Faded Cotton (Erotic Romance) (19 page)

“So you think I’m one of the sexiest men
alive?” He laughed as he came up out of the water shaking it out of
his hair.

“Oh, wow, I guess I was thinking out loud
again, sorry.” Jen blushed deeply. She wasn’t used to feeling like
a giddy schoolgirl. Faking the need to push water out of her eyes,
she covered her face to gain her composure. When she opened her
eyes, he was right in front of her.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Jess looked at
her intently.

His eyes burning into her, he moved within
inches of her face and stood stock still for what seemed like
minutes. She was almost as pretty as Shannon, he thought.
Damn
it anyway.
He was always comparing women to Shannon. He didn’t
want to betray any trust Jen had in him. He hesitated, then finally
put himself in check, diving off into the water.

Jen watched him in the water. Sexy didn’t
quite cover it, she thought. Dreamy, exotic, overwhelmingly
handsome, hot, yummy, foxy, studly, good Lord, pick one and it
would apply. He wasn’t Adam, but close. Not only was he gorgeous in
the face with his almost raven hair, chiseled face and crystal blue
eyes, but he had a body that seemed invincible. A regular Adonis
she thought, only bigger, much bigger. Venus and Adonis. She
giggled quietly when the vision popped into her head.

Jen dove in to cool off. She met him in the
middle of the sparkling water. “So do you come here often?” Jess
threw his head back roaring in laughter.

“No, no, oh gee, I didn’t mean it like that.”
She blushed and laughed with him. “I’m normally much more eloquent,
really.” Jen Delaney was not used to tripping over her own words
and she wondered how it was that this man could have her reduced to
acting like a goofy teenager.

“I’ve been to this installation once before.
This is the first time I’ve had the chance to enjoy it. I’m Naval
SWCC, Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman; I’m a boat man. Love
it; guess it comes from all those years running a Jon boat up and
down the Missouri like a wild man. We use the cove for
training.”

“Oh.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No. Why would it? I’m police; I’ve seen some
rough situations before.” Jen wondered why it did bother her, it
wasn’t like she was dating the guy or wondering if she was going to
have a future with him.

“I study faces with accuracy.” Jess watched
her intently.

“So what do you see?”

“I see a woman who has unfinished business. I
see a woman who is in pain. I see a woman who needs to be made love
to. Not fucked. Made love to.” He saw her flush.

“Do you analyze everyone you see? Shit. You
know nothing about me!” Why in the hell did he have to be so damn
direct? How could she have let him tick her off so bad? Why did he
have to be so right? Jen wondered just how transparent she was to
people. She shouldn’t have asked what he saw. Jen couldn’t find
words for her frustration.

They stood there looking at each other,
neither moving, the mist from the waterfall enveloping them. The
rivulets of water jetting down her body in the heavy mist didn’t
cool her. Jen was fuming, and the longer they stood, the more she
fumed. How dare he!

His eyebrows went up as he braced for the
swing. He’d really touched a nerve. When her right hook came, he
stopped it easily, he spun her around and held her arm behind
her.

“Let me go, damn it!” Jen pushed out the
words in pain.

“Gonna swing at me again?” He breathed coyly,
his lips at her ear. He felt her sigh and her shoulders relax,
waiting. He moved her arm slowly around her, pinning it against
her, with a tight hold across her chest.

“I’m not sure who you are at war with, Jen
Delaney. Maybe you are at war with yourself, but you need to be
loved. Stop fighting it.” He bent his head to her.

Jen felt his head fall to her bare shoulder,
his lips firm, yet soft and wet, sucking in the soft flesh on her
neck. He pulled back to consider her, as she turned her head to
watch him. Planting a slow, soft kiss on her shoulder, he released
her. He wondered what Shannon would taste like.
Damn it.
Shannon.
Surfacing again from a swim in the cool water, Jess
moved out to dress. “Let’s go,” he called to her over his
shoulder.

Pulling on her jeans and t-shirt over her wet
bra and panties, she complied. Jen Delaney was as confused and lost
in emotional turmoil as she had ever been.

__________________________

“Hi there.” Laurel noticed the deep look of
consternation and frustration on Jen’s face when she came into the
conference room later that afternoon.

