Page 43 of After Tonight

7

She’d spilled her guts to Derek. And he’d jerked off in the shower thinking of her.

Things were so not normal between them that she honestly didn’t know what to do.

Riley was still sitting at Derek’s kitchen table, her laptop open, staring at a blank screen twenty minutes after he’d left.

What the hell was happening?

She’d told him all about the task force project, and she knew she’d been letting her enthusiasm show. Last night with Peyton it had all been new, but now that she’d had a chance to think it through and do some research, she was feeling excited. She’d even confessed to feeling flattered. Typically, that would be the perfect fodder for Derek to tease her.

But he hadn’t. He’d listened. He’d asked questions. He’d said he thought she’d be great at it.

And then he’d apparently jerked off in the shower thinking about her.

Riley felt her cheeks—and a few other places—get hot. Surely he’d been kidding about that. But why? She’d been asking him about his plans for the day and wondering when she might see him. And then he’d said that. And he definitely hadn’t seemed like he was teasing.

God.

She put her hands to her cheeks. She could not get that out of her head. She’d seen enough of Derek’s body to fill in the blanks for what she hadn’t. And the images of him in the shower, water cascading over his back and chest and abs, his hand wrapped around his cock, stroking himself and thinking of her…Riley squeezed her thighs together and took a shaky breath. She could not sit here, at his kitchen table, and think all of the things she was thinking. Most especially the thought where she offered to help next time.

That was just not what she and Derek were. She was, as he’d said, like a little sister to him. And he was a pain in her ass. And what they’d always had was…nice.

That thought surprised her but as she thought about it, she had to admit that, yeah, it had been nice. It hadn’t always felt that way. In fact, until that very moment, she’d definitely not thought of it as nice. But Derek was predictable. She always knew how he would react to things. Sure, it was with teasing and banter. Yes, it seemed that he had a hard time taking anything seriously. Absolutely it seemed that she couldn’t say anything without him adding his two stupid cents.

But at the same time, it had always been generally good-natured. She knew what it was like to be criticized for real. Her mother did it on a regular basis. So she definitely could tell the difference between that and what Derek did. Derek teased. He tried to make her smile. He didn’t let her take things—including herself— too seriously.

Riley sat up straighter in her chair as she thought back over their interactions and the general vibe between her and Derek over the years.

Yes, that was it. He’d teased her. He’d always been there, seemingly in the way. Seemingly always with something to say, some comment to make. But it had always been lighthearted. And it had very often been in front of her mother. As if reminding her not to get too worked up about things. As if to help her see the situation less seriously.

Had he done that intentionally? Or was that just who he was?

Derek was different from Kyle. Kyle did worry about things like schedules and doing things a certain way, getting things right. Her mother and father were the same. Riley was the one person in her family who didn’t do everything according to the “rules” and, now that she thought about that, Derek was more like her than any of them. He wasn’t really a rebel. He took care of the entire town. And yet, he kept strange hours and just rolled with the punches and did things his way. Because he was always doing things for other people, no one got too worked up about him being exactly on time or how he got things done, but yeah, he’d managed to work it out so that he pretty much did whatever he wanted, when he wanted to do it.

That was really her style as well. She loved working in cyber security because she could set her own hours, work mostly remotely, and did things her way because most people didn’t really understand what she did in the first place.

Derek would get that.

Her mother and brother, not as much.

How had she never realized all of this about Derek before? That they had several key things in common? That his teasing had annoyed her, but it had never felt like criticism? And that even when it annoyed her, it didn’t really. She knew that he was just working to get a rise out of her, and she gave in to that. For some reason.

And now he wanted her to taste test his pizzas. He wanted her opinion on something.

And then there was that jerking-off thing…

Mentally shaking herself, she put her hands back on her keyboard. She was going to work now. All of this was a lot of realization for one day. And she didn’t like the way desire pulsed through her anytime she thought of him just down the hall, his hand on his—

Somehow she managed to work for about ten minutes. But it turned out to be nearly impossible for her to keep her mind on anything but Derek. Of course, sitting in the middle of his kitchen probably had something to do with that. She needed a change of scenery.

But there simply weren’t many options for that in Sapphire Falls. The only place to really work quietly without interruption was the Come Again after hours. If she went home, her mom would pull her into a project, or would want to chat about how long Riley thought Kyle and Hannah would wait before they got married. Everywhere else in town would be overrun with people she’d known her whole life who would want to sit and chat and ask a million questions. Which was exactly why she’d started going to the Come Again in the first place.

She sat back in her chair and yawned.

This getting up early to get Derek up early was starting to wear on her. She could see his couch from where she sat, and she had to admit that it was one of the more comfortable couches she’d ever lain on.

Derek would be out for a while.

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