Her shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. “But I just don’t...”
“You really don’t want to go out with me?” Derek demanded.
“I’m sorry.” Jaike fidgeted, which just made her cuter and sexier in his eyes. That was bad, since his dick had already been rock hard the first time he had caught a glimpse of her face. Now it was a fucking pain that would prevent him from walking right.
“You’re sorry...for what? For turning me down? Are you playing hard to get, is that it? Should I ask you again?”
She squirmed at his insistence, but her tone was sharp with annoyance when she answered, “No. It’s NO to all the questions.”
That was harsh.
Too bad he wasn’t the type who got dejected so easily and especially where the girl of his dreams was concerned. He looked at her musingly. “Why do I have this feeling you don’t like me?”
Derek truly wanted to know the answer. He simply couldn’t believe that he was only one aware of the pull of attraction between them, not when it was so strong he expected people to ask them to get a room any moment now.
Was she so innocent she didn’t feel how different they were from the rest?
Jaike was the one. He was damn sure of it.
His mentor had once told Derek that recognizing a submissive was instinct for a Dom, a leap of blood that he would link them in an unbreakable bond. And it had happened exactly like that when he had first seen Jaike. Even with her back ramrod straight, her shoulders square, her lovely face aloof – Derek had known the truth about her, about him—-about them.
But what he couldn’t understand was why she was resisting him so damn hard.
“Is that it?” he persisted. “There’s something about me you hate?”
“I don’t hate you,” Jaike was clenching her teeth now.
He responded to it with his most rakish smile. “Then you like me?” It was supposed to draw a smile out of her in return, but she only frowned.
You should have smiled, Derek thought. If she had, then his instincts would have been wrong about her. But she had not, and that sealed her fate as far as he was concerned. If he hadn’t been convinced before, he was now.
Jaike Hepburn was meant for him.
This girl saw through past the charming easygoing veneer he had so painstakingly cultivated from when he was a child. It wasn’t his real nature, and it never would be, but he had become that person because it was what his family needed him to be.
In time, Derek had realized that he needed to let more of his forceful nature come out before repressing it drove him crazy. Eventually, he also realized sex was the perfect outlet for it. Inside the bedroom, his possessive and completely aggressive side came to the fore, his lust satisfied by the touch of a woman who would not only understand his true nature but appreciate it, too.
Right now, all his instincts told him that he had found the exact girl that he wanted – needed - to make him feel right. His dick more than agreed, practically doing its best to tear its way out of his jeans.
“Come on,” he murmured. “At least tell me why you hate me so I’ll know what I did wrong.”
“I don’t hate you.” She was hedging, and they both knew it.
He gave her a smile that was more sardonic than puzzled even though he felt both. As someone who came from a family that had billions in their bank account for over a century, the first lesson his parents had taught him was how to spot a gold-digger miles away.
Jaike was no gold-digger, not even in the remotest sense, but Derek almost wished she was. At least then he would know where he stood with her. Right now, he couldn’t seem to find a way to get to her, and it frustrated the hell out of him.
“You don’t hate me, but you don’t like me either. Why is that?”
She toyed with her necklace, a simple chain with a heart-shaped pendant, bringing it to her lips in a nervous gesture he also found oddly sexy. “I just...I don’t hate you, okay? W-we just met. I wouldn’t have any reason—-”
Derek said swiftly, “If you don’t hate me, prove it. Go out with me.”
Just as swiftly, she answered, “No.”
He smirked. “See?”
The scowl she gave him made him suppress a smile. How would she feel if she learned that her cute angry face was more a turn on for him, and that little scowl of hers just made him want to fuck her more?
Wanting to tease her even more, he murmured, “Give me one reason and I won’t bother you again.” He fished out his lighter from his jeans pocket and then his cigarette pack from another.
Jaike suddenly said, “I don’t like guys who smoke.”
“But your friend smokes.” Derek had a hard time keeping his face expressionless when he saw the flare of dismay in her eyes. She was a terrible liar, adorably so.
“It’s...it’s different.”
He looked at her intently. “You mean it in a way, don’t you?”
She shrugged.
Derek rolled his eyes, but he threw the barely used stick on the ground anyway, grinding it with his shoe. Pussy whipped at the first day, he thought. Worse, he didn’t care, not when he saw how happy it made Jaike.
Jaike hastily wiped the smile off her face at Derek’s knowing glance.
“Made you that happy, huh?”
“I hope you didn’t do it for me,” she muttered stiffly. “You should have done it for yourself.”
He couldn’t help chuckling. She sounded like a nun. “You’re one of those good girls, aren’t you? The kind—-”
“I just don’t like guys who smoke,” she said shortly.
Derek wanted to curse. Was she mad about the smoking or was it because he was guilty of generalizing her? Whichever the case, Derek had said the wrong thing again, something the all-too-perfect Angelo Valencia probably would never have thought of saying.
Before he could apologize, someone had gone under his arm to emerge next to him like a pop-out arm candy. “Hey there, lover.” It was Tanya, one of the senior students that made up the party’s organization committee. She wore a corset-styled top and denim skirt, and Derek knew if he glanced down he would be able to see all the way to her perky breasts.
