Chapter 64 Derrick
DERRICK
I’m nervous as I pack my bags for Midnight Falls.
I am so excited but also apprehensive. Charlie and I have been talking non-stop since coming home.
We’ve even had some FaceTime fun, but now I just need to be in his arms for real.
He said this weekend he has the house to himself, that Everly is going to stay at his sister’s, Faith’s, ranch on the other side of town, and his parents are away.
I have no idea what I’m in for because Charlie hasn’t really told me anything.
Of course, like any good person, I got a new wardrobe, my western chic, which was hard to find in LA, but I did it.
I just hope I don’t look like a Stagecoach reject.
Derrick: I’m so nervous. I’m freaking out.
Sienna: You’ve got this.
Vanessa: Go get your man.
Isla: Have fun, don’t put any pressure on it.
Derrick: You’re right, no pressure, just a weekend away in the mountains.
Sienna: Drinks when you get back.
Derrick: Deal.
It was an epic journey getting there. We had to fly into Bozeman, which is near Yellowstone National Park, and then drive out to Midnight Falls.
What I wasn’t expecting was Charlie to be waiting for me with a huge bouquet of flowers.
Tears well in my eyes, no one has ever met me at the airport before, and especially not with flowers.
As soon as I see him, I run into his arms and hug him, fuck, it’s so good to be near him again.
“Fuck, D.” He smirks and then grabs my face and kisses me. Oh. PDA. Me likey as I kiss him back. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too.” My insides flip-flop. “Thank you for the flowers, they are gorgeous.”
“Least I can do,” he says, sliding his large hand in mind as we wait for my bags.
He’s wearing those jeans that drive me wild, a gray tee, and a flannel shirt with a cowboy hat, and man, does he look delicious.
Women have been checking him out as they walk past and then clock our hands together, they look envious, and I don’t blame them.
If the roles were reversed, I would be too.
“There are my bags.”
“Bags?” Charlie raises his brows at me.
“Yeah, a girl needs options.” I wink. He shakes his head and collects my two suitcases, which now, seeing them seems like a lot when I don’t think we are getting out of bed this entire weekend.
Then we walk out of the airport and over to the parking lot, and he stops at this huge truck.
“What is this? It looks like a monster truck.” I take in the black beast in front of me.
“It’s my truck.” Charlie shrugs.
“You drive those things on the road?”
Charlie bursts out laughing. “Yes.” He opens the door for me.
I have to haul myself into the beast, it’s like ten steps up into it.
How the hell do people drive this? It’s as big as a semi.
He gets in with ease on the other side, and the truck rumbles as he starts it up.
Once we are out of the parking lot, he grabs my hand and links our fingers together.
He brings my hand to his lips and kisses it as he drives as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“How’s Stacey?” he asks.
“Getting there, she has good and bad days. But the kids are excited over the prospect of moving to America. They have been looking at homes online, and the kids have an extensive list of demands.” I chuckle.
“Gives them something to look forward to, which right now they probably don’t have. It’s hard to look ahead when you’ve lost so much.”
“Is that how you feel?”
Charlie squeezes my hand as he looks over at me. “Used to feel like that.” Before kissing my hand. My internal organs squeal as I swoon at his words. “My days are starting to look better.”
“Would you stop that, you’re going to make me fall in love with you.” I blush.
“That’s the plan,” he says, looking at me seriously. I swallow hard because the intense glare is doing things to me.
“It is?”
“Was hoping my intentions have been pretty clear, but in case I haven’t made myself clear … you are my future, D. A future I never thought I’d ever get. I want it all, with you, but …” Oh shit, there’s a but. “I also want to be the best version of myself for you. I’m not there yet.”
“You seem pretty spectacular to me.” My eyes roam over his taut body.
He kisses my hand again. “I may look good on the outside …” He looks more than good, but go on.
“But my insides, they are messed up, and you deserve me whole.” He seems whole to me, but if he doesn’t feel like he is I’m not going to push it, because honestly, it’s fucking mature of him to realize that he’s not ready.
“Know this, I’m not interested in anyone else.
No one, and I mean no one, can compare to you.
” Fuck. This man is killing me with his words.
“I’m not interested in anyone else either,” I tell him, which makes him smile, and my heart thuds in my chest. Those puffy pink lips and unshaven square jaw, I’m so fricken lucky.
