Page 23 of After Tonight

4

“Alright! For fuck’s sake!” Derek yanked his front door open and stood staring—with a mix of surprise, trepidation, and concern—at Riley Ames.

“Morning!” She gave him a big, almost perky smile.

Except that Riley was never what he’d call perky.

“Are you okay?” He was aware that he was scowling. But fuck, it was early.

Her smile dropped and she frowned. “Yes. Why?”

“It’s not even eight a.m.”

Her perkiness slipped a bit and she sighed. “I know, right?”

“So what’s going on?”

“I’m here to have breakfast with you.”

Now his brows lifted. “Why?”

“Because that’s something that happens in normal, not-just-fucking-around relationships.”

Ah. Wonderful. His training was starting. At the crack of dawn. Okay, to be fair, the sun had been up for a couple of hours, but this was way before he normally rolled out of bed. Riley too. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not a morning person.”

She shrugged. “But your future sweet, contributes-to-society-with-a-real-job girlfriend might be.”

“Is Lucy a morning person?”

She didn’t roll her eyes, but it seemed that she wanted to. “She is, actually. She does yoga and then reads the paper while she drinks her coffee.”

Hmm, yoga. He realized Riley was dressed in a pair of yoga pants, as a matter of fact, and a tank top. Her hair was in a messy knot on top of her head and she was wearing glasses.

She looked really hot in those glasses.

He blinked.

What? He’d just thought of Riley as hot? It wasn’t technically the first time. She was hot. It was just a fact. And he’d realized it and acknowledged in the same way he acknowledged a sunny, 70-degree day. It was something that was a fact and was happening around him, but that didn’t really affect anything.

It was different this time. It seemed that Riley was affecting him. That was…weird. And probably complicated. But mostly weird.

He’d seen her dressed like this before. Fitted clothes that hugged her body and showed off her tats and piercings and smooth, creamy skin, and curves—

Wait. No, he hadn’t. He’d appreciated her tats and piercings and the streaks of color she put in her hair and the dramatic makeup she seemed to prefer, because it was so funny that she looked nothing like the nerdy, bookworm gamer-girl she was. But he’d never thought of her skin as creamy.

“Are you here to do yoga?” Did his voice sound funny?

Riley tipped her head. “I’m more of a kick-boxing girl.”

He snorted. That didn’t surprise him at all. “I’m just saying, if I have to get up early, seeing a bendy girl in skimpy clothes seems like an okay perk.” Seeing you bending over would be a perk.

Fuck. He couldn’t be thinking things like that. This was Riley. She was not only Kyle’s little sister, but she found Derek incredibly irritating. Oh, and she was here to teach him how to date another woman.

“You can’t sit an ogle a woman while she does yoga,” Riley said.

He sure as hell could. “So what should I do while she does yoga?”

“Make her French-press coffee. And crepes. And go out back and pick her some flowers for the breakfast table. And put her towel in the dryer so it’s warm after her shower.”

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