“You mean after we get dressed?” Derek asked.
“Don’t be a dick about it.”
“We still have to deal with Jacob. He’s still out there, and who the hell knows what he’s trying to pursue now? But I want to try a relationship with you. I want to build that with you. I want the chance to try.”
“I’d be lying if I said I was sure about this, because I’m not. There are still so many factors in play that could be altering your—”
His hand grabbed my chin and brought my lips to his. The kiss was deep. Rough. Passionate and meant to silence. I sank into him, feeling his heart beating against my chest as I moaned into his lips. His hand slid up to cup my cheek, his thumb tracing the outline of my cheekbone as my lips swelled under his attack.
When he pulled away from me, my body followed him. Almost like it was instinct.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that type of instinct.
Derek helped me from his lap, and I searched for my clothes. I could feel him pouring out of me, so I used my underwear to wipe myself down. I stumbled to get my pants on, refusing Derek’s help when he tried to steady me on my feet. I got myself dressed this morning. There was no need for his help now.
Then I shoved my dirty underwear deep into my pants pocket.
I still wasn’t sure that Derek was genuinely interested in me. I still felt he was getting all spun around by this unusual situation for him. The adrenaline. The danger. The Florence Nightingale effect where someone being protected latches onto their protector. It was a phenomenon I had watched John be plagued with on more than one occasion, and I couldn’t shake the feeling it was happening now too.
Only I was giving into it instead of refusing it like I’d coached John so many times before.
But what I had to do was keep myself in check. Even if I was sleeping with him, it didn’t mean my heart had to run away from me. Even if I had to protect Derek, it didn’t mean I had to fall in love with him simply because he was a powerful man. I needed to protect myself. I needed to keep myself from being so vulnerable to this man, especially now that I knew the power he had to affect me.
A power I hadn’t encountered in years.
Derek’s wish for a relationship was no more than infatuation, an illusion built on a series of rare events that drew two people together. Two people with very specific skillsets that were very good in their respective industries. I was a powerful woman, and he was a powerful man.
That didn’t mean we were built to be powerful together.
“Coming?” Derek asked.
He stood at the door, holding it open with a smug grin on his cheeks.
No. This wasn’t real. None of this was real between Derek and me. It was a stressful job that required a stress relief two parties were willing to give one another. That wasn’t a recipe for love, and it wasn’t a recipe for a relationship.
I was right, and he was wrong. He had misjudged Jacob, I knew he was still misjudging Emma, and I know he was misjudging me.
That meant he would misjudge what we were doing. His emotional dispositions proved that.
And if there was anything I had built my life on, it was proof.
Chapter 5
Derek
IT TOOK ME A FUCKING week for my public relations section of the company to get shit under control with the media. Our stock was finally stabilizing, and I had quelled the investor’s worries for now. Some of the projects that had been stalled were back underway, and a couple companies that had dropped out completely were back at the table to talk. But I wasn’t going easy on them. Them dropping off the face of the planet had put a dent in the schedule goals I had set forth for them, so I was using this as a time to negotiate a bigger chunk of their company.
That was what they got for putting us in the time crunch.
I was at my office looking through all the reports. I wanted to make sure all the numbers on every single piece of paper were what they were supposed to be. I wasn’t taking any chances that Jacob was dipping his hands into things. I didn’t want to take a chance that another zero had been added somewhere, enabling someone to skim money off the backs of our investors.
While Sam was protecting me, it was my job to protect them.
Plus, one of these projects was Jacob’s baby. It was a company he had personally brought me, and I was on high alert with it. The investors still wanted to take it on after our stocks had stabilized in the marketplace, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I had Sam vet every single person at that company. The owner. The operator. All the workers and even their families. I didn’t want there to be anything that got by me on this one. I didn’t want this to be a way Jacob wiggled his way back into the company.
Especially since his accounts had been frozen.
It was only a matter of time before Jacob got caught. He had lived a life of luxury for years, making the kind of money he did. He wouldn’t be able to slum it for long. He’d make a desperate move to get cash, and we would all be there to apprehend them. To throw his ass down to the pavement and maybe bust his nose as the police handcuffed him. I continued flipping through pages, double-checking numbers and running calculations as Sam came out of the washroom.