She tiptoed to kiss Derek on the lips. “I’m finally off duty. Let’s go?” Tanya threw her surroundings with a dismissive glance. “This place is for losers.”
The dismay in Jaike’s eyes deepened into distrust, and this time Derek swore out loud.
Tanya’s head turned to him sharply. “Derek!”
He wanted to shake the other girl off him, but years of etiquette training prevented him. “Hush, Tanya.” It took a lot to keep his smile friendly. “That was a shitty thing to say and you know it.”
She pouted, trailing her fingers over his arm. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I want to get you alone. I can’t stop thinking about your dick—-”
“Tanya, darling, now is really not the time to talk about that.” Derek’s face was flushed as his eyes jerked towards Jaike’s.
Jaike nodded at him, her eyes unable to meet his, just before she turned away.
Derek didn’t hesitate to disentangle himself from Tanya’s clingy hold when Jaike started walking away. Fuck no! He was not letting go of her just like that. He caught after Jaike, causing her to gasp as he forcibly whirled her around.
Jaike didn’t want to meet his eyes.
His grip tightened. “Forget about her. We don’t have anything serious going on. But you...” Derek inhaled. His voice was urgent as he said, “You’re different, Jaike. Go out with me.”
She pulled away from his hold. “I’m sorry, no.” She turned away again, and this time he let her go. He didn’t go after her, but he kept his gaze on her all the way until she reached the exit doors of the auditorium.
Too much. Derek had a feeling he had made his move too fucking fast, pushing her too fucking hard and he was going to pay for it.
Chapter Six
Two Years Earlier
Jaike carefully adjusted her lens before
kneeling on the ground, her lens zooming between the rails of Roosevelt Bridge. The position gave her the perfect angle to take a long-range shot of the town of Stuart. With dawn breaking overhead, the town appeared magical, wrapped in a mystery of pink clouds and orange skies.
Click, click, click. She took a series of shots before getting back to her feet. When she lowered her SLR, a guy stood before her, startling Jaike into a little jump.
“Did I surprise you?” Derek asked innocently. He wore a black sleeveless shirt and khakis, and he had his own SLR camera slung around his neck.
Jaike shrugged, not trusting herself to speak. If she did, her voice might reveal the suddenly maddening state of her heartbeat.
“You look beautiful.” Derek always said it like he meant it, even though she had to be Scarlett Johansson’s twin just to look marginally attractive next to him.
“I don’t.” She said it because she meant it, too. She knew what she looked like, what everyone saw in her. Jaike was average girl in all ways—-her hair was neither silky straight nor curly, her skin neither ivory nor gold, and her face was just...passable.
What she couldn’t figure out was what Derek saw in her that made him so persistent all this time. There wasn’t a day she didn’t get to see him, talk to him, and he didn’t even seem to care if he did so while Angelo was right next to her.
They had their staring contest again, one she always inevitably lost. His gaze made her uncomfortable even now, with the way his eyes caressed her body as if he knew what she looked underneath her clothes.
In an effort to distract herself Jaike gestured awkwardly to his camera. “I didn’t know you’re into photography, too.”
“I just joined yesterday.” The lazy smile on his lips was an arrow to her heart, one that never ever missed. And it was an arrow that struck her entire body.
Jaike tried to control her reaction to that smile, appalled at the heat that enveloped her, as if his gaze alone could command her body.
Derek smirked, as if he knew exactly what his nearness did to her. And he probably did, considering his reputation. Jaike wasn’t blind or deaf. She knew he was a ladies’ man, that he dated practically every girl who came on to him.
Derek reached out to touch her but she quickly stepped back. He chuckled, and even the sound was possessive, like he was only being generous in giving her time to be apart from him.
“I hate taking photos.” Derek lifted his camera from his chest, turning it around in his hands as if it was a toy he couldn’t decipher.
She pressed her lips together, not wanting to accidentally scold him for the careless way he held his camera. The muscles in his arms flexed with every move he made, and Jaike gnashed her teeth, hating how just the sight of it made her toes curl inside her sneakers. Why couldn’t she stop being so obsessed with him?
“Why are you staring at me like that?” There was that smirk again.
She stumbled for an excuse. “I don’t understand why you bought a camera if you hate taking photos.” She fingered the ID card pinned to her jeans pocket, which served to identify her as a club member. “Are you hoping you’ll improve with the club?”
Derek replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “I bought this camera, I joined this club, and I woke four in the morning today just to see you.”
Jaike’s lips parted in shock. When he didn’t take the words back, she said lamely, “That’s not a good reason to spend hundreds of dollars for something you won’t use.”
His laughter startled her. “You still sound like a nun.”
Derek’s amusement was infectious, and Jaike was unable to prevent her lips from twitching.
Derek pretended to clutch his heart. “At last! I thought I’d never see you smile at me again.”
This time, Jaike really did smile, and it widened when Derek groaned. “Now I can die happy.”
She giggled.
Derek’s jaw dropped. “Did you just...giggle?”
“I did not.” Then she ruined it by giggling again.
“It’s the end of the world, isn’t it? You smiled at me, you giggled, what’s next?” He suddenly pulled her close. “You’ll let me kiss you?”
