by Anne, Melody
They were going to forge a new path for just the two of them. Nothing could keep them from their destiny.
Chapter One
Ten Years Later
Another night, another party, though for once probably not another woman. Derek Titan looked around the crowded room and forced himself not to yawn. He couldn’t stand attending events where everyone drank too much, laughed too loud and tried far too hard to impress one another.
Derek knew he was what women considered a real catch. Hell, an idiotic magazine had published a write-up on Seattle’s most eligible bachelors and ranked him, with his picture, as number one. He’d been furious and had tried to have himself taken out of the article, but his attorney had spouted some crap about freedom of speech. OK, so there were good points in the First Amendment, but he hadn’t seen many. Since the article appeared, even more women with their eyes on a prize had approached him.
The magazine listed his net worth as equal to Bill Gates’. Though slightly exaggerated, that part at least was related to business. But of what possible interest or relevance was the hackneyed phrase “tall, dark and handsome”? So what if he stood over six feet and had broad shoulders? He gagged when he read of “rippling muscles.” The flipping author even gave advice on how to meet him: don’t bother with stalking him at the gym — he hated those places — but take up running, because he ran every morning, and sometimes in the evenings too, as a way to relieve stress.
Though it hinted, at least the article didn’t quite say what happened after his second-best way to relieve stress. But here it was — the minute he’d finished taking a woman to bed, he just walked away, and that wasn’t something to inspire the magazine’s female readership. Sure, a lot of his women tried to get him to stay, but no one held his interest longer than it took him to zip up his pants.
He’d let a woman beat him once at the mating game. And after Jasmine shattered his heart and destroyed his father’s business venture, he’d lost interest in the female sex — except, of course, for the sex. His priority had long been revenge. He figured that once he got it, he’d think about settling down.
A woman breezed by him wearing entirely too much perfume, and he snapped back to reality. He sighed, then grabbed a glass of wine from a passing waiter.
These parties were all about who had the most to offer. The women were on the prowl, and the men were fishing. He just wasn’t interested.
He watched as a couple of superficial wannabe socialites passed by in low-cut gowns, dripping with diamonds. They were trying to catch his eye, and normally he’d make their day by flirting a little, giving them the impression they stood a chance. Today wasn’t that day. He had a raging headache, and he was pissed that he’d been summoned to this snooze-fest.
“There you are, boy. What are you doing hiding in the corner?” Daniel Titan, his father, had walked up to give him the third degree.
“I’m wondering why I’m here when I’d rather be home with a scotch and my feet up,” Derek replied.
“You’re here because you received a request from your father. I have some things to discuss with you later,” Daniel said in his no-nonsense voice.
“And it couldn’t wait?” Derek questioned.
“Oh, live a little. You’re always so busy adding megabucks to your bank account that you don’t stop to smell the cabernet sauvignon,” his father said.
“I live it up plenty. Hell, I was in Milan last week.”
“You were in Milan on business. That doesn’t count,” his dad told him.
“For me, the ideal time is mixing business with pleasure,” Derek said with a waggle of his eyebrows. Both men relaxed. “Seriously, Dad, I do have a headache. What’s so important it couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning?”
Once Derek had made his first million, he’d moved his father to the city. Daniel, now the chief financial officer of his huge corporation, had been instrumental in the company’s swift and exponential growth. But his dad had gone through hard times more than once while Derek was growing up.
“David Freeman’s here tonight, and he’s talking to some people, trying to get new investors,” Daniel said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the man who’d destroyed his livelihood some years before.
Derek was on instant alert. He searched the room, spotting his enemy. David was the one who’d made Derek the cutthroat businessman he was. “It’s far too late for him. By tomorrow morning, he’ll know that his company is mine, no matter what he tries tonight,” Derek said.
Derek saw a beautiful woman approach David, stepping up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. David didn’t even bother to turn and acknowledge her. The man noticed nothing around him if it didn’t have dollar signs on it, not even his stunning daughter.
Derek’s eyes narrowed to slits. He hadn’t seen Jasmine for ten years, and those years had been very good to her. It wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting, although, with her supreme shallowness, he should have known she’d have focused first and foremost on her appearance.
The top of her dress hugged her body, dipping low in both the front and back. Her curves were even more pronounced now that her body had matured. Her gleaming dark hair was swept up in a classic bun, with tendrils floating around her delicate face. Her chocolate eyes had once mesmerized him. They had a hypnotic quality, with a deceptive innocence shining through the thick lashes.
