Page 9 of After Tonight

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“So basically, you want to have sex with me,” Scott said to Derek as Derek set a beer down in front of him.

“That is absolutely not what I said,” Derek told him. He looked at Kyle. “You get what I’m saying, right?”

Kyle nodded. “Sure. But if you want to have sex with one of us, I don’t know why it isn’t me.”

These two were his best friends, and he’d known he was going to get shit about this. But if they hadn’t given him a rough time, he would have thought they weren’t really taking him seriously. “I don’t want to have sex with either of you,” Derek said firmly but calmly.

“But you said that you have no women in your life like us.” Scott waggled his thumb back and forth between himself and Kyle. “But you’d like to have the kind of sex you’re having now with someone like that.”

Derek gave him a look that said, “I know you’re being a dumbass on purpose.” He sighed. “I want to have hot sex with a woman who knows me the way you two know me.” He held up a hand before either of them said anything. “I want to have someone like Peyton or Hannah.”

There. That would make it clear what he was talking about. Peyton and Scott knew each other inside and out and were still having rock-the-house sex all the time. Hannah and Kyle had known each other and been in love since high school. They had a history that was both awesome and a little painful, and they were as close as any couple Derek had ever seen. And they were as hot together as Peyton and Scott.

Derek knew—in fact, he was pretty sure he’d been the one to point out to these guys—that when you were with someone who knew you well, and loved you in spite of knowing you well, the sex was even better. He knew that. He’d had something very close to that a couple of times. He didn’t take on the whole I-want-to-be-your-everything bit that Scott and Kyle did, so even the relationships with the couple of women he’d been serious about weren’t as all-consuming as what Scott and Peyton and Kyle and Hannah were doing. There was no way Derek wanted to be anyone’s everything. That was a hell of a lot of pressure. But he did know that sex with a woman he truly cared about and knew well was amazing and…well, other things were amazing too. Like spending time outside of the bedroom. Something he didn’t do with women very often.

But maybe he should. Maybe it was time to have a longer-term relationship. Maybe it was time to get serious. It was sure working well for Scott and Kyle.

Of course, Scott and Kyle were the more serious types by nature. Definitely. Kyle was a straight-laced, perfectionistic physician, and Scott was a by-the-book, save-the-world cop. Derek was…a playboy bartender.

It probably wasn’t great for him to model his whole life after these guys. He didn’t think he could be a rule-following perfectionist if someone paid him a million bucks to do it.

So why was he all of a sudden thinking about his relationships with women?

But the answer was obvious. And annoying.

Riley.

The talk with Riley three nights ago had replayed in his mind for hours afterward. And he was pissed the next morning when he’d awoken tired. And alone. He hadn’t gone out to talk to the women who’d been there looking for him. He’d told his friends he needed to get cleaned up from the mud and had headed home. Where he’d proceeded to think about the fact that Riley obviously thought he was an ass about women, and had been since high school when he’d debauched her basement couch.

He frowned. And now he was thinking about her again. Why did he care what Riley thought of him? He wasn’t a dumb kid—or a dumb early-twenty-something guy—anymore. He’d grown up. He was doing shit with his life. He was an integral part of the community, was close to his family, had a job he loved, and lots of friends. He was happy. His situation was damned near perfect. It didn’t matter if Riley knew any of that or believed it. She wasn’t actually his little sister. He wasn’t even sure he’d call her a friend.

Yet, he was still pissed that she thought he hit on women with broken hearts because they were easier. He wasn’t an asshole. And he didn’t need easy, thank you very much.

Scott took a swallow of beer. “Well, sorry, buddy, can’t help you there. Peyton is very taken.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve ruined Hannah for any other man,” Kyle said.

Clearly neither of them actually thought Derek was talking about having sex with their girls, but he sighed anyway. “Thanks for the talk, guys.”

His friends were absolutely head over heels in love. The whole let’s-get-a-dog-and-spend-every-Christmas-together-and-tell-each-other-everything kind of love, but they were also having Vegas-worthy sex. It could be done.

Not that this was all some great revelation to Derek. It might shock Riley Ames, but he was actually a pretty insightful guy.

“Look,” Kyle finally said, setting his coffee cup aside and leaning in—the sure sign he was finally going to give Derek some real input. “You think you’re Vegas to all these girls who are stuck in Sapphire Falls. You think you’re giving them this short-term good time when things in their real life get a little boring or don’t work out the way they plan. But I think what you have to ask yourself is…how much do you need the regular trips to Vegas.”

Derek refilled Kyle’s cup, thinking that over. It wasn’t quite time to switch the bar over from alcohol to coffee and tea only, something he did every night around midnight, but Kyle was on call pretty much twenty-four seven. It wasn’t unusual for him to not drink, no matter what time it was.

“You think I’m doing all of that for me more than for them?” Derek asked.

“You send them back out into Sapphire Falls,” Kyle said. “You help them let loose for a night, or a weekend, or even for a few weekends, but eventually they go back to their real lives, find nice guys, and settle down. And everyone knows that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Because that’s what they ultimately want,” Derek said. “Nobody wants Vegas all the time.”

“Except you.”

Derek felt himself freeze. He looked at Kyle. “What?”

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