Page 34 of Lovewell Lane (Honeyfield Dreamers #1)

Margo

“You don’t have to do that,” Derek said.

I shrugged. “Cleaning is calming for me, lately. I don’t mind.”

“Thanks for today,” he murmured, stepping closer to me.

I rinsed another plate, watching the suds run down the drain. “It was fun.”

Derek walked closer and bumped my hip with his. He picked up a dish towel and held out his hand for me to give him the plate I had just rinsed. I watched him dry the plate carefully, taking more time than necessary to dry it off completely.

“It was more than that.”

I froze, not sure where he was going with this.

Slowly, I set a spoon down on the drying rack and turned to face him. “Was it?”

He nodded, and I could see it— the shift, the self-restraint he’d clearly been fighting in his head finally giving in.

“It was.”

I leaned back against the counter and refolded the spare dish towel that hung under the sink in my hands, just to keep them busy. I suddenly felt unsure of myself. I crossed and uncrossed my arms.

“I didn’t plan for this,” he said.

“I know,” I answered, maybe a little too quickly. “Neither did I.”

I searched his face and those dark eyes of his, the way his jaw tightened like it always did when he was working something out.

“Tessa adores you.”

That hit me harder than I expected.

I nodded. Lots of kids liked me. But Derek and I both knew this was different. It was one thing to have a friendship with the kid next door. It was another to have a bond with the kid of the person you were seeing romantically.

The nerves on Derek’s face made me pause.

“I know it’s scary for you, but I adore her too,” I said. “I know we said we should be friends before. It probably is the safest option, but I want more days like today. I really enjoy this town, and my work, and the people here. But days like today are the reason I want to stay here. Forever.”

He dropped his towel and turned to face me.

“In almost six years, I haven’t dated anyone.

Been with any women. Because I have her, and she deserves my full undivided attention.

Not only that, but she deserves to never have anyone walk out on her again.

I can’t risk another person doing that to her the way her mom did. ”

Derek blew out a breath.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he said before another hefty pause. “With you.”

I looked down at my chipped nail polish. “I’m guessing there’s nothing I can say. To get you to trust me enough.”

Derek stared at me until I met his eyeline again. “It’s not about you, Margo.”

I let out a dry laugh. “I know. You’re just saying ‘it’s not you, it’s me’.” I tilted my head and looked him over thoughtfully. “What if we took it slow? I don’t see how that’s any different to what we’re already doing now.”

“Slow?”

I nodded. “We don’t have to tell anyone. Tessa can think we’re just friendly neighbors, but we try this out. See if it’s worth it. I’ll show you that I won’t leave at the first sign of trouble.”

He crossed his arms. “Margo, if we start this, I won’t be able to stop. I’m not sure what going slow looks like–”

“Dates. We watch movies together after Tessa falls asleep. You come over to Lucky’s for lunch like always, and I eat with you. I’m not moving into your house or asking for a rock on my finger. We’d just test it out.”

Derek looked pained. “But we don’t bring Tessa into it?”

“No,” I said. “Not until you’re ready. That can take however long you need to feel comfortable.”

“I don’t want to mess this up. Not for you or her,” he admitted.

My heart skipped a beat, and I reached out to pull his hands into mine.

My heart could’ve broken after seeing so clearly on his face how badly he wanted to let me in.

He was always looking after the people he loved.

I tried hard not to think about how it would feel to be included in that.

He was being so thoughtful with this conversation.

We both were. It felt like the first real step in the right direction that we had taken so far.

“You’re not messing anything up,” I said. “We’ll go slow. Protect this.” I gestured between us. “And Tessa. I don’t want her to get hurt either.”

I understood more than anyone what it was like to have both parents check out mentally. My mom might not have completely left like Tessa’s did, but she relieved herself of her parenting duties all the same.

Derek’s hand squeezed mine as he pulled my arms to wrap around his waist before cupping my head in his two hands. “Slow,” he growled.

I nodded. I watched as his gaze turned from a steady flame to an uncontrolled wildfire right before my eyes.

“I can keep this between us quiet. But I can’t go slow.”

His hands tilted my jaw up until there was virtually no distance between us.

“You know what you’re doing to me right,” Derek murmured right into my ear. His breath on my neck gave me goosebumps. “When you walk around my house like you belong here.”

I gasped and held onto his neck as he lifted me up and set me down on his kitchen counter. Within seconds, I melted into his arms as he kissed and nipped at the skin on my neck. His giant hands pushed up under my shirt and held me to my spot by my hips.

My fingers threaded into his hair as I pulled at the dark strands to encourage him to meet my lips. He resisted until I whined into the quiet night air, tugging him again.

“If you want something, then ask for it, princess,” he whispered. His smile was teasingly condescending while he held us a breath apart, refusing to kiss me.

“Stop teasing and just kiss me already,” I demanded.

He lowered his head and met my lips with his own. His hands grabbed at whatever part of me he could reach, never staying in one spot for too long. The kiss was messy. The minty taste of his gum filled my mouth as he kissed off my cherry flavored chapstick.

Any time I leaned back for a breath, he chased my mouth for more. It was like he was worried the second we pulled away, he would lose this, as if it was all just a dream. I ran my hands down his shoulders and squeezed his forearms, trying to remind him I was really here.

He groaned out loud as I moved a little, trying to get comfortable on the counter. His hands flew to my hips to hold me still while also pulling my thighs impossibly closer to bracket his own.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

We both took in deep breaths of air as I leaned to rest my forehead against his shoulder and Derek nuzzled his face into my hair. If we were following my rules, we should probably have ended the night after a steamy makeout sesh.

When I sat up straight again and looked into Derek’s eyes, I could see he wasn’t done. Thank fuck for that, because neither was I.

