Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) (6 page)

‘That was a surprise,’ Derek exclaimed, once again bringing
me back to the moment. ‘Good on them. They both deserve to be happy, and Alexis
makes Bryce very happy. I’ve never seen him like this before.’

‘I agree. Lexi deserves a man who will treat her right,
especially after what her husband did.’ When no one was watching, apart from
Derek, I stole a raspberry from the top of the cake. ‘So ... how long have you
and Bryce been friends?’ I mumbled as I popped it into my mouth.

He watched my actions with an amused smile on his face.
‘Since high school.’

‘Nice.’ I covertly snuck another raspberry and, this time,
peeled off a shard of white chocolate.

Derek stifled a laugh. ‘How ’bout you and Alexis?’

‘Since we were four,’ I mumbled again as I consumed the
stolen cake topping. ‘We were neighbours for eighteen years, right up until
Alexis moved out to live with Rick and I moved to Melbourne.’

Derek nodded as if he were interested in what I was saying
but, like all men, he was probably more concerned with what size my tits were
and if they were real or not. I put that theory to the test by deliberately
licking the icing off my fingers.

‘Whereabouts in Melbourne do you live?’ he asked with an awkward
shuffle of his feet.

I couldn’t help but bite the inside of my mouth and smile —
I bet he just formed wood. His attempts to feign interest in order to get
inside my pants were exceedingly obvious, but also terribly cute. ‘Epping,’ I
answered.

‘I live in Richmond.’

‘Huh. So what do you do?’ I asked, pretending to be none the
wiser when, truth be told, I wanted nothing more than to see him douse my fiery
hole with his man-hose.

‘I’m a senior firefighter with the MFB,’ Derek answered with
a tinge of pride.

My eyes widened mischievously. ‘That’s hot!’

He raised his eyebrow at me.

‘What?’ I giggled, deliberately touching his arm. ‘That was
good.’

‘It was lame,’ he countered.

‘It was not. Pick-up lines are lame. That was puntastic.’

‘Puntastic?’ he queried, shaking his head in amusement.
‘Pick-up lines are not lame. Some are actually quite good.’

‘Oh yeah, name one,’ I probed.

‘Is that a mirror in your pocket? Because I can see myself
in your pants.’

‘Please,’ I groaned, ‘that was terrible.’

‘Okay, how about ... I lost my number, can I have yours?’

Looking down at my hand, I checked that my nail polish was
pristine, all the while pretending I was bored. ‘So original.’

‘You smell like trash. May I take you out?’ he offered
before taking a swig of his beer.

I had to laugh at that one. ‘Not bad. Although, telling me I
stink is going to get you nowhere.’

‘So saying, “Did you fart? Because you just blew me away,”
won’t work either, huh?’ he asked with a smile.

This time I cracked up laughing and clutched at my abdomen.
‘No.’

‘Okay, I’ve got one.’ Derek placed his empty beer bottle
down on the coffee table then turned back to me, a renewed sense of adventure
animating his face. ‘How about: I may not go down in history, but I’ll go down
on you.’

That particular pick-up line certainly got my attention, so
much so that I ceased my laughing almost immediately. ‘Um ... meh,’ I offered,
shrugging my shoulders.

‘Gee, you’re brutal,’ he joked.

Before I was able to reply, Alexis distracted me as she
casually walked past en route to the waiter. She was humming a tune that at first
I couldn’t quite make out. It was not until she started singing while she made
her way to where Tash, Lil, Steph and Jade were standing, and trying to look
inconspicuous, that I figured out it was the lyrics to ‘All Fired Up’ by Pat
Benatar.

Bitch!

Derek seemed to be none the wiser and signalled me to lean
toward him with a come hither motion. ‘How about this?’ he said in a low husky
voice. ‘I just made you come with one finger. Imagine what I can do with two?’

My mouth dropped open at the very thought of coming on his
fingers. I wanted to come and I wanted him to make me do it.

Right at that very moment, Tash walked past singing ‘Light
My Fire’ by The Doors, while slapping her hairy lady-pie like a fucking
lunatic. Alexis cracked up laughing in response, so I shot her a what-the-fuck
look and then quickly focussed my attention back on Derek.

‘That one was a little better,’ I choked out, clearing my
throat, ‘but it appears you will have eight other fingers that are just sitting
around and doing nothing.’