“We making this official then?” He smirks.
“Officially what?”
“Dating. Boyfriends. Whatever you want to call it,” he mentions.
“You wanna be my boyfriend?” I look up at him.
“Desperately.” He grins, kissing my hand again. I’ve never had someone tell me they are desperate to be my man. I don’t know what to do. “Am I freaking you out? Shit. I wasn’t meaning to come on strong. Everly told me to chill out, and of course, I didn’t listen.”
“Hey,” I say, tugging his hand and getting his attention back on me. “You’re not freaking me out. I’ve never had anyone want me like this before. I always felt like I was like this with others, and I guess I don’t understand why me. You could literally have anyone you want.”
“I don’t want anyone else, D. But I could say the same thing about you.
Fuck, you’re so fucking hot. You could have any person in this world, and that is what I’m working on.
I don’t feel like I’m good enough for you, because look at you,” he confesses.
I’m stunned by his words, then the next thing I know, I burst out laughing.
“What?” he asks, confused by my reaction.
“We both don’t think we are good enough for each other, yet we also feel like we are the best thing for each other.”
This makes him chuckle. “Facts. We’re both a right mess.”
“I’m all in, Charlie. You and me, let’s build a future together, we can sort out the rest along the way. You do what you need to do to feel the best version of yourself, and I’ll do the same. If we must live apart for a bit, not forever …” I warn. “Us being apart is temporary.”
“Yes.” He smirks.
“I want to make us work, Charlie. I like you so much, and I know we’re moving fast, but I think because we’ve been talking over the phone for months, it’s built a deeper connection than I’ve ever had before.”
“I would like to take you on a date, though.” Charlie smirks.
“Wine, dine, and sixty-nine me all you want,” I tease back.
“Now that sounds like a great first date.” He grins, kissing my hand again.
“Don’t break my heart, Charlie, please.”
“Never,” he tells me seriously. And I believe him.
We continue driving, and the scenery is stunning, postcard perfect, but there are definitely bears here and for sure other predators that are going to eat me, I’m too pretty to eat.
It’s so beautiful here, the snowy cap mountains, the endless pine forests, and then the prairies, it’s so breathtaking.
“This is us,” he says, driving through massive wooden gates.
“Did you surprise me with a hotel stay?” Is he embarrassed about where he lives?
Charlie bursts out laughing. “No, this is my home.”
“Don’t lie to me, this is a fricken resort.” We drive up the long winding road to the huge wooden house. There are barns and horse yards.
“Derrick, this is my family’s home.”
My mouth falls open. He’s serious. “Um … this is your home. Who the hell is your family?”
“Yeah, my family is well off, my dad is in tech, he commutes between here and the Bay Area,” Charlie explains.
“Is your dad Bill Gates?”
This makes him laugh. “No, but he does know him.”
“Charlie, what the fuck. You’re like rich, rich.”
“I’m not rich, my dad is,” he reiterates.
“You never told me.”
“Does it matter?”
“No. But now I feel weird because you live in a resort, and I feel so poor compared to it. You probably used to date blue-blooded guys, not men like me.” Suddenly, I feel self-conscious.
He pulls up out the front of this mansion that is made to resemble a cabin if it were on steroids, then he turns to me.
“My parents’ success isn’t mine. I don’t own any of this.
I don’t own anything. Yes, I do have a trust fund, but I have never used it.
Do my parents help me out financially, since my accident, yes, but I’m kind of done letting them look after me.
I’m ready to stand on two legs again, well, one and a steel pole, but you know.
” He winks, breaking the tension. “You are a hell of a lot more successful than me, Derrick Jones. And I don’t feel good enough to be on your arm because I’m a guy in his late twenties who still lives at home. ”
“A nice home.” I smirk.
“Yeah. It’s a fricken nice home.” He chuckles.
“We grew up here. Mom was from these parts and met Dad at college. She isn’t much of a city girl, her heart is set in the country, but she does play the charity host well.
Come on, let me show you around.” He grins, leaning over and popping a kiss on my cheek as he jumps out, and rushes around to open the truck door for me.
He then reaches into the cab and hauls me out into his strong arms, letting me slide down his hard, oh so hard body.
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.
