Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4)

by Golland, KM

  I blinked a few times as if my eyes were deceiving me, then realised Derek was leaning toward me and was only centimetres away. He was wearing a tight-fitting navy t-shirt with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade emblem on it. He was also sporting a devilishly sexy grin on his face.

  Holy fuckalicious firefighter!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I stood upright and looked to my left then to my right as if I were about to cross a fucking road. ‘What the crap? What are you doing here?’ I asked, shocked but equally excited to see him.

  ‘Easy, princess, I’m here for the Fire Ed program,’ he answered. Princess ... really?

  ‘Oh, of course you are,’ I laughed awkwardly when, to be honest, I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t here to see me. And on a side note: if I were a ‘princess’ where is my fucking tiara?

  Plastering on a faux smile, I remained composed. ‘A coincidence perhaps?’

  ‘You could say that,’ he replied with a cocky grin that had the ability to render me his slave and perform a sexual extravaganza for him. Holy clit jitters. How does he do that?

  ‘Um ... just give me a second and I’ll escort you and the truck through the gate to the oval area where you can set yourselves up.’

  As I turned to make my way out of my office, feeling like a complete and utter fool, Libby walked in with her head down, her attention focussed solely on the paperwork she was reading. ‘What time are the fire brigade due?’ she asked without raising her head.

  ‘They’re here,’ I replied through my clenched teeth.

  At that point she looked up and spotted Derek standing in the office reception area. Her jaw dropped open and she turned the shade of her hair — bright red! ‘Oh. That’s ... great!’

  Trying to retain my calm professional manner, I walked past her. ‘Can you man the office for a minute while I show the MFB where they can set up?’

  By that point, I was still standing behind the doorframe and out of Derek’s sight, but I was, however, in Libby’s line of vision.

  ‘Sure,’ she said with an unsure smile as she glanced at Derek, then back to me.

  When her eyes met mine again, I performed a few indistinguishable hand gestures and mouthed the words, ‘That’s Derek, that’s the firefighter’, while overly accentuating my finger-pointing in his direction.

  It took her a couple of seconds to figure out what I was getting at, but when she did, her face morphed into an unusually large smile ... even for Libby.

  Stepping up to the counter, she offered her hand. ‘Sorry, I’m Ms Elizabeth Hanson ... or Libby, when my class isn’t listening,’ she babbled, her flushed cheeks now downgraded from Elmo-red to Miss Piggy-pink. OMG! Lib, you little flirt.

  ‘Senior Officer King ... or firefighter Derek, when your class is listening,’ he smiled with a wink while shaking her hand. Fucking man-whore!

  I shook my head, rolled my eyes and walked around to where he stood, fully kitted out in his uniform. The sheer magnitude of his sexiness nearly had me grabbing at the reception counter for stability. My god, I love a man in uniform. I mean, seriously, how hot are firefighters, military officers, policemen, Batman, Thor? Wait a minute, does Thor wear a uniform? Pfft, who the fuck cares, he’s hot! Anyway, my point is a man in uniform screamed sexy. It screamed, ‘I am one fuckable piece of man candy, put me in your mouth and suck me.’

  As I fantasised about consuming Senior Officer King, my eyes travelled the length of his yellow coloured protective pants which were held up by red braces. Surely it was a crime of some sort that those braces were currently functional. I wanted nothing more than for those protective pants to just drop to the floor in a pool of material around his booted ankles. His presence alone made me weak at the knees and slightly giddy.

  Derek began to take steps toward me and I noticed that his mouth was moving, but the words he was speaking were not registering. I honestly felt as though I was in a fog, a trance of some kind.

  ‘Carly, are you all right?’ he said as he gently placed his hands on my shoulders. He squatted and lowered himself to my eye level.

  I could see the concern in his eyes. ‘What? I’m fine. Sorry, I’m fine,’ I stuttered, apologetically.

  Derek tilted his head slightly, indicating that he thought my explanation was bogus. ‘Are you sure? You looked as though you were about to faint.’

  ‘Yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little woozy. My appetite has not yet returned,’ I flippantly remarked.