‘Trust me, Carly,’ Derek said with a seductive glint, ‘they
wouldn’t be doing nothing.’

My Carly-cave came to life and my vagina-bats started
fluttering around.
Holy finger-fuck, he’s gone and rendered me speechless
again.

Out of nowhere, Alexis, Tash, Lil, Steph and Jade started
belting out
‘
Girl On Fire’ by Alicia Keys and, unlike before, their
subtlety had now flown out the window. If that wasn’t bad enough, a tapping
noise sounded from my right so I turned slightly in that direction to find Will
drumming on the bar top with a couple of forks, assisting their sudden flash
mob performance. The entire scene before me was ridiculous. Not only was my
fiery hole still on fire with singed crispy vagina-bats, my head was now ablaze
and ready to explode.

Alexis Elizabeth Summers, I am going to kill you.

Grabbing the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes in the hope
that when I looked again my idiot friends would have gone away.

‘What are they doing?’ Derek asked.

Opening my eyes at this point in time and explaining what
Alexis and the girls were trying to achieve was the last thing I wanted to do.
But standing in the middle of the lounge pretending I was invisible with Derek
beside me was not an option either.

‘They are digging themselves a grave,’ I responded quietly.

‘What?’ he asked, raising his voice over their incessant
howling.

‘I think they are starting their own rave,’ I said.

He gave them all an incredulous look. ‘Interesting. Do they
always do this?’

‘Kind of.’

Derek laughed. ‘God help Bryce.’

More like god help Alexis. Preggers or not, whoreasaurus
is going down.

After the girls finished serenading the room with their
vocal performance, I launched a heated glare in their direction. Alexis winked
then made her way toward Bryce.

‘So ... what do you do with yourself, Carly?’ Derek asked as
he reached out and grabbed two macaroons from a passing waiter.

It’s called masturbation, Derek. And it’s much more fun
with a Lelo and a Tumblr account.

Realising that he was not referring to my self-pleasure
methods, instead inquiring as to what my job description was, I belatedly said,
‘Um ... I’m the receptionist at Yellow Bark Primary School.’

He handed me one of the macaroons and popped the other into
his mouth. ‘Sweet,’ he mumbled. ‘So you like kids?’

Hell no.
‘Sure, who doesn’t like kids?’ I murmured
with a laugh that lacked certitude before biting down on the circular treat he
had gifted me.

‘True, kids are a lot of fun.’

Fun, my arse. They are highly annoying disease-spreading
critters. And they never shut up.

Derek took a long drink as if to wash down the mouthful of
macaroon, or quite possibly wash away the conversation we were having. He
suddenly appeared a little nervous.

Wanting to change the subject, because kids are not a
subject I like to discuss when away from work, I asked him about his family.
‘So, do you have any siblings?’

‘Yeah, a brother,’ he replied curtly. His clipped tone
caught me off-guard and created an awkward atmosphere in the small space around
us.

‘Older or younger?’ I hesitantly asked.

‘Older.’

If ‘fucking awkward’ was a body of water, we’d both be swimming
in it now. So I gave him an unsure smile then looked down at my feet. It was
obvious I’d hit a raw nerve.

Now finding our situation highly uncomfortable, I opted to
take my leave and get some space, not to mention attempt Alexis’ demise. ‘Will
you excuse me for a moment? I need to have a word with Lexi.’

‘Of course,’ he replied, seemingly apologetic.

I was not quite sure — being a little puzzled myself — but I
sensed he had become disappointed. So I offered him a small apologetic smile of
my own and made my way toward Alexis.

As the distance between Lexi and I reduced, I screwed my
face up in aggravation and pointed my finger at her. ‘You are hilarious,’ I bit
out, sarcastically.

She covered her mouth for the smallest of seconds to subdue
a laugh. ‘I know.’

‘No. That wasn’t funny. I was so fucking embarrassed.’

‘Relax. He had no idea.’

‘Who had no idea?’ Bryce asked.

‘Derek,’ we both answered.

Bryce looked over at his mate, confusion evident on his
face. ‘What does he have no idea about?’

Alexis jumped in before I even had a chance. ‘He has no idea
Carly has a burnt burger.’ She burst into laughter.

