Just a Love Story Read online

  “That feels so good.” She writhed beneath his touch, undulating, moving her hips in the age-old rhythm of making love. “You know what I’ve fantasized about?”

  “Tell me.” He held himself up on his hands and ground his cock between her legs. No penetration, just sliding through the damp velvet of her feminine folds. “I’ll give you whatever you want.”

  “Dangerous, Alden. I want a lot.” I want you. Forever. “I want you to jack-off and come on my breasts.”

  Derek’s groans mingled with hers. “God, baby, that’s so hot,” he growled out the words as he lips crashed with hers, their mouths fused, tongues mating. “I want that too.” Needy desperation fueled the pumping of his hips, the head of his cock making delicious contact with her clit at the end of every thrust.

  Shae was so excited she was trembling, so near to orgasm she could feel her pussy clenching in on itself, seeking relief. “I want you so much.”

  They were rocking together, grinding, kissing as if they only had so many seconds left before they could never kiss again. “You’ve got me, baby. You’ve got me,” he muttered.

  “Suck my tits. Please?”

  She pushed them together, playing with the nipples.

  “Demanding, aren’t you?” He met her gaze and smiled. “I like you like that.” He covered Shae, taking her breasts in his hands, cupping them, lifting them, teasing the hard nubbins with his thumbs.

  She gasped and whimpered, arching her back, urging him to play all he wanted. Derek took her up on the invitation, flicking them over and over until he was delirious with need. Leaning down, he swirled his tongue around one nipple, then the other, pushing them tighter together until he could lick and stroke both of them at the same time.

  “Oh, fuck, baby, I love that,” Shae moaned, her neck bowed, her eyes tightly shut. “Suck me, baby. Suck me hard.”

  Derek feasted on her breasts, taking the whole areola in his mouth, drawing deeply. She clasped his head, holding him to her, loving every stroke of his tongue, every pull of his lips. Her excitement built and built, until she was moving frantically beneath him.

  “You’re so sexy,” he murmured, raising his head. “I can’t wait.” Rising up, he moved far enough up that he could fit his cock between her tits. “Hold me.”

  At first, Shae didn’t know what he meant, but he showed her how to push her breasts together, cradling his manhood in the valley between the tender flesh. “Now I’m going to give you what you want, I’m going to come all over these sweet nipples.”

  Shae was past coherent thought. She was mesmerized as he moved, his hips creating a rhythm she couldn’t resist. Each time the head of his cock slid over the top swell, she licked the tip with her tongue. Excitement built between them, the moment was wild, the pleasure intense. Shae raised her hips, pumping them, so eager to be touched she was almost mad with want. Seeing Derek use her body for his pleasure, drove her over the edge.

  “Oh, Derek!” From out of the blue, and with no further stimulation, an orgasm crashed through her like a runaway train. She dug her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders, coming so hard she bucked beneath him. Her explosion seemed to cause him to move faster, more frenzied. He kept up the pace while ecstasy surged through her. Her thighs were trembling and her sex was so sensitized and hungry that she was almost insane with need.

  “You’re fuckin’ amazing.” He grated the words out through clenched teeth. Sitting up, Derek took his cock in his hand and began to pump. Long, hard strokes. He paused once and rubbed the head over her nipples, coating them with precum. “Like that?”

  “Yes,” she keened. “Do it again!”

  He did, but then he began pumping anew. Once. Twice. Three times – and then he erupted, jetting pearly drops of his essence all over her breasts and neck. Derek came so hard, he thought he might pass out.

  “Don’t stop. Put him in. Please. It won’t take long.”

  Her eyes drew him in and he could deny her nothing. As she lifted her hips, he slid home. His cock was still hard, but the head was so sensitive, he gasped at the almost unbearable pleasure. Holding her gaze, he sank in, pulled out, then fucked her deep.

  And that was all it took.

