Page 27 of Inevitable Inheritance

“Yup,” Taylor confirmed, taking a deep breath, “we’re engaged.”

“Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod!” Marty said, jumping up and down, “When? Where?”

“Oh, we don’t have any real plans yet …”

“When did he propose?”

“Yesterday,” Taylor said. It just sort of came out. She had taken Derrick’s advice and not thought. She just answered, and it seemed to have worked.

“Wait, how long have you two been together?” Marty questioned, piecing things together.

“I don’t know …”

“Close to two years,” Derrick said.

“How the hell did you not tell me?” Marty exclaimed to Derrick.

Derrick rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that hard, since we didn’t want it to be front page news.”

Marty glared and punched Derrick in the arm. “You are such a tool,” she said and turned back to Taylor. “But I am so happy for you,” she squealed, jumping up and down.

Taylor laughed at her reaction.

“Well, this is so, wow, just wow,” Marty said, misty-eyed. Suddenly she flung Taylor at Derrick, using the hand she had been hanging onto to check out the ring. Derrick had to reach out and grab Taylor by the waist so she didn’t bounce back to the floor as she hit him. “But first, you two have to hug. I don’t want you to fight and mess up your weekend together. You need to be all lovey-dovey and ready to plan on forever,” Marty informed them.

Derrick and Taylor looked at Marty, then at each other, and then they hugged. Taylor was still thinking about the photog thing, but she was hoping she could get it out of Derrick or Marty later. And she didn’t want Derrick to explode or kill Marty, so she decided to just be patient.

They were releasing each other when Marty barked out another order, “Now, Derrick, tell Taylor you are sorry.”

With his arms still around Taylor’s waist, Derrick leaned back and looked into her face. He said a very remorseful, “I am so sorry, Taylor. So sorry.” His tone was soft, and Taylor knew his apology was deeper than the pretend lovers quarrel she had pitched to his sister.

“Okay,” Taylor whispered to him. Did she forgive him? Nope, but it was polite to respond. And she had to say something because she was getting lost in Derrick’s eyes.

“Now kiss and make up.”

Taylor tore her eyes away from Derrick’s and looked over his shoulder at Marty like she had sprouted an extra head and it was spitting out wooden nickels.

Marty was unrelenting. “Kiss!” she demanded impatiently, flapping her arms in front of her, indicating they need to get closer.

“No, Marty, we don’t—”

“Come on, baby, I said I was sorry.”

Taylor turned back to see that humor had replaced the remorse on Derrick’s face. It looked like Team Derrick wouldn’t be scoreless for long. He leaned in and whispered against her lips, “Please don’t be mad.” Then he pressed his soft lips to hers.

Taylor gasped at the caress on her lips, and Derrick seized the opportunity to slide his tongue smoothly into her mouth. The feeling was like nothing Taylor had ever felt. Her brain shut down, and she felt her knees go weak. She braced her arms on Derrick’s biceps, and then slid them up to his neck.

Reality reinstated itself as Marty clapped loudly.

The connection was broken as Taylor jerked back and looked at Derrick wide-eyed. He was staring at her. His eyes were not laughing, not angry, not apologetic; there was something else there. She couldn’t place it, but she had never seen him look at anyone that way before.

“Okay, that’s enough. I might vomit,” Marty remarked. “I’m out. Bye, Taylor. I am so glad to see you again. Call me for lunch if you stay in town.” Marty showed herself out. The noise of the descending elevator was the only sound in the room.

Neither Taylor nor Derrick acknowledged Marty’s departure. They just continued to look at each other. Derrick blinked a couple of time, shook his head, and then started to lean back. “Sorry, I—”

Taylor reached up and pulled Derrick’s head back down to hers, sealing their lips together again.

The last twenty-four hours had been, to put it mildly, a complete and total nightmare. Her mind was reeling and confused, and she was stressed out. But when he kissed her, when Derrick had put his lip to hers, Taylor was totally swept away, mindless, a blank slate. She wanted to see if it would happen again, because that was bliss. She wanted nothing more than a reprieve from all the responsibilities she had ahead of her, and the kiss was like nothing she had ever felt. Taylor loved a good experiment, especially if it felt like this.

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