I closed my eyes momentarily. ‘You’re a bitch, Alexis
Summers.’

‘No, I’m not, Carly Henkley. Your burger is burnt and you
need it put out, I was simply trying to begin that process.’

‘I can put out my own burger, thanks,’ I responded through
gritted teeth, practically hissing like a snake.

Bryce took a step back, hands up in surrender. ‘I’m not
fucking sure if you are talking about a barbeque or something entirely different.
Either way, I don’t want to know about Carly’s burger, so please excuse me.’ He
headed toward the other men in the room.

‘There is nothing wrong with my burger, Bryce,’ I called out
after him. ‘Just so you know, it’s a good burger.’

Let’s just get that shit straight, right now! My burger
is a masterpiece.

‘Carly!’ Alexis chided playfully, hitting me on the arm.
‘Don’t offer your burger to my man.’

‘Why? Is he a vegetarian?’

‘No! God, no!’ she laughed, ‘The man is a carnivore through
and through.’

I watched as she bit her lip and blushed. ‘I hate you, you
know,’ I said with an envious smile.

She flicked her eyebrows up once. ‘You should. Every woman
should. I’ve scored big-time.’

‘Good. I’m glad you know it, hon.’

‘Oh, trust me, Carls. I know it all right.’

***

I chose not to stick around much longer despite the fact I’d
planned to have a big night. Quite frankly, I was exhausted after the week I’d
had at work. Plus the mood between Derek and I seemed to have lost its spark
around the same time I asked him about his family. He still requested my phone
number, which I gave him, but I was pretty sure he was only doing it to be
polite.

I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t care, or that I wasn’t
bitterly disappointed. In fact, I was kind of devastated that things had gone
sour so quickly. Initially, I’d felt that the two of us connected in a way that
I had never experienced before. He seemed fun and free spirited, like I was,
and I thought that the two of us could have had a bit of fun together with no
strings attached. I got the impression he was a fan, like me, of no strings
relationships — he just seemed the type.

Yawning, I rather sullenly made my way back to my suite,
depressed thoughts of what could have been filtering through my head.

Oh, well ... knock me down and I’ll get the fuck back up
again. I always do.

CHAPTER SIX

The next morning, I decided to lap up the luxury of my hotel
suite. Why not? It was not every day that a girl like me got to enjoy spoils as
a result of her best friend snagging a billionaire. It was also my way of
cheering myself up after Derek’s obvious fob off.

As I sat in the bathtub, which was big enough to accommodate
the entire Brady Bunch, I couldn’t help but think of the caramel firefighter.
Maybe he was intimidated by a woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid
to ask. Or maybe he preferred the quiet type who sat, obeyed and worshipped. If
that was the case, then I wished him good luck. I was not the worshipping,
shut-up-and-look-pretty type. And I definitely did not obey.

Dwelling on females who had those particular attributes, I
was reminded of my baby girl, Sasha. My playful, loving, golden retriever who I
really needed to go home to and take for a walk.

Sighing in a lacklustre fashion, I dragged my wrinkly
prune-like body out of the bath and prepared to head home.

***

As I walked through the door of my house, I heard the
unmistakable sound of Sasha’s feet skidding along the polished floorboards, the
scratchy skitter of her toenails tapping on the hard surface beneath her. Her
muscular body was not yet in my line of vision, but from past experience, I
knew she was hurtling my way as fast as her legs would carry her.

Having no choice, I dropped my bag and braced for the impending
impact.

When she turned the corner, her back-end apparently didn’t
get the memo to change direction as it failed to follow her body’s lead and,
because of this, she lost balance — like she always did — and skidded on her
arse for a few feet. The sight of her ungraceful approach had me laughing but
she recovered quickly and picked up her pace.

This was the part I always watched in what seemed like slow
motion with the tune from
Chariots of Fire
playing in my head. Her
golden floppy ears flapped simultaneously with the skin of her face, showing me
what looked like a doggy smile every alternate second. And her long shaggy fur
flailed with the breeze she was creating as she prepared to launch herself into
my arms.

Sasha was only eight months old, but despite that, she still
weighed a tonne.

‘Sasha! Slow down ... argh!’

I squatted just enough so that when she jumped, I could roll
backward with her atop me. This was a practised art.