Chapter 23

Roxanne

Back at the villa, I was still trying to wrap my head around what Derek had just done. Had he really bought me that huge and beautiful farm? It was unbelievable! Just in a matter of minutes, he had done it. One minute, I was Roxanne, the next one, I was Roxanne, the farm owner!

This is crazy, I repeatedly told myself. If Derek was feeling grateful because I treated his injury while he was unconscious, this was one hell of a way to show it. Maybe he would eventually come to his senses and realize that he had gone too far, I concluded. I decided to keep the key till then, because it just didn't make any sense for him to buy me a farm just because I showed that I liked it.

All through the walk back to the villa, I kept looking at him with amazement. He was acting so differently from his usual self. It seemed as if something happened to him after the vampires came for him. He had seemed softened and accessible since then. Had he suddenly forgotten that I was the daughter of the man who killed his mother?

I wondered if the injuries he sustained during the fight had made him lose some of his memories. That would make things really complicated, so I decided not to think in that direction.

I was currently alone in the room, I sat down by the window, helping myself to my thoughts about Derek and everything that had happened lately. It was a miracle that he had survived the whole fight with those many vampires. I was still bothered about why they wanted so badly to kill him. I thought about all this for a while, then I remembered Lucas.

I felt guilty as I did. I hadn't reached out to him in days. I couldn't explain to myself why my heart tilted toward Derek rather than Lucas, who was so caring and considerate with me. In the past, the contract was the excuse for why I always had to answer Derek and be with him so often. But nowadays, I wasn't sure about that anymore, it felt as though the contract wasn't the only thing binding me to Derek. It was so complicated that I refused to really think about it.

The door of the room came open and Derek walked in. He had traces of a smile planted on his lips. But I wasn't really sure if it was really a smile or one of his displays of control. I stood up and turned towards him, tightening my stance.

"I've got a surprise for you." He said, as soon as he got close enough to me.

"What surprise?" I asked curiously, giving away more reaction than I was hoping. There was something about his presence that usually unnerved and made me vulnerable.

"It's a surprise, so I can't tell you. You've got to see it for yourself." He said, definitely smiling this time. It wasn't anything elaborate. Just a quick smile around the corner of his lips.

I began to wonder what else Derek had in store. He had already bought me a farm, what else could it be? I asked myself as I followed his lead away from the room. It was already dark in the evening which made me even more curious about his surprise.

I followed him until he went into a room that I knew was empty. He pushed the door open to reveal a sight that I never would have thought I could see while I was in this house with Derek.

He had lit the whole room with candles in a circular arrangement. There was a mat in the middle of the candles that held a bottle of wine and plates that contained delicious-looking food. I was filled with amazement.

Derrek's announcement came late, "Surprise!" he said.

I didn't quite understand what was going on. I was more confused than before. Why would he do all this? I asked myself. I turned to search his face for answers. I found none. Derek just kept smiling like an accomplished stunt-man.

"I thought we could have a special kind of dinner." He said.

For a minute, he made me forget who he was. But when my senses came back, I asked, "Why would you do something like this?"

"Why are you so surprised?" He asked. "Isn't this a common occurrence in the human world?" He added.

At first, I didn't know how to answer that. Then, before I knew it, the words already came out of my mouth.

"It's only common when two people are in a romantic relationship. Are we dating?" I asked.

He paused for a brief moment, as though the question had also caught him off guard. But he gave a smile just afterward.

"If you think so, then yes," he finally said. It seemed as if I had been holding my breath for the last few seconds as I waited for his reply.

I didn't know the answer I was expecting from Derek Hemming or why I had asked him such a question in the first place. His answer was confusing, typical of him. Though he didn't explicitly confirm it, he didn't deny it either.

The thought of having something more than a contract with Derek frightened me in a good way but I dared not hope. A silly thought came to mind. Could Derek secretly be harboring genuine feelings toward me? It would explain why he had suddenly become gentle in the past few days.

