“Yep.” He stood there, like he didn’t want to get into bed with her.
She scooted over and hugged Larry to her chest. “I’ll give you as much room as you need.”
He nodded, then flicked off the light and climbed onto the bed. The moonlight came in the large patio door, casting a glow on Derek’s face. His lips seemed more pronounced. It must be the lighting. It was kind of fascinating to her.
Nara rolled onto her side to face him. “I was tired in the jacuzzi, but now I’m not. I don’t know why.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
She fiddled with the stubby unicorn horn that protruded from Larry’s forehead. “Have you ever thought about artichokes?”
He paused, then shot her a funny look. “No.”
“I mean, artichokes are weird-looking, right? Did you know they are actually the bud of a thistle?”
He raised an eyebrow. “No, I did not know that.”
“It’s interesting, right? But the heart of the artichoke is delicious.”
“I’ve never been a fan.”
Her mouth dropped open and she gasped. “What?”
“No, I’m serious. I’ve never liked artichoke hearts.”
She sat up and crossed her arms. Her shadow fell across Derek’s face. “Well, that’s it. I can’t stay married to you. That’s ridiculous. Artichoke hearts are like the yummiest thing in the entire world.”
He sat up as well, his hair mussed up already with bed head. “You’re joking. You’d divorce me over artichokes?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m just shocked. Have you ever eaten a whole artichoke, dipping the leaves in mayonnaise?”
“No. I’ve only eaten them canned.”
“Well, that’s it then. When we get home, I’m making you artichokes. And I’ll teach you how to eat them. Fresh artichokes are nothing like the hearts in a can.”
He paused, his face pensive. “What if I still don’t like them? Are you going to divorce me?”
She pushed his shoulder. “Stop it. You’ve decided you’re not going to like them before you even tasted them?”
“I’m just preparing myself for either outcome.”
His lips did that not-smile thing, and she poked him in the side. “You’re teasing me.”
“And you’re talking nonsense.”
She couldn’t help the fake gasp that came out. “You’re so mean.” She shoved him again, but he didn’t budge. At all. She pressed harder, hoping to topple him over, but it was like shoving a boulder. He wasn’t going anywhere.
She got up on her knees and put her back into it. He did fall over that time, but she had shoved so hard that she capsized along with him. He fell against his pillow. “Oof,” he said when she landed on him.
She laughed, feeling like a teenager flirting with her crush. “Serves you right for being immovable.”
He gazed up at her. “You never have been one to back down from a challenge.”
“You know it.” Her words came out sounding funny and she realized she was out of breath. Did pushing him over take that much energy? Or was it the fact that she was now pressed up against him, her lips so close to his she could feel his breath on her cheek?
Curiosity grew in her. What would it be like to kiss him? She’d almost found out when they were in the jacuzzi. If she hadn’t been interrupted, she would have kissed him, and then blamed it on the need to act like a real couple.
Her heart thumped out a wild rhythm. What would he do if she closed the distance, and placed her lips on his? Would he be startled? Would he toss her away, like a ragdoll? He was certainly strong enough. But would she upset him?
Time moved slowly. Butterflies erupted inside her stomach and she knew she was going to kiss him. She moved closer and closed her eyes. And suddenly his lips were on hers, moving across them in a way that caused her to lose all thoughts in her head.
His hands moved up her sides, and tingles shot through her. Every little movement from him caused lightheadedness, as if she could lose consciousness any second. It felt both amazing and overwhelming at the same time. She wanted more, and yet, couldn’t handle what she was feeling. How had she never known kissing a man could be like this?
Derek froze, as if he’d suddenly realized what was going on, and was aghast. He pulled back and she grew embarrassed that she’d practically accosted him. She jumped back, heat creeping up her neck. She scrambled to her side of the bed.
Derek sat up, looking like he’d just stepped on her pet hamster, and now didn’t know how to make it better. His mouth opened, and then closed.
She couldn’t catch her breath. Her skin still tingled from his touch. Her heart raced, and words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. But the way Derek looked, she feared he thought what had happened was a mistake. She wanted him to know it wasn’t. But she couldn’t think. “Uh…”
“Don’t say anything.” He held up his hand, cutting off any other noises that might come out. “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go to sleep.”
Her mouth dried up, and the high she had from a moment ago crashed. He hated it that much? He didn’t even want to talk about it?
She licked her dry lips. “You want to sleep?” After that? Nara didn’t think she’d fall asleep for a week. She stared at him, like he had said something in German and she couldn’t understand.
“I think it’s best. I’m tired now.” To prove his point, he climbed under the covers and laid back on his pillow. “Let’s call it a night.”
Nara couldn’t believe it. How could he ignore what had happened? She couldn’t even breathe properly yet. She didn’t want to forget it. She wanted to keep doing it. Kissing Derek had tilted her world. And now she had to roll over and fall asleep. She laid back, but stayed on top of the covers. She was already too hot.
She couldn’t even comprehend why Derek wanted to pretend the kiss hadn’t happened. He must have thought it was the worst kiss he’d ever had. Maybe she smelled bad? Oh, no. Did she have bad breath? She rolled over and quietly breathed into her hand and sniffed it. She didn’t smell anything terrible. What if she had body odor? A quick check told her that wasn’t it. Maybe he just didn’t like her.
