Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) (16 page)

As I squeezed Brycealicious, the rest of the girls filtered
into the apartment and greeted Lex with their gifts.

‘This is your official cheer-the-fuck-up-party, luv,’ Lil
announced to Alexis while handing her the bunch of roses. ‘You didn’t want to
go out dancing, so we have come to you.’

Jen giggled and waved her Michael Jackson
Thriller
CD
in the air.

‘What? When? Who?’ Alexis finally spoke, her three words
clear and concise.

All of us pointed to Bryce who then strode toward Lexi and
grabbed her face with his hands, directing his lips to hers. She fell into the
kiss, heavily, greedily and completely mesmerised, so much so that her walking
stick fell to the floor.

Holding out the hand which held my cake, she indicated that
someone ought to take it from her. I did, which was when she put her
newly-freed hand around Bryce’s neck and threaded her fingers through his hair.

‘Get a room,’ Tash groaned.

‘No, this is hot,’ Steph replied.

‘Where’s the fucking popcorn?’ Jade asked.

‘I’m getting a drink,’ Lil declared.

‘I miss my husband,’ Jen sighed.

‘Fuck, I want to join in,’ I added.

Both of them ignored us, totally engrossed in one another’s
arms. ‘I love you so much,’ Alexis whispered against Bryce’s lips.

‘The feeling is mutual, my love. Now have a great night.
Relax, drink, drool over Patrick Swayze. Just this once though,’ he smirked.

‘Don’t you worry, he’s got nothing on you. I’ve seen you
dance ... in next to nothing, remember?’ Lexi playfully added, raising her
eyebrow seductively at him.
Dance, in next to nothing? Why have I not been
informed of this until now?

‘What. The. Fuck!’ Steph screeched. ‘He dances ... too?
Alexis, I officially hate you. H.A.T.E. you.’

‘I’ll see you later,’ Bryce said, giving her one last kiss
before making his way to the door. ‘Have fun, ladies.’

As I watched their interaction and then him leaving, I
became aware of the many different emotions I was feeling. The pit of my
stomach was churning with a strange sensation of grief and yet admiration.
Quite frankly, my emotions were all over the place.

Jen encouragingly threaded her arm through Lexi’s and led
her to the lounge. ‘Come on you. It’s party time.’

We sat down and, not long afterward, dove straight into watching
Dirty Dancing
while eating the delicious tapas that Bryce had arranged
from one of the restaurants at City Towers.

After the movie finished, Jade excitedly pulled out
Celebrity Head. I, however, took the opportunity to prettify my toe digits with
Steph’s pedicure set. They needed a new coat of love.

‘Alexis Elizabeth Summers, get your head out of cloud-Clark
and pay attention,’ Tash snapped.

‘What? Sorry,’ she apologised while adjusting her Celebrity
Head headband and taking a swig of her gin. ‘Is it my turn?’

‘Yes!’ we barked at her.

‘Okay, geez! Um, am I male?’

‘Sometimes I think you are,’ Tash added sarcastically. I
tried not to laugh.

Lexi retaliated by launching a cushion at her.

‘Yes, Lex, you are a male,’ Lil clarified.

‘Am I fucking hot?’

‘Yes,’ Steph said resolutely.

Lil’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened. ‘Are you serious?
No, Lex, he is not.’

I agreed with Lil, but didn’t say anything, opting to return
to concentrating on my nail polish skills. It was a fine art and deserved my
complete attention.

‘Yes, he is,’ Steph corrected her. ‘Don’t tell me you
wouldn’t want that between your legs.’

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ Lil responded flatly.

‘You’re a lesbian, aren’t you? Admit it, I’m totally fine
with it, Lil. I love lesbians.’

Alexis and I both laughed at Steph’s ability to deliberately
bait Lil, but Lil ignored the stab and picked up her beer bottle, wrapping her
lips around it suggestively and taking a drink. ‘So am I fucking hot or not?’
Lex shouted over the top of the two of them.

Jade blew at her toes, which she’d just painted with polish.
‘Debatable. Ask another question.’

