Amber did get the call from the hospital before the week was up and settled into her new job quickly. Before long, the three developed a routine that allowed all of them to dress and get ready for work without getting in each other’s way or using all the hot water. Amber would take her shower in the evenings while the men cleaned the kitchen from the meal she cooked. The men took their showers in the mornings and all three left for work around the same time. Amber always came home about an hour before the men and would almost have supper ready for them by the time they came home. During supper they would discuss their day and update Amber on any progress made with her stalker.
Amber also relaxed enough to be her usual friendly self with the staff and patients at the hospital. She had enough confidence in Matt and Derek that she didn’t feel she had to be cautious about who she talked to. Before long, she had made friends and was going on lunch dates with some of the other nurses.
One day Derek came strutting into the hospital to take her to lunch.
“Oooohh, girl, don’t look now. Hunk at twelve o’clock,” whispered Tanesha.
“Ummmm hmmm, he is mighty fine,” answered Sally.
Amber looked up to see Derek walking down the hallway toward her station with a bouquet of roses in his hands.
“Thought I’d take a pretty lady to lunch if she’s available,” Derek said as he reached her desk.
“Oh, you know I’m available,” Tanesha replied.
Amber smiled. Derek handed her the roses and she went to find a vase to put them in. “Don’t eat him while I’m gone, Tanesha,” Amber teased.
“Girl, you know I want to,” said Tanesha. “Eat him like candy.”
Derek waggled his eyebrows at Tanesha and she giggled like a school girl. Sally just shook her head at the foolishness.
“Have fun at lunch, Amber,” she called as the two walked off down the hallway.
“That girl has her one fine looking man,” Tanesha said watching them walk down the hallway together.
“That she does,” Sally agreed.
Aware her coworkers were staring at them, Amber turned and waved before getting onto the elevator. Tanesha and Sally waved back.
“Yep, one fine looking man,” Tanesha said again.
“So, what’s the occasion,” asked Amber.
Derek gave her a puzzled look.
“Lunch, roses,” she said with a question in her voice.
Derek smiled. “Just because. No occasion.”
“Oh. Where are you taking me,” Amber asked.
“To this little, out of the way, Chinese restaurant. I hope you like it,” he replied.
“I love Chinese food,” said Amber.
Derek drove out of the parking lot and they talked about their day as he made his way to the restaurant. Once there, the hostess sat them and a waitress took their drink order. Both ordered the buffet.
After filling their plates and sitting back down in their booth, they began to talk about other cases Derek had worked.
“Your job sounds very interesting,” Amber stated.
“Yeah, but it can get lonely sometimes. At the end of the day, or week, or case, I come home to an empty house and a lonely bed. I wish I had the right to ask a woman to share that life and understand when I had to be away for long periods of time.”
“I understand. It would be hard for a woman to have to share her husband with the job. Knowing in her heart he might not come back. But there are thousands of women who do exactly that every day. Wives of soldiers, firefighters, and policemen. Do any of your FBI buddies have wives,” asked Amber
“A few do. The ones lucky enough to have found the right woman I guess,” Derek replied.
Amber looked down at her plate. Was this Derek’s way of telling her she was not the right woman to be able to fill his heart and life? She wasn’t sure where he was going with this conversation so she steered it to another topic and began telling him about one of her patients. She was taking care of an elderly man who seemed to have no family interested in visiting him in the hospital but the man was so full of life and energy. He made all the nurses laugh with his teasing and joking.
Derek watched as Amber described her patient. He smiled at her animated eyes and the way she used her hands as she talked. He was falling hard for this woman and he wasn’t sure that was wise. He had made sure not to touch her again since the day they made love but it had been torture not to sneak into her room and hold her. He wanted to kiss her and beg her to stay with him. Be that person in his life that understood the demands of his job and would be there for him. But he just couldn’t do it. He could not be that selfish after all she had been through. When he found her stalker, he would have to walk away from her.
Derek and Amber finished their meal and Derek drove Amber back to the hospital. The drive was quiet as they were lost in their own thoughts and Amber wondered again about the conversation Derek had started.
Amber walked back to her station amid the calls and laughter of her new coworkers. She smiled, picked up her clip board and got back to work. Her next patient was the elderly man she had told Derek about.
