The VIP Room(105)

She winced as he lightly ran his fingers across the swollen area. Funny, she hadn't felt anything up until now. Either the throes of passion were stronger, or putting her weight on it caused the flare up of pain. She drew her leg back, pulling her ankle from his hands and setting her foot down gently on the sheet.

"I'm sure it's nothing. A little ice when I get home, and I'll be fine. Let's go."

Derek slipped into his underwear and shorts and sat next to her. When she kept her eyes straight ahead, he reached up and turned her face toward him.

"It's still raining too hard to leave, but I'll take you home as soon as it lets up, if that's what you want."

"Of course that's what I want! We're done here, and I'm not in any shape to be walking around looking at trees this afternoon."

"Lauren, before the phone rang, I was about to tell you something. I think if you'll hear me out, you'll see that things aren't the way you think."

"Oh, so now you can read my mind and know what I think?"

"No, but come on, you seemed pretty happy about where we were until the phone call."

"Look, Derek, you don't owe me any explanations. I'm a big girl. So we had a little fun while waiting the storm out. I didn't ask any questions, and so you didn't tell me any lies. Now what you're going to say to Carly when you do call her back, that's another story, but it's none of my business."

"That's enough!" Derek sprang to his feet.

Lauren was taken aback by the intense look on his face and realized she was going to have to hear him out, whether she wanted to or not.

"Carly is a family friend, that's all. She's not even my friend, just the daughter of my parents' friends. To me, she's nothing more than a royal pain in the butt that I'm somewhat stuck with due to the families."

Derek dropped to his knees, facing Lauren. He picked up the phone and began scrolling down the screen. "But no more. That's it. She's deleted." He tossed the phone down next to Lauren.

Lauren pushed it away from her. "Do you think I'm going to check?"

"No, forget about it."

Derek leaned in, bracing himself with one hand on either side of her. "Lauren, what I wanted to say before is how absolutely ecstatic I am to have found you. Yeah, you surprised the hell out of me just now with your passion--in a great way--but I had already fallen for the smart, sexy, caring woman I met earlier in the week. The side of you that I just got to know excites me more than you could ever imagine. I'm hard right now for you, and I have been since you turned around and sprayed me with your hose."

Lauren burst out laughing. She had been watching his face intently and saw honesty in his eyes. She believed him, despite the inner voice that told her every word was a lie, and a man like Derek would never be interested in her. But the image of their first meeting drowned out the nagging whispers of doubt.

She leaned in, threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him down on top of her. "Well, today you sprayed me with your hose, so let's call it even."

Derek mumbled something into her neck about having to pull off their clothes all over again before he lowered himself and his head disappeared under her skirt.





Chapter 3





Monday morning Derek sat in his office organizing the day's schedule for his work crews. He usually did this the night before the job, but he had been with Lauren until she threw him out right before midnight on Sunday, saying she had to get some rest before going to work the next day, something she couldn't do as long as he was there.

He would have stayed and f*cked her right up to having to leave for work today, just the way they'd been f*cking since Saturday afternoon. Man, that woman took everything he gave her and wanted more.

She'd showed her kinky side when it came to sex play, and Derek felt his pants filling out uncomfortably just thinking about her propped up in bed wearing nothing but a black corset, garter belt, and the sexiest lace-topped stockings he had ever seen. She let him cuff her wrists to the bedposts and tie her legs spread eagle to the footboard of the bed. She had all the equipment, including nipple clamps, silky scarves, blindfolds, creams and lotions, handcuffs, and a half dozen vibrating gizmos that he could tantalize her with, and she shared her stash with him.

Derek shifted uncomfortably in his seat, stuck his hand down his pants to reposition himself so he wasn't choking off circulation to his manhood, and forced himself to return his attention to the spreadsheet on his computer screen. He was so immersed in the scheduling that he didn't notice his brother standing in the doorway until he turned to get the schedules off the printer behind him.

"Cade! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see you battling your thoughts and forcing yourself to pay attention to work. What's going on, little brother?"

Derek shook his head. Even though he and Cade were physical opposites--Cade was dark haired, slender, although still muscular, and several inches shorter--they thought alike, so there was no use denying what he brother had already observed.

Derek loved his brother dearly, but he wasn't ready to share his new relationship yet. He wanted more time alone with Lauren before exposing her to the scrutiny of his family, who viewed every possible additional heir to the fortune with suspicion. It was one of the reasons Derek had kept his romances short and casual. Of course, that hadn't worked out so well for him, because most of his previous lovers were quite eager to be introduced his parents, thinking that would bring them one step closer to the money.