Jen was curt and cool, “Let’s get to work.
It’s time we solved this. Sit down.”

Laurel raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t used to
taking directions from anyone, she usually was the one giving them.
This wasn’t something to battle over. She pulled up a chair at the
big conference table.

“How can I help?” Laurel said.

“Let’s go back through all the people that
have been to the farm. We’re still missing something, I know it.”
Jen started pulling out note cards on each person, preparing to
make more.

Laurel figured she needed to finish the one
big story she’d already started, “Well how about if I finish
Derrick’s story first?”

Jen wasn’t able to concentrate after the
afternoon with Jess, so working on the case was pointless, she
figured. She was upset, to say the least. All she did was think
about Adam, feeling guilty, as if she had just cheated on him. She
couldn’t get the thought out of her mind.

Laurel and Jen agreed to scrap the afternoon
in the conference room for drinks on the beach and the rest of
Derrick’s story.

__________________________

Late November ushered in chilly air, the
leaves fell, and birds continued their exodus. Laurel knew she
didn’t have long with Derrick. He’d be gone to college soon. They
were too far away from campus for him to drive there and back every
day. His moving would be their break to move on to the rest of
their lives.

Their interludes had become less frequent,
and as much as it hurt, she knew it was time for both of them to
move on. He was still very loving with her—tender and protective.
When Kate walked into their lives, it changed things forever.

The windows were closed so the furnace
wouldn’t kick on from the cool. Clouds moved in to steal what was
left of the suns warmth. Laurel didn’t hear the red Malibu pull up
the drive. She was engrossed in bookwork for the farm when she
heard the doorbell and rap of the doorknocker.

Laurel couldn’t figure out why the face
looked so familiar. “Hello.”

“Hi,” said Kate Monahan, perky as ever. “I’m
looking for Derrick Jones. This is Siddy Creek Farm; I mean that is
what the sign says, right?”

Laurel couldn’t find a reason not to like
her, although she wanted one, and now she knew why. She finally
recognized Kate as the dark tanned, cute girl that had hung on
Derrick’s every word the night they had been at Wild Horses
Saloon.

“Come on in. He should be back any time now.”
Laurel couldn’t believe she was inviting the petite blonde into her
kitchen.

“Okay, sure, thank you! Umm, I hope this is
all right. Derrick told me I could come here if I ever needed
anything.” Kate was a little less perky and a little more serious
this time.

“So what do you need?” Laurel was direct.

“I need to talk to him.” She hesitated a bit,
looking nervous and then continued. “I know this might be a bit
forward, but I never forgot him. He was just so easy to talk to
that night and I felt so...so comfortable with him. I felt like he
was instantly protective of me.”

Laurel’s heart bottomed out and then climbed
to soar like a bird surveying the highs and lows of a mountain,
searching for a place to land. She hoped Kate hadn’t read it on her
face.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something that upset
you?” Kate looked worried. Laurel shook her head, but Kate wasn’t
convinced. “I know you are close to Derrick. I saw what he did for
you the night in June, at the bar. What an ass that guy was! I
didn’t see Derrick after that. I thought maybe I’d see him at the
bar since, but never did. Is it all right that I’m here?”

Laurel nodded. She didn’t want to, but Laurel
smiled at Kate. The more they talked, the more she liked her. They
talked about that night at the bar, about Derrick, about Kate,
about the farm, and Kate’s college plans.

“Kate, can you stay for dinner?” Laurel knew
sending her away wouldn’t solve anything, it wouldn't prevent the
inevitable. She was Laurel’s kind anyway, red around the neck,
no-crap-taking, smart, and ambitious with a loving spirit. She was
girlfriend material if it came to that. She must have liked him;
she had found him after all. The part that really pinged at
Laurel’s heart was that he had acted protective of Kate that night
at the bar. Laurel knew Derrick was kind, but the protective
side—that only came out for those he really cared about.

Derrick walked into the kitchen through the
mudroom to find not one, but two beautiful women, backs to him,
chatting happily and cooking up a storm.

“Hi, ladies.” He flashed the million-dollar
smile they both loved, as he set down the groceries he’d gone to
town for and kicked off his boots.