A month after starting her job, Amber decided to call Olivia. It had been more than two months since she had talked with her best friend and she wanted to know how her delivery went.
Waiting for Olivia to pick up, Amber grabbed some fingernail polish and got ready to paint her toes. She was just putting cotton balls between her toes when a man’s voice answered the phone.
“Hello,” he said.
“Patrick,” Amber asked.
“Yes,” Patrick answered.
“It’s Amber. Is Olivia available,” she asked.
“Oh, thank God you’ve called,” he said.
A chill went down Amber’s spine. “Is everything alright,” she asked.
“Olivia lost the baby and she's beside herself. She won’t talk to anyone. Let me see if I can get her to talk to you. Hold on.” Amber heard Patrick put the phone down and she waited. No longer in the mood to paint her toes, she began removing the cotton.
“Amber,” Olivia’s sad, shaky voice came over the line.
“Oh, Olivia! I am so sorry. Tell me what happened,” Amber asked.
“I don’t know. Everything was going so well. I only had a month left to go and the doctor was happy with my progress.” Amber could hear the agony in her friend’s voice and wanted with all of her heart to be there for her.
Olivia continued. “One night I was lying in bed when I started cramping severely. Patrick rushed me to the hospital, but it was too late. They had to make the decision to take the baby’s life or let me die. Patrick chose my life.” By this time Olivia was sobbing so hard Amber could barely understand her.
They had seen these things before. Usually, in order to save the mother, the baby would be sacrificed. Olivia knew this, but knowing did not make living it any easier.
“Olivia, listen to me, honey,” Amber said. “I’m coming home. I have a couple of days off, and I am coming to see you. Do you hear me Olivia?”
She could hear Olivia hiccupping into the phone but was unsure if she understood her. Patrick came back on the line.
“I think she needs to rest now, Amber,” he said.
“Okay, Patrick. Tell her for me I am coming to see her,” Amber said.
“I will. Thanks Amber. That may help.” Amber heard the phone click and looked up to see Derek standing in her doorway.
Derek could see the anguish in Amber’s eyes. “What’s the matter, honey,” he asked.
“Olivia, my best friend, lost her baby,” she said sadly. “She's barely coping. I have to go see her.”
“I don’t think that is a good idea, Amber,” Derek argued.
“I have to, Derek,” Amber insisted. “Olivia was there for me when my parents died, she has been there for me through this whole nightmare, and I have to go to her. She needs me,” Amber sobbed. Her best friend was hurting an
d she hurt with her.
The back of Derek’s neck began to tingle. “Amber, how did Olivia know how to reach you,” he asked calmly.
“She doesn’t. I change cell phones often. I call her,” Amber answered sniffing and blowing her nose.
Derek said nothing else as he came closer to Amber and hugged her. He wanted to comfort her because he knew she was hurting for her friend. He wanted to yell at her for not telling him she had been keeping in contact with that friend. He now knew how her stalker was tracking her. The bastard probably had a listening device attached to Olivia’s phone. He must know how close the girls are.
Derek stroked Amber’s back until she stopped sobbing. He helped her to bed, assured her he would take her to visit her friend, and then went in search of his brother. He had new information Matt needed to hear.
The next day, Matt and Derek were waiting at the kitchen table for Amber to come down the stairs. Both were staring into their coffee contemplating the new piece of the puzzle they had been given. Both looked up as Amber strolled into the room.
Noting the looks on the men’s faces, Amber poured a cup of coffee and walked to the table. She sat down and faced them.
“All right, spill it,” she said.
Both men began at the same time. Matt was calm, while Derek was not.
“How could you forget to tell me you kept in contact with someone from your hometown,” Derek yelled
“Amber, telling us about Olivia sooner may have helped us catch the person responsible for chasing you,” Matt said.
Amber held up her hand. Both men stopped in mid-sentence. “I can only answer one of you at a time and Matt since you are calmer than your brother, you can speak,” she said avoiding Derek’s smoldering eyes.
Matt shot Derek a look that said shut it, very clearly and continued his speech. “Amber, you should have told us you still call Olivia.”
“Why, Olivia is my best friend. She would never hurt me or tell anyone where I am. I would not have survived the last few years if not for Olivia,” Amber answered.
“I understand you believe Olivia wouldn’t tell anyone where you are…” Matt never finished his sentence.