His gut tightened at just the sight of her, and that outraged him. Was he still a complete fool about her? She’d nearly destroyed his entire family, and yet he still wanted her. But that was all right. After all, his full revenge included her; he would have her in his bed again, and then she’d be begging him not to leave. Shrinks might call it closure. To him, everything was far more primitive.
“I’m leaving now, Dad. There’s nothing he can do tonight, and tomorrow’s a busy day for me,” Derek said. After clasping his father’s hand, he turned away and walked from the room without once looking back.
Chapter Two
Jasmine spotted Derek across the room, and fire and ice waged war within her. How dare he walk around as if he owned the place? She knew the kinder, gentler side of him, but that boy was long gone. He probably never really existed beyond her girlish imagination.
The man she’d spotted tonight wasn’t the boy who had taken her virginity and promised her forever. She wished she could forget that summer so many years ago when she’d waited at the abandoned church all day, waited and waited, hoping something had happened to make him late. As the sun had faded from the sky, she’d finally had to admit he wasn’t coming. It had all been lies.
Just as her father had said, Derek had told her all he needed to get her to have sex with him. Once he’d added her to his list of conquests, he’d been finished with her. The remembered pain was almost too much to bear, even ten years later.
She watched him turning and walking from the room. He was by far the sexiest man at the party, with his custom tuxedo and piercing blue eyes. Although he sat in an office all day, his body betrayed no hint of softness. Her heart fluttered as she dwelled again on those long summer nights of touching and tasting those hard muscles.
Derek disappeared around the corner just as he’d disappeared that summer ten years before. Back then, she’d believed in fairy tales and magic.
No more.
Jasmine had grown up very wealthy in a small town outside of Seattle, Washington. Her father owned a multimillion-dollar medical-equipment company, and she’d always had more than most people could ever hope for.
Her mother had died while giving birth to her, and her father never remarried. He dated a lot of women, but none of them really acknowledged her existence, so she didn’t grow attached to any of them. Sometimes, Jasmine had thought it would be nice to have a woman help her pick out a dress or teach her how to do her hair. But the staff, at least, always spoiled her a bit, which she knew irritated
her father.
She’d seen Derek in school from the time she was young, but she got to know him only the summer before her senior year in high school. His family was dirt poor, but he was always determined to make a success out of his life and turn things around. He ended up helping her with math, and soon they were fast friends. She’d loved his hunger and motivation and the way he never talked down about anyone. She thought he was every one of her fairy-tale heroes come to life.
Soon, she found she was spending every waking moment with him. When her father found out she was dating a boy from the poor side of town, he’d been furious and demanded that she end the relationship. It was the first time in her life her father told her she couldn’t have something she wanted. It also was the first time she’d defied him.
She’d continued to see Derek behind her father’s back. She loved that Derek seemed to like her for who she was and not for her money. He wouldn’t let her spend money on him — ever. He worked hard for a construction company, which would frustrate her at times because she wanted him to be with her and not at a job. He’d laugh at her frustration, but he always made it up to her on the weekends.
“Jasmine?”
Jasmine turned to find that she’d completely tuned out of the conversation. Normally, she was the epitome of cool — making sure to schmooze with her father’s investors. That was her job at these functions.
More than once she’d had to fend off the advances of some dirty old man. It was a source of contention between her father and her — just one of many.
She wouldn’t sell her soul to the devil, even if the devil was dressed in a hand-tailored business suit. Money had its uses, and she certainly needed a lot more than she had, but she wasn’t for sale, not at any price.
“I’m sorry. I have a slight headache tonight and it’s made me lose focus,” she answered sweetly to the sixty-year-old who was leering at her. She had to fight the shiver threatening to travel down her spine at the lust in his eyes.
“I was just telling your father that I would love to have the two of you up to my lake house sometime real soon.”
No way in hell! That is what she wanted to say.
“That sounds like a very pleasant weekend. Make sure you have my father notify me of when,” she answered instead, already planning a convenient illness.
The man beamed at her; his hand came up to rest on her upper arm, and then his finger trailed downward.
“Excuse me. I need some medicine for this annoying headache,” she said, discreetly extracting herself from the man’s slimy grip and walking away. She was on the verge of being sick. How many more of these functions would she have to attend before she’d had enough?
Seeing Derek tonight had been too much. Wasn’t time supposed to heal all wounds? In her case, ten years obviously hadn’t been enough time. Seeing her first love — the only man she’d ever loved — was just too much.
It was time to leave.
Tomorrow would be a better day. That had become her motto for the last decade. One of these days, maybe it would.
As she walked from the party, Jasmine thought back to the day that her innocence had been stolen from her, the day that she’d realized she couldn’t trust her heart, and she certainly couldn’t trust men…
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