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"Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about? You should be taking a victory lap. I called to say congratulations."
The words he's saying are English, but for whatever reason, they don't make sense to me. "Huh?"
"Conway called yesterday to put in an offer. Of course the paperwork still has to go through, but I'd optimistically say it's a done deal. What he offered was significantly above the asking price."
Derek bought the house. Derek bought the house. Jeremy is still talking, congratulating me, telling me something about my next job, how I'll fit in well, but I'm not really hearing him. It's only his silence that prompts me to speak. "Thanks," I say automatically. "See you Monday?"
"Monday." He agrees and clicks off.
Derek bought the house. I'm not fired. This can't be real, can it?
I dial Derek's cell number. It's the first time I've ever called him on this number, but I don't want to call his office. I don't want to speak to his secretary. Just him. Just his voice.
"Derek Conway."
I can't even say hello, only the words that are echoing in my brain. "You bought the house."
There's a surprised silence, he didn't know it was me calling. Then, "Yes, I did."
Leaning into the couch, I ask, "What made you change your mind?"
"Meet me there,” he says.
"At the house?" I blink several times. He wants to see me after I laid into him?
"Yes." I hear the faint rumbling of street noise in the background and I realize that he's in the car. "I'll tell you what changed my mind if you meet me there."
I rub a hand over my face. I want to see him, and I don't. After yesterday I thought I'd never want to see him again, and now I'm not so sure. Either way I have to know why he did this. "Okay," I say softly. "It may take me a while." There's no way I'm going there in this state. I need a shower and coffee and about ten pounds of make-up.
"I'll wait," he says, without any hesitation.
I hang up without saying goodbye, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. My life has been too much like a roller-coaster this week. I'd love it if things could just calm down. But even beneath my worry and curiosity, there's relief. He bought the house. Even if he's still an ass, I'm going to get paid. I'm not going to be homeless, I'm not going to be fired. That feels good.
I take my time in the shower, using the hot water to clear my head and soothe my headache. It makes me feel a little better, though no one ever feels one hundred percent after that much alcohol. I do my make up, and I don't do my professional make-up. As far I'm concerned, I'm not his realtor anymore, and I'm going to show him just how hot I can look if only so I can see his face when I walk in the door.
I choose a dress that makes me look damn good, and isn't remotely related to my career. When I'm finished and I look in the mirror, I smile. Even if I don't feel it, I look great.
Anxiously I grab my bag and head for the door. I need to hear what he has to say, no matter what it is.
12
The weather today is cloudy, a possible storm brewing off the coast and making the house look ominous and foreboding. Derek's car is here, the same shiny sports car that he pulled up in at the beginning of the week. My stomach bubbles with nervousness as I approach the house and let myself in.
I don't see Derek, but I know where he is, because an amazing smell is wafting through the house and that can only mean one thing. As I enter the kitchen, I see Derek. He's stripped out of his suitcoat, shirt open at the collar and sleeves rolled up. Plates are on one of the counters and I see the beginnings of a meal—a meal for two. It smells so good that my stomach growls, and I remember that I haven't eaten anything today. Never mind that I probably wouldn't have been able to eat this morning.
I step further into the room, and he sees me. He immediately stops what he's doing. He turns down a burner and covers a pot, giving all his attention to me. "You made it."
I point at the stove. "You're cooking."
He gives me a small half-smile. "Yes, I am."
"Well, I guess it's your house in all but name. So that's fine." I walk over to the large island, putting down my bag. "I don't understand, Derek. You said no. You said that this wasn't the house. That you didn't want it. So what happened?"
He's silent, running his hand through his hair. I think he's trying to piece together his words, but I can't seem to stop talking. "I mean, if you were going to buy the house all along why would you put me through that? Why would you make me think I was going to lose my job? Why would you say you didn't want—"
Derek eyes snap to mine and he crosses the distance between us, pulling me against him and kissing me. His arms come around me hard, and one of his hands tangles in my hair. His mouth is crushed against mine, and it's like liquid fire has been poured into my body.
I open my mouth to him and he devours me with his tongue. There's so much desperation, so much longing in this kiss that it makes me ache, and when he pulls away I'm breathless. "You thought I didn't care?" he asks, and he's fighting for his breath too. "Of course I fucking care. I would never want anything bad to happen to you. Ever." He gathers himself, and he's struggling for the words. "I just knew…I knew that when I said yes and signed the paperwork that I'd never see you again."
“What?” My mind races, connecting the dots between what he's saying and what he said yesterday.
“You wanted your commission.” There's pain in his eyes, a kind of old and familiar hurt. “You aren't the first. Do you remember how I told you I sold my house to that charity?” My head bobs in answer. “The realtor who convinced me to do it... she told me over and over how much she wanted to be involved in the charity. How much it meant to her.” He laughs humorlessly and I feel it in my bones. “She took her money, and the day they opened the doors to celebrate, she didn't even show. Never answered my calls. She got her money and left. Just like you're going to.”
I stare at him, ice creeping in my veins. He's holding me but it's not enough to take the edge off my unease. “One person burned you and you thought I--”
“Not one,” he growls, “I've seen so many come and go! Fundraisers, businesses, gold diggers, even my own father...” He trails off, shutting his eyes and gathering himself. “Even if I love them, they use me and disappear.”
A warm feeling pools in the base of my stomach, a mixture of pleasure and happiness. “Love?” I whisper. All those houses he made me show him, his reasons for saying no, all so that he could keep seeing me. I'm caught between wanting to kill him and kiss him again.
He looks a little panicked at my silence. "Closing this deal means it's over, and I was having too much fun to want to let it end," he says.
The laugh that bubbles up is unexpected and joyful, and suddenly I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying. Derek is looking at me like I'm crazy, and I can't stop. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down so I can kiss him. He kisses me back, and it feels so good to just be happy. I break out laughing again and it interrupts our kiss.
I try to get a hold on myself so I can speak. "You mean this whole time you were giving me the run around because you thought I just wanted to make a buck off of you?”
Derek’s face changes again, and I feel the change in his body. “If I'd told you, you would have been insulted. I've tried it a hundred different ways... no matter what I do or say, when someone wants something from me, that's all it comes down to.”
Cupping his jaw, I rub my lips on his softly. He inhales with a groan. “Try it this way with me,” I say. “Tell me you want me. And I'll say I want you.”
His hands find the back of my dress, unzipping me, and I work on the buttons on his shirt. I want to feel his skin on mine, and I push his shirt off his shoulders to reveal his chest.
My dress drops to the floor as we press together. Our encounters have been so quick, so frenzied, this is the first time I've seen him without a shirt. He's beautiful, a swimmer’s body, long and lean, and I hope that I get to see him naked in the ocean outside. r />
Part of his chest is covered in a beautiful tattoo, a tree swirling up his side and over his shoulder. Some time I'll ask him what it means. Right now I can't take the time for that. I kick off my shoes, shedding my bra and underwear as he removes his pants, and then he pulls me against him again.
I revel in the feel of skin on skin, the first time being naked with him. His cock is hard between us and I can feel exactly what he's thinking as his tongue plunges inside my mouth. I run my hands down his back, grabbing his ass and pulling him against me. He lifts me off my feet and then we're on the floor. A shoe is pressing into my side and a zipper into my back, but I don't care. I want him inside me, and I don't want to wait.
“Like this?” he asks. “Without a condom? I’ve been dying to feel you with nothing in between us. I’m safe. Are you on the pill?”