  With a desperate cry, she began to whimper, writhing and undulating – her pussy milking his cock so perfectly he felt like he might die from the bliss. “What you do to me!” he bellowed as he ejaculated again, not understanding how it could be, but reveling in every moment they shared.

  Once their passion was depleted, he cradled her close. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I needed that so much.” The truth was - she needed him. Just him.

  “I did too. This has been so crazy…and you’re the only thing keeping me sane. Grounded.” He held her tighter, thinking how impossible all this would be without her. There was still a battle to fight, a war to be won. What the future held for them, he didn’t know. Right now, he was just thankful she was on his side.

  * * *

  Deep in the night, after the loving, Shae cuddled close to Derek. When he shifted, giving her a sleepy kiss, she rubbed her face on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” She was worried about him, feeling the need to just sit up and guard him from anyone or anything that might threaten his safety.

  “Yea.” He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. “Will you stay with me? Don’t go home. Okay?”

  Shae didn’t have to think. “Yea, I’ll call Cathy. She’ll keep Mojo a couple of days and see to Coretta.”

  “Cathy?”

  “Oh, right, you didn’t know. I have my best friend back.”

  She felt his smile against her skin. “How’d that happen?”

  “Oh, we worked something out.” She didn’t want to say anything about the mill situation.

  “Good.”

  Stroking his hair tenderly, she whispered, “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’m stubborn and hardheaded and I won’t allow things to be any other way.”

  He let out a sigh of pure contentment. “Okay. I believe you.”

  She kissed his temple. “Now, go to sleep. I’ve got you.”

  After Derek dozed off, she still held him tight until her eyes grew too heavy to hold them open. They slept deeply, with nothing disturbing their peace.

  * * *

  “She’s staying, so I’m staying with her,” Derek explained to Zane.

  “Understood. I don’t blame you a bit. We aren’t worried about what they think of Shae anymore.”

  Even though he didn’t like how it sounded, Derek knew what he meant. They had bigger things to worry about now.

  Like the accusations of rape and abuse they’d thrown at him.

  “Is there anything we can do?” he asked, needing to feel like they were making progress.

  “Yea, there is. I have a meeting scheduled with Timothy Ross, he’s the video guru who’s going to analyze those videos. I called the judge first thing this morning and acquired a copy.”

  “What did she say about our getting an expert to look at them?”

  “She wasn’t surprised, she was ready for the request.”

  “This is surreal, Zane. Makes me wonder what kind of woman I married.”

  “I hear you. So, the meeting with Ross is at ten. I’d like it if you two would be there with us.”

  “We’ll be there. I just hope he can help me.”

  “Be positive.”

  Derek chuckled. “You sound like Shae. She’s willing this to work out for me.”

  “Shae’s a good woman. Smart too.”

  “Yea, she is.” At the moment, Derek couldn’t imagine his life without her. “She’s in the shower. As soon as she gets out, we’ll get on the road.”

  After ending the call, Derek sat on the bed to wait for her. He finished off the coffee from room service they’d ordered earlier. During the night, there’d been no more spooky happenings. Derek smiled, thinking she might’ve been a little d
isappointed. His Shae loved excitement.

  His Shae.

  “Oh, man.” Derek chuckled. Where did that come from?

  He knew where it came from.

  Rubbing his chest, he admitted to himself that he’d felt this way for quite a while.

  “Derek!”

  Shae’s voice calling out to him broke the spell he was under. “Yea?”

  “Can you hand me a towel?”

  With a smile on his face, he went to her, pushing open the door and finding her all flushed and cuddly with drops of water twinkling on her silky skin. “My, my, what have we here? You look absolutely lickable.” He picked up a towel from the rack by the door. “Is this what you need?”

  She reached for the towel, but he held it back out of her reach, causing her to let out a feminine huff. “Derek…”

  “Why didn’t you get a towel before you crawled under the spray?”

  “I did,” she asserted, glancing on the floor. “I could swear I did.”

  “Maybe the ghost moved it.”

  “Why would the ghost do that?” Shae’s body was heating up.

