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“Mr. Deputy Mayor, I’d like you to meet Jessica Ellis.” Derrick pulled me close to his side, his arm sliding around my waist in a gesture that felt surprisingly normal considering how long it’d been since we’d been together.
“Ms. Ellis.” The deputy mayor took my hand and kissed my knuckles, a speculative look in his eyes. “It’s a pleasure. Are the two of you–”
“She’s spoken for,” Derrick interrupted. His words were polite but there was no mistaking the possessiveness in his touch, in his voice.
“I see she is,” the other man released my hand and gave me a warm smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see some people I need to speak with. You two have a good night.”
“He seems nice,” I said as I watched the man walk away.
“He is,” Derrick said. He tightened his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. “Come on, there are more people I’d like to introduce you to.”
Some of them had been at Amelia’s birthday party and I greeted them by name, while others were completely strangers. Despite the fact that I clearly didn’t move in the same social circles as the rest of the attendees, everyone was lovely. By the time an hour had passed, I’d found myself relaxing. Part of it had to do with the glass and a half of champagne, but the majority of it was the man who hadn’t left my side once.
Amelia and Drew were both right. Derrick was different. As he talked with the people around us and made introductions, even as he drank and listened, I saw he wasn’t the same. He still had that confidence – I didn’t think anything could take that from him – but the smugness that had been a part of his attitude for as long as I’d known him was absent.
He was the perfect gentleman too, but that didn’t surprise me. He might’ve gotten rough in the bedroom, but he’d always made sure I was okay with whatever we were doing.
Now, with things between us being so strange, he was being extra careful. He couldn’t seem tonottouch me, but he kept his hands in appropriate places. My waist, my hand, my shoulder. And each place burned with the sort of warmth that spread through every cell, heat that pooled between my legs.
It was the most platonic date that the two of us had ever been on and I’d still never been more turned on in my life.
It didn’t help that he’d never looked hotter. His suit was impeccably cut, of course, and I could feel the corded muscle of his forearm beneath his jacket and shirt. His scruff was a bit thicker than usual and his hair was not quite as neat and stylized. He seemed more at ease with himself, with everything.
But I could still sense that beneath all of that was a man who could turn me inside-out with a look and turn me on with a touch.
“Hmm?” I looked up at Derrick, flushing as I realized I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“I asked if you’d like to dance,” he chuckled, his expression more open than I’d ever seen it.
“I’d love to,” I said.
As he led me onto the dance floor, I couldn’t help remembering the last dance we’d shared. Judging by the look on his face as he took me in his arms, the same thought had crossed his mind.
“I promise not to make an ass of myself this time,” he said softly. “I’ve learned from my mistakes.”
“I have too,” I said. After a brief pause, I added, “I should’ve talked to you before the wedding. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”
“I didn’t exactly make it easy,” he replied.
I shrugged. “Still, I should’ve at least tried.”
He tugged me a little closer. Nothing inappropriate, but definitely more intimate than we’d been before.
“You’ve got my undivided attention right now,” he said, “if there’s anything else you’d like to say.”
The tension in his body was minute. If I hadn’t known every inch of that magnificent physique, I might not have even felt it. I understood the reason for it. He’d laid a lot out on the line yesterday when we’d spoken, and I hadn’t been able to respond then. Instinct told me that I needed to talk now, or I risked losing him for good, and that wasn’t something I could live with.
“When we first agreed to do this, I could barely stand you.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up and he raised an eyebrow.
“I’m just being honest,” I said.
He chuckled. “I know. I didn’t exactly make a great first impression.”
“But after I got to know you, that changed.” I brushed my fingers along his jawline, loving the rough feel of the bristles there. “I saw a side of you that I’d never known about before and I did the last thing I thought I would do. I fell for you.”
“And that’s why you walked out at the wedding,” he said quietly. “Because you cared too much.”