“Hi, Derrick,” Laurel smiled at him. “You
remember Kate Monahan don’t you?”

Kate ran to him and threw her arms around
him. He hugged her hard, just like a long lost friend—or lover.
Laurel knew she had to keep her emotions in check, but it looked
like it was going to be hard—or easy. She was confused. It was
twisted to be happy and sad at the same time.

How could he forget? Kate was smart,
beautiful, a great dancer, and wonderful to talk to. Derrick had
found himself wanting to protect her from handsy drunks the night
he’d had to get that asshole Gerry Smythe off Laurel. He was
wondering what Laurel was thinking about him—about him hugging
Kate.

“How are you, Kate?” He beamed at her. He
realized that neither of them had thought twice about hugging each
other tight. It felt good.

“Well, great now! You said I could come here
if I needed to. I hope it’s okay.” She smiled up at him.

Damn straight it was okay
. He didn’t
think he would ever see her again after that night.

He kissed Laurel on the cheek and locked eyes
with her. The language they used was unspoken. “Derrick, Kate is
staying for dinner.” He raised his eyebrows at her, and she smiled
back at him.

“Great, she can fill me in on school. What’s
for dinner?”

Laurel laughed at that.
Typical male,
she thought. They are always thinking with their penis or their
stomach. That was good though, he needed to be a man. Men needed to
be men. Women needed to be women. It made the world go round. This
man needed a good woman to see to him. At least if it has to be
Kate, she’s the right kind, Laurel considered.

The three talked happily through dinner. It
was surprisingly easy, Derrick thought. He loved Laurel, but this
girl had never disappeared from his thoughts. How could Laurel be
this at ease? She was, though, as if they weren’t what they were.
What was
it
now? Their relationship had been changing and
they were both aware of it.

Dinner had been a favorite of Derrick and
Laurel’s—baked chicken, biscuits, and green beans. Kate had no
trouble getting the biscuits put together and baking while they had
talked. Laurel had admired her easy-going way and willingness to
jump in to help. It had seemed more like she was talking to an old
friend than a girl almost half her age. Kate was a smart farm girl
with street sense and she fit in easily—right there in Laurel’s
kitchen.

The three laughed like old friends through
dinner and a glass of wine. Laurel poured herself another before
she shooed them off. “Take her for a little tour of the farm,
Derrick.” She smiled at the two, who were now rarely taking their
eyes off each other. “I have to do dishes. Show her the old red
barn.” Derrick gave Laurel an odd sideways look and then grinned at
Kate.

The two took off through the mudroom. Derrick
grabbed a jacket and put it around Kate’s shoulders before they
headed out.

To everything there is a season; and a time
to every purpose under the heavens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Laurel stared at it for a moment. That’s what
the sign said that hung on the kitchen wall among some of Laurel’s
other favorite verses, poems, and sayings. She watched the two of
them from the window over the sink. Derrick and Kate were walking
toward the big red barn, and it was almost dark. She smiled at the
thought.

The barns great big loft doors revealed the
heavens. It was such an incredible location for star gazing, too,
that Laurel’s father had put a telescope there, and left it for
everyone to use.

Laurel wondered if the hayloft in that old
red barn really held the magic that Grandma Maralee had sworn by.
Falling in love and making babies, is what it was famous for. She
laughed at happy memories. It’s where Adam had been conceived—and
Shannon and Tyler for that matter. She giggled.

Adam. That couldn’t have been a more magical
night, she thought. She was in love with Jake, crazy in love. They
had planned their future, college and then the farm and kids. Their
passion was wild and crazy, completely unbridled. At eighteen, how
could it have been anything else?

They would get tangled up at every chance. In
the high school parking lot, at the drive-in, down quiet back roads
in unused drives, in the driveway late at night, in his buddy’s
basement, in a Jon boat on the river, in a field at a bon fire, in
the creek out back, on a hay wagon, in his truck, in her car, and
lots and lots of trips to the big, old red barn loft. She giggled
at the long list. It’s no wonder she’d gotten pregnant—law of
numbers, she was sure. Do it often enough, something is going to
happen.
Dang condoms anyway,
she chuckled to herself.