Chapter 9- Epilogue chapter

AN: Thanks to the readers and wonderful reviewers out there... you keep me typing... and smiling, too!

About a week later, he woke up to her smiling at him. She was propped across his chest, laying on her folded right arm, and had this completely content look on her face. He didn't have to ask her what she was thinking; he already knew.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he said.

She smiled at him again, then extended her left hand towards the light. "It's so beautiful, isn't it?"

Yep, he was right. "Yes, honey." He chuckled. He scooted up a bit, taking her with him, so he was half-sitting, half laying. "Did you even sleep at all last night?"

At dinner last night, he finally found the opportune moment to make the lifelong promise he'd been wanting to make her for just a little over an eternity now. He found what he thought was the perfect accompaniment for that proposal. From her ecstatic response, he chose well.

"Yes, I did, sweet cheeks," she said, giving him a nipping little kiss. It was very her, that big diamond with the little pink diamonds next to it. "It's just so perfect; just like you."

Derek watched as she sat up, and the blankets pooled around her waist, exposing her breasts. His breath caught in his throat; it didn't matter how many times he saw her naked, it knocked his socks off every time.

The sunlight streaming in the window made her golden hair a beautiful halo, her skin warm, soft ivory, the peaks of her breasts a perfect rose pink. He could write a sonnet about her, if he could find the right words. Instead, he just said exactly what he was thinking. "You are so damn beautiful."

She was stretching her arms over her head before she caught her hot stuff staring. The love and the lust she saw on his face was rather intense. She shot him a sultry little smile. "Keep looking at me like that, honey, and we'll never get up."

"And how is this a bad thing?"

She laughed, and almost assumed he was teasing. However, Penelope was very smart; she learned from past experience. When it came to Derek, she was never going to assume anything again! So, she waited just a moment…

He decided he had something to prove. Within a heartbeat, he pulled her back down and kissed her. Silly, silly girl, he thought. Staying right there in his arms, in his bed, and in his heart, could never be a bad thing.

Although she wasn't arguing. No, if he asked her, she would say she agreed wholeheartedly; it was a very good thing.