I want You Deeper

After Derek’s dessert-custard in small pie shells he’d bought while they were on the island-Captain Jake had to go back to the cockpit. April hung around to clean up, but Derek had a feeling she wouldn’t stick around long after Jake was gone. He was right about that. There was no reason she should feel like the third wheel, but he could tell she did.

He’d never spent time in the lounge area on the main deck until now. It was an area designed for entertaining, with big windows that overlooked the ocean. Right now, it was too dark outside and too light inside to see much of anything, but he didn’t mind. He’d rather look at Renee, anyway.

She looked especially beautiful tonight. The makeup she wore throughout the day had worn off quite a bit and she’d pulled her hair down from its tightly-wound knot on her head. She’d exited chef mode and gone straight to casual lounger. He liked it.

“What do you do for fun?” Renee asked suddenly.

It was almost laughable, that question. They were seated on a yacht as he lived out his dream of traveling the world by sea. Did he really need a hobby at this point?

But then he remembered that to her, he was working. He was David Humphreys, salesperson headed to Hawaii on business. This wasn’t a hobby. This wasn’t for fun. This was work.

He needed to come up with an answer for David Humphreys, not Derek Hughes. Only he was David Humphreys.

“Movies!” he blurted out, and the force of his answer took even him by surprise. He moderated his excitement a little as he continued. “I guess I haven’t shown you the theater.”

Her eyes widened. “There’s a theater on this boat? What am I saying? I don’t know why that would surprise me.”

Derek laughed. “Yeah, we haven’t designed one of these without a theater. This one is a little more…elaborate than most, but-”

Oh, wait. What was he saying? This theater was more elaborate because it was important to him. But David Humphreys was not the owner of this superyacht, as far as Renee knew. He had to talk his way out of this corner he was in.

“But this is the latest and greatest,” Renee finished for him. His panic gradually deflated. “Yes, exactly.” “What kind of movies?” she asked.

“Action, mostly. Some science fiction. Comedies, occasionally. I just like losing myself in a good movie. It reminds me of childhood.”

The way her expression softened, he could tell his words had connected with her. The part of him that was trying hard not to blow his cover told him, “Score!” But that had nothing to do with why he was glad she was looking at him as though seeing him in a new light. He liked connecting with her. He liked it on a personal level.

“You went to the movies as a child?”

“With my mom.”

“You’re close to your mom?”

He could tell she wasn’t sure how to proceed with the conversation. She didn’t want to ask if his mom was still around, just in case.

“I am,” he said. “She flies out to visit me when she can.”

“Oh, yeah, that has to be tough, considering you’re always traveling.”

For the first time, he felt bad about not being one hundred percent truthful with her. If he could, he would be. He flew his mother out to spend time with him at his home in Silicon Valley a few times a year, but he couldn’t say that.

“We work it out.”

“Your father?” she asked.

That was the hard part. She’d made it clear she was close to her own father, so how did he convey what a disappointment his own dad had been? Would she think less of him, knowing that David Humphreys-the person he was before he’d taken on this Derek Hughes persona-had walked away from his own father, rejecting his requests for help?

“He’s no longer in my life.”

That was all Derek was going to say about that. He decided this conversation needed to end. He felt awkward about the way it was progressing, like somehow, she was seeing who he really was. If they talked much longer, he’d end up spilling everything to her.

“Let’s go watch a movie.” He didn’t even wait until the words were out before he was on his feet, heading toward the stairs that led up to the hallway that would take them to the movie room. He didn’t look back to make sure she was following.

She managed to keep up somehow. Which was pretty amazing, considering he was a fairly fast walker. He didn’t know many people who could keep up with him once he took off somewhere.

“This is it. My favorite room on the entire ship.”

Renee stepped into the movie room behind him. Two walls of windows looked out onto the water around them. It provided a spectacular view. With one press of a button, he could put blinds down to darken the room and create that true cinema experience.

“What is it about this room that you like so much?”

She was doing it again. She was asking him questions in a way that enticed him to open up to her. Opening up to her was a bad idea because it put him at risk that he’d say too much and reveal his secret.

Any of his secrets. He certainly had more than a few of them.

Yet he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to open up to her. He wanted that connection. He couldn’t seem to stop himself from making that connection.

“Come have a seat and I’ll show you,” he said, gesturing for her to follow him to the front row of seats, where he’d left the remote that controlled everything.

She followed him without question. It was the perfect compromise, letting her just far enough into his world. Actions spoke louder than words, anyway.

Within seconds of taking their seats, the blinds were on the way down and the projector was starting up. His favorite movie-an apocalyptic tale involving the White House-showed on the screen as most recently watched. He started it up with the sole intention of demonstrating whatever it was he was trying to demonstrate here.

