Chapter 58

Renovations on Rosemary’s house began the following month while She lived in the apartment that Derek gifted her in his building. Meanwhile, Rachel, Zoe, and Elaine lived with him in his penthouse.

The past month has been a period of slow recovery for Rachel after surviving that disastrous fire inhalation incident. Derek has been the perfect partner, doting on her 24/7 and making sure she got everything she needed until she finally felt like her normal self again. She got to see a different side of him and it made her believe that he was truly in their relationship for the long haul as he had told her at the hospital last month. Things were moving smoothly between them and she couldn’t be happier.

“I think it’s time for me to finally get back to normal life,” she told him after dinner. They’d spent the entire day at her mom’s apartment, watching TV and playing board games until late in the evening.

“What do you mean by normal life?” He asked.

“You know, my work. I haven’t uploaded any content in months and my YouTube channel is practically dead. Let’s not even talk about my other social media accounts. My followers have grown tired of asking me where I’ve been, and to be honest, I miss creating content. It was something I thoroughly enjoyed doing and the money that came from it was just a bonus for simply having fun.”

He chuckled. “I understand that. Running my businesses feels that way for me too. I love the feeling I get when I close a new deal or triple our annual income. There’s a rush that comes with doing something you love and getting paid for it too.”

“So, you get what I’m saying. I need to get back to work because I miss it.”

“Yeah… but we can’t have Zoe participating in those videos anymore,” he said seriously.

“Sure. I’m happy to run a one-woman show from now on.”

“Good.”

“And… that brings me to another topic.”

“Which is?”

“Moving out of here.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Why?”

“I’ve been thinking about moving back to my apartment in Atlanta, plus, Zoe’s daycare is there, and returning to a familiar territory would give her some stability, you know?”

Derek sighed. “Zoe has stability here, Rachel, I don’t know why you would want to take her away from a place where she is surrounded by family and take her to Atlanta because of her daycare. She can be homeschooled here, can’t she?”

She knew he had a point but a nagging voice at the back of her mind kept telling her that living with Derek was a temporary arrangement, and the sooner she moved out and returned to being in her own space, the better it would be for her peace of mind.

“We can’t stay here forever,” she said.

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “I had an entire life before you came into the picture, Derek. Am I supposed to just throw that away and continue living in limbo here? Isn’t this a temporary situation?”

“It doesn’t have to be. This is not just my home anymore, it yours and Zoe’s too. Don’t you feel comfortable living here with me?”

It was a difficult question to answer because she did feel comfortable living in the penthouse with Derek but she would be more comfortable if her stay there were permanent but she wasn’t about to get into that conversation right now.

“That’s not it, Derek. You have a nice place and living here for the last one month has been a heavenly experience. But… I want to… I want to feel at home. I feel like a guest here.”

He was quiet for a while. “Can you do me a favor?”

The unexpected question caught her by surprise. “Huh?”

“Can you do me a favor?” He repeated.

“What is it?” She asked tentatively.

“I need you to hold off on your moving plans for now.”

“Until when?”

“Next month.”

“Why?”

“It’s my 33rd birthday on the 5th of next month and I want you and Zoe to be here to celebrate it with me.”

“Aww…” she said, moved by his sentiment.

“So? Will you wait until then and move afterward?” He asked expectantly.

“Yes, Derek. Zoe and I will remain here and celebrate your birthday with you. Do you have plans for that day? Will you be having a themed party too?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe you could help me out with that,” he said with a grin.

She laughed. “I’m not the best when it comes to planning parties, so I’m going to enlist the help of Taylor and Rob to pull it off.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said and got to his feet. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Rachel wondered what he was up to but she obeyed his request and remained on the sofa where they’d been sitting for the past couple of minutes. He returned shortly after and presented her with a black Centurion Amex card.

“Here, this should cover all the expenses for the party and whatever else you need for yourself and Zoe,” he said. “Knock yourself out, baby.”

She reached out and took the card from his hand and stared at it. She didn’t even want to imagine the limit on the card or if it had any, she was just amazed to have this card with unlimited funds at her disposal.

“I’m going to get you your own card soon, but this one’s yours for now,” he said. “I barely use it anyway.”

“I don’t even know what to say,” she laughed nervously, knowing that she was literally holding millions of dollars in her hands right now.

Derek smiled knowingly at her. “Don’t worry, you’re going to get used to it,” he said. “Now that we have that sorted out, how about some TLC before we call it a night?”

Rachel chuckled, knowing what he was asking for. They hadn’t had sex in weeks before of slow recovery and then she’d had her period in between and it seemed to go on forever for reasons she couldn’t explain. But now, she was in good health again and the coast was clear.

“I was thinking of a nice hot shower to end the night,” she said suggestively.

“Why not,” he said. “I love hot showers especially when there’s a hot woman involved. Let’s do it.”

He bent down and scooped her off the sofa, making her giggle as he carried her upstairs to his bedroom where he wasted no time in undressing her.

“Someone’s hungry for some sugar, I see,” she teased him as he started to peel off his clothes in haste.

“I know, right? I feel as if we haven’t had sex in years!”

She laughed and followed him into the bathroom where he turned on the shower at full blast and dragged her into it. They spent the first few minutes kissing passionately. Rachel broke the kiss and grabbed the bottle of body wash near the shower and squeezed out a generous amount of the soapy liquid into her palm. She replaced the bottle in its place and rubbed the soap on Derek’s body, working up some lather as she did so.