After Tonight

by Erin Nicholas

  He cut off another piece. “I know.”

  “And you haven’t said one thing about how the chai seed farmers are slowly poisoning us with pesticides, or asking if eating crepes will suddenly give you the urge to go see a musical.”

  He chewed, watching her. After he swallowed, he took a sip of coffee. “No, I haven’t,” he finally agreed.

  “Why not?”

  “Because…”

  She frowned as he trailed off. “Because why?”

  “Because I wouldn’t say any of that to Lucy.”

  It was the dumbest thing…but Riley felt a little prick of annoyance at that. She should want him to be nice. She didn’t want him to tease her about crepes and chai seeds. She wanted him to practice just hanging out with a woman. She wanted to see him being a normal, nice guy since as far as she knew, that side of him was theoretic.

  But now that he was doing it, she was annoyed.

  “Well, stop it, it’s creepy when it’s you and me,” she said, cutting into her own crepe with a scowl.

  “It’s creepy for me to be nice?” he asked.

  “It’s just not…you,” she said, scowling harder as she concentrated on the crepe. Or at least on spreading the blueish-purple jam around her plate.

  “I don’t have breakfast with women I’m not related to,” he said.

  “You’ve had breakfast with me before.” She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to point that out. She knew she was being contrary. She was trying to teach him to be nice and sweet, and now he was being nice and sweet and she was trying to get him to stop. But…it felt wrong. Fake. Like he was trying too hard. And she realized that things with her and Derek had always been pretty easy. And honest.

  “I have.” He took a breath. “I don’t have breakfast with women I don’t know really well. And I don’t watch my mouth with women I have breakfast with.”

  And that, stupidly, made her feel warmer. He did know her well. Maybe better than she’d ever realized. That also made her feel strangely restless.

  “So I’m practicing, I guess.”

  Riley watched him frown and realized that he was uncomfortable too. Okay, that was weird. One, Derek Wright was never uncomfortable. He made situations comfortable for other people. That was almost his entire purpose in life. Two, this was her. He should not be uncomfortable around her. And vice versa.

  She set her fork down. “Well, it’s creepy,” she said.

  He sighed.

  “Listen, I think you can practice hanging out with someone, fully clothed, doing things other than…fornicating…”

  He snorted at that and she smiled. Okay, that was good.

  “And still be yourself,” she finished. “In fact, I mean…you should be yourself. Just, you know, with your clothes on.”

  “You keep making that point.”

  “I think it’s an important one to keep at the forefront.”

  He smiled, and she felt herself relax.

  “I can’t treat other girls the way I treat you,” he said.

  She didn’t know why, but her heart sped up. “You can’t?”

  “You’re…you. I can say anything to you. You know that I’m 90% bullshit.”

  Riley laughed at that, loving that his comment was so close to her thoughts. “Ninety-two.”

  “But other girls won’t know that. I can’t tease them and stuff.”

  “You can just tell them you’re joking.”

  “It’s not the same,” he said, shaking his head. “I do tease and joke with other women but, it’s not the same. With you, I never worry about…”

  Again he trailed off, and she had to hear this. “You don’t worry about what with me?”

  “Being a dumbass.”

  Okay, that surprised her. “Because I already know that you’re a dumbass.”

  He gave her a look. “Yes,” he admitted. “But you also know that I’m not a dumbass all the time.”

  She tipped her head. “Do I?”

  He tossed his napkin at her. “Brat. You do. Because we’ve spent so much time together for so long that you know all the sides of me.” He paused. “Well, most of the sides of me.”

  “What side don’t I know?” And the answer occurred to her two seconds after she’d asked.

  “The side that wants to sleep with you,” he said before she could stop him.

  Right. That side. The side that nearly every other woman in Sapphire Falls knew.

  And it was hugely stupid that she felt a little jealous at that.

  Because he was right. Generally, she thought of him as her brother’s dumbass friend, the guy who teased her, the guy who bugged her. But yeah, she knew other sides of him too. The sweet-to-her-grandmother side. The best-friend-no-matter-what-to-her-brother side. The didn’t-tease-her-but-held-her-hand-by-the-grave-and-got-her-cake side that had showed up at her grandfather’s funeral.

  Riley blinked hard as that memory crashed into her mind suddenly. Wow, she’d forgotten that. And the time that she’d had a fight with her mom and had driven out on a dirt road after a rainstorm and gotten her car stuck, and he was the only person she could think to call who wouldn’t yell at her. He hadn’t teased her that time either.

  Huh.

  So, okay, he might actually have some potential here. But he needed to practice.

  She’d already decided that she was going to coach him, but maybe…maybe it needed to be a little more. A little more like real dating. She had to show him what having a girlfriend would really be like and make sure he was sure he wanted it.

  “What time will you be home tonight?” she asked, getting up to refill their cups.

  “Uh, not ’til late,” he said. “Which is why I like to sleep in,” he mentioned dryly.

