SCARRED - Part 2 (The SCARRED Series - Book 2) by Kylie Walker

sun was just beginning to find its way into the portside window of the yacht. She was facing away from Derek, so she couldn’t see him, but she could feel the strength of his arms wrapped around her and the rise and fall of his chest against her back. She lay still, enjoying it and also wondering if she’d maybe lost her mind just a little bit. Part of her wanted to believe that the man who made love to her last night and was holding her this morning was fully aware that the woman he had in his arms was Chloe and not Sarah.
    She knew that even if all the other risks of this relationship were put aside, that one alone would be monumental. When Derek spoke about Sarah she could still see the pain and the love in his eyes. He not only loved her when she was alive, he still loved her. He still clung to his memories of her and for two years he’d lived his life in a sort of limbo without her. Then along comes Chloe. Her twin...if not in birth then definitely her doppelganger. They were identical, or at least they would be if Chloe took out the contacts and stopped dying her hair brown. What if this was all some twisted fantasy in his head? What if she let her guard down and began to develop feelings for him only to find out that what he wants is a clone of his sweet, deceased wife?
    Chloe thought about those photos she had looked at. Sarah looked like she was full of life. In every photo, she was doing something fun and she looked happy. There were pictures of her skiing...something that Chloe had never done; pictures of her in high school on the cheerleading team and singing in the school choir. There were photos of her and her parents at places like Disneyworld and Six Flags, riding roller coasters and hugging cartoon characters. There were pictures of her dancing and laughing and playing...and then there were the ones that had been really hard for Chloe to look at...the pictures of her life with Derek. She was looking at everything that she was denied throughout her life and it hurt like hell.
    She had come to the page where their engagement announcement had been cut carefully from the newspaper and slipped into a plastic sleeve. The date showed that it was only four years ago but there was a more innocent, younger look to Derek’s face then. Likely it was because he hadn’t been through the horrible, tragic loss of the woman he adored yet. That would have to take its toll. There was a picture on the next page of the two of them standing underneath a tree. They were holding hands and she was looking up at him and him down at her. The look they were sharing was so intense that it almost jumped right up off the page. Was Chloe insane to believe that she could ever even come close to competing with that?
    She felt Derek stir next to her and still self-conscious during the daylight of the scars that covered her back; she rolled so that she was facing him. His eyes were still closed, but he smiled. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said.
    Chloe felt that flutter in her stomach and the catch in her throat. She knew that if this was a bad idea, she had already let it go way too far. But she was face to face with him and his gorgeous lips were a mere fraction of an inch away. She’d have to be made of stone to resist. She kissed him softly and when she pulled back, the arm around her waist tightened and pulled her in deeper instead. They kissed passionately then and she thought that he had to have the sweetest morning breath that she’d ever tasted on her own lips. When he finally let her up for air she said, “Good morning.” He tried to lean in and kiss her again and she pulled back and said, “I should probably head home.”
    “Why?”
    “Why?”
    He opened his eyes and looked at her. God, she was beautiful. “Yes, why should you head home? If you stay, I will make you breakfast...”
    “I thought you could only do stir-fry.”
    “I did say that, didn’t I? The truth is, stir-fry is all I can do for dinner, but I’m