If it was only about tending to his injuries after the attack, he didn't have to go this far with it. I quickly erased the thought of Derek falling in love with me as quickly as it came. Those weren't the kind of things I should be thinking about, I told myself. I reminded myself that Derek was a werewolf and I came from a family of werewolf hunters. In addition, my father was directly responsible for his mother's death.

So, Derek and I were more or fewer enemies. There wasn't a way he would have quickly forgotten that after how he had treated me based on that fact in the past. I still had vivid pictures of how he used to molest and fuck me violently in my head. I refused to believe that there could be a turnaround in the state of things in such a short amount of time.

Even though my heart wanted otherwise, I repressed the tugging feeling I had deep down in me and chose to concentrate on reality. I sat down with Derek on the mat, and we began to eat in silence.

Derek finally broke the brief silence. "You should get new clothes. I've noticed that you only alternate between the few you've got. Let's go out tomorrow and get you some clothes," he suggested.

With a fork in my mouth, I looked up to stare at him. Why was he suddenly saying all these things and making it look like he cared about me?

"You don't have to do that." I stated plainly.

"I just want you to add some clothes to your wardrobe, so that you wouldn't have to wear the same set of clothes every time. I don't particularly like that."

I didn't give him any reply. I only continued diligently with dinner. When he saw that I was not going to provide him with an answer, he spoke again.

"Don't you want to go shopping with me?" He asked. I thought I saw a hint of genuine concern on his face. But it was gone before I could make anything of it. It had a small impact on the reply I gave him next, because I didn't want it to look like I was rejecting him for no reason.

"It's not that. I'm just a little tired lately and I don't want to go out. Besides, a lot of rumors are already going around the school about me and why I miss so many classes. For now, I just want to keep a low profile."

Surprisingly, he decided not to push the matter further after what I told him. He simply nodded and said nothing until a while after when he suggested that I rest early after I was done with food.

It was a suggestion that I planned to take because I actually felt a little bit tired from the events of the last few days.

Very late at night, while I was on the bed, trying unsuccessfully to get some sleep, I got up and started wandering around the house. I heard Derek's voice. It was as if he was talking to someone, so I followed the voice until I discovered that he was on the balcony, talking to someone over the phone.

I began to eavesdrop on his conversation. A few statements in, I realized that he was making a call to my college. I was surprised and curious to know why he was doing that. So I moved closer to him.

He suddenly ended the conversation and I must have made a sound in a bid to quickly walk away before he found me standing there, because he caught me the next moment. I was embarrassed.

"Why are you still awake? I thought you'd gone to sleep," he said.

"I couldn't sleep."

"So, you decided to engage in some eavesdropping? That's kind of impolite, don't you think?" He kept walking closer to me as he spoke. I was also taking slow steps backward with each of his steps.

"It's not like that," I said. "I wanted to get some water." I lied.

He said nothing, and only continued to move closer to me until I lost my balance and almost tripped over. Derek caught me just in time. One of his hands was behind my back as he bent over me. Our eyes were locked on each other for a moment that seemed like an eternity.

Then he put his lips on mine and took possession of them. It was like a natural occurrence. I became flushed with so many hot emotions that I responded to his kiss with every inch of my body. He lifted me and carried me to the bedroom. It had now been restored to its former state and no one could know about the vampires' visit or else they were told about it.

He placed me gently on the bed and undressed me slowly. He also allowed me to undress him. He was already hard like a brick when I pulled down his shorts. We continued to ask more of each other with kisses and touches, and when he took my nipples in his mouth, I was already so wet that I couldn't wait any longer.

"I want you inside of me!" I announced.

He obliged immediately, slipping in slowly until he accommodated every inch of my pussy. A loud moan came out of me. A realization came to me at that moment, I did not only want Derek Hemming, I needed him. Just like he needed me. Our bodies needed each other.