Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) (23 page)

Charlotte was a natural performer and entertained everyone
in the room with her happy aura, Lucy guiding her the entire time. As the song
wound to a close and Lucy slowly pressed the final keys on the keyboard, the
room erupted into a round of applause. Alexis and I both stood and clapped
Charli’s efforts. The twerp’s innate talents were like her mother’s.

‘Thank you very much,’ Charli said, positioning herself in
the middle of the stage and curtsying before leaping to the ground happily.

Alexis walked toward her and knelt down, meeting her daughter
halfway in order to give her a congratulatory hug. Lucy also stepped down from
the stage and squatted next to them before she and Charli then made their way
to where I now sat with the rest of the band, sans Derek.

Standing up slowly from her squatted position in front of
the stage, I watched as Lexi nervously smoothed down her pink floral dress
before greeting Derek and accepting the guitar he handed her. He gave her a
friendly and reassuring wink then took a seat on a stool positioned next to
hers.

‘What’s she doing?’ Bryce asked, clearly confused.

‘Just shut up and watch,’ Lucy replied with a conceited
smile.

‘Yeah, it’s a secret,’ Charli added.

‘Hello, everyone, my name is Alexis and I have to let you in
on a little secret. You see, for the past few months, I have been learning to
play the guitar for the sole purpose of performing here today as a surprise for
someone who means the world to me. This special someone and I suffered a great
tragedy recently, and in the midst of that tragedy, I came to realise that I
couldn’t live without him. He always finds ways to support and give me everything
that I could possibly want or need. So I wanted to give him something back,
something only I could give him. Bryce, this is from me to you.’

‘You’ve got to be bloody shittin’ me,’ he said as he muffled
his mouth with his hand. ‘How the hell did I not know about this?’

Lexi started strumming the guitar, Derek joining in and
playing his part alongside her. I watched in awe as she began singing and
inwardly admired her courage. Not wanting to openly admit it to her before
because she was having her mini-breakdown, but fucked if I would
ever
do
anything even remotely like what she was doing now. I’d seriously pee my pants.

Before too long, and as if able to wield a spell on all
around her, Alexis had captivated the room’s occupants, everyone hanging on
every note that she sang and every move that she and Derek made. Even I was
entranced and astonished by how brilliantly she played the guitar.

Alexis stepped from the stool she had been seated on and
placed the guitar on top of it, opting to take the microphone with both hands
and make her way toward our table, or more accurately, toward Bryce.

The chemistry and love between the both of them in that
moment was immeasurable. The way they blocked out everyone else around them and
focussed solely on each other was purely magical. It was what I wanted with
Derek, that instant where no one else in the world other than the two of us
existed.

In that moment, as if having been smacked across the head
with a wake-up-and-seize-the-day bat, I realised that what Derek and I shared
was not just attraction. It was a deep connection that, if he too felt the same
way, meant it was quite possible we could have a future together.

Realising I’d just had an epiphany of sorts, I tore my eyes
away from Alexis and Bryce and looked toward Derek, who was still perched on a
stool on the stage. He was watching me intently as he played the guitar, his
stare setting every nerve ending I possessed into an explosive state. The heat
from his burning gaze had the ability to mentally strip each item of clothing
from my body, stripping me down to my core.

I realised once again that he owned me.
What. The. Fuck?

Alexis finished the song and then indulged in a near-porn
session on Bryce’s lap. I was almost at the point of covering both the twerp’s
eyes.

‘You are incredible. I’m ... I’m just so ...’ Bryce shook
his head in awed shock. ‘I ... thank you ...’ he stuttered.

‘You’re welcome. Sometimes it’s easier to hide something furtively
than it is to hide it blatantly,’ Alexis said softly to him with a sneaky
smile.

‘Nice work, Alexis,’ Will added with a tilt of his beer in
her direction. ‘Now we can finally get rid of Derek.’

‘I heard that, arsehole,’ Derek answered as he stopped next
to where Bryce and Alexis were seated.

Lexi climbed off of Bryce’s lap and stood up, giving Derek a
hug. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said appreciatively.

He chuckled at something she whispered in his ear and then
pulled away. ‘You did great.’

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. ‘I did miss that
chord.’