“You understand I believe???” Amber asked incredulously. “Olivia and I have been through a lot together. She would never betray my trust just as I would never betray hers.”
“Amber, I wasn’t implying Olivia would betray you. Let me finish,” Matt replied calmly.
Amber sat back, crossed her arms over her breasts, and fixed Matt with an I’m listening but this had better be good stare that had Matt flinching slightly and Derek looking a little uneasy.
“Your stalker, understanding the bond between you and Olivia, could have bugged her phone. He could have been listening in on your conversations all of these years,” Matt explained.
“Amber, you might have unknowingly been leading your stalker to where you were hiding,” Derek interjected.
Amber’s face went pale. She had never thought about the possibility of her stalker tapping Olivia’s phone. She had led him to her all of these years. And now she had told Olivia she was coming home.
The men hated seeing the shocked expression on Amber’s face but now they knew she understood what they were telling her. Unable to bear it, Derek pulled Amber onto his lap and rubbed her back. Matt walked out of the kitchen to give them time to talk. He hoped Derek would keep his head.
Derek continued to rub Amber’s back as the consequences of her actions sank further into her mind.
“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” Amber cried over and over. “I killed them. I led him right to me and I killed all those people,” she sobbed.
“No, honey,” Derek replied. “A monster killed those people. You are not in any way responsible for that maniac’s actions.”
Unsure if she was listening to him, Derek continued to try to soothe her. When Amber began to shake, he knew more drastic measures were needed. Derek gathered Amber into his arms and carried her upstairs. Matt watched them pass and knew what Derek was up to. He walked out of the house to give them some privacy.
In her room, Derek laid Amber on the bed and began to unbutton her blouse. He kissed her lips and rubbed her arms silently pleading for her to respond to him. She needed this. She needed to lose herself in him so she could stop thinking the horrifying thoughts circling in her head.
Amber felt the air on her bare stomach but didn’t care. She was responsible for those people’s deaths. It didn’t matter what Derek told her. She had led him right to her every time.
Derek continued to kiss and tease Amber’s lips and throat. When he licked her breast he finally got a response from her. Amber arched her back silently pleading for more. She moaned when he took her breast into his mouth and began to suckle.
He kissed his way back to her lips and licked and teased some more. Amber began to unbutton his shirt. She sat up and kissed Derek’s shoulders and chest. She began licking and kissing him down to his stomach. Derek felt himself harden in reaction to her touch.
He wanted her to let go and give in. He pushed her back onto the bed and once more kissed his way down to her breasts. As he began to suckle one breast, he unbuttoned Amber’s pants and began to slide them off her. Amber helped because she was starting to get impatient.
Amber wanted this. She wanted to forget the tragedies for which she took responsibility. She reached down and grabbed Derek’s erection and slowly began to drive him crazy with her hands.
Derek slid his fingers into Amber and tried to concentrate on bringing her pleasure, but she was killing him with her touch. He couldn’t resist moving against her hand as she massaged and stroked. And when Amber guided him into her, he gave in and began to move slowly.
Amber moaned and gripped Derek’s butt with her fingernails urging him silently to go faster. Derek resisted the subtle hint and continued his long slow strokes. Feeling the sweat bead on his face, Derek kept up the torture. He wanted her to feel him. Look at him. Know what he was doing to her.
Derek bent down and kissed her long and slow. He slid his tongue into her mouth and matched his rhythm. Tongue and penis in perfect harmony, sliding in and out slowly. Amber moaned again as sensations began to swirl in her belly. She stretched her legs and toes as they began to tingle. She could feel the buildup and knew what was coming.
“Please,” she begged much like before.
Derek smiled and continued stroking and kissing. Slowly, so slowly. Amber thought she was going to cry. Gripping his butt harder, she scraped her fingernails against his skin. Derek finally gave in and slammed into Amber quickly. That was all it took. Both cried out at the same time as they climaxed together.
Amber felt herself splintering apart, shattering, and then slowly coming back together. She bucked as Derek held her, whispering in her ear. Coming back to herself, she could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks.
Derek held Amber and stroked her back and hair. He could feel her tears and hoped he had not hurt her, but he didn’t think it was a good time to talk. He whispered to her and held her until she finally fell asleep in his arms. When she woke up, he would take her home. She needed that and it was time to bring the monster out of hiding.
♥ Chapter 9 ♥