Sleeping With The CEO-Chapter 313: Tell Me

When the lights had gone out, Emily had been running from the darkness. Now she wanted to stay in the dark that the shade of the tree was creating.

I love you, Emily Molson.

The glowing words at the back of the puzzle photo stared up at her, and Emily did not want to blink. She wanted to keep looking at them until she could not anymore.

Of all the things that she had been thinking when she had been searching for the puzzle pieces, and then putting them together. Emily had never once thought that she was holding Derek’s love confession to her in her hands.

She’d had Derek’s love the entire time, and she had never realised.

"Oh, Derek," Emily whispered, running trembling fingers over the glowing letters. It was quite possibly one of the most romantic, and thoughtful gifts that Emily had ever received in her entire life, and she was not exaggerating.

No one had ever taken the time to think to do something like that for her.

"I will treasure this always," She told him, unable to keep the emotion out of her voice.

Kisses in the dark, would have been great after that. But then, the flying, hissing fiend that’d had Emily running in the first place came back. And the two of them decided it was best to head indoors.

Emily carrying the photo puzzle, while Derek walked behind her, shovel in hand. He realy had grown in leaps, and bounds. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

It was a very noticeable difference from the time when Emily had been the one carrying their luggage into the motel.

When Emily had come to the motel, after she and Derek had fallen out. She had done so with the intent of saying goodbye to everything about him. But instead, the two of them were closer than ever. And as they reached the reception,

Emily could not resist leaning up to plant a kiss on Derek’s cheek, loving the way he instantly blushed.

"Emily," He grumbled, his tone not at all convincing. For such poor acting, Emily gave him another kiss as punishment. And this time he learned his lesson.

He did not say anything, simply blushing even more.

Emily was so happy she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. But instead she settled for smiling at the old man who was watching them from the reception area.

"Have a good night," She called. But before she and Derek could leave the reception area altogether, the old man reached out.

His movement slow and jerky as he placed something on the counter.

"Here, " He said, and the two of them moved closer, realizing that it was a key.

"This is for your old room,"

They looked from the old man to each other, then back to the old man. That was some very suspicious timing.

"Didn’t you say that the room had just been painted?" Emily asked and the old man did his bone popping shrug.

"It is all dried out now, and the smell of paint is completely gone," He said it with his usual dead-eyed stare.

There was no indication that he had been lying the last time when he had not allowed Emily to take the room. But all of a sudden, it all felt ridiculously convenient. Even the power cut was now suspect. Eyes narrowing, Emily stared at the old man. But then she decided that she really did not want to know.

It was not worth the hassle. Reaching over, she took the key, and Derek addressed the old man.

"We will move our things into the old room, and then once we are done we will return the keys of the other room to you," He said.

"Be sure to do that," The old man wheezed. His face unchanging, but Emily could not help but feel that there was an extra spark in his eyes.

He almost looked. . . happy.

Was the old man secretly happy to see them together? Had he been rooting for them this entire time? Or was Emily imagining things? Simply assuming that because she and Derek were now happy to be back, the feeling was contagious .

That everybody else that they came across would also be happy.

Though her last guess was most likely the correct one. Emily chose to cling to the belief that the old man had been cheering them from the background the entire time, and that he had been manipulating things behind the scenes to make sure that the two of them got to talk.

Nodding to him in thanks, she took the key and just like that, she and Derek went back to their old room. It only took a few minutes to get their stuff from the other rooms, and move it to the old room.

And once they were done, Derek grabbed both their keys and returned them in record time. Being back in the room with Emily before she even had time to put away the sling that she’d had over her shoulder.

Putting the sling away, she took a seat on the bed, her embroidered heart hidden beneath the puzzle picture on her lap.

Emily waited for Derek to come and sit next to her. And when he did, she turned to him.

"Thank you for the puzzle picture," she told him.

"It means a lot to me that you took the time to think about this, and also have it made. I will treasure it always,"

"I have something for you too. Close your eyes," The way that he instantly shut his eyes without even a second of hesitation, made Emily light up inside. That spoke of trust, and of love.

Derek loved her, she thought. A giddy smile on her face as she lifted the puzzle picture, and put the embroidered heart on top of it.

Taking Derek’s hand, she ran it over the material.

Letting him feel it.

"What is it?" He asked.

"That night I had something to give you too," Emily told him.

"You feel that right? Every time you hold this, I want you to remember how it felt in your hands, before you even saw it...Open your eyes," She said, and he did just that. His green orbs instantly going towards where his fingers were still moving over the heart.

He gasped, and Emily had to smile. He’d taken the time to have a photo puzzle that proclaimed his love for her made. Derek really should not have been shocked to see that she too had been inspired to create something.

"This is a representation of my feelings for you. Before you, my world felt like a boring monochrome. But ever since I have known you, everything has been a burst of color," He stared at her, smiling softly, and then Emily decided to reach for the courage that he’d used while they were outside and he had been confessing.

"And in case I am not being super clear about it, I love you too, Derek Haven," She said.

To really bring the point home. She threw her arms around the back of his neck and drew him in for a kiss.

When they broke apart, they touched their foreheads together, and remained as they were.

Big smiles on their faces, not breaking eye contact. "I love you," They both said at the same time.

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