Not a peck, a full-on kiss, one that I have been dreaming about since Hawaii.
“Guess, you’re happy to see me.” Charlie chuckles. I love that he is taller than me and I have to look up at him.
“I’ve missed you. So yeah, I’m pretty happy to see you.” My dick is hard as steel. “Come, show me around.”
Charlie’s phone beeps, and he groans as he pulls it out. He looks down at the screen and sighs, oh no, what is it.
“We’ve been invited to the Midnight Moose for dinner tonight with my sisters, I asked for one night with you alone, but …”
“What’s a Midnight Moose?”
Charlie chuckles. “It’s the bar in town.”
“That sounds like fun. Come on, we have a couple of hours together before dinner, I’m sure there are plenty of things you can do to me before then. I specifically remember something about assless chaps,” I muse, biting my bottom lip.
“Fuck, yeah,” he growls, making my skin goosebump as he nuzzles into my neck. “Let me show you around first.”
Charlie’s home is insane, it’s this towering log cabin, beautifully decorated in Western chic, with large stone fireplaces, antlers as chandeliers, leather sofas, and cowhide rugs.
“My room’s upstairs.” Charlie grins as we ascend the large wooden log staircase to the next level.
We walk along the long corridor till we stop at a wooden door.
Charlie opens it, and we walk in. I’m stunned.
The room is unexpected but also not, it’s all dark, moody, oh so masculine with the black bed and gray bedspread.
There are furry pillows mixed in with animal hide ones.
The feature wall is wood paneled, there’s a fluffy rug on the floor and leather armchairs, and western-themed black and white photos on his wall with antlers.
There is a huge window that spans the entire side of his room with gray and white checkered curtains, and a balcony that looks out over the mountains.
“Charlie,” I gasp.
“What?” he asks, nervously nibbling his lip.
“This is gorgeous.”
“You like it?” he seems relieved.
“Like it? I love it. This is so sexy.” I smirk, running my hand over the leather bench at the end of the bed. “So, you.”
He quirks a brow at me. “You think I’m sexy.” He slowly walks toward me.
“The sexiest.” I meet him in the middle, then wrap my arms around his neck.
“I think you’re pretty sexy too.” He nuzzles his prickly skin against my neck, sending shivers down my spine. “And I’m glad you like what you’ve seen so far because …” He bites his lip again as if he’s said too much.
“Because why?”
His brows knit together. I watch him hesitate, but then he gives himself a shake. “Because I would hope that you might continue to come out here and see me.”
“Were you worried that I would hate it?” He nods. Oh, this precious man. “Why?”
“Because your life is in LA. Not much fashion out here in Midnight Falls.”
“You don’t think my boutique would fit in your town?” I smirk. He shakes his head. “Ye of little faith, I can get behind cowboy chic, I’m sure I could fall in love with rhinestones and flannel.”
“The women of Midnight Falls would love you for it, because Mae is getting close to retiring, and she is the only boutique in town.” He chuckles.
I stare at him in shock. “The women of Midnight Falls only have one boutique?” He nods. “That is a crime. Oh, those poor women.”
“If you can’t find anything at the Dragonfly Boutique for prom, then you have to drive a couple of hours to the next big town to find something,” he explains.
I shake my head. “No woman should be driving hours to find clothes. What about the men?”
“There’s an outfitter in town,” he states.
“An outfitter? What is that? That doesn’t sound very chic.”
“You know, for all your gear, boots, jeans, shirts, riding, fishing, hunting gear, all that kind of stuff,” Charlie explains.
“What about suits and things?”
“We kind of just wear a dress jacket with our jeans for fancy occasions.” My heart just broke.
Dress jacket and jeans for fancy occasions.
Oh no, no, no. “Men don’t dress like you guys do in LA.
We also don’t have the occasions either.
There are the rodeos, Midnight Falls fair, the Valentine’s dance, spring, fall, winter, and summer festivals, church dances, debutante ball, and weddings. ”
“They sound so cute.”
“We might be a small town, but we sure know how to party,” Charlie warns me.
“I’m sure you do.” I chuckle.
“Come out to the next festival and see for yourself.”
“I think I just might.” My arms wrap around his neck tighter. “Enough talk. I’ve missed you, and I need you to fuck me.”