Page 24 of After Tonight

Derek blinked at her again. That was all very specific. And…romantic. How did Riley know this stuff? Had some guy done those things for her? And who was he?

And why in the hell did Derek feel a prick of annoyance behind his breastbone at the idea of her wrapping up in a towel some guy had warmed for her?

“You’re going to teach me to be romantic then?” he asked. “That’s what nice girls like?”

“All girls like that.”

“A lot of girls would like me to bend them over on their yoga mat.” Like almost all of the girls he usually hung out with.

Had he said that to put a sexual image in Riley’s head? Hell yes, he had. Why? Well, that was the real question. Riley didn’t like him. What good did it do to put sexual thoughts in her head? Of course, her not liking him was kind of why he did most of the things he did when she was around. Pushing her buttons was just so damned fun.

But Riley didn’t blush or act surprised or offended at his comment. She lifted her chin and said, “And if there were flowers and crepes on the breakfast table afterward, I guarantee your chances of getting a before-work blowjob would increase exponentially.”

Riley Ames had just said the word blowjob to him.

Derek wasn’t sure what to do with that. He might have vaguely registered her hotness before, but he knew for a fact she’d never said the words blow and job together like that to him before.

As he was still trying to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth, she moved to push past him, and her bare shoulder brushed over his bare sternum. Derek became acutely aware that he was in only the pair of gym shorts that he’d pulled on when the pounding had erupted from his front door.

It seemed the same realization hit her at the same moment. They both froze, both holding their breaths.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t been in tight quarters before. Surely they’d passed close to one another in a hallway or had to move around one another in a small space at some point in the twenty-six years he’d known her.

But if he’d ever been hit in the gut by how soft and warm her skin was or how great her hair smelled, he’d promptly forgotten it. He’d never felt an urge to lean in and take a big breath. And maybe drag his mouth up and down her throat.

Until this moment, anyway.

Because yeah, her hair fucking smelled amazing, and she was very warm and soft.

Slowly—very slowly—she turned toward him. Her shoulder grazing his chest again. Her eyes lifted to his, taking time to track over his pecs, shoulders, throat and mouth before making eye contact, however. She swallowed.

“But I’m going to make you crepes today.”

Yeah, her voice definitely sounded funny.

“Do I like crepes?” And did that mean she was romancing him? Well, no. She was just going through the motions of romance so he’d learn.

“If you don’t, you will,” she told him with a little cockiness in her voice that was so familiar and yet, also sent a bolt of heat through him.

“That’s pretty big talk.” He was more a bacon-and-eggs kind of guy. And he had no idea what French-press coffee was.

“Well, this isn’t actually about what you like,” she told him. They were still standing really close. She’d turned enough that they were no longer touching, but the centimeters of space between them were full of heat.

“Right. So Lucy likes crepes,” Derek said.

Something flickered in Riley’s eyes but after a moment, she nodded. “Yes. She does. And cream in her coffee.”

He should make a note of that. But all he could think was that Riley drank her coffee black.

Finally, Riley stepped the rest of the way through the door and headed for his kitchen. With the bag from the grocery store that he had just now noticed.

He blew out a breath and followed her.

“And put a shirt on,” she called over her shoulder.

“Why?”

“Because you walking around half-naked would make Lucy uncomfortable.”

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