come back.”
It took several deep breaths, but finally Derek managed to bring his body back to the realm of visibility. “Please, Sam. I love you. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want you to go off and get hurt or injured. Can’t you see that?” Abruptly he got to his feet and threw himself at Sam, curling up on that big lap. “Please. It will hurt me if you get hurt.”
Sam drew him close. “Derek? I think I love you, too. I’m scared.”
At that, Derek drew back and looked up. “What? You’re scared? You’re scared of nothing!”
The love on Sam’s face was incredible. Sam traced Derek’s eyebrows, his nose, his chin—all with gentle fingers. “I’m scared because this is new for me. I haven’t felt this way before, not even after months and months of being with someone. And yet, here we are. And it’s like we’ve been together for years, but at the same time it’s new and exciting and fun and passionate and… and I don’t want to fuck it up. I don’t want to rush in and fuck it up. I don’t want to get serious if you’re not feeling serious. I don’t know if I’m ready for the responsibility of carrying your heart. It’s always been me looking out for me and looking out for others. I’ve always been that way. I know the burden of being responsible for someone’s safety. But I’ve never met anyone who feels more precious to me than you.”
Derek flattened himself against Sam’s chest where he could hear the beating of his strong heart. The heart that he admitted he wanted to own and worship and care for. “I love you, Sam. I love you.”
He heard Sam swallow, the sound vibrating against his ear as he pressed it into Sam’s solid flesh. “I don’t think anyone has given me such a precious gift as your love,” Sam murmured. “I’m not sure what I should do with it. Shout to the whole world that the best man in the whole world is mine? Keep you locked up so no one steals you? Kiss you from head to toe daily so you know how much I love you?”
Derek snickered. “The shouting sounds like you may get arrested for public disturbance. The kissing sounds really good, but I’m not sure if we’ll have the time and energy to do my whole body daily, so maybe we should just stick to once a week?”
Sam’s body quivered with his laughter and he gathered Derek up, tilting his head back and kissing him thoroughly. “Once a week won’t be often enough. But what about the locking up? Can I do that to you?”
Wrapping his arms around Sam’s neck, Derek snuggled in. “No. Sorry. I have to go to work. Besides, no one can steal me from you. I’m yours forever.”
~~~~~~~~
Chapter Fourteen
IT WAS QUITE BY ACCIDENT that the chalet Derek and Sam rented for their romantic weekend was just outside of Fleurbourg, the same town Castle de Fleur resided in. Derek stood on the balcony of their room and looked toward the southwest, the direction in which the castle stood. He was more excited than Samwise Gamgee visiting Rivendell.
“What do you think if I went and knocked on the door of the castle and asked to snoop around, maybe pull some paneling off the wall?” he asked Sam with a grin as they took in the view. They were halfway up a hill, and the chalet overlooked forests below and the township in the distance. Castle de Fleur was on the other side of the town, over the next rise. They couldn’t see it, but Derek knew it was there.
“I think they’ll get a bit of a shock. Have they met any invisible people before? Have any just turned up on their doorstep?”
Derek leaned back into Sam’s embrace. “Okay, fine. You would have to come with me. Do the introductions and let people know that I’m there, and then I would do the talking.”
“Why does it matter so much to you?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know,” Derek said honestly. “But old stuff and traditions and the what-ifs of society have always excited me. I mean, I love to imagine what it would’ve been like to live in a certain time period. What if the Royals had been hunted like witches and so many of them killed that they went underground? Kept their powers secret? Do you know how much good some of those powers can be?”
“There’s always