After You (Because of You 2)

“I like margarita kisses,” he says, taking the drink out of my hand and putting it on the slatted wood table next to him. Then he grabs my hips and lifts me, repositioning me so I’m straddling him.

Sighing with displeasure, I drag my hand down the front of his soft T-shirt, running my fingers along the hard planes of his chest. “You’re too sexy. I want to fuck you.”

Smirking, he asks, “Does that annoy you?”

I nod my head, grinding against him despite my annoyance.

Groaning, he says, “Please don’t give me a hard-on right here.”

“I’d fuck you right here if there weren’t kids around,” I inform him, catching his lower lip between mine and sucking on it. “Really give Mallory a show.”

Grinning, he pulls my hips tightly against his. “You riding my cock sounds like a great plan. How about we meet in the bathroom in five minutes and make it happen?”

“It’s a date,” I tell him, kissing him one more time before climbing off him and retrieving my margarita. I head back to the ladies, even though Mallory is among them now. She carefully avoids my gaze, but her whole body vibrates with tense energy, like just being around me is a struggle for her. Now that Derek and I have a tryst set up, it bothers me less. So she kissed him before he found me again. A kiss isn’t anything.

I down the rest of my margarita and when I see Derek heading in the house, I approach Joanna and lean in. “Hey, can you keep an eye on Cassidy for a few minutes? I need to run in the house.”

“Yeah, of course. Where’s Derek?”

Smiling faintly, I say, “Already in the house.”

Her eyebrows rise and she nods, getting the picture. “Ah, okay. Yes, no problem. You kids have fun.”

Chapter Twenty Nine

As I step inside the kitchen and close the sliding glass door behind me, it occurs to me that I don’t know where the bathroom is. There may even be more than one bathroom—would he go to the one downstairs, since that’s where guests would probably go, or upstairs, for privacy? As I’m wandering past the kitchen table, Derek emerges from around the corner, grabs my waist and yanks me close.

Excitement courses through me and I smile up at him, running my fingers through his hair. “There you are, lurking in the shadows.”

“Like a predator waiting for his prey,” he teases.

“You’re my favorite predator,” I inform him, before brushing my lips against his. “Now, where’s this bathroom?”

Instead of answering, he backs me up until my back meets wallpaper-covered drywall. He plants one palm on the wall and cups my face with the other, leaning into me and giving me the sort of kiss that makes me breathless.

Then again, all his kisses make me breathless.

My head is just tingly enough that I can have fun; I’m just the right level of blissful to commit to this very bad idea, then the sliding door closes with more force than it did a moment ago, and it all goes to shit.

“Don’t mind me,” Mallory says.

Her voice is like water dumped over my head. Derek sighs, bowing his head. I watch her walk around the counter and head for the fridge.

“Just getting the kids more juice boxes, then I’ll be on my way,” she calls out.

I want to hold my tongue, but—actually, no, I don’t. “Are you the designated babysitter, or…?”

With a fake smile, she tells me, “Someone’s gotta take care of them.”

“I think they’re doing all right,” I assure her.

Ignoring me, Mallory addresses Derek. “Cassie just said the cutest thing, Derek. Remember when we went down to that nature trail a while back and taught her to skip rocks on the water?”

“Stop it, Mallory,” he warns.

“What?” she asks innocently.

“You know what.”