Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) (21 page)

‘So, what’s her deal?’ Will asked seriously.

‘She’s a redhead,’ I deadpanned.

‘Besides her hot as fuck hair,’ he said with a tone of
desire while watching Lib dance. ‘She got a man?’

‘Nope.’

‘She want one?’

‘Yep.’

‘Good to know,’ he said before finishing his drink, pushing
off from the pylon and making his way in the direction of my friends with the
look only a hungry predator would possess.

‘I hope you realise you just willingly tossed your friend to
a wolf,’ Lucy informed me with a knowing smile.

‘I know. She needs to be chewed on for a bit.’

‘Nice!’ she laughed and then reached over me to grab hold of
another shot. ‘Nipples come in pairs,’ was all she said, her explanation quite
satisfactory. ‘So, how’s things with you and Derek?’

I choked on the Cum Shot I was in the process of downing.
‘What do you mean?’

‘The two of you ... you’re an item, right?’

I shook my head as I wiped my lips and chin. ‘No, I don’t
think so.’

‘Oh ... sorry. I just thought that from what he and Lex said
— Sorry, it doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything.’

Her reddened cheeks had me curious. ‘We’ve been having some
fun together, but that’s all. And anyway, he’s in Sydney for god knows how
long.’

‘Yes, I know. Once he has things sorted with his father,
he’ll be back,’ Lucy said softly with a kind smile.

Why does she know about his trip to Sydney? And why does
she know more than me?

I was aware of the fact that Lucy and Derek had known each
other ever since they were kids. But what I wasn’t aware of was just how close
they were now ... obviously closer than I thought.

Plastering on an artificially-sweet smile, I downed the last
of my shots. ‘Right, let’s dance!’ I hollered, my tone a mix of anger and
determination. Clearly, in the mind of Derek, I was only close enough to fuck
around with, yet not be privy to important information regarding his life.
Maybe I was expecting too much? I don’t know. One minute, he was saying one
thing and the next he wasn’t backing it up. He gave me the impression he wanted
‘more’, but then again, that was probably the problem ... we weren’t exclusive
so why expect anything more.

With thoughts of retribution and a weird confused-clarity
now swimming through my body with the alcohol, I tore my metaphorical blinkers
off and expanded my peripheral vision to take in some sexy looking man-bait. I
was done with Derek holding me at bay.

***

‘What are you doing?’ Libby said angrily as she pulled me
away from a piece of Italian man-sausage.

‘Dancing with ...?’ I asked, gesturing to the sausage and
raising my eyebrow in anticipation of his answer.

‘Marco,’ he responded with arrogance.

‘Marco, I’m dancing with Marco,’ I answered Lib. ‘Want to
join in?’

‘No, you stupid cow, I don’t. And I don’t think Derek would
like you dancing with him either.’

Italian man-sausage shook his head in frustration and then
walked away.

‘Lib, you just scared him off. I wanted to see the sausage’s
sausage,’ I whined with a giggle-infused pout.

‘What is wrong with you? What about Derek?’

‘What about Derek?’ I barked. ‘He’s in Sydney, and whatever
it is that he is doing there, he obviously doesn’t want me to know.’

Will stepped up beside me and handed me his phone. ‘You may
want to take this,’ he said, with a look that spelled trouble.

‘It’s not my phone. My phone is here,’ I explained while
reaching into my bra to retrieve it. As I pulled it out, I noticed five missed
calls and ten text messages from Derek.
Shit!
‘Is that him?’ I mouthed
to Will, swaying slightly as a result of my intoxicated state and daringly high
heels.

Sporting a shit-eating grin, he nodded his head slowly. I
groaned and grabbed the phone. ‘What’s up?’

Derek’s sexy but infuriated voice filled my ears and
journeyed through my body in a tantalising manner. ‘Baby, I’m fucking pissed.’

‘So,’ I slurred, ‘so am I.’

‘So? What the fuck is going on, Carly? I get a text from
Will telling me that you’re getting salsa lessons from a cock-happy Italian
fucker at Opals. I thought you said no side dishes.’

‘I did,’ I quipped.

‘So why you breakin’ that rule?’