Disappointment fell over her like a shroud. She’d thought they were getting along so well. What if he simply thought she was a bother? He couldn’t be attracted to her if he could stop a kiss like that and roll over and go to sleep.
She closed her eyes and hugged Larry to her chest. She would pretend that she was asleep as well. If Derek wasn’t into her, then she would do her best to stay away from him, because she couldn’t handle more kisses like that, and then simply walk away from the marriage, like it didn’t matter to her.
She would have to steel herself. She couldn’t allow herself to fall for him.
Chapter 15
Derek stepped from the shower. The steam was so thick it was hard to breathe. Maybe he’d spent too long in there, but for the first time in the last eight hours, he was able to relax a little. The spray felt good on his tense back muscles.
He hadn’t slept at all last night. He’d messed up royally, and now he wasn’t sure how to face Nara. He’d seen her face yesterday after the kiss. She was shocked. She couldn’t even say a word, and there had never been a time in his life where he’d seen her speechless.
He’d taken advantage of her. She had been goofing around. And he’d taken that and made it into something it wasn’t. And now he didn’t know how to face her.
He wrapped his towel around his waist and wiped down the mirror. Holy guacamole. Since when did he look like a zombie? He had bags under his eyes, and a vacant stare he’d never seen on himself before. He blinked a few times and ran his comb over his hair. That helped. A little.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked his mirrored self, and then felt stupid for talking out loud to no one. Hopefully Nara didn’t hear that. Of course, the resort was dead quiet, so it was almost impossible to think she didn’t hear it.
Nice. What else could
he do today to embarrass himself? Maybe the towel on the door would fall down just as he was getting his underwear on? The thought made him swivel around to make sure the duct tape was still holding. Luckily, it was. In any event, he rushed to get dressed just in case.
After he could no longer justify staying in the bathroom, he exited. Nara was sitting on the bed, her sketchbook next to her, the diary in hand. She closed it and gave him a nod. “Hey.”
The air between them seemed strained, as if the molecules could feel that something was off. “Hey,” he said.
Well, that was sure awkward. And now he didn’t know what to say. The silence grew heavy as he just stood there. He probably should do something, but he wasn’t sure what. His shirt was loud, but unfortunately that wasn’t helping any.
“I thought we could order breakfast to the room. They have pancakes on the menu today. You okay with that?” Nara fiddled with a pencil.
“Sure,” he said, a little too quickly. He crossed the room to the desk and pulled out the office chair. “I’ll check my email.”
“Okay. I’ll order. What do you want?”
He said the first thing that came to his mind. “Scrambled eggs and toast.”
“You got it.” She picked up the phone and waited for room service to answer.
Derek plugged in his laptop and opened it. He could see the reflection of Nara on the bed on his blank screen. She was wrapping the cord around her finger.
“Yes, I’d like to order breakfast to the room today.”
As Nara ordered, he turned on his laptop. His screen came to life and the reflection of Nara wasn’t so apparent. That was probably a good thing. He wanted to forget what happened yesterday, and to do that he had to stop looking at Nara.
Her voice broke through his thoughts. “Do you happen to have strawberry syrup?”
Derek held back a smile. She’d been obsessed with strawberry syrup ever since they were kids.
“You don’t?” The disappointment dripped off her voice. “Oh. Okay.”
He made a mental note to have his housekeeper pick up a bottle.
“Thanks. Bye.” Nara hung up and crossed her legs. “When you’re done looking at your email, can I use your computer?”
He nodded. “Sure. What do you need?”
“I’m going to check to see if the deadline for the Poiz Design Award has passed yet.”
He hid a smile. This was a very good sign. If she already had a contest in mind, he was sure he could get her over the hump of insecurity to enter. He tried not to show his excitement. He didn’t want to make her feel self-conscious. “Sounds good.”
There were no critical emails he had to deal with, so after a few moments, he moved out of the way and motioned for her to take over. “All yours.”
She stood. “That was fast. Dad must be taking care of things at the office now.”
“Must be,” he said, sitting on the chair in the corner of the room.
Nara spent a few minutes clicking on the computer before she stood again. “Looks like the deadline is in a week.”
“Do you have enough time to enter?”
She chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t know. I mean, I have some great designs already done at home. Not only sketched out, but actually made. If I can work on it right when we get home, I probably can get it entered on time.”
“Perfect.”
Their food came twenty minutes later. Derek moved his laptop and set the trays on the desk. Nara set up the food and pulled the chair from the corner. “Are your eggs cold?” she asked after Derek had taken a bite.
“No.”
“These are hot, too.” She cut off another slice of pancakes and dipped them into the maple syrup.
Derek’s phone came to life, his ringtone echoing through the room. He picked it up and looked at the screen. Brielle’s name flashed across the top. He swiped to answer.
“Hello?”
The sound of muffled sobbing came over the line. Panic shot through him and he pressed the phone to his ear. “Brielle? Are you okay?”