  Technically, that statement held some truth. The ‘some truth’ being the woozy part, because my appetite had returned tenfold. No, I was woozy because he was standing before me in his firefighter uniform and it was making me light-headed.

  ‘Do you two know each other?’ Libby asked, with a smile only I could see the meaning behind.

  Still standing there with Derek’s hands on my shoulders, I became aware he was staring at me. I very quickly glared at Libby. ‘Yes, we’ve met before.’

  Derek leaned in closer and pierced me with his baby blue eyes. The close proximity of his head and the intense stare he placed upon me stole the air from my lungs.

  ‘Is it on vacation?’ he asked, his expression dead serious, his eyes continuing to peruse my facial features.

  I gave him a crooked smile and answered with great difficulty, my response a challenge due to noticing that his gaze kept returning to my lips. ‘Is what on vacation?’

  ‘Your appetite,’ he responded, still displaying a stoic mask.

  ‘No. Why would it be on vacation?’

  ‘Because you said it hadn’t yet returned,’ he smiled. ‘I was just wondering where it had gone.’

  Our conversation was cray cray; appetites taking holidays. I mean, who talked about that shit? Regardless, I wasn’t in the least bit interested in our discussion, instead being more fascinated by the way his nostrils flared as he breathed heavily.

  ‘I ... I had a bad case of gastro and haven’t been eating properly since,’ I stuttered.

  Derek leaned back, affording me my personal space again, yet he kept his hands on my shoulders. ‘So you weren’t spinning me some bullshit lie to get out of our date?’

  ‘Language! You’re in a primary school,’ I scolded him.

  He flexed his fingers. ‘Shit, sorry.’

  ‘No, I wasn’t. I was genuinely crook. And anyway,’ I offered, shrugging out of his grasp because his fingers were causing heat waves to roll through me, ‘if I didn’t want to go out with you,’ I mumbled, heading to the reception counter and stepping up onto the small platform to lean over and reach for the keys to the gate, all the while gifting him a nice view of my arse, ‘I would’ve just come right out and said it.’

  Turning back around, I shot him an exaggerated smile, then leapt off the step with the elegant grace a dancer would possess. As I passed him en route to the door, I stopped and finished what I had to say. ‘I’m open, honest and tell it like it is. Take me or leave me.’ Holding my arm out, I gestured for him to exit. ‘After you, Officer King.’

  Derek clicked his jaw from side to side and placed one of his hands in his trouser pocket, then casually strolled past me to walk out the door, and as if my eyes were on autopilot they followed that man’s toned firm arse until it was no longer in sight.

  ***

  For the hour that followed, I sat anxiously at my desk, desperately wanting to go outside and perve on Derek. So when Brooke casually strolled into my office and said she’d been informed by Libby that Officer Hotstuff was my soon-to-be new fuck-friend so I could go outside for the next demo because her grade one class was having their library session and she would cover for me, I couldn’t have been happier.

  ‘Thank you, Brooke. And just for the record, I never said he was to be my new “fuck-friend”,’ I said quietly, making sure no little ears were close by.

  Tightening her blonde ponytail, she rolled her eyes. ‘Carly, please, I know you. I’ve known you for years. And I’ve just seen his ... um ... exterior. Plus, Lib said you bo
th know each other and that you were only seconds away from getting it on in this very office.’

  ‘We were not!’

  ‘Sure,’ she drawled.

  I narrowed my eyes at her as I stood up from my seat. ‘Changing the subject ... Lance’s brother, he is still single?’

  Brooke picked up one of my fancy pens and gave it a critical once-over while answering nonchalantly. ‘Yeah. Why?’

  ‘I met someone a few weeks ago who might be a great match.’

  ‘When are you going to learn to stay out of setting people up?’

  ‘What? I’m a human cupid,’ I smiled proudly.

  ‘So be your own human cupid.’

  Ignoring her stab at me, because she knows I’m one to avoid commitment on any level, I continued with my original plan. ‘As I was saying, I met a guy called Liam. He works with my best friend, Alexis. He’s single, cute and strictly dickly. I told him about Lance’s bro and he seemed interested.’

  Brooke shrugged her shoulders. ‘Okay, I’ll have a chat to him.’

