They’d worked out this plan about getting up early and keeping her bed made and door shut. Derrick had talked about using the excuse of her stacking her stuff in here until she could go through it all. She was accustomed to living with boxes, so having them around now didn’t bother her.
“I wanted to check on you.” Derrick shifted his weight from foot to foot.
The move struck her as uncharacteristic and a bit vulnerable. “I don’t—”
“May I come in?”
Good grief, it was his house. She stepped back. “Of course.”
He walked in and caught her up in his arms. His mouth covered hers in a kiss that had her forgetting about boxes and clothes and just about everything else. She grabbed his shoulders, dug in and held him close as pleasure pulsed through her. When he lifted his head a few seconds later, she felt breathless and weak. Her resolve had melted along with her resistance.
“I’ve wanted to do that since I got home from work,” he said in a whisper against her lips.
Tonight had been incredibly special. She’d laughed until she couldn’t breathe. She’d built memories. Discovered a warmth she’d never known growing up because everything had been so uncertain between her father’s and Noah’s moods.
She trusted and loved Vanessa. She was an integral part of Ellie’s life. Derrick was supposed to be temporary, but her feelings for him, how she thought about him during the day, were anything but fake. They’d started this ruse by barely talking and now she texted him every day. Sometimes she made up silly things to ask, just to see his response. And he always responded.
“We are inviting trouble.” She said it more to convince herself than him.
“I know.” Derrick rested his forehead against hers. “I guess I can’t convince you to join me in my bedroom?”
He could, so easily. That was the problem. “We should…”
“Right.” He gave her arms a gentle squeeze then dropped his hands.
She felt the loss to her bones. It settled in and had her trembling. But she couldn’t go overboard with her feelings. “Derrick.”
“I’ll let you get some sleep.” He kissed her on the forehead, quick and simple.
Then he was gone and it was all she could do to keep from calling him back.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The DC Insider: We’re hearing there are a few snags in the Derrick and Ellie forever plan. Her baby brother refuses to stay quiet. Her past continues to be a problem. And is our Hottest Ticket in Town having second thoughts about a serious relationship?
Two days later Derrick sent Noah a message from Ellie’s phone, asking him to meet her at her old apartment. This was the last day before she turned the keys over. Noah didn’t know that, but Derrick did. He hoped that excused him sneaking her phone while she’d gone upstairs to shower this morning after their coffee together.
They’d done that for the past two days. No more sex, despite his attempts to make it happen. But she was holding back and having Spence hanging around turned out to be a bit of a mood killer. So did the calls from their father. All of a sudden he had work questions again, and that made Derrick nervous.
Through it all, she wandered around in her pajamas each morning. If that’s how people acted when they lived together in a real relationship, Derrick kind of got it. There was something energizing about spending those fifteen minutes with her in the morning before he took off.
She didn’t have to get up when he did or to fumble her way downstairs like she had this morning when she’d looked half-asleep and almost missed the bottom step. The coffee time didn’t have to happen to prolong the ploy for Spence because he was still asleep at that time of the morning. That meant she did it for him, and that thrilled Derrick more than he wanted it to.
The door opened behind him and Noah stormed inside. He took a few steps then stopped. “Where is my sister?”
He sounded more concerned than angry, which may have saved him from the full-scale ass-kicking Derrick wanted to unleash. But they still had issues, and Derrick had promised Ellie he’d put those to bed, so he tried one more time. “We need to talk.”
“Her stuff is gone from her apartment.” Noah still frowned as he turned around in a circle in the middle of the room. “Her couch and her—”
“Noah, stop.” He seemed locked in some sort of shock. “I called you here.”
“But she’s—”
“Living with me.”
That got Noah’s attention. He stopped moving and stared at Derrick. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
That familiar red flush of anger spread over Noah’s face. “Nothing is off-limits with you.”