He remembered her shot about being poor. She clearly thought that was the only problem that could happen to a family. “My family isn’t a good subject for me.”
He didn’t know where that came from or why he said it. Well, he knew why but not why now.
“They’re part of you. Your dad, your upbringing. It’s all a piece of who you are.”
She didn’t know but that was the absolute worst thing she could have said. “I sure as hell hope not.”
Her head shot back. “I don’t get it.”
How did he explain? Did he even want to? Every slight and every fault piled up over the years. He knew he had it easy compared to others. This wasn’t a race but he hadn’t exactly had a smooth time, either.
Some of that had changed with his father’s new wife, Jackie. Or so people said. Derrick didn’t spend much time with his father since he’d been the one to suggest his father think about retiring. He and Jackie had been living on an island, racing through money ever since.
“You guessed before that my dad was difficult. He’s a... I can’t even think of a nice way to put it. An ass?” His father wasn’t a great man. He hurt women. A lot of women. He treated them like property. He’d ruined their mother’s life. He acted as if his employees and friends were expendable. He saw his sons as disappointing playthings to bring out for photo ops but little else. “He ran through women, never quite finishing with one before moving on to the other. He sucked with money.”
“Your family is...well, aren’t you all millionaires, or billionaires or whatever comes after that?” Ellie took a quick look around the house as she spoke.
Derrick got it. He lived a certain way. Not over-the-top or even equal to a lot of other business people in town with his level of success, but he didn’t suffer many hardships. But that was all thanks to his hard work, not his father’s.
“Both of our fathers had issues with money.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Mine spent money faster than he made it. He was always more impressed with the public version of the family and work than what was happening in private.”
She took a few steps and ended up in front of him. “What does that mean?”
“He asked my mother for a divorce while she was dying in a hospital bed.” Derrick didn’t reach out for Ellie even though he wanted to. The idea of saying those words and touching anyone seemed wrong.
Her mouth twisted in a sour expression. “Who does that?”
“Exactly.” She got it. She understood Dad wasn’t just the handsome face that appeared in the news now and then. “He spent money and pretended he had an endless supply of it. Meanwhile, he failed to reinvest in the company, retain good employees or expand when times changed.”
She reached out first. Her palm flattened against his chest. “But you did. You rebuilt everything.”
Derrick exhaled, liking the feel of her skin against his, even through his shirt. He folded his hand over hers. “Me and the people who work for me.”
The start of a smile kicked up the corner of her mouth. “You’re not going to take credit?”
Not out loud. Not ever. “I’ve spent my entire life trying not to be him, Ellie. I keep my head down and work. I don’t get involved with people.”
“Wait, that’s not true.” Her fingers curled into the material of his shirt as if she were willing him to listen to her. “You and Jackson are close. I sense you’re close to your brothers.”
“True.”
Her second hand slipped to his waist to rest on the top edge of his pants. “You’re a good man.”
Derrick tried not to think about her fingers or how good they felt on him. “Am I? Your brother hates me and I forced you into a fake relationship.”
She threw her hands out to the sides. “Do I look like I don’t want to be here?”
The words slammed into him. He wanted her there. Agreement or no, he wanted her in his house, in his bed. In his life. To hell with the emotional consequences. “Then why are we sleeping in separate beds?”
Those hands slipped up his chest to his tie. It loosened a second later. “That’s over.”
Twelve
The DC Insider: Dear readers...why are hot millionaire businessmen so hard to read?
Derrick’s hands shook as he lowered the zipper of her dress. Ellie couldn’t think of a more satisfying reaction. Couldn’t believe how right it felt to be in this bedroom with him. His bedroom.
His fingers brushed over her skin and his hot breath blew against her hair. She held on to the front of the gown, trying to catch it before the whole thing whooshed to the floor. If it were hers she wouldn’t care, but it wasn’t and that meant being extra careful.
“You’re not wearing a bra.” Derrick’s voice carried a note of awe as he trailed his palm over her back.
Her breath caught and she fought to hold her voice steady. “The dress held everything in.”
More like sucked it in and made her skin roll in places she preferred not to have rolls. None of that took away from the specialness of it all. She’d never dreamed about being a princess. She’d let her father do the unrealistic dreaming in the family.
Even with her practical streak, the memory of standing there on Derrick’s arm, feeling his strong hand in hers as they’d danced under the lights with her dress swirling around her ran through her mind. She wanted to store away every moment and hold on to how freeing every moment had been.
“Any chance Vanessa has ten or fifteen more like this for you to borrow?” With the zipper the whole way down, Derrick’s fingers lingered at the small dip of her lower back. He traced a pattern there.
Her entire body shivered in reaction. Every muscle shook as waves of pleasure ran through her.
She cleared her throat, trying to sound somewhat coherent. “Do we have more fancy events to attend?”
