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"Alright, dear. I've got to go. Your father has been scanning the room for the last half an hour for you. He was getting worried…"
I smile. “Of course he was. Tell him I said goodnight.”
“I’ll call you in the morning so we can set a time to meet for dinner, alright?”
I swallow hard, one hand drifting over my swollen lips. “Sure. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, sweetie. Goodnight.”
"G'night," I say, and as I dump my cell back in my purse, I hug myself and let the tears flow freely.
There’s a part of me —a big part of me— that feels like I left more than a pair of ruined panties with Derek tonight.
I can’t listen to that part, though.
That part of my brain, my heart, my soul, or whatever it is, is clearly freaking insane.
How do I know that?
Easy. That part of me wants me to tell Thomas to turn the car around and go back to the museum and to that garden, back to Derek right now.
When I stumble back home nearly forty minutes later, I am stunned at myself and what I'm feeling.
I need a shower, but I can’t bring myself to take one. It might be crazy, but I want Derek’s scent on me even if I know I shouldn’t.
I want the feeling of him hugging me. I want his presence to cling to me, to linger all around me, inside and out.
I numbly walk across my open-space living room, leaving my high heels behind, and I only stop when I reach my grand piano. I slid on the bench and let my fingers fly over the keys.
Drawing a trembling, stuttering breath, I start to play, my mind focused on one single thought besides Derek's handsome face and the memory of what we shared. A memory I need to shake off pronto before it hooks into me and never lets go. I almost lost myself completely tonight, it was a lucky escape, and I can never —ever— let this happen again.
Whoever Derek is, I can’t get close to him ever again.
CHAPTER6
Derek
Istumble inside my apartment, shoulders slumped and eyes cast down.
I feel terrible, empty, and so much more. I can't really put it into words, not coherently, at least.
I fix myself a stiff drink and take a seat at my desk in my study.
It's almost three in the morning, and I should go to bed, but there's no way I can fall asleep right now.
I know only too well what I would see if I closed my eyes.
My heart knows, my soul knows, and, hell, my fucking cock certainly knows if the hard-on I've been carrying for Carina since the moment I saw her means anything at all.
I can’t believe I let her go like that!
I don't even know her full name, for fuck's sake!
The reality of her absence washes over me again, once more ratcheting my heart rate.
It's almost physically painful, and I don't understand why this is happening to me and with such intensity.
I’m tired, confused, pissed, and emotional. A messy state I'm not used to associating with myself.