  “Maybe they wanted you…or me to have a little fun.”

  “Do we have time for fun?”

  Derek whirled out the towel and wrapped it around her, pulling Shae close. “There’s always time for fun. Haven’t you ever heard of a quickie?”

  She’d heard of one – and now she was going to learn what all the fuss was about.

  …An hour and a half later, Derek was glad he’d taken time for a little fun earlier – because he sure wasn’t having any now. Sitting next to the video expert, watching the frames of the damning evidence come up one by one was torture. “This is so sick,” he muttered.

  Zane gave him a sideways look. “Patience, let the genius work.”

  Timothy chuckled. “Save the accolades until I find something.”

  “What exactly are you looking for?” Shae asked from the far right.

  “Unrealistic trajectories. I’m looking for something subject to gravity that doesn’t behave the way we expect.” As he moved through the frames, he carried on with his explanation. “Objects possessing a gravitational force will display a constant vertical acceleration, they’re called projectile motions. So, if I have several frames showing projectile motion without a constant vertical acceleration and a constant horizontal velocity, its most probably faked, providing there’s no significant air resistance.”

  Everyone leaned in while he kept examining the footage. There were times when Derek had to lean away. The images were just too painful to watch. “Hey, I know I’m not in the video…but is June?” He felt like an absolute jerk for not thinking of this before now. “Did someone molest my baby?”

  “I don’t think so.” Timothy held up a finger. “Look at this.” He pointed to a frame showing what looked to be Derek pulling back the bed covers. “You have to watch closely but notice the path the comforter takes.”

  They had to watch it twice, but finally Zane spoke up, “The cover hovers in the air. He tosses it back and it jerks in place.”

  “Correct!” Timothy sounded triumphant.

  Derek wasn’t as pleased. “That’s not much to go on.”

  “Well, let’s find more,” Timothy said as he returned to examining the images. After an hour and a half of scrutiny, he pointed to several shadows that popped in and out of view. “See, this isn’t possible.”

  Zane leaned back in his chair, letting out a resigned sigh. “We need more than this. We need something the judge can sink her teeth into.”

  “Okay, let’s try something else.”

  Shae held her breath as she watched the expert capture a couple of frames with movement and use it to do an online search. “It’s possible the creator borrowed an existing video with similar subjects, size-wise, and overlaid the features of the avatars.”

  “An existing video?” Derek asked. “You mean…?”

  “Yea, kiddie porn.” Ross opened another window in the browser. “It exists and, unfortunately, it’s fairly readily available.”

  Derek held his breath. “This is so sick.” He shut his eyes and turned away, a feeling of helplessness pervading his soul. His situation seems so precarious, so tenuous. “I can’t see how…”

  “Bingo.”

  Shae jumped at Timothy’s exclamation. “You found something?”

  “I did and I bet we can find one matching the other video fairly easily.”

  The trio watched in amazement as the two videos were lined up – one depicting Derek and June, and the other showing completely different people. Other than the faces and features of the players, both clips were absolutely identical in every way. “This is irrefutable. The video condemning you is fake.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “Are you okay?” Shae asked Derek as they made their way back to the hotel.

  “No, I don’t think I am.” He was trying to process what this all meant and he was coming up with more questions than answers.

  “Zane said this could be over soon. When he shows the judge those tapes, they’ll have to drop the charges against you and award you full custody. This was a criminal act.”

  “Who is Blair? Why would she do this? She went to unbelievable lengths to paint me as a monster. What does she hope to gain?”

  “June,” Shae answered softly. “And you out of the way.”

  “But why? To what end?” Derek stared out into the bright sunshine of a gorgeous Texas day as he drove down Highway 71 toward Austin. “She took me for everything I had – Provo saw to that.”

  “I don’t know. Doesn’t make sense,” Shae murmured, her eyes focused on the road ahead of her. “Oh, look! Stop, Derek. You’ve got to stop!”