Guilt, frustration, anger and sadness washed over me like an
emotional tsunami that forced the closing of my eyes and the intake of a deep
breath. ‘Because we aren’t working, Derek.’

‘Who says?’ he asked angrily.

‘Me.’

‘Why?’

‘Just wait a minute,’ I scowled. ‘I need to find somewhere
more quiet.’

I moved away from the crowd of people dancing around me and
headed for a private, more quiet alcove in the club. ‘Derek, I can’t do this
anymore.’

‘Why?’

I sighed defeatedly. ‘Because I’m feeling things I’m not
used to. Because I’m confused and I don’t like it.’

‘And ...’ he asked, his tone now sounding perplexed.

‘And it fucking frightens me, all right?’ I blurted out.

‘Baby?’

I didn’t answer him. I was too confused, angry and wasted to
speak.

‘Baby?’ he said a little more firmly.

‘What?’ I snapped quietly.

‘Let me try this in a language we both speak so that you
understand it loud and clear: “I’m not a photographer, but I can picture you
and me together.”’

I dropped my head back and let out a small laugh at his
cheesy pick-up line.

‘Your body is sixty-five percent water and I’m thirsty,’ he
continued.

‘Derek, stop it,’ I sighed with a sad smile, ‘you are not
helping,’

‘Carly. You and me just “are”, all right?’

‘Are what?’

‘We just ... “are”.’

Understanding what he was getting at, I begged the question
I’d been pondering. ‘Are we?’

‘Yes. No side dishes. Just us,’ he said firmly.

‘What are you saying?’

‘You know what I’m saying. I’m making us official.’

‘If we are official, then why won’t you tell me why you are
in Sydney?’

‘I will,’ he said on a loud exhalation of breath. ‘But I
want to do it face to face.’

‘So why is it that Lucy knows?’ I asked, unable to hide the
accusation in my tone.
Damn it! This is not me. I’m not the jealous type.

There was a pause on the line before he spoke again. ‘Carly,
Lucy and I have known each other for a long time. We are close, as are Bryce
and I. They know my family, and they know me.’

‘That’s just it, Derek. How am I supposed to get to know you
if you won’t let me?’

I could hear him let out yet another frustrated breath. ‘I
will let you.’

‘When?’

Silence circled again, dashing my optimism that the two of
us could work. ‘Never mind. Look, I’ll see you when you get back, whenever that
will be.’

Just as I was about to end the call, Derek’s voice raised to
a desperate shout. ‘Carly, my dad is sick. This shit is hard for me, all right?
Please just give me time and let me explain on my own terms.’

I inwardly sighed with relief that he had finally opened up,
even if it were only a little. Why was it so difficult for him to be candid,
and for me to give him the benefit of the doubt? Why could I not embrace that
what we shared was so much more than just surface attraction? Why was it so
hard?

‘Baby,’ he asked softly, ‘will you give me time?’

Surrendering to the supplication in his voice, I sighed.
‘Okay.’

‘Good, now get this into that pretty blonde head of yours.
You and I “are”, remember that. And if I get word that you are rubbing that
sexy fucking body of yours against another man, shit ain’t gonna be pretty.’

‘Well, best you hurry up and get back here, because I like
to dance and I like to dance dirty.’

‘I can tell you now that when I get back, we won’t be
dancing.’

‘We’ll see about that, Dik,’ I said, my cheeky smile audible
through my words.

Derek chuckled deeply. ‘You’ll be getting dick, and plenty
of it, don’t you worry.’ His promise and deep sounding amusement were the
ignition to the fuse of my heart.

‘I can’t wait,’ I choked out.

‘Neither can I. Now go. Go and enjoy the rest of your night.
I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, and Carly ...’

‘Yeah?’ I asked, expectation lacing my voice.

‘I mean it, stay away from the Italian fucker. I’m not the
sharing type, baby.’

I smiled at his possessive words. ‘Neither am I.’