In an instant, amusement turned into a conflicting mass of emotions inside her. Jaike was shy, frustrated, and excited – and she didn’t like feeling any one of them. She frowned at the fingers encircling her wrist, hating how the skin there prickled in awareness. “Let go, Derek.” She tried wriggling her wrist out of his hold.
“Why not?” His thumb slowly stroked her knuckles, making her imagine how it would feel when it was other parts of her body he stroked.
Jaike pushed the thoughts away. She couldn’t think like that anymore. It wasn’t right.
“I like you a lot. You know that, don’t you? Take a risk with me, Jaike. Go out with me.”
“I can’t.” The more he pushed, the more Derek terrified her with the feelings he evoked. They were so...strange. It was the only word she let herself use. Anything else was too dangerous.
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I can’t.” Jaike added in a small voice, “I’m dating Angelo Va—-”
“Then stop dating him,” Derek interrupted coolly.
“No, you don’t understand.” She swallowed convulsively, knowing instinctively that Derek wouldn’t like what she was about to say. “I’m Angelo’s girlfriend now.”
Derek’s hands fell away so abruptly it was as if she had burned him. His voice was hoarse when he asked, “What did you say?”
Jaike forced herself to smile. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” She had said it to lighten the air between them, but the moment the words left her lips she knew it had been the wrong thing to say.
Derek looked like she had stabbed – no, he looked at her as if she was a no-good cheat who had backstabbed him.
“I’m not going to fucking congratulate you,” he bit out.
She had a sudden urge to cry. Rage, Jaike would have been able to handle but the look of betrayal in Derek’s blue gray eyes wasn’t something she had prepared her heart for.
When she started to bend her head, Derek snapped, “Look at me!”
She did as asked, her lips trembling.
“Why the fuck did you become his girlfriend, Jaike?”
“I c-care for him.”
Derek looked like he wanted to throttle her. “Liar.”
She glanced around nervously, torn by her need to comfort him and her desire to run away. “Derek, people might hear us—-”
“Fuck them.” He grabbed her shoulders. “Can’t you feel how different we are together, Jaike?”
She turned her head away from his searching gaze. “I’m Angelo’s—-”
“Don’t say his fucking name in front of me!”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Derek’s hands dropped from her shoulders and he stepped away as Angelo came to her side. Derek was breathing hard, but his face was without emotion when he met the other man’s gaze.
Jaike bit her lip as hard as she could. If she cried Derek would think that she was feeling sorry for him, and he would hate her for that.
Angelo slipped an arm around her waist and glanced down at her with a gentle smile. “Hi, cara.” He was as handsome as ever, dressed in a foam green collared shirt and designer jeans. The difference between him and Derek was glaring, and the difference with how they made Jaike feel was just as blatant.
“H-hi.” Normally, she loved hearing Angelo speak, his faint Italian accent lending a sweet cadence to his words, his voice settling over her like a blanket of tranquility. But now it did nothing to quiet the riotous emotions battering her heart.
“No kiss?” Angelo asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
The words were still spoken in a feather-soft voice, but Jaike knew it was a test. In the days she had spent with Angelo, she had slowly come to know the secret side of him, the one that was forceful and jealous. That side of him wordlessly demanded for Jaike to make
a choice now.
Derek was staring at her.
I’m sorry. Jaike whispered the words silently to him just as she tiptoed to kiss Angelo on the cheek. Angelo twisted his head at the same time and their lips touched.
She pulled back in surprise, but Angelo only laughed. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it.”
Derek was gone. She didn’t have to turn around to know it. His presence was like a coat that kept her warm, and when he left she was all frozen inside.
Angelo pulled her close, stroking her hair, kissing her forehead. “You chose me.” He said it quietly.
She closed her eyes, breathing in his familiar scent and drawing comfort from it. “I’ll always choose you,” she whispered, knowing that the words were heartbreakingly true.
She pulled away when she felt Angelo hardening against her.
“Don’t look at me like that, cara.” He caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry. I was too fast, wasn’t I?”
Jaike nodded.
His answering laugh sounded forced. “Not even going to deny that, huh?” He walked away, leaning against the rails, his hands clasped over it.
Jaike knew what he wanted and, oh God, she wished she could give it to Angelo. Maybe someday she would but not now. She could make her mind rule her heart, but her body wasn’t hers to command. It only answered to its owner, and it wasn’t Angelo.
Angelo glanced at her over the shoulder, a tender smile on his face, the rising sun in the distance creating a golden halo around him. “How about taking a side shot of me?”
“Sure.” She smiled back, her body instantly relaxing at the familiar twinkle in Angelo’s eyes. This Angelo in front of her was the one she wanted, the one that kept her normal.
Jaike hurried to position, kneeling down again so she could get a different angle of Angelo.
Click.
When Angelo started to move, she shook her head. “One more.” She stood up and backed a couple of steps. When she took the shot, Jaike swallowed back a gasp.
Derek stood at the foot of the bridge, the look on his face leaving her cold.
Chapter Seven
One Year Earlier
Tangled: A New Adult Romance Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle of Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Royalty) Page 161