He kissed her bare shoulder. The move relaxed her, lured her in. Then he bit with only the barest of pressure, licked the wound and kissed the spot again. Her pulse took off on a wild race. She could feel it thump in her neck and under his mouth.
That mouth, so perfect, knew just where to nip and how to drive her wild.
He started to trail the kisses up the side of her neck. “I thought you could model them here, in private. With me as your only, but very eager, audience.”
He was about to get so lucky.
“Aren’t you naughty?” She asked the question as she turned in his arms. Seeing his face, running her finger over the stubble on his chin, set off a flurry of activity in her stomach.
On purpose, she let the top of the dress fall to her waist. Only the flare of her hips kept it up at all, and that balance was tenuous at best. She didn’t cover herself. Didn’t have to. He’d seen every inch of her. Toured his hands and mouth all over her. And when he saw her breasts now, all he could do was stare.
She couldn’t imagine a better reaction. His pleasure became her pleasure.
Her feminine power exploded.
“I want to be a bad boy but I’m afraid of tearing the dress.”
“Good call.” She wiggled her hips and the material fell. She caught it before it hit the floor and handed it to him. “Here.”
For a second he stood there with the dress draped over his arm. “Damn.”
He wasn’t looking at her face. No, his gaze traveled up and down her legs. To her thigh-high stockings with the lacy tops and the matching nude-colored underwear. She’d worn the combination for him.
“You like?” she asked, even though she knew from his expression he did.
“So that you’re clear, I like you pretty much any way you’ll let me have you.” He used his finger to trace the lace pattern on the top of her thigh. “But damn.”
Perfect reaction.
He’d stripped his tie off and shrugged out of his jacket. S
he went to work on his shirt. It took her about two seconds to get those small white buttons undone and to pull back the edges to reveal that firm, tanned chest. “Let’s get this off you.”
“I can do it.” But he didn’t make any move to help.
“I’ll take care of you.” She stripped the shirt off then sat on the edge of the bed.
She skipped the talking and asking and went right to the button at the top of his pants. His breathing kicked up as she lowered the zipper then pushed his dress pants to his knees. The boxer briefs went next.
When she took his length into her hand, his fingers slipped through her hair and held her close. The noise he made when she took him in her mouth, half moan, half yell for joy, sounded like music. It would stay in her head for a long time.
“Ellie.” His voice dipped even lower than normal and held an extra-rough edge.
She licked her tongue over his tip then peeked up at him. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“I’m trying to figure out how I’ve stayed away from you for the past five nights.”
“Sheer willpower on both our parts.” Wasted time, as far as she was concerned. She wanted this. Wanted him. “To prove we could.”
To continue the farce that this was fake and meant nothing...that was over. In reality, what they shared had started to mean everything.
She was falling for him. The words rolled through her head without a signal from her brain. They should have scared her and had her ducking for the toilet. She’d refrained from any real involvement up until now. Found excuses with other boyfriends to cut things off. With Derrick she wanted more, not less.
She understood him. They were good together. He made her rethink some of the views she held and things she took for granted. Made her assess Noah from a fresh perspective. And she smoothed out Derrick’s rough parts. Had him thinking about something other than work every second of every day.
This—what they shared—may have started off as nothing, but it was something now. At least to her. The only fear, and it was a very real fear, was that this newfound reality only ran one way.
The room spun around her. He’d pulled her up and flopped onto the mattress, taking her with him. It was not the most dignified sprawl, but she landed on top of him—exactly where she wanted to be.
She scrambled to her knees and shimmied out of her underwear then took care of getting his pants and briefs the rest of the way off. He was left wearing socks and she had the thigh-highs on. That seemed like a pretty great combination to her.
She dipped her head to kiss him and he caught her face and held her steady. Cupped her cheeks in his palms and ran a thumb over her bottom lip. “I brought the condoms home.”
The practical words shot through her. It took her a second to process what he was saying, but the choice was smart and made sense. They hadn’t talked the “us” part of them through yet. That first time they’d had sex had been a risk. They could get it right now.
She looked around the bedroom. “Where?”
He pointed at the nightstand next to him. “Drawer.”
That was the only word he could seem to get out, which only made him sexier. As she reached, he took advantage of her unguarded position and brought his mouth to her breast. Licked all around her nipple before sucking her.
She tried to slouch on the top of his thighs, but he held her firm. His fingers traveled down her stomach and kept going lower. Between that hot mouth and those searching fingers, she lost all sense of time and what she wanted to do next. She got lost in a swirl of energy. It thrummed through her. The tension ratcheted up as her body got nearer to the edge.
“Ellie.”
She looked at his determined expression and wet lips. “Yeah?”
“Ride me.”
Yes. She thought it rather than said it. Without a word, she moved over his body. Straddled those impressive hips and pressed her hands to the rippled muscles of his stomach. “Have you been a good boy?”
“Very.” His finger slipped inside her.
Her muscles strained as her head fell forward. Her hair slid off her shoulders and hung down. She could feel him curl a strand around his finger.
