Page 13 of Now You See Him

Chapter

Nine

T ina wasn’t sure how long it took for her to wake from unconsciousness.

When she did, Derrick was there, stroking a hand over her cheek, running a thumb along the dry and crusty tear tracks.

They showered together, and she couldn’t help but compare Logan’s and Derrick’s methods of aftercare.

Logan would hold her close, then start snoring in her neck.

Derrick continued to worship her body, as if thanking her for giving him the pleasure he needed.

Using a washcloth, he cleaned every inch of her, then braided her hair, helped her slip into her sleep shorts and tank top, and tucked her into bed.

Then he went down into her kitchen and came back with a random assortment of snacks and dessert that he’d found after raiding the fridge and freezer.

That’s how they found themselves sitting cross-legged on her bed, facing each other on a set of clean sheets, eating bowls of toffee crunch ice cream.

“How are you feeling?” he asked after a lull of silence. They’d exhausted all the topics that kept conversations light and impersonal. The weather. Their bedtimes. Nighttime routines. Favorite snacks.

“Why do you ask?” Tina said.

He arched one thick black brow. “Because you were fucked by the ghost of my dead brother.”

“Okay, that’s true…”

“Then you held me while I spiraled over the fact that he’s still here after all.”

“I wouldn’t call it a spiral,” she said.

He pointed at her with his spoon. “Lastly, you stuck your ass in the air like a fucking champ and let me fuck you until we were both drenched with cum and sweat.”

She could feel her cheeks heating. “Well, when you put it like that.”

“I did.” He dropped his spoon into his bowl and reached out to stroke a hand over her thigh.

The gesture was friendly. Personal. Sincere.

“You’re engaged. That has to mess with your head.

You don’t seem like the kind of person who enters a monogamous relationship and chooses to be unfaithful on the regular. ”

Tina was quiet for a long moment. Her ice cream was starting to melt, and she swirled her spoon in it.

She’d been so determined to ruthlessly push back feelings of guilt while she was with Derrick.

She wanted him and consented to every moment they were together.

She could blame it on the fact that her head was messed up with the dreams and the hallucinations.

That she’d had to come to terms with a real-life spirit who resembled the man sitting in front of her.

But that wasn’t the truth. Not the whole truth, anyway.

“My fiancé and I haven’t been in a good place for a long time. He didn’t want to move here. We agreed to give it six months.”

Derrick leaned back and put his empty bowl on the bedside table before he stretched out and propped his head on his palm. “That explains the pictures.”

“The pictures?”

He nodded. “You have none. Your house is devoid of any personalization. It’s like walking into the pages of a magazine spread. Perfectly styled without art or the odd frame from a spring break trip to Cabo with friends.”

Tina wrinkled her nose. “Definitely no Cabo.”

“Fine, then Bora Bora.”

“Now you’re talking,” she said.

When he didn’t reply, she continued. “I like a clean house. A simple aesthetic. My fiancé does, too. If we want pictures, we have our phones. Not everyone clutters every surface with mementos from three Christmases ago.”

“No,” Derrick said. “But there is some sort of indication that the house is a reflection of a person’s style. I’m in people’s homes every week. Trust me, I know.”

Tina thought about her office, about the one place that she’d felt like she left her mark and hated that he was right about the rest of the rooms. “It’s simpler this way.”

Derrick’s smile was patient, but his gaze remained laser focused on hers. “Simpler. Okay. Then what’s the plan after six months?”

“I want to stay,” she said. “I wasn’t lying when I told you that I loved this house. Forget your asshole brother who is currently making it a bit difficult to live here. When I saw it for the first time, something clicked for me. This was where I wanted the second stage of my life to be.”

“Did you picture Logan in that second phase of your life?”

She paused, trying to process his question. “Excuse me?”

Derrick reached across the bedspread and stroked her knee. “Did you picture Logan when you thought about life after New York City? When you envisioned a picket fence and kids and the minivan?”

“No,” she said quietly. Her stomach twisted. Her heart hurt. “No, I didn’t picture Logan with me. I guess that’s why it was so easy to agree to a six-month deadline.”

Derrick nodded. He tucked his tongue in his cheek. “What brought both of you together in the first place?”

