Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 75(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 75(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
During the long months of deployment, Derek had stayed faithful. As far as he knew Justin had too. Things were always perfect when Justin came home. They did everything together, from cooking to laundry, even the yard work. During their downtime, they would cuddle on the couch, play video games, watch movies, or even read to each other, and their sex life was beyond amazing. Justin was an attentive lover, always knowing exactly what he needed and making sure he was taken care of. He’d wanted that kind of relationship with this man from the first moment they met.
When the United States legislators repealed Don’t ask, Don’t tell, he had rejoiced, but it seemed just a theory to Justin. His lover still wouldn’t come out to his team or anyone else for that matter. Derek hid the disappointment of keeping the relationship secreted, only because they fit well together and he was a man truly and deeply in love. Justin was his perfect match. If soul mates existed, he’d met his—the one man who fit so well with him that nothing else on the planet seemed to matter.
The decision not to reenlist had been a complicated one. Derek treaded carefully around the issue. Once Justin decided against reenlistment, the decision to move back to New Orleans, hometown to both, had been easy. When he returned a few months before Justin, he easily got his old job back at Tulane, but everyone he went to medical school with was climbing up the corporate ladder. Something he had envisioned for himself all those years ago before he ever met Justin.
A knock on the door took him from his musings. He sat up in the chair and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yes,” he finally called out and the door opened.
“I’m out of here. I’m bringing my mom’s peanut butter fudge tomorrow night? She’s making it for you. You working?” Amanda asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Derek said, sitting up further in his seat, shuffling the paperwork on his desk to find the schedule he knew was around there, somewhere.
“What’s wrong?” she asked and stepped all the way inside the office, closing the door behind her. They’d been friends for years. Stayed in touch when he’d moved away, yet he’d never breathed Justin’s name out loud to her.
“Nothing really,” Derek said, concealing the turmoil coursing through him. If he were going to talk to anyone, it would be Amanda, but the thing about hiding made him bury all this inside him, away from everyone.
“Does it have to do with your guy?”
Derek stared at her for several long moments. This ate at him. The resentment apparently had begun to take on a life of its own. If he didn’t get this off his chest, he’d dump this on Justin, and he didn’t want that to happen with everything he was already dealing with.
“We’re still keeping our relationship hidden.” Derek covered his face as he let the words spill out.
“Why?” Amanda asked, taking a seat in front of his desk.
“I don’t know. I’d shout it off the roof tops if he’d let me. I guess I just thought things would be different for us after he got out of the military. ” Derek leaned back, the fingernail was back in his mouth, and he bit at the corner.
“Do you tell him that?” Amanda offered.
“Somewhat, but I don’t want to push him. I want him to make this decision.” Derek felt the familiar longing rush across his heart. He guessed that was his bottom line. He wanted Justin to want them bad enough to make the next move.
“Push him, Derek. You have to do something. You look tense, like you’re walking on eggshells most of the time. It’s not fair you have to hide the relationship like you do. This is so unlike the Derek Babineaux I know.” He contemplated those words. She was right on many levels. It wasn’t in his nature to just sit and wait. He had to admit the waiting was taking its toll and it was hard keeping quiet, especially with Justin now working with him every day. But love made you do crazy things, didn’t it?
He had thought once Justin was out of the military and settled in his new job, things would immediately be different. That was dumb. Justin needed time to adjust. He was allowing himself to get beat down for no reason. He needed to quit trying to read things into the relationship where Justin was concerned. The vibration from his cell phone drew his attention away from his thoughts. He palmed it, checked the number, and saw it was Justin.
“This is him now,” Derek said, lifting the phone off his desk, swiping his finger across the screen to open the message.
“Bye. See you with the fudge tomorrow,” she said, leaving as quickly as she came.