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Less than a minute passed before the door to the backroom closed and I spun on him, struggling with the urge to yell at him as anger bubbled up inside me. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s my store,” he said in a mild voice.
I flinched even though I’d had the same thought only moments ago.
He looked away, as if he knew he’d crossed a line with that comment. “I wanted to drop in and see you.”
“Try again,” I bit off. “You didn’t know I’d be here.”
Rocking back on his heels, he studied me and then sighed. “Alright. I didn’t know, but I hoped. I noticed on your Facebook page you come in here on weekends fairly often, and I wanted to see you. And I was curious about the store…and your parents.”
I had no idea how to respond to that.
His eyes roamed over my face. “You’re quite…devoted.”
“Is that a hard thing for you to imagine?” I asked, remembering his interactions with his family yesterday. “Families willing to do anything for each other? Children who are dedicated to their parents?”
He shoved away from the door and prowled closer. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Are you serious?” I huffed out a laugh, but it wasn’t a humorous one. “I’m not blind. You barely gave your mother the time of day yesterday and practically ran her off when she and I started talking.”
“What’s your point?” he snapped.
“You hardly spoke to your father. Blew off your mom. And as soon as your sister brought up something to do with your family, you couldn’t have made it clearer that you didn’t want me to know anything about it without actually saying it.” I took a step toward him.
“You don’t know shit about my family.” He practically growled the words.
“I know you don’t waltz into a family company and introduce yourself as somebody’s significant other without discussing it with theotherfirst, especially after you didn’t call me yourgirlfriendlast night. Hell, you barely let me speak five words to your parents, but then you crashed in here like you had every right to do so!” I pointed at him. “And I don’t care if you own the building. You didn’t come in to introduce yourself as the owner. You came in and called me your fuckinggirlfriend!”
He grabbed my hand.
I yanked on it.
He yanked back, and I crashed into his chest, off-balance.
Startled, I tried to back up, but he already had his arms around me. Then, in the next breath, his mouth was on mine.
I gasped and he took advantage, his tongue plunging into my mouth while he spun us around and shoved me back against the door. On the other side of the door, my parents were merrily selling books and talking about leaving this piece of my childhood…and here Derrick was, kissing a path down my neck and muttering against my skin.
“You’re fucking right. I’m here because of you. I couldn’t sleep last night because I kept thinking about you.” He bit my neck, and I shuddered.
His lips returned to mine, and he licked his way into my mouth, one hand plunging under my shirt and then under my bra. I whimpered as he tugged on my nipple, working it between his thumb and forefinger until it throbbed, a pulse of pleasurable pain that turned sharp when he pinched me. I sucked in a startled breath, and if his mouth hadn’t swallowed down my cry, I would have alerted the whole damn store.
His eyes locked to mine as he reached down and slowly gathered the material of my skirt in one hand, giving me time to stop him, but my brain was melting on me like ice cream under the summer sun. Then he had his bare hand on my naked thigh, and I actually whimpered.
“Shhh…” he murmured, his fingers sliding higher, then higher still. “Unless you want me to stop. Should I stop?”
“I…”Say yes, you idiot.
He cupped me over my panties and pressed the heel of his hand against the top of my mound. “Do you want me to stop?”
“I – I don’t know.”
“Let me help you decide.” His hand moved quickly, sliding beneath the waistband of my panties, and then two fingers were inside me.
My spine arched in shock, and I rose onto my toes, a thin whimper escaping. I clutched at his arm but didn’t try to push him away.
“Quiet, little girl,” he murmured. “Don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing back here, do you?”