  Right. She’d known he’d still be in bed. That was why she’d come here. That, and the fact that she didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Lucy really would be up and into her morning routine and on her way to work. Kyle and Hannah were at her mom and dad’s. And Peyton would be wrapped up with Scott or busy in the bakery. Basically, everyone else she might spend time with had other stuff to do. Derek was the only one with an odd schedule like Riley’s.

  “I’ll wait up for you.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  She meant that she was going to show him that having a serious girlfriend took time and energy, even when he’d been working all night. “I’ll be here when you get home and we can watch a movie or something.”

  “At two a.m.?” he asked.

  She was a night owl, just like he was. Two a.m. didn’t scare her. Her mother making waffles five hours later scared her. She nodded. “Unless you want to close up early.” He’d never close up early.

  “Close up the Come Again, where a bunch of people are now coming in and working and studying?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you after then,” she said. No big deal. But she was going to have to figure out a way around her mother’s morning routine.

  Her eyes flickered toward the hallway that had to lead to Derek’s bedroom. Hmm…

  “You intend to keep me up until four a.m.?” he asked. “Especially after getting me up early this morning?”

  She shrugged. “Spending time together is kind of a huge part of a relationship. You have to make it work around your schedule.” That was true. And one big reason that she’d had trouble dating guys who had to be up early.

  Riley made a note that he took another crepe. She actually had no idea if Lucy liked crepes, but Riley did. Not as much as waffles, but they were good. But Lucy probably did. Or she’d eat them without complaint if Riley brought them over for breakfast. Unlike Derek. She frowned. The usual Derek. She liked that he felt he could be himself and say what he was thinking with her.

  But that was something else she had to keep in mind. She had to train Derek to go along with things once in a while even if he didn’t like it. He didn’t have to do that with her because she’d do what she wanted anyw
ay. But Riley had a feeling that Derek got his way a lot with women. She’d even seen it with her own brother. Kyle liked things his way, for sure. But there were times when Riley had been amazed to see Derek talking her stubborn, perfectionistic brother into things.

  Derek was charming and funny and had a way of saying exactly the right thing to get his way. It was good that he hadn’t gone into used car sales. The entire town of Sapphire Falls would be driving old beaters around.

  His charms had always been particularly effective with females. Even the girls he didn’t date thought he was so funny and had a hard time not agreeing with him when he wanted to do things like make the prom theme vampires and werewolves—which the principal had, thankfully, shut down. Derek had done it simply to push some buttons and make people laugh. And probably to test just how much he could get away with. Which was a lot.

  For every crazy, push-his-limits idea—like when he’d spread the rumor that he was going to bring strippers into the Come Again one Saturday night a month—he had four great ideas. Fundraising efforts for everything from tree planting in the park to buying an electric wheelchair for Landon Thompson. Programs like making the nursing home a daycare center during the day for little kids, mixing the children who needed supervision and activity with the older adults who needed stimulation and attention. Fun events like the town-wide snowball fight, and open mic night at the Come Again, where people got to sing, tell jokes, read poetry, or give motivational talks.

  Derek Wright could charm anyone into doing things the way he wanted to do them, and he didn’t have to worry about what the other person wanted. And that worked in these short-term hookups he had going on. But in a longer-term, more serious relationship, he’d have to be more aware of the other person. Riley was absolutely going to teach him to be aware of her.

  They finished eating, but everything still felt awkward, between him trying to be nice and polite and her thoughts about him as a boyfriend, and a Sex God, and an honest to goodness good guy. So when he said that since he was up so early he was going to go check on the new sink he’d helped install at The Stop a couple days ago, Riley was relieved and said she’d clean up the kitchen.

  So she did.

  And then she was bored. As was her usual MO lately.

  She didn’t want to go home to her mom’s. All of her friends were working—or lived in another state. And even if they didn’t live a couple thousand miles away, they’d be in bed. They were all night-owl computer geeks like her.

  At that, she yawned. She really had gotten up early. She eyed Derek’s couch. She’d bet he’d taken plenty of naps on that couch over the years. She settled onto the cushions, stretched, turned over, rubbed her cheek against the throw pillow that smelled like Derek.

  And that was the last thing she remembered.

  5

  She was asleep on his couch.

  Asleep. On his couch. After waking him up and making him think about her nipples. And making him feel like no way could he pull off eating crepes with some nice girl he was dating and not screwing. And then, maybe worst of all, she’d told him that he was already doing a bunch of sweet stuff and if he kept his clothes on, he might be good at all of this.

  What was that? Riley had complimented him? Sure, she’d seemed as surprised as he was that she thought he had a sweet side. But it was after she’d said he had potential that he’d thought he should stop teasing her and be nice.

  And that had been awkward as hell.

  He rolled his neck. He and Riley had a relationship. They weren’t friends, exactly. They weren’t related. They weren’t lovers or exes. She was the only person in his life who was…what she was. Whatever it was. But he didn’t want it to change. That much was clear. Having breakfast with her the way they had this morning had felt too weird.

  But he wanted to have breakfast with her again. As themselves. As usual. Hell yeah, he wanted to tease her about chai seeds. What even were chai seeds? And crepes? Really?