‘What chord?’ he said with a shrug of his shoulders,
obviously trying to dismiss her mistake.

Bryce rose to his feet and shook Derek’s hand. ‘Thanks,
mate, although I’m not sure what to think about you being able to spend so much
time with my woman behind my back and without my knowledge.’

Derek patted Bryce on the back. ‘You
should
be
worried about that, mate,’ he said playfully, before moving away and pulling up
a chair next to me.

As he sat and turned in my direction, our eyes locked and
something within us both ignited. I couldn’t speak for him and guess what
emotions he was feeling, but for me, my heart was pounding uncontrollably
within my chest and I all of a sudden felt like crying. It was absolutely
fucking insane.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Derek, Bryce, Will, Matt and Lucy played the remainder of
their gig, which gave me a chance to calm my farm. Coming to the realisation
that you could quite possibly have found the one you want to share the rest of
your life with was the most terrifying revelation ever. I shit you not. It was
more terrifying than MAC going out of business or David Gandy quitting
modelling.

Now that the gig was coming to a close, I found myself starting
to think about my impending fuck-fest with Caramello Koala. Not to mention that
I now wanted to become Mrs Caramello Koala in the distant, distant future.
Holy
fucking shitballs. I want to be Mrs fucking Caramello Koala.

‘Ready to go?’ Bryce asked, as he slid his hand across
Alexis’ back.
Shit! Shit! Shit! No!

‘No, Alexis and I need the ladies room,’ I insisted, almost
at the point of panic.

She gave me an unsure look then turned to Bryce. ‘Be back in
a minute. I’ll meet you at the car. Apparently I need to pee.’

As we pushed through the door of the bathroom, she gave me a
questioning stare. ‘So why the last minute toilet trip?’

Not knowing how to divulge my life changing
‘WTF?’
moment,
I answered her flatly. ‘Because I have a bladder to empty.’

‘Why else?’ she probed further.

Entering the toilet cubicle, I sighed, figuring that I
should just come out with it. ‘Because I’m still shitting bricks.’

‘Literally or figuratively speaking, Carls? We are in the
loo, remember?’

‘Figuratively, you idiot! I’m terrified of having sex with
Derek, and clearly he wants it ... tonight!’ I put my head in my hands, elbows
resting on my knees.

‘Carls, for god’s sake just screw the man. What is wrong
with you? I’ve never seen you this apprehensive about intimacy, ever!’ She
flushed the toilet and I followed shortly after.

‘I don’t fucking know,’ I groaned painfully. ‘I hate this
feeling. What ... the ... fuck is this feeling?’ I demanded while we both
stared at our reflections in the bathroom mirror.

‘I think it’s lurrrve,’ she purred, moronically.
Love?
Oh, you can fuck right off to Fucktown.

‘Pfft. It’s not love. I barely know him,’ I dismissed.

She flicked water at my head, getting my attention. ‘You
love him.’

‘You’re disgusting,’ I replied, wiping it off.

‘Well, you are falling for him at least. That’s the only
explanation.’

I looked back at my reflection in the mirror, knowing that
she was speaking the god’s honest truth. ‘Urgh! You’re right. I think I’m falling
in love with him, and we haven’t even had sex yet. This is insane.’

Alexis moved to the hand dryer, raising her voice over the
loud hum. ‘No, it’s not. It’s exciting and wonderful and the first time you
have sex with him is going to be great.’

A smile teased at the corner of my mouth as I joined her to
dry my hands.

‘Go home, Carls. Shave your legs, arms, pussy and toes if
you have to —’

‘I don’t have hairy toes. Who has hairy toes?’ I rebuked.

‘Shave whatever needs shaving, then moisturise and do all
the fucked-up shit we think we have to do before we let a man see us naked.
Then make sure you practise your alphabet to loosen the muscles in your face.’
She started emphasising the letters ‘A’ and ‘O’ opening her mouth wide,
suggestively. ‘When was the last time you sucked cock? It’s been a while,
hasn’t it? You would’ve told me otherwise.’
Oh, I’ve sucked cock, all right.
And I owned that alphabet shit right there.