Heat radiated off their bodies. She tore open the packet and took out the condom. It should only have taken a second to roll it over his length, but she drew it out. Squeezed him as she covered him, inch by inch. By the time she was done, he squirmed on the bed. His fingers dug into her hips as he tried to draw her closer.
Then she lifted her body up and slid over him. Every cell screamed for her to finish it, but she didn’t rush this part, either. She enveloped him. Measured each second before going lower. Waited until his back lifted off the bed and his eyes glazed with need.
She could feel him pulse inside her. After all those nights of limiting themselves, their bodies craved the completion now. She ached for it. When she lifted and returned to him again, her body started to shake. She was so close.
Tiny sounds escaped her throat. She hit a steady rhythm but she couldn’t hold on. Her control shattered and the orgasm tore through her, surprising her with its intensity. She could hear Derrick saying her name and feel him lift his body to meet hers. Then she couldn’t think about anything except how good he felt and how much she wanted this to last.
* * *
Derrick snuck down to the kitchen about a half hour later than usual the next morning. He wanted to get Ellie a cup of coffee and serve it to her in bed. The longer he could keep her there, the happier he would be.
He hit the bottom step and knew he’d miscalculated the time. Spence was already sitting at the bar, scrolling through his cell and drinking from a mug.
He didn’t lift his head as he spoke. “You’re tiptoeing around your own house. That’s not sad or anything.”
Derrick jerked at the unexpected sound but tried to hide it. Good thing he’d put pants on or Spence would have had quite the morning show. “You’re up early.”
“It’s about time you two slept together.” Spence just kept scrolling. “All that pretending was driving me nuts. I don’t know how you stood it for all those nights.”
Derrick froze. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, please.” Spence put his cell to the side and smiled at his brother over the top of the mug. “My door is between your bedroom and the one she goes to...and you sneak off to each night.”
So much for being stealthy. Derrick should have asked her to stay in his room and forget all the subterfuge. After last night, after the hangover from the personal information he’d shared with her, he was ticked off he hadn’t ended the fake part of their relationship sooner.
Screw the agreement, he wanted to actually date her. He had no idea if she could make it work, but he really wanted to try.
But that didn’t mean he wanted his brother knowing all about his sex life. “That’s not—”
“I could never figure out why you didn’t get right into bed with her.” Spence shook his head as he made a tsking sound. “She’s hot. You have to be smart enough to see that.”
“Careful where you go with this.” The brothers didn’t touch each other’s dates. Not ever. That was an unspoken rule. But the real problem for Derrick was that he wasn’t in top form for sparring thanks to the lack of sleep, which he did not regret one bit.
“I have eyes. I hear the way you two talk to each other.” Spence’s smile was far too wide and snarky for this hour. “All tinged with unspent energy.”
Tinged? Yeah, way too early. “You can stop talking now.”
Spence had the nerve to shrug. “I’m reporting on what I’ve witnessed.”
“You were spying on me?” For some reason that struck Derrick as ridiculous as he leaned against the sink.
Spence hadn’t asked a lot of personal questions when he’d checked in by phone over the past few months. He wasn’t the type to be up in so
meone else’s business.
“I’m trying to figure out what’s happening with you.” Spence drained his mug. “I promised Carter I would find out and report back.”
The alarm chimed and the front door downstairs opened and closed. Only a few people knew the code and had a key. Three of them were in the house right now and one was driving cross-country to get here for what appeared to be a brotherly interrogation. That left one other option.
Jackson stepped into the room. He carried a brown bag imprinted with the name of the nearby bagel chain.
This informal breakfast looked prearranged to Derrick. Jackson didn’t just stop in with snacks. His smirk didn’t make his surprise appearance any less annoying.
“What’s going on?” Jackson asked the room in general as he unloaded the contents of the bag onto the counter.
“I’m digging into my brother’s odd relationship to figure out why it’s odd,” Spence said.
Jackson hesitated for a second before reaching in and pulling out a tub of cream cheese. “Aren’t we all?”
“He’s got it bad for her.”
Derrick put his mug down and took a step toward the staircase, making sure they didn’t have nosy company hovering around upstairs. “Keep your voices low.”
“Are you sure it’s not that you’re making this complicated?” Spence shook his head. “Because, I gotta tell you. From where I’m sitting, you seem to be messing this up.”
Jackson opened two drawers before he found a knife for the cream cheese. Derrick was pretty sure it was a steak knife, but it worked.
“He’s not wrong about the ‘messing up’ part,” Jackson noted.
“You like her. A lot.” Jackson pointed to the bagels and kept pointing until Spence picked up a specific one. “You’re kind of stupid with how much you like her.”
Jackson took care of slathering the spread on one side of the bagel then handed it to Spence before giving Derrick a quick glance. “Notice he’s refraining from using the bigger L-word.”
Pregnant by the CEO (The Jameson Heirs) Page 13
