"I'll stay with you," Derek says, completely swept up in her and the soft, reverent touch of her hands. She touched him like he was something precious, and Derek arches up into it, sliding his hands around her narrow waist and up her back. He kisses up the pale column of her throat, the point of her chin, the softness of her lips.

"What did you have in mind?" Derek asks, smiling against her lips as he moves her hair away from her shoulder. He tugs her shirt aside to press a kiss to the soft skin there, pulling her even closer to him.