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He looked at Ellery. Nobody was as brave and intriguing as his lady.
Finally, the dinner was over and his dad, bless his soul, said everyone had better get to bed early for the big wedding tomorrow. Kiera protested, but her dad told her he’d read a Princess Academy book with her and she took off.
Derek and Ellery said goodnight to everyone. T and Malik both gave him smart-alecky but jealous looks. Curt and Ray were too invested in Aliya and Macey respectively to even notice they were leaving.
They were quiet as they climbed the stairs.
“Do you want to go to the solarium?” Derek asked.
“No,” she said. “I want to be alone with you without risk of being interrupted. How about the patio of my suite?”
“Perfect.” Derek’s pulse picked up. She wanted to be alone with him. This was a twist. For six months, he’d tried to get her to go out with him and nothing. After the fateful moment of him completing the Invisible Ladder because of the look they’d exchanged and her cheering, he’d pursued her even harder. Now she was willingly here, at his castle with him, and she had not only instigated their first incredible kiss, but she wanted to be alone with him. All alone. Did that mean more kissing? Hopefully some snuggling and sharing secrets as well?
They walked down the family hallway, through her suite, and onto her balcony. The sun hadn’t set, but the mountain and trees shaded them from its heat. The temperature was ideal. He turned to Ellery. She was more perfect.
“Elle,” he got out in a husky whisper of longing before they were in each other’s arms with their lips fused together. Now that she’d turned in his direction, they were two magnets irrevocably drawn to each other. Ellery was no longer resisting him; quite the opposite. She gave so much of herself to the kiss he had a hard time slowing it down and not simply kissing her until the sun set and then rose again.
They slowly broke apart, which was interesting as they’d flung together so quickly, but it was hard for a magnet to pull away from another magnet.
Derek led her to the patio couch, and they sank down onto it. She cuddled into his side, staring up at him, her green eyes huge and full of him. Could he keep kissing her?
“Derek,” she whispered. “I’ve never trusted a man like this before.”
“You … trust me?” For some reason, with Ellery that seemed more crucial than love. Her kiss said she loved him, but trust was huge for her.
“I think I do.”
He wanted to tease that wasn’t very convincing, but this was one of the few moments he didn’t want to tease her. “Can you tell me why you’ve had such a hard time trusting me?”
She blew out a breath and laid her head on his shoulder. He cradled her close, praying he could say and do the right things to have and keep her trust, to keep her in his life.
“My dad left when I was eight.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “It was only a few months after my mom got diagnosed with MS.”
“What?” He couldn’t believe that.
“He had a new wife within a month. Now they have three children together.”
His jaw dropped further. “What kind of a husband and father … does that?”
“Mine, apparently.”
“Do you … have a relationship with him?”
“Once I started winning Ninja Warrior, he’d call after I won an event, I think mostly to have my half-sister Chelsea talk to me. She’s a big fan.”
“I’m sorry that he treated you and your mom like …” He couldn’t think of an appropriate word to express how poor of an excuse her dad was as a husband and father.
Still not looking at him, she continued, “He sent some child support, and my mom worked at a dental office during the day. We cleaned commercial buildings together at nights and on weekends.”
She’d told him that.
“My mom was so fiercely independent. She took the child support because it was for me, but she refused any handouts from the church, school, or government. I packed a peanut butter sandwich every day because she wouldn’t even let me have the free lunch.”
That was where she’d learned to be so independent.
“As the MS got worse, she could only work sometimes at the dental office. The dentist was very patient with her. I got bigger and stronger and was able to do most of the cleaning. We got by until I hit sixteen and could legally work full time in the summer and part time during school.”
“In addition to the cleaning?”
