Page 64 of Devil's Kiss

“I’m serious,” Jordan said, feigning offense.

“I’m sure that you are, Devaney.”

“I am. I haven’t seen you for so long I’ve forgotten what you look like.”

Derek lowered his arm down to his chest and swallowed, debating his next words. Then he decidedwhat the fuck, and said what he really wanted more than anything in the world. “Then maybe you should see me.”

The silence between them was rife with tension before Jordan said, “Maybe I should.”

Derek sat up on his couch, and tried not to read too much into Jordan’s words. Then he asked, “Are you serious?”

“Derek?”

“Yeah?”

“I think today is the day…”

As his words from the auction a few years back hung between them, Derek wondered if it was really going to be that simple. They’d been falling together, crashing into one another, since the first day they’d met. Why should now be any different?

“As in?” he asked, wanting clarification.

“As in…let’s take it slow. One day at a time, and see where it goes. If that’s something you’d want.”

Derek wanted to ask what it was about him that made Jordan want to take it slow when usually he was so damn confident. But not wanting him to change his mind, Derek kept his mouth shut. There was obviously a reason, and sooner or later he would find out what it was. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. Okay. Now what?”

Blood rushed around his ears as he waited for whatever Jordan would say next, and when he whispered, “Come to me,” Derek was hanging up the phone and heading to his Jeep as quick as his feet would carry him.

Chapter 17

Six Months Later

“CAN YOU BELIEVE that Brantley and Daniel are back together?” Jordan asked, as he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it over the end of his bed. “I’m still trying to catch up with the fact that Daniel is even back in town, and now he’s shacking up with Brantley and running the poor guy through the wringer.”

“You’re such a gossip,” Derek said, laughing from where he was sitting on the opposite corner of his mattress unlacing his boots. Jordan stopped in front of him with his hands on his hips and waited for him to look up, and when he did, Derek asked, “What?”

“What?” Jordan demanded, stepping between Derek’s spread legs. “Don’t give me that, mister. You’re already in trouble for keeping the fact that Daniel was back a secret from me.”

“Hey, you didn’t tell me that Brantley had sent him a love note in the first place, so I think we’re even. Plus, I didn’tknowhe was coming back until the night before he arrived. His sister was talking to a friend down at the store and I overheard her. Trust me when I say that Danny boy was shocked as hell when I turned up at the airport to get him.”

Jordan fingered the collar of Derek’s black polo shirt and frowned. “What do you think’s going on over there?”

Derek ran his hands up the outsides of Jordan’s legs to his waist, and then pulled him closer. “You’re nosy. And bossy. And if you need me to tell you what they’re doing…”

“Notthat, smartass,” Jordan said, swatting at Derek’s roaming hands. “I mean, do you think Daniel’s going to stay?Ugh, I hate the idea of him trampling all over poor Brantley’s heart again.”

Derek leaned back and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What?”

“PoorBrantley’sheart? Have you forgotten that Hayes is the one who sent him away?”

“Well, no. But?—”

Derek shook his head and sat up, tugging him down onto his lap. Jordan had to either fall over the top of him or straddle his thighs. So he went with option two, placing a knee on either side of Derek’s hips and looping his arms around his neck.