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“Like what you see, Derrick?” Marty asked dryly. “She isn’t a piece of meat, you know,” she chastised. When her brother only continued to stare, Marty stamped her foot. “Have you no manners? Tell the love of your life she looks fabulous, you idiot!”
“You, uh, wow. You just look so,” Derrick shook his head like he could shake the stuttering out of himself. “You are so stunning and perfect anyway, and now you look confident and powerful, it’s almost got me on my knees,” he said, still in a complete daze.
“Well, that was pretty good,” Marty said, smirking. “You can kiss her, but don’t muss up her clothes,” she lectured, pointing at her brother.
Derrick came to Taylor like a freight train and then stopped when he got to her. “You look beautiful,” he said, slipping one hand over the well-dressed curve of her waist and the other to her face.
“Thank you, Derrick,” she said softly. He was so close Taylor wasn’t really sure what to say, and then he kissed her softly but quickly, cut off by a knock on the door. They all turned to it.
“Yes?” Marty called out.
Harry, the Fletcher’s butler, spoke from behind the door. “Mr. Todd and Charlie are here to discuss some business things with you, Miss Taylor. Are you available?”
“Uh, yes. Yes, thank you, Harry. I will be right down,” Taylor replied. She took another look at herself in the mirror and decided it was time to test out her power suit.
* * *
Derrick could not believehow some new clothes could make such an amazing impact. Not only did Taylor look amazing, she now had a presence that commanded attention. Her looks had always commanded attention, but this was different. This kind of attention was full of authority. It was enough to temporarily distract him from the fact that she had left him high and dry earlier, well technically hard and wet. He still had no idea what had happened, but he had told her she was in charge, she could make her own choices, and she had made her choice.
He just wished it had been about what to eat for lunch and not about losing their clothes and fucking like crazy in the pool.
Taylor started to ring her hands after Harry came to the door, and she turned away from the mirror. She looked at the door, but she made no move to get any closer to it. She looked back over her shoulder in the mirror, and confidence flared in her eyes, but the second she turned away the nervous tension returned.
He needed to help her.
He walked over and grabbed her hand. Taylor’s gaze flicked up to his, and guilt was all over her face. He knew she felt remorse about earlier, and he was sure she had her reasons. But now she needed his help, and he wanted to earn her trust. He spun her back toward the mirror and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder and meeting her eyes in the mirror.
“You look amazing, Ms. CEO of Preston Corp.,” he said to her softly and smiled at her.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Check you out,” he said, lifting his chin toward the mirror. Taylor took herself in, and he knew she saw how powerful she looked. “Okay, done. Now let’s go downstairs and meet up with your advisers.” And with that he pulled her from Marty’s room.
“I’m going to organize your stuff and then go get you more everyday clothes, Taylor!” Marty called to her as they left the room.
“Thanks, Marty,” Taylor called back as they made their way down the hall.
Derrick held her hand as they made their way through the huge mansion. Taylor kept glancing at Derrick, and after about the fifth time she finally spoke, “Derrick, about the pool. I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t worry about it, Taylor. Just forget it,” Derrick said as they started down the stairs in the back of the home; this staircase was just one of six.
“I just want to—”
They were halfway down the stairs, and Derrick stopped, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned Taylor to face him. “Let it go, Taylor. Put it behind you. We need to push forward and get you through this meeting. It happened, and it’s over.”
Taylor glared at him. “Are you doing this because I won’t let you talk about what happened, before?” Taylor asked, motioning between them.
Well, isn’t that funny?Derrick mused, as he realized she was right. It was almost exactly the same scenario. “No,” he said, laughing and shaking his head, “I’m doing this because it won’t change the decisions you need to make when you walk in there with Todd and Charlie. You need to focus on being Taylor Preston, kick-ass CEO of Preston Corp., and not worry about silly stuff,” he explained.
Taylor searched his face for a second, as if trying to evaluate the truth of his statement. “I just don’t want you to be mad at me,” she said in a whisper, her eyes shining with the start of tears.
“I could never be mad at you, Taylor,” Derrick assured her, pulling her to him and giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. His balls were a little touchy with her, but he couldn’t be mad. He was just happy to have her here and with him. “Okay?” he asked as he pulled back and looked at her again.
“Okay.”
And with that, Derrick took her hand and led her the rest of the way down the stairs. In front of the closed door, Taylor stopped and swallowed, took a deep breath, and looked down at her outfit. Setting her shoulders back, Derrick let go of her hand so she could move forward when she was ready.
Derrick and Taylor walked to the drawing room together. His hand was on the small of her back, and they were silent. Taylor looked confident with a dash of freaked out. He wanted to ask her how she was doing, what she was thinking, but he was afraid she might crack, and right now he wanted her confident.