  Startled, Derek practically came to a halt in the middle of the road. “What’s wrong?”

  “Take this exit.” She pointed to a huge red sign that read PECANS. “I want to buy some nuts to make pralines.”

  “Oh, you want to see Miss Pearl.” Derek grinned, his chest feeling a bit lighter, thanks to the diversion.

  “I don’t know who that is.” Shae sat a bit straighter in the seat so she could see better. “Does she work there?”

  “No, Miss Pearl is the squirrel.”

  “What?” Shae asked, then she saw the huge statue. “I’ve been by here twice. How in the world did I miss that?” Even as she asked, she knew – worry over Derek had limited her focus to anything other than going from point A to point B.

  “I don’t know, she’s fourteen foot tall. Pretty hard to miss.” He took the exit and soon pulled up in front of Bardoll’s Pecans, Gift and Candy Company. “Come on, I’ll take your picture.”

  Shae opened her door and Derek came around to help her out. “I’m not sure. I’m not much for pictures.” Generally, she avoided them like the plague.

  “Oh, don’t be that way. I want a picture of you.”

  “Okay.” Who could say no to Derek? She wondered if he wanted the photo to remember her by. Sobering thought.

  Regardless, she let him position her next to the fourteen-foot squirrel and Shae smiled for the camera.

  “Thank you.” He gave her a gentle kiss. “Let’s go in. I’m in the mood for something sweet,” as he whispered in her ear, she felt him slide a hand down to her bottom and give it a soft pat.

  “Hey, no PDA!” She grabbed his hand, repeating the familiar refrain she used to say to the church kids who got a little too affectionate in public.

  “Aww, spoilsport.”

  Together, they entered the store, then wound through the aisles taking in all of the delicious selections. “Oh, my goodness, I want it all.” Shae’s eyes grew wide as she took in the many varieties of candy and other treats. “I love chocolate covered strawberries. And chocolate covered pecans. And…pecan pie.”

  “Me too.” Derek began gathering up the things she mentioned, placing them in a basket provided by the store for their customers.

  “Oh, wait. We’d better get sug
ar-free.”

  Derek balked when she began to pull him from the good stuff over to the diet aisle. “No. I want the real deal.” He saw several emotions cross her features. “What?”

  She ran her hands down her body. “I don’t need the sugar.”

  Derek snorted. “You are the sugar.” He pulled her close. “I like you just the way you are.”

  Shae let him hold her. “One time in Galveston, I was walking on the beach with my head in the clouds, and accidentally kicked sand on this guy. He got mad and told me I needed to go to a gym.”

  “He was blind, baby.” Derek kissed her on the cheek. “You’re perfect.”

  “I’m not.” She was embarrassing her own self.

  “I bet I can prove it.”

  “How?” Holding her close, he rocked his erection against her, grinning when he saw her expression. She raised her face, eyes wide, mouth a perfect ‘O’.

  “See?” She was so cute. The woman had no idea how appealing she was to him. Maybe he hadn’t told her enough. “When we go back to the hotel, I’ll help you eat these morsels.” Pulling her even closer, he whispered in her ear, “I’ll decorate you with candy, then eat it while I eat you.”

  “Deal.” Shae blushed, but her response made Derek smile. She added pecan halves to his basket, then they went to check out. As soon as the bill was paid and they were walking to the car, his phone buzzed.

  Before he answered, he snapped his fingers. “Hey, do you want to go to SXSW tonight? I hear there’s a big concert on the river. Since we found a way to prove those tapes are a fake, I feel like celebrating.”

  “Sure.” She was game for anything, as long as it meant she could be with him. Even though she knew about South by Southwest, she’d never been. The festival was the largest of its kind in the world, ten days of concerts, important film releases, and an interactive display of emerging technology, making the gathering one of the most important breeding grounds for new ideas and creative technologies in the world. Every day of the event downtown Austin and the surrounding area was packed by sixty thousand or more people, all there to learn, be entertained, or just celebrity watch.