  ‘Sweet! Later,’ I said, blowing her a kiss and making my way outside.

  ***

  Walking toward the demonstration, I took in the sight of Derek addressing the prep students. He had their unequivocal attention, their wide eyes glued to every movement that he made.

  ‘So repeat after me. Stop, drop, cover. And if your clothes are on fire what do you do?’ he asked while putting his hand to his ear, ready for them to shout the answer.

  ‘ROLL!’ they enthusiastically screamed.

  ‘Yes, roll. But only if your clothes are on fire.’ Derek leaned back against the truck and raised one foot, balancing it against the tyre. He then crossed his arms in front of him and shook his head from side to side. ‘You kids are pretty smart. I bet you are all smarter than me.’

  Most of them shouted, ‘No’, the exception being Tanner Morgan — aged five. ‘My dad is smarter than you,’ Tanner bellowed.

  I had to bite my lip to refrain from laughing. Sally — or Ms Taylor as she is known to her prep grade students — stepped forward. She was clearly embarrassed, blushing profusely as she tried to hush Tanner.

  ‘Oh yeah?’ Derek asked. ‘Is your dad a rocket scientist?’

  ‘No. He is a policeman, and policemen are way better than firemen,’ Tanner answered resolutely.

  It was obvious by the way Derek quickly looked to the ground that he was trying not to laugh. ‘Really? Why are they better?’

  ‘Tanner!’ Sally warned.

  Tanner totally ignored his teacher. ‘Because policemen have guns and you have stupid fire hoses,’ he responded.

  ‘Stupid? This is not stupid,’ Derek announced as he whipped out a hose. Honestly, I’d much prefer he whip out the hose in his pants. But hey, there’s a time and place for that, and it certainly wasn’t here ...

  Instead, he was handed a hose by one of the other firefighters.

  ‘This is an attack hose,’ he explained with a melodramatic tone.

  All the kids — even Tanner — ooh’d and ah’d.

  ‘Is it heavy?’ one of them asked.

  ‘Can you blow a hole in someone’s gut?’ said another.

  ‘Can you drink from it?’

  ‘Whoa! Remember, if you have a question, please raise your hand,’ Derek instructed kindly.

  As I watched him interact with the kids, it was apparent that he had paternal qualities. He was cool, calm and collected, and he appeared to enjoy their annoying and, at times, non-compliant nature. He seemed, quite simply, tolerant — which was something I was not. My tolerance, where young humans were concerned, was zero ... nil ... nada. That didn’t mean I treated them badly though. I didn’t treat anyone badly. Regardless of whether I was fond of a person or not, I always showed them respect. Respect is the easiest thing to give, yet the hardest to be earned.

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  The sound of the school bell broke my inner musings about Derek and children. Thank Christ for that! Why my mind is pondering that topic is beyond me.

  Taking a few steps closer to him, he noticed my approach and looked up. A small group of children were saying their goodbyes when he excused himself and instructed them to hurry and catch up with the rest of their class.

  ‘I hope you got all that?’ he said with sincerity.

  Got all what? Is he asking if I spotted that he is great with kids, or that he has a massive hose?

  ‘Got what?’ I asked hesitantly.

  ‘What to do in an emergency.’

  I rolled my eyes at him. ‘I know what to do in the case of an emergency.’

  ‘Really? Where’s the safe point at your home?’

  ‘Easy, by the letterbox.’

  ‘How often do you change your smoke detector batteries?’

  ‘At the beginning of daylight saving.’

  ‘Good,’ he praised. ‘So, Carly, I know that you said your appetite had not yet returned, but I’m hungry. I want to eat and I want to eat with you.’

  ‘Um ... well, I’m just about to go on my lunchbreak. There’s a cafe down the road that has great sandwiches. We could —’

  ‘Perfect. Just give me a minute,’ he said before turning and jogging toward his two colleagues.

  I watched as he — I assumed — filled them in on his lunch plans. One of them looked in my direction and shook his head in amused disbelief, before saying, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’

  I furrowed my brow.

  ***

  We walked the short distance to the cafe and secured a table.