Concern pulled Nara’s eyebrows together.
“Um,” Brielle said, obviously struggling to speak. “I’m sorry to call.” More sobs came through, and Derek stood, his breakfast forgotten.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” All kinds of terrible situations flashed through his mind and he struggled to know which one to pick. Had she been assaulted? Mugged? Maybe she’d gotten in a car accident? He was going to go crazy if she didn’t tell him right now.
“Levi broke up with me.” She wailed, and relief flooded over him.
Was that all it was? Her boyfriend broke up with her? Then another thought struck him, and he gritted his teeth. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? I mean, physically?”
“No,” she said through another sob. “Why would you think that? I love him.”
“I don’t know. You’re just crying so loud.”
Her wails increased, and he cringed. Man, he was bad at this. What should he say to her? He didn’t know what would make her stop. And that’s all he cared about right now. For her to stop crying.
Nara’s lips pressed together, and she held out her hand for the phone. “Let me talk to her.”
Derek nodded and held up his finger. “Nara wants to speak to you. Is that all right?”
“Okay,” she said through another sob.
He shoved the phone at Nara like it was a bomb and he needed to get rid of it before it exploded. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he began pacing the room. Nara was so calm, talking to Brielle. How could she be so calm? It made him extra anxious any time a woman was crying like that. Was it just him? Was he overreacting? And why did he want to pound that guy into the ground for making Brielle cry?
“Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” Nara cringed as she listened to whatever Brielle was saying.
Derek’s gut clenched. What could he do to help his sister? He felt so powerless. Helpless.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. We’re fine.” Nara made a face, and he wasn’t sure what that meant, but then she said, “Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” and hung up.
“What did she say? Did she stop crying?”
“She’s upset, but every girl gets upset when there’s a breakup. She’ll be fine. She felt bad for calling while we’re on our honeymoon.” Nara set the phone down on the table and scooped up another bite of breakfast.
“What can I do for her?”
“Nothing,” Nara said around her pancake. “Just be supportive. She’ll cry for a while, then she’ll start calling him fathead, then eventually she’ll get over him and move on.”
Derek stared at her. Fathead. That’s what she called her ex. He swallowed, a funny feeling enveloping him. “Is that what stage you’re at? The calling him fathead stage?”
Nara exhaled and her shoulders slumped a little. “Probably.”
So, she wasn’t to the ‘get over him and move on’ stage yet. Which probably meant she still had feelings for her ex. Nice. Another reason this whole sham of a marriage wasn’t going to work.
Deflated, Derek sat back down in his chair. He picked up his fork, but wasn’t hungry anymore, so he ended up just pushing his eggs around on his plate until they were stone cold. He did eat his bacon though. Because who leaves bacon uneaten? He wasn’t a heathen.
Chapter 16
Nara gripped Derek’s arm as the lights in the cave went out. The guide had told them he was going to shut them off, so they could see how dark it was. But now, being under the surface of the earth with no light whatsoever and imagining whatever else might be in the cave with them was freaking her out.
“Pirates used to use these caves to hide from storms. Legend has it that there is pirate treasure in these caves. Can you imagine what those pirates felt like, down here, with just a small flickering flame to light the way?”
“I don’t have to imagine,” Nara whispered to Derek. “I’m feeling it just fine.”
His arm slid around her middle, and the f
lutters of attraction that she’d been feeling over the past few days intensified. He pulled her to him, and she fit under the crook of his arm. Snuggling into him felt amazing. Like she belonged there. It was no longer feeling strange to be with Derek. Maybe she was just getting used to it, but she thought maybe there was something more going on.
She was actually starting to like him.
The thought should have startled her, but it didn’t. It was like slipping into a comfortable pair of jeans. He’d always been there in her life, she’d just never realized it in that way before. She liked being around him.
The guide turned on a flashlight and shone it across the stalactites hanging down. “These caves were formed over millions of years.” He pointed his light on one section of the wall. “If you look close you can see a fossilized backbone of a fish right there. Over here,” he pointed at a different area. “You can see a fossilized shell. This tells us at one time all of this was under the sea.” The guide turned all the lights back on.
“Cool,” Derek muttered.
Nara glanced up at him in time to see a goofy smile on his face. She wanted to squeal, but there was a group of twenty-five people in the cave with them, and she didn’t want to embarrass him. He was smiling. Like, an actual smile. She was so happy. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?” she whispered.
He looked down at her. “This is just so interesting.” He held his camera up, and she moved back so he could use both hands to take his pictures.
The guide continued to tell everyone about the caves as they continued down a path through spectacular displays of stalactites hanging like icicles, and stalagmites rising up from the cave floor. They gleamed in the lights, almost sparkling like crystal. She could see why they named them the Crystal Caves.
Derek snapped a zillion photos as they continued through the tour. She enjoyed watching him work. He wasn’t afraid to crouch down, or to get up close to his subject. A few times she suspected he was trying to take her picture without her knowing it. It made her want to laugh, although she held it in. He could take her picture if he wanted to. He didn’t have to mask it, pretending he was taking a photo of something behind her.
A Marriage of Anything but Convenience Page 9