Tina thought back to when their relationship was good and was drawing a blank.

Maybe it was all good? Or was it just convenient?

“We are similarly suited people. We met through mutual friends. We liked the same wine bars and restaurants. We preferred New York in the spring. We were logical. Pragmatic about our futures. We were focused on our careers. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t mind that you work all the time. ”

“When did it stop being easy between you two?”

Tina pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her calves.

“After he proposed, I think. I just couldn’t commit to a wedding date.

To any plans. I just wanted us to keep things the same.

At least for a little while. Then after a year and a half, he stopped asking me to pick a date.

A location. Anything. His father had open-heart surgery, and he had to travel back and forth to visit.

He also received a promotion, so there were more work trips. ”

“Was that okay with you?” Derrick asked.

She didn’t know why he was so curious about her relationship with Logan, but she didn’t mind telling him.

It was nice having someone care. “At first, it felt like overkill. Going to his parents every weekend for months was just…I don’t know.

But then something changed. I made more plans by myself or with acquaintances in the city.

Plans that didn’t include him. When he was home, his presence was what became the inconvenience. ”

“You preferred time alone rather than with the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with,” Derrick said.

“Exactly,” Tina said.

There was that guilt again. Sharp and sweet in her belly. “Derrick?” she said as she began rocking back and forth. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes,” he said. He was stroking her ankle, then running a hand over her calf.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?”

She expected, no she hoped , that he would immediately answer in the negative. That he’d tell her exactly what she needed to hear to be able to sleep for the next few hours before she woke up and had to really focus on seriously tackling her relationship.

However, Derrick’s answer wasn’t quick. It didn’t come at all at first. He stared at her, intense in his focus, gentle in his touch.

“Derrick?”

“Yes,” he said.

Her jaw dropped. “Yes, as in I’m a bad person? Or yes, when I called your name?”

His smile was slow. “Yes, as in you called my name. And I can’t answer your question for you, Tina. As much as I know you want me to. I can’t judge you for sleeping with me instead of your fiancé.”

“Why not?”

He shifted, managed to sit up, then moved so that his legs were on either side of her hips.

He maneuvered her so that she was turned around, resting her side against his chest. She smelled her soap on his skin.

The fresh scent reminded her of how intimate they’d been, both in bed and in her shower. “Derrick?”

“I can’t tell you if you’re good or bad for sleeping with me instead of your fiancé because it’s not my position to judge you.

I slept with you , too. But more importantly, we don’t know each other that well.

I want to get to know you better. That’s if you want the same thing.

But for now, only you can answer that question. ”

They descended into a lull. The soft hum of the heat turning on. The deep sound of their breathing as they leaned against each other. He was being honest with her, and she appreciated that. She needed honesty in her life right now.

“I should tell him. My fiancé,” she said quietly.

Derrick pressed his lips against her temple. “Wait.”

She twisted so she could look up at his grim expression. “Wait? Why?”

His chest expanded and contracted with his deep breath. “Because I have a strange feeling that we’re all connected to what my brother is trying to tell us.”

Ahh, that’s right, she thought. They were still wrestling with a ghost. Poltergeist. Spirit.

Apparition. She was beginning to feel more comfortable saying it in her head, as if the repetition of those words just made her circumstances less like a one-way ticket to a breakdown. Naming it rationalized her experiences.

“I don’t know how Logan would be connected to all of this…”

“Neither do I, especially if he’s not the Logan that…never mind. But let’s keep your dreams and what we did under wraps until we can get some more insight into what Damien is trying to tell us.”

Derrick pressed a kiss to the curve of her shoulder, and she felt the spark of desire again and pressed her thighs together.

She swallowed hard, trying to quash the tickle in the back of her throat.

The one that she felt when she was asking for what she wanted and was afraid the answer would be no.

“When you say that we should keep what we did under wraps,” she started slowly. “Does that mean it’s a onetime thing?”

There was a long pause where his gaze traveled over every inch of her face. “No,” he said slowly. “Not unless you want it to be.”

“I don’t,” Tina whispered.

Derrick leaned over and turned off the light on the bedside table before slowly lowering her to the mattress again.