We disconnected the call, which was when the last few
moments of our conversation finally sunk in.
Not the sharing type? We ‘are’?
Fuck the stars! I think Derek just officially became my boyfriend.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Derek had to remain in Sydney for the three weeks that followed
our discussion that the two of us ‘are’. I was still not sure what ‘are’ was.
Okay, so I gathered ‘we just are’ meant we were officially together, and in
youngster’s terms, boyfriend and girlfriend. But the notion was still strange
to me. Yes, I was thirty-five years old and acting like a pathetic adolescent.
But the whole commitment thing was foreign territory for me. I’d never
committed to anything or anyone in my life — apart from raising Sasha and Rico.
Oh, and my joint tenancy lease with Libby. So I guess it was only natural that
Derek and I being ‘are’ would take a while for me to get used to.

During our telephone conversations and text messages over
the course of the past few weeks, Derek had opened up bit by bit on his own
terms and explained that his dad had suffered a stroke many years ago.

He and his twin brother, Sean, had both been expected to
take over the family business. Sean and their mother, Loretta, had made the
assumption that Derek would give up his career as a firefighter and co-run King
Logistics. So when Derek explained that he had no intention whatsoever of doing
that, the proverbial shit basically hit the fan.

Just the other night, after a session of scorchin’ hot phone
sex, Derek mentioned that he and his father had always gone head-to-head with
respect to his chosen career path. He also explained that he’d very adamantly
stood his ground and pursued the life that he wanted for himself and, because
that was not the life his father wanted for him, they had become estranged.

After his father suffered the stroke, Derek’s parents moved
to Sydney to be closer to the country’s leading neurologist. Sean remained in
Melbourne and was appointed president of King Logistics by proxy.
Unfortunately, and ever since, Derek’s relationship with his entire family had
become strained.

He’d told me that although he hated having to go to Sydney,
because being around his family was incredibly hard, he still felt obligated to
make sure his mother and father were coping after his father’s most recent TIA
— a Transient Ischaemic Attack, apparently. That devoted and caring side to him
only further reinforced my feelings that if I’d had any doubts about his
loyalty toward people he cared about, then those doubts were undeserved and
disproved.

***

I’d received a text the previous night, prior to Derek
boarding his flight. My plans were to drive to the airport and pick him up, but
he’d explained that his flight was delayed and wasn’t due to arrive at
Tullamarine until the early hours of the morning. He didn’t want me driving at
such a dreadful hour and had told me he’d taxi it home and pick me up the
following day, where he would take me to the gig that Live Trepidation were
playing at a rooftop bar in the city.

So when I heard the engine of his Ranger pull up out the
front of my house, the excited feeling he evoked in me was paradoxical: elated
fear. I was excited at seeing him in the flesh after three weeks, but the
thought of that terrified me. This would be our first reunion since declaring
that we ‘are’.

As I scooted along the hallway after hearing him knock, I
took a few deep breaths before stopping and opening the door.

‘Hi,’ I said with a smile that stretched my skin, almost to
the point of discomfort.

Derek was standing with hands behind his back, his expression
mirroring my own, but in a more cool and controlled manner. ‘Hi, gorgeous,’ he
replied, his smile drawing an unusual feeling from within. It was a feeling of
infatuation, of weak knees and light-headedness.

I took in his tight grey t-shirt and black denim jeans,
which were fastened with a thick, black leather belt. The whole
I’m-a-sexy-rock-god ensemble was finished with a pair of heavy black boots.

Reaching out, I grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and
aggressively pulled him to meet my lips. One of his hands instantly found my
arse while the other gently slid up the back of my neck, stopping at the base
of my skull. His touch sent a delightful shiver down my spine.

He pressed me into his hard warm body, and I moaned with
pleasure at finally being able to feel and taste him again — he really was
addictive.

‘I’ve missed you,’ I murmured honestly.

‘Mm ... the feeling is mutual, baby,’ he murmured in return,
firmly flexing his fingers into my hair.

We continued to kiss each other hungrily while standing at
the threshold to my house, neither of us wanting to separate from one another.
So many emotions filled my being as we held each other tightly: desire,
longing, fear, safety and an undeniable attraction. The physical allurement
between us was acute.

I felt comforted and relieved, yet I also felt anxious and
frenzied. One thing I no longer felt, as a result of our forced telecommunicated
relationship and lack of physical interaction over the past three weeks, was
reluctance. I was no longer reluctant where Derek was concerned. The hesitation
and foreboding I experienced beforehand were now a thing of the past. It was
time for me to see what was beyond attraction. It was time for me to accept
that we ‘are’.