  He’d been thinking about that the entire time he’d checked over the pipes at The Stop, as he’d swung by to see if his grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d swung by to see if Riley’s grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d swung by to see if Hannah’s grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d driven around to see if anyone’s lawn needed mowed. But he’d just mowed for everyone so there was no lawn care to fill up his time today. Which meant that since he was up early, thanks to Riley, he had free time.

  Or time to nap.

  Except that his couch was full.

  Normally he would take this opportunity to drop an ice cube down her back or fill her car with Styrofoam peanuts or at least change all the clocks so when she woke up, she’d think she’d slept for ten hours.

  But he did none of those things. And he didn’t know why. He blew out a breath and pivoted. He was going to take a shower and then…he wasn’t sure.

  Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Was he risking Riley being awake and still here and running into him half-naked? Yep. Why was he risking that? He wasn’t any surer of the answer to that question than he had been to the one about why he didn’t drop ice down her back while she was hogging his couch.

  Except…maybe he wanted to see her reaction.

  All of this talking and thinking about a relationship with someone he wasn’t naked with the majority of their time together had him thinking even more about being naked and how fun that was. And thinking about how he was much better at the naked stuff. And thinking about how he was pretty good at not being naked with Riley. They drove each other crazy but it was fun. And yeah, he liked having her attention. That was definitely why he’d always done all the things he’d done. The teasing, the practical jokes, the arguing. It had been a way of having her attention when she would have just written him off as her brother’s stupid friend and ignored him.

  And that all got him thinking about not being naked with Riley.

  There were lots of reasons they hadn’t done that. They were like brother and sister. Kyle. Riley didn’t like him. Those were just three. But he had a feeling that being naked with Riley would be like everything else was with Riley. Different from any of the other women and fun. They’d tease, they’d laugh, she’d sass him, his imagination would run. And he’d do anything to get a reaction out of her. Her reactions to him in the bedroom wouldn’t be like her reaction when he’d changed all the contacts in her phone to Disney character names, but it would definitely be a reaction.

  No one was better at getting a reaction out of Riley than Derek.

  Unless of course she was fast asleep on his couch rather than noticing him in only a towel.

  He frowned. She was getting to him, occupying his thoughts and making him analyze things he didn’t want to analyze, and she was sleeping through the whole thing.

  Well, no. If he was going to be up hours early and facing a day with nothing to do, she was going to be up too. Riley was no more a morning person than he was.

  He pulled on some clothes and then went to the freezer. He grabbed an ice cube and headed straight for the couch.

  But when he stopped next to the couch, he hesitated. The blanket that he draped over the back of his couch was now lying across her lap and upper thighs. Her feet were sticking out at the bottom and her top half was uncovered. The tank top was pulled tight over her breasts, and again Derek was distracted by the curves he’d always taken for granted before. The curves he now wanted to run his hands all over.

  She looked sexy as hell. And he knew somehow it wasn’t just the breasts. It was being on his couch, being completely relaxed like this, being comfortable in his space, under his blanket, her hair spread out over the pillow he used.

  He thought for a second about just sliding in next to her on the couch, pulling her up against him, and napping with her. But how the fuck would he explain that when she did finally wake up?

  Then he realized exactly how he would explain that. He dropped the ice
cube into an empty glass sitting on the end table and then knelt on the couch cushion, easing down beside her. He shifted her gently, and she simply sighed and rolled slightly. And when he was completely stretched out, his body against hers from where her feet rested against the tops of his to where her head tucked under his chin, he put his arm around her and relaxed into the cushions.

  And was able to ignore the realization that her ass settled beautifully against his cock as he drifted to sleep. Mostly.

  Damn, it was hot in here. Why did her mom have the thermostat turned up so high?

  Riley reluctantly lifted her eyelids. She was going to have to go turn on the fan or something.

  But as her eyes opened, she realized it was way too light for this to be her basement bedroom. And her bedroom didn’t smell like this particular scent of laundry detergent or soap or whatever she was smelling. And it definitely didn’t smell like man.

  She became aware of the weight of an arm over her and the feel of hot hardness behind her,and she knew exactly where she was.

  She was sleeping with Derek.

  Riley rolled quickly. The sudden lack of heat and the thud, followed by, “Son of a bitch, Riley!” confirmed that Derek had, indeed, been napping with her on the couch.

  She looked down at him with a frown. “What are you doing?”

  He was rubbing his hip where it had apparently hit the coffee table. “I’m completely regretting not dropping ice down your shirt while you were sleeping.”

  “See, that I would have almost expected,” she told him. “What are you doing spooning me on the couch?”

  He stretched to his feet, and Riley found her eyes following his muscular form as it unfolded. “I was playing the boyfriend.”

  He was tall. She’d always known that. It was like the fact that water was wet. But now that she was awake and aware, her body was recalling how it felt to have all those inches pressed up against it. She tried to deepen her frown. “That’s not the kind of stuff you’re supposed to be practicing.”

  “Why not? We’re not naked.”

  Her eyes flew to his, making her aware her gaze had been hanging out between his chest and his thighs. Part of that general area was, if she wasn’t mistaken, a little more prominent than it should be.