Tainted Pictures by Sarah Robinson Page B

he saw Kate tense up.  He felt a stab of guilt hit him again, knowing that she was afraid of what he was going to say.  He knew that she was still afraid that he was going to leave and every time he opened his mouth, he knew she was waiting to hear the words she dreaded.  Derrick made a quick decision, Kate had been through enough.  She didn’t need to worry about this phantom cigarette smoker.  He wasn’t even sure that the two events were connected or if he was reading into trivial things that Kate didn’t need to worry about.
               “...no, it’s nothing bad.  I was just going to say that Detective Snow called.  She is coming over here to tell you some news in the case, it sounded good.  She should be here soon.”  Derrick told her and went to go sit on the bed.
               “Oh, that’s it?  Jeez, your face looked like you had seen a ghost or something.”  Kate sighed in relief, then continued to brush her hair and fluffing it out.  
               “Sorry, didn’t mean to do that.”  Derrick grinned at her, giving her that boyish smile that she couldn’t help but smile back at.  She turned towards him and walked over to him, straddling his lap where he sat on the edge of the bed.  She kissed him lightly first on his forehead, then on his cheeks, then on the tip of his nose, and finally reaching his lips.  He wrapped his broad arms around her back and her towel fell to her waist.  
               Their lips tangled around one another and began to heat up as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself tighter against him.  Her bare chest pressed into his t-shirt as his hands ran up and down her back, cherishing her warm and damp skin.  She flinched a moment or two when he made contact with a bruise but pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she concentrated on his firm lips pressed against hers.  
               Derrick stood up, her legs wrapping around his waist, and turned around to face the bed.  He climbed deeper into the bed laying her down on it and she relaxed onto the plush covers, smiling back at him.  He wasn’t giving her a boyish grin anymore, instead his eyes were smoldering and he was biting his lip as he attempted to slow himself down and remind himself of her limitations.  
               He kissed her lips again, then moved to her cheek, down to her jaw, below her ear, and then trailing further down her neck.  He paused in the dip of her clavicle at the base of her neck and kissed it gently.  She shivered beneath him as she felt her skin tingling with the sensation of his unshaven face scratching softly against her smooth skin.  She felt her breath quickening and her heart threatening to slip right out of her chest and it began to frighten her.  She felt Derrick kissing  her breast softly, then her stomach, and soon he was kissing her thighs.  
               Kate jolted up in the bed, panicking and forgetting where she was.  "Derrick was startled and looked up at her in confusion."  All Kate could see was her attacker biting her thigh.  The blood trickling down her legs.  The pain shooting through her limbs.  The humiliation of being invaded.  She was watching it all happen in front of her eyes, as if she were experiencing it again.  
               “Kate!  Kate!!  Stop screaming!  What’s wrong?  Did I hurt you?”  Derrick was calling to her and she blinked, puzzled, as she looked at him.  
               “What?”  She asked him confused, wondering why the last few minutes felt so foggy and why she felt so anxious.  
               “You were just screaming at the top of your lungs! What do you mean ‘what’?”  Derrick asked her, concern etched across his face as he pulled her forward and into his lap on the bed.  
               “Kate, I’m really sorry.  I didn’t mean to frighten you.  I promise I won’t push