Oh, yeah. He was showing her what he loved about this room.

Within minutes, the room filled with sights and sounds, surrounding them. Enveloping them. She’d taken the seat next to him, which meant his left arm was just inches from her right arm. His awareness of that distracted him from the experience he normally had in here.

Instead of being transported back to childhood, he was transported back to adolescence. Back then, movies were for dates, and they often involved moments like this one. Just like when he was a teen, he wondered what she’d do if he took her hand in his or put his arm around her.

No. He couldn’t do that. That was a youth dating ritual, not what a twentysomething, accomplished man did. Besides, she was technically his employee-for now, anyway.

Instead, he just closed his eyes and savored her nearness. The magnetic pull between them made it tough to concentrate on anything but her when she was close by.

Finally, remembering he wasn’t here to watch an entire movie with her, he paused the image on the screen and turned to look at her. “It’s an escape.”

She looked up at him, and suddenly, he was even more aware of her nearness. Having her close was one thing. Having her face within inches of his, where he could so easily lean down and kiss her, was another.

It was her eyes. Not just the way she looked at him, but the way she looked at the world. He couldn’t quite describe the color-a shade of blue so light and bright it would make anyone take a second look at her. But there was a depth, an intelligence, behind those eyes that compelled him to get to know her better.

“I see what you mean.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper, which was strange considering the noise level that had just existed in this room. It created an intimacy between them, only heightening this urge he had to lean down and capture her mouth in a long, slow- “What are you escaping?”

Renee’s question, said in a much louder voice than the previous nearwhisper, sliced right through the tension between them. His first thought was that she’d felt what he was feeling and wanted to put some distance between them. They were, after all, boss and worker-at least temporarily.

But then he wondered if maybe she didn’t feel it at all. Maybe it was just on his side of things. If so, he needed to put that wall up again.

Derek turned to look at the screen, now frozen on an image of a helicopter mid-flight. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You said this was an escape. I get it. I lost my job and haven’t yet figured out what I want to do next. It feels good to just shut all that out right now. What are you trying to shut out?”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

She wasn’t staring at him in that assessing way anymore, which was helpful. But her question dug pretty deep. He, Derek Hughes, was trying to get away from the unwanted press he’d been getting. The relentless calls and texts from friends, acquaintances, and just about everyone else he’d met since moving to town. They all just wanted to congratulate him on being the talk of the town.

With every call, every text, he’d remembered why he’d escaped being David Humphreys in the first place. Why he’d tossed away his cell phone and changed his number. Why he’d even changed his name after turning down his father’s request to borrow yet another chunk of money from him. Just to get him through to the next payday. Only, David Humphreys knew his father all too well. He’d grown up hearing those pleas to his grandfather for just a little more money. It had been exactly why his grandmother had given the money to him to start his own business. The only way to cut the cycle was to completely change his company name, go by a different name himself, and change his phone number so that his father couldn’t find him.

But escaping also meant making sure he flew under the radar. He’d avoided putting his face on the company website-or anywhere online. He had no social media accounts and had developed a general reputation as a very private person. It was all about ensuring he could never be found. And then some reporter had blasted a photo of him across the website of a local TV station. Next thing he knew, friends were contacting him. It would only be a matter of time before word got to his father, wherever he was now.

Derek looked at Renee, who was watching him curiously again. She was waiting patiently for his answer, but it also felt like she was trying to guess the answer from his expression. As if she could somehow extract it from him if she just stared at him long enough.

That was when he remembered this wasn’t about what Derek Hughes was escaping. It was about David Humphreys.

“People.”

Renee frowned. “People?”

“I like to shut out people. Not you, of course, or Captain Jake or even

April. Just people in general. It’s the curse of my profession.” “As a salesperson,” Renee commented.

Weird. The way she said that, it almost seemed like, for a second there, she didn’t believe he was a salesperson. But it was impossible that she might have guessed otherwise. Just in case, he decided to elevate things a little.

“Sales executive,” Derek corrected. “I’m the top sales guy in the company. Six figures last year in commissions alone. I’m on track to top that by about double this year.”

Renee squinted at him. The answer had admittedly been a bit on the douchebag side of things. Who bragged about something like that? He was wondering if he should walk it back a little when she suddenly stood.

“I think maybe it’s time to turn in. Thank you so much for showing me around, but it’s been a long day.”

His instinct was to offer to walk her to her room, as any gentleman would do. But she jumbled up his thoughts so much when she was around, he needed some time to gather his thoughts.

“Great. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The message was clear. He was staying here to “escape” a little longer.

For the first time since he’d met her, he actually did need an escape.