Page 59 of All In Good Time

Brow raising, Derek took her in from head to toe, and Becca’s face flushed. “Damn.”

Becca winced and shook her head with a warning. “Not. A. Word.”

Derek smiled so hard that his only attempt at hiding it was biting his bottom lip—a piss-poor attempt if you asked her. He made a zipping motion over the grin to comply with her request.

God, that smile was infectious. She couldn’t help the unavoidable upturn of her lips as she rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go.”

Sure it was warmer than most of the winter, but it was not nearly warm enough for the number of people that were jumping into Greg’s pool.

“Jesus, I don’t understand why you like these things.”

“Come on, lighten up, sweetheart,” Derek said, bumping her shoulder with his.

Somehow—in the two minutes since they walked in the door—he’d managed to get his hands on two cups of some random liquid that Becca had little interest in drinking. Holding one of the cups out to her, she accepted it and grasped it in both of her hands.

He winked. “This will help.”

She didn’t want to get drunk, but a little buzz wouldn’t hurt the experience. She sipped at the bitter liquid and scrunched her eyes in distaste. Derek chuckled, and brought his own drink to his lips, chugging it down without reaction.

Like Becca expected, about a dozen people approached them as soon as they were noticed. Or, more accurately, they approached Derek.

Guys from his classes patted him on the back and pressured him to try to do a keg stand, girls leaned on his shoulder and giggled at whatever he said—joke or not.

Across the room, Becca’s eyes paused their skimming when she spotted Brent and April leaning into one another, glaring in their direction and whispering.

After Valentine’s Day, when Derek actuallyhadbroken Brent’s nose, the loose friendship between the two was over quicker than it had started. Derek had two weeks of detention and showed up a couple nights in a row at Becca’s house, since his dad wouldn’t let Derek forget how upset he was about the embarrassment he’d caused him.

“You’re supposed to ignore them.”

Becca jumped, as Derek’s breath touched her ear. Inches away from her face, Derek followed her eyes toward Brent and April. The uppity couple perked up once they realized that they had Derek’s attention too.

Derek smirked and turned back to Becca. “That’s what you told me, remember? They’re not worth it.”

Becca crossed her arms. “And I stand by that.” Her gaze went over his shoulder, toward a group of girls who glared at just her. A second ago, they’d been batting their eyelashes at Derek, and they weren’t happy that he’d been drawn away by someone else. “You’ve got a line building behind you.”

“Fuck ’em.” He put his hand on the small of her back and led her away from the scowling girls without a glance back. “You’vegot all my attention for the night.”

So maybe there were some fun things about parties. Like the drinking games she’d never tried—until Derek offered to down her alcohol whenever she lost. Or the dancing she’d never done—until Derek was next to her and laughing along to all the stupid moves she spun.

There were multiple instances of girl after girl after girl coming up to flirt, but Derek would just smirk and give short answers before turning to Becca and ignoring anything else they said.

It gave her an inexplicable satisfaction every time Derek gave her more attention than them. Parties were so much fun with him—he really was the life of the party.

But he surprised her, nonetheless.

She’d expected to spend their entire night there, maybe leave early in the morning. But they were only there for two hours before Derek put his hand on her shoulder and paused her swaying to the loud music.

He leaned in, his mouth parallel to her ear so she could hear his voice over the music. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

Becca furrowed her brows. “Already?”

He nodded. “I want to go somewhere with you.” His fingers wrapped gently around her wrist, pulling her away from the bass of the stereo and crowd.

“It’s not even nine-thirty yet.”

He peeked over his shoulder, grinning. “They close at ten.”

She wasn’t sure who “they” were, but her interest was successfully piqued. “Fine, but I’m driving.”

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