a Quickie & Sarah Teaser

Hoping to have the last chapter of Sarah's Private Dick done and submitted by the end of this weekend.  I'm pretty happy with the way the last chapter is rounding up, although I'm not sure everyone will be.  We'll see.  This is the first time I've tried writing something with a secondary plot =) I like to think that hopefully most people will enjoy it.

I've gotten so much writing done with Venus Aspiring, which makes me happy...  I'm really hoping to have it out early and it's coming together quite nicely.  I'm going to write some background stuff for all of the characters which I'll be sharing on here soon =) Rather looking forward to that since it makes the characters a lot more interesting to me. As I've been writing, more and more about them has come out, so I think it'll be fun to have little bios for them on my blog. 

Since I'm so close to done with Sarah & Derrick, but not quite there yet, here's a little teaser for you, the very beginning of the final chapter:

When Derrick woke up the next morning he was curled around Sarah, her small body tucked into his and his face buried in her sweet smelling hair.  It was the best night's rest he'd ever gotten, including the nights that he'd spent at her house. Apparently his body liked having her in his bed with him. Liked it quite a bit, in fact, going by his response to waking up to find his arms full of beautiful, soft Sarah. But he didn't want to impose on her body, considering that she had already been a little sore last night before they'd made love.  So he got up and hit the shower, making it cold.

When he got out, his bed was empty and someone was moving around in his kitchen making something that smelled delicious. Walking into the other room he found Sarah, looking gorgeous wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts which covered her almost to her knees and past her elbows, making breakfast.  With her hair pulled back into a casual ponytail, she was humming under her breath as she sizzled bacon and watched over the french toast she was making. To her right was a small pile of sliced strawberries and blueberries, obviously meant to go with the French Toast.

"Good morning," he said.  It really was a great morning. The best he'd had in a long time in fact.

"Good morning," Sarah said, turning to face him.  "You're so good about making food for me I thought I'd return the favor."

"I appreciate it," Derrick replied as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a very thorough good morning kiss.  While she finished cooking up breakfast he finally went and listened to the voicemail that Nick had left for him.  Not that Nick had left much detail, just that he wanted Derrick to come by so that they could go over the papers together.  Not surprising, Nick hated to talk business over the phone; he'd want to be able to go over point by point how he came to his conclusion and show Derrick the paper trail on the way.

Breakfast was delicious and the best kick off to a morning that he'd had in forever.  Not only did he like Sarah being in his bed, he liked her in his apartment period. Just being around her and seeing her all tousled from last night made him want to do it again and again and again. Yeah, he was falling hard. But at least he was man enough to admit it. Not that he was going to tell her yet.  Considering her most recent relationship experience she'd probably go running for the hills.  And she deserved the chance to date other men, even if that thought made him want to punch walls. But he covered that up and just enjoyed having her at his table for breakfast in the morning.  And then he took her home, explaining that Nick wanted him to come by.  After walking her to her door and giving her yet another thorough kissing, he headed off to see his friend.

******

Sarah spent the morning back at the restaurant, feeling very good about life in general.

"So what's going on with you and Derrick?" Angel asked, sidling up to Sarah and startling her as she walked through the dining room.

"Oh um..." She had no idea what to say but the red flush that went across her face definitely said it all.  Shockingly, Angela hooted and hugged her.

"You go girl!"

"But... we're not... I mean..." Sarah stammered, unsure of how to say it.  It's not like she and Derrick had had a real conversation about what they were doing. And she wasn't sure how he would feel about people pairing them up in their minds. Although she had to admit that in her mind they were already rather paired up.  Sarah was pretty much a one man kind of woman and Derrick was an absolutely incredible man. But that didn't mean that he felt the same way about her and she didn't want people making assumptions.  After all she was going to assume anything.  Considering how often Martin had taken her for granted, that was one thing she knew she definitely did not want to do with Derrick.

"Not official?" Angela asked, practically bouncing with giddiness. "That's okay, you will be.  I can tell."

"You can?"  She felt completely out of her league.  The bouncing young woman in front of her probably did have more experience and knowledge when it came to men then she did. How depressing. But it's not like Sarah had too much pride to listen to her.

"Oh yeah. There were major sparks flying at the meeting yesterday," Angela said.  "Hey Linda!" She gave the other woman a thumbs up across the restaurant.

"What was that about?"

"You and Derrick."

Sarah groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I'm not ready for this."

"Sure you are. You and Derrick have ten times the chemistry than you and Martin did. You better not let him get away from you," Angela warned.

Suddenly the bottom of Sarah's stomach seemed to drop.  How could she possibly keep a man like Derrick when a man like Martin didn't stay faithful to her? Sure there was attraction, but what about when that was gone? Maybe it would be better to just let him go now.

"Oh no. I know that look. Whatever you are thinking you're wrong. I can tell."  Angela pulled Sarah to a stop and peered into her face. "I know you've been out of the dating game for awhile but don't you dare surrender. Does he have another woman or something?"

"I don't know," Sarah said softly. "He hasn't said so, but would he?"

"Probably not," Angel admitted. "But I don't think he does. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy." Well that was true enough.  "When are you seeing him again?"

"I don't know."

Angela looked Sarah over. "Can Linda and I give you a makeover after lunch shift?"

A makeover? Actually, why the heck not. She hadn't had one since high school and that hadn't been much of one.  At the very least it would be something she wasn't used to doing. 

"Sure, why not."

"LINDA!"