Page 30 of Devil’s Kiss (Sunset Cove #2)

He unbuttoned his tux jacket and headed down the narrow hallway. As he did, he saw Jordan out of the corner of his eye and knew that he was following.

When Derek got to the room where he and Dylan had been told they could freshen up, he pushed inside, hoping to find it full, but instead found it the complete opposite.

As the door opened and shut behind him, he knew Jordan was standing there and decided to hell with this. Why was he nervous? It had been three years since he’d seen the guy.

He hadn’t called him. He didn’t need him. But when he turned around and saw Jordan with his hands on his hips and an exasperated expression on his face, Derek sure as fuck wanted him.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, as Jordan took a step forward.

“I’ve come to collect my date.”

“ Your date?” Derek asked, hearing the incredulity in his own tone as he looked around for the guy who had purchased him.

“Yes. I won you, after all. Now I get to take you on a date. So…do you have any place in particular you’d like to go?”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “With you? Nowhere. I’m not going on a date with you.”

Jordan pursed his lips in a pout, and it galled Derek that he wanted to kiss it right off his mouth. “After all this time, you’re still mad at me.”

Fuck yes, he was. Not that he’d ever admit that. “Actually, I don’t feel anything about you at all.”

“Liar,” Jordan said as he walked toward him.

“What do you want, Jordan?”

“Well, since I just paid a little over two thousand dollars for your time, how about we start with that.”

Derek sighed. “This is insane, even for you.”

Jordan laughed, clearly taking that as a compliment. “Oh, I didn’t come here tonight with the knowledge that you were going to be up for sale. That was just a happy coincidence. But now that I’m here, I thought it was my duty to let you know how hot you look in that tux.”

The guileless eyes Jordan aimed at him didn’t fool Derek for a second. The guy was certifiable. They hadn’t seen each other in years, yet the second Jordan flashed the right look his way, Derek felt himself wanting to fall back under his spell. Jordan was his fucking kryptonite.

“You paid that much money to tell me I look good in a suit? You shouldn’t have bothered. My roommate told me for free.”

Jordan’s eyes narrowed and he shrugged. “ Hot is what I believe I said. And I don’t care who told you. They’re not me. And we both know you like hearing it from my lips best.”

Derek close to growled with frustration because, fuck , Jordan was right. Then, for the first time in three years, Jordan reached out and touched him. His fingertip grazed the line of his jaw, and before he could remove it, Derek captured Jordan’s wrist and held it in place.

“Why?” he demanded again. “Why are you here?”

“I told you, it was a coincidence.”

“One you couldn’t let pass by. You just had to make sure that I saw you up close, huh? Is it a thrill to know that after all these years you still make my dick hard?”

Jordan shook his head. “No. I mean, it is a thrill. But you’re wrong. It was the other way around. I wanted to see you up close. It’s been so long, Derek. You don’t call me anymore. And I never see you.”

“So you paid two thousand dollars for the privilege? Jordan, I’m pretty easy to find for free.”

“Yes, but you made it clear by staying away that you didn’t want to be found.”

“Did I?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, whatever…” Derek muttered.

“I just thought it would be nice to catch up. I don’t know. We were friends too at one point, weren’t we?”

Derek laughed, but the sound lacked any kind of joy. “Is that what you want now?” he asked, his voice lowering several octaves. “To be my friend?”

Jordan grimaced, and Derek wondered if the thought of being “just” friends felt as wrong to Jordan as it did to him.

“Has something changed that I don’t know about?” Derek asked. “Because I’m sorry, I don’t want to be your friend. And the last conversation we had, you told me that you had no desire to date anyone.”

As the words left his mouth, Derek saw Jordan’s cheeks flame, and he shifted his feet as though he were uncomfortable. The silence that then fell between them was like a dead weight, and as if a light bulb switched on inside of Derek’s head, he shoved off the wall and pointed at Jordan.

“You’re seeing someone,” he said, and Jordan took a step back. Not surprising, considering any idiot could see Derek’s temper had just been flipped the fuck on.

He advanced on Jordan, who retreated, and for the first time in their ever-changing relationship, Jordan looked nervous.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

Jordan tilted his chin up, defiant as always, and finally answered, “Maybe. I mean. Yes. Kind of.”

When Jordan’s back met the wall, Derek kept coming until he had him pinned against it and was now caging him in with a palm on either side of his head. Even after all this time, and with no real claim on the guy, the thought of someone other than himself with Jordan made Derek close to homicidal.

It should’ve been me, he thought, as he fumed down at Jordan. But it never fucking is.

“Did you really just pay that much money to tell me you’re dating someone else?” Derek was aware that he sounded beyond pissed, but his tolerance for bullshit and etiquette had just run out.

“No, I just wanted to?—“

Derek took Jordan’s chin in his hand, effectively stopping his words, then he brushed their lips together and whispered, “Don’t lie to me. You have never lied to me. Not even when it fucking hurt.”

Jordan brought a hand up and encircled his wrist, and the expression that flashed in his eyes made Derek’s breath get lodged in his throat. He looked torn.

“I paid that much money on impulse because I saw you and wanted to touch you. That’s the truth. It’s as simple as that.”

“But you’re dating someone else?” Derek asked one last time, and Jordan closed his eyes and nodded.

Derek’s body trembled at the impact of that silent but final answer, and as he stood there looking down at the one man he’d always wanted but was forever out of his reach, he pressed a kiss to the corner of Jordan’s mouth and said, “One of these days, we will get this right.”

When Jordan’s eyes opened and he stared up at him, Derek released his wrist and said, “But it’s not going to be today.”

And with that, Derek exited stage left.