  ‘What can I get you both?’ the waitress politely asked.

  Derek motioned for me to answer first. ‘Ladies before gentlemen,’ he said with a smirk.

  ‘I thought we’d established that I’m not a lady,’ I replied.

  ‘No. You inferred that you weren’t. You are yet to prove it.’

  I handed my menu to the waitress and ordered the roast lamb sandwich and an OJ, then leaned back in my chair and laid my napkin across my lap. ‘And how would you like me to prove it?’

  ‘I’m sure you mentioned something about preferring your legs open,’ he stated, then turned to the waitress. ‘I’ll have the turkey and cranberry sandwich and a bottle of Coke, please.’

  The poor thing was already blushing as she jotted down his order, her eyes quickly flicking from her notepad to Derek’s uniform-covered chest. ‘Thank you,’ she said hastily and fumbled with the menu when Derek handed it to her. ‘I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks.’

  Leaning forward, I opted to give him a dose of his own medicine and get up close and personal. ‘Yes, I did mention that. And I still go by it. I’ve had more fun with them open as opposed to them closed.’

  Derek swallowed heavily, the muscles in his neck tensing with the motion. ‘I bet you have. So ... are we going to reschedule our date?’

  Relaxing a little, I moved back to a comfortable position on my chair and rested my elbows on the table. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Why maybe?’

  ‘Because, according to you, you owe me an apology,’ I smiled sweetly.

  Just as the waitress arrived with our drinks, Derek leaned back and put his hands behind his head. He thanked her, then waited for her departure. ‘Look, Carly, I’m sorry for being so short with you at Alexis’ birthday when you mentioned my fami—’

  I interrupted, because I didn’t feel he should have to justify himself where his family was concerned, regardless of the clipped way he had spoken that day. ‘You don’t have to explain about your —’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ he butted in. ‘I do, because I want you to understand that I was not trying to push you away. I enjoyed spending time with you that night. And the way I ended things was a fucking disgrace.’

  ‘You’re overreacting,’ I offered, before sipping my OJ through the straw.

  Derek tipped his drink bottle back and began to skoll the contents. Instantly, I became entranced by the way his throat muscles worked as he swallowed. I sa
id a little prayer in the hope he would spill some of it so I could launch myself over the table and lick the drip from his neck.

  Unfortunately, my prayers went unanswered and his drinking ability was almost perfect.

  ‘My father is an arsehole of epic proportions and my brother likes to suck up to him and make accusations. I don’t like either of them,’ he explained, placing his bottle on the table.

  I nodded. I didn’t want to add anything that might imply he should continue with his private confession. This really was none of my business.

  ‘Have you heard of King Logistics?’ he asked, rocking his chair back to rest on two legs instead of four.

  ‘The freight company?’

  ‘Yep, that’s the one. Well, that’s the family business. The one my father wanted me to run with my twin brother,’ Derek explained.

  Oh, sweet lord of all things duplicated. He’s a twin.

  Before I could answer, the waitress returned with our sandwiches. We thanked her before she made herself scarce.

  ‘I take it you do not want to co-run the business,’ I replied as I lifted the lid of my sandwich to check the contents.

  Stupid bloody yuppy cafe. How many times have I told these morons to put in mint sauce? Who the hell eats lamb without mint sauce? It’s sacrilege.

  I harrumphed, closed the lid and scanned the cafe for the waitress, flagging her down. She quickly made her way toward me. ‘Yes? Can I help you with something?’

  ‘Can you please get David to put in some mint sauce? Tell him it’s Carly’s sandwich. He’ll know who I am.’

  She apologised. ‘Sorry, I’m new here. I didn’t know.’

  ‘It’s fine. Chef David knows I cannot possibly eat a roast lamb sandwich without mint sauce.’ I smiled, handing her my plate.

  She laughed. ‘Sure, I’ll remember that.’

  Taking the dish from my hands, the waitress then headed toward the kitchen, only to return moments later. ‘On behalf of Chef David, here is your mint sauce sandwich with a side of lamb,’ she said, wrinkling her nose.

  ‘Hey, don’t knock it until you try it,’ I encouraged.