I crossed my ankles behind his back as he wordlessly scooped me up into his arms and carried me to his bedroom. He dropped me onto his bed and watched me bounce up from the drop.

“You have no idea how much I’ve imagined you in my bed since that night.”

Was he talking about when we shared the bed after my heater broke? That was over four months ago.

He stared at me for a beat before pulling off his flannel and joined me on the bed. Getting right back to where we left off, he kissed me as he crawled up the bed and on top of me. All I could do was hold on and try to keep up.

I shuddered under the feeling of his tongue licking a stripe up my neck. If I’d known he would be this good, I would’ve begged him to do this a long time ago.

Derek’s hand glided up my thigh, his thumb hooking up under the edge of my shirt again. He stopped kissing me to look down as he pulled my shirt up and over my head in one slow motion. His eyes never moved away from my body, like he was mesmerized by my bare skin.

Then they caught on the black lacy bra I wore. He looked up at me. “This all for me?”

I let out a breathy laugh and put a hand on his shoulder. “I always wear nice lingerie. You would know that if you hadn’t held out for so long.”

His hands swept up between my back and his bed as he unclipped the bra and yanked it off in the same motion. I yelped as he leaned in and bit my nipple gently before licking over it to soothe the slight pain.

His mouth switched to my other breast as he worshipped my body with his tongue. His tongue, wet and hot, swirled over my nipple before closing his lips around it and sucking. I gasped, feeling all of the sensations go straight to my core, as my back arched.

Derek groaned against the curve of my breast. “You’re so fucking perfect,” he growled.

I leaned up on my elbows to get a better look at him. Reaching down, I pulled off his white t-shirt and finally got a good look at his toned chest. I’d seen glimpses of it, but never had the chance to stare up close like this. My hands reached for his shoulders and slid all the way down his abs.

His eyelids lowered as he watched me looking at him. Then, when my hands finally reached the waistband of his jeans, he pushed my hands away.

“Not yet, baby,” he whispered. He pushed my hands over my head and used one hand to clasp my wrists together. “I need to make you feel good first.”

With his free hand, he unbuttoned and unzipped my shorts, yanking them down with the help of me kicking them off. The only thing separating him from touching me now was my panties.

He leaned down to place a chaste kiss over my clothed clit. I let out a surprised moan and tried to push back against his hand still holding me down. “Derek,” I moaned. “More please.”

His head lifted to give me the sexiest smirk I’d ever seen. “Just relax, baby.”

He gently pulled my panties down and left them dangling from one of my ankles. Pushing my thighs further apart, I squirmed as he stared down at me like he was ready for his next meal.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded quickly. “Please,” I whined.

He held eye contact as he leaned down and flicked his tongue against my bare clit. My back arched at the contact and he let go of my wrists to hold me down by my hips with both of his hands. My hands flew to his hair to have something to hold onto.

Fuck. I hadn’t gotten laid in almost six months. I wasn’t sure if it was that, or the fact that I was doing this with Derek that made it all so overwhelming. Everything felt intense in the best way like I was a string ready to snap. My entire body flushed head to toe.

He sucked at my clit as I felt one of his fingers push at my entrance. I moaned softly and bit down on my lip to keep quiet. All he’d done so far was tease me, and I was already a mess.

His finger pushed in gently as he distracted me with his tongue. He hummed as my head fell back against the pillow. I couldn’t bear to look at him, it was too much.

I pulled the pillow up to bite down on it. The feeling of Derek’s thick fingers pushing into me slowly drove me up the wall. I wanted him. Needed him inside me. The sound of him making happy little groans as he licked at me and fingered me drove me to near tears.

“Fuck,” I gasped.

I couldn’t help it any longer, I looked down at him only to find him watching my every reaction. Seeing his hips thrusting against his bed nearly made me lose it. My eyes screwed shut as he hit an especially sensitive spot inside me and added another finger.

“Right there, yeah?” he asked. His voice was low and sexy. Right out of my wet dreams that I had about him every now and then.

“Yes, please,” I begged. My fingers pulled at his hair as he continued hitting that one spot that made me lose all sense of control. I hid my face in the pillow again to dampen the stream of sounds that fell from my mouth.

My legs trembled as I reached my climax, and Derek squeezed my thigh with his free hand, only furthering my need to fall apart. He was everywhere. I was overwhelmed with all of the sensations he was giving me at the same time.

“Are you gonna cum for me baby?”

Fuck. If he kept talking like that, I was going to break. My thighs clenched and let go as I fell over the edge. Derek kept working his fingers inside me until I was prying his arm away from my waist that held me down.

“Okay, okay, fuck,” I whimpered.

Derek slowed down his motions and sat up, pulling me closer to him. “You okay?”

“Fuck,” I laughed, my toes still curled. “Yeah, all good.”

He nodded with a small smirk. “Let me get you a towel.”

He untangled our limbs and slid away from me. “Wait,” I said. “I need to get you off too.”

Derek scoffed and continued walking to his bathroom, only to return seconds later. “You don’t.”

A yawn escaped me without any warning. I tried to muffle it by talking through it. “I do. I want to make you feel good too, Derek.”

“You already did, baby.”

I looked down to find he’d changed out of his pants into new boxers while he was in the bathroom. Had I made him cum without even touching him? There was no way.

He used the towel to wipe me clean and adjusted the blankets so we were both under them. He pulled me back into his arms without any more words.

“Need anything?” he murmured once we’d both gotten comfortable.

I shook my head, trying to psyche myself up to have energy that Derek knocked out of me with an amazing orgasm. There was no way he was getting me off and I wasn’t returning the favor. I looked up at him in bed and pulled him down to kiss me.

“Goodnight, Margo,” he whispered as we pulled apart. I frowned, but he pulled me back onto his chest, and I lost all ability to fight sleep any longer.