‘Fuck off,’ I retorted, looking away and not wanting to
insinuate the obvious ... which was that my mouth had already enjoyed some of
Derek’s cock. For once in my life I didn’t want to brag, and that, in itself,
was strangely out of character.

‘Yeah, I thought as much.’

‘Well, I’m not telling you anymore,’ I said as I walked past
her and pushed the door open to return to the rooftop.

‘Oh, yes you will. I want a phone call first thing tomorrow
morning.’

***

The atmosphere in the car during the drive to Derek’s house
was like nothing I had ever experienced before. My chest was heaving
uncontrollably and my thighs were trembling as a result of my excited yet
nervous anticipation. I was an emotional wreck at the thought of what was to
come — that notion extremely foreign to me — for I knew what we shared was so
much more.

‘You’re nervous, aren’t you?’ he asked, breaking the silence
between us.

I opted to remain staring out of the window when I answered
quietly. ‘Just a little.’

‘Why?’ he asked, his soft, concerned voice filling my ears.

I turned to face him. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure.’

‘I know my cock is huge, baby, but I won’t hurt you,’ he
said with a playful smile, quickly glancing at me.

Laughing, I could tell this was his way of easing my
tension. ‘I’m not afraid of your cock, Derek. I like your cock. In fact, I like
it very much.’

‘Then why are you nervous?’
Jesus, stop asking me that.

Sighing, and continuing with my new-found
Carly-speaks-the-truth quality, I answered honestly yet again. ‘Because I don’t
do intimacy very well, I never have. How can I put this? I feel without
feeling.’

Derek turned the corner and pulled up at a tiny-looking
cottage with a picket fence. The quaint little house had me raising my eyebrow
at him questioningly. ‘That’s ... cute,’ I said, trying to hold in my impending
laugh.

‘Don’t let the fence fool you,’ he advised, nodding his head
toward his house. ‘My place is badarse.’

‘Yeah, it looks it,’ I said, clearly lacking sincerity while
nodding and smiling, before reaching down and grabbing hold of my bag which sat
at my feet. Derek climbed out of the truck, jogged round to my side of the car
and opened the door for me.

Swivelling around to face him and thinking I was about to
slide down from the seat until my feet hit the road, I was pleasantly surprised
when he stepped up to me and opened my legs, slotting himself in between them.

He slowly ran his hands up the outside of my denim-covered
thighs until he secured my arse and pulled me to his pelvis in a rough jerking
motion. ‘Stop with the nervous shit. There’s nothing to be nervous about. I’m
going to worship that pretty little body of yours with my own and I can tell
you it’s going to be fucking intimate. You will
feel
everything,’ he
said as he slowly thrust his hips against me.

My eyes fluttered and a small cry of pleasure whispered
across my lips.

Derek leaned forward and brushed a wisp of my hair away from
my face. ‘After we are done, baby, then you can tell me whether you do intimacy
or not, all right?’

I clenched my legs tightly around his hips and rubbed my
pussy against him, desperately trying to relieve some of the ache my clit was
harbouring. ‘All right,’ I said with a relieved smile. Then, slinging my bag
over his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his neck, I motioned toward the
house. ‘Now how ’bout you show me your pretty little cottage and then fuck me
inside it.’

He lifted me to him, provoking a small scream of excitement
to escape my throat. ‘How ’bout I fuck you first then show you around.’

Mashing my lips to his, I mumbled, ‘Sounds like a plan.’

Derek carried me up the path and onto the small verandah,
all the while plunging his tongue into my mouth. He fumbled with his key as he
tried to unlock the door, cursing sweet words of frustration in the process.

It made me giggle.

After finally getting the door open, he stepped us into his
narrow foyer where I dropped my bag behind him in order to run my hands up and
over his closely shaved head. I loved the feel of his short hair stubble as it
gently caressed the palm of my hands.

Pressing me up against the wall, he groaned with a desperate
fierceness that rendered any control I’d previously held utterly useless.
Then, pushing a code into the security panel beside my head, he continued to
kiss me passionately.

The carnal desperation, desire and palpable need arising
from him stripped me of oxygen. I separated my mouth from his and drew in some
much needed air. My lips were plump, moist and buzzing with the after-effects
of his divine oral assault.