?” she asked softly as she came up to him and lightly touched around his incisions.
“Well you really didn’t leave me much choice, did you?” he said smiling down at her. “What are you doing?” he asked, reaching out and taking some of her hair between his fingers, smoothing it between them.
“I’m working,” Taylor said smiling up at him. “I love you,” she said and stood up on her toes and kissed him, “even when you show up at my office in your underwear.”