‘Am I an actor?’

‘Yes. A very fucking good actor, in more ways than one,’ Jen
said, as a hint of anger crept across her face.

‘Do I have a big cock?’ Lex asked as she appeared to try and
swallow her gin around a pending laugh.

‘Yes,’ Steph said, appearing to be daydreaming of his big
cock.

Lil gagged. ‘Bet you it’s tiny.’

‘His hands are huge. Enough said,’ Steph scowled.

‘That’s a fucking myth,’ Lil bit back.

‘Alexis! Stop thinking about wrapping your lips around
Bryce’s man-rod,’ Tash chastised, her hands dramatically placed on her hips.

‘Why? It’s a pretty good man-rod,’ she giggled.

‘How good is it?’ Steph asked eagerly.

‘Oh ... real good.’

I looked up to see Lex raise her eyebrows and open her mouth
suggestively.

‘I knew it. I knew you swallowed,’ I piped up, pointing my
nail polish brush at her.

‘So do you. And again, for the record, you can stop telling
me all about it,’ she stated, trying to pretend she was offended. But I knew
better.

‘Well, yeah, of course I do. It’s full of protein, you
know,’ I smiled devilishly.

Jen shivered, ‘Na, yuck. I’d rather eat a friggin’ egg.’

We all looked at Jen and burst into laughter.

‘What?’ she said defensively. ‘I would. Hang on a minute, do
you all swallow?’

What a stupid question. Doesn’t everybody?
The girls
searched each other’s eyes with sly smiles on their faces, no one giving
anything away, except for Tash, her lips beginning to purse.

Lex pointed at her. ‘Tash, you little whoreasaurus, you swallow
too.’

Tash rolled her eyes. ‘Alexis, how old are you?’

‘About as old as you,’ she drunk-giggled.

‘Lexi, can you please pull yourself together and ask another
fucking question or I’m quitting this stupid game,’ Lil threatened.

‘All right, all right. Have I been in a lot of
blockbusters?’

‘Yep,’ we all answered.

‘Well, if they are blockbusters, I’m guessing they are
action movies.’

‘Yep,’ we all answered again.

Lexi seemed to ponder for a while before the light bulb in
her head switched on. ‘Will he “be back”?’ she said in the most pathetic
Austrian accent I had ever heard.

Steph rolled her eyes. ‘Yes,’ she groaned.

‘Does he say, “It’s not a tumour” really well?’ Lex asked,
again in her horrible Austrian accent.

Jen cracked up laughing. ‘You suck.’

Happy-dancing and bum-wiggling in her seat, Lexi beamed as
she revealed her answer. ‘Am I Arnold Swarzaschnitzel?’

Tash laughed and gave Lex a knowing smile while the rest of
the girls sat with a dumbfounded expression.

‘Don’t you mean Schwarzenegger?’ Jade asked.

Tash giggled. ‘She can’t say Schwarzenegger, so she says
Swarzaschnitzel.’

‘She can’t say parallelogram, either,’ I chimed in, now
finished with my sexy toes.

‘Say it,’ Steph prompted.

‘No!’ Lexi stubbornly replied.

‘Say it!’ we all begged.

‘Urgh! Fine,’ she sighed frustratingly. ‘Pall ... arello ...
agram,’ she mumbled.

We burst into hysterics, it really did sound funny.

‘That’s gold, Lex. Say it again, please,’ Jade pleaded.

‘Fuck off,’ she giggled.

Jumping up with enthusiasm, Tash bounced on the spot. ‘Okay,
this game sucks. Let’s dance.’ She grabbed Jen’s Michael Jackson CD and turned
in a 360° spin. ‘Where’s the CD player?’

‘Ooh, in here, follow me,’ Lexi answered like a naughty kid
as she excitedly pushed herself up from the chair and limped to the man-cave.

Before opening the door, she turned around. ‘This room is
known as the man-cave,’ she slurred, and sniggered. ‘It’s where men do manly
things.’

I knew all too well what was behind those doors. It was the
place where I showed Derek a part of the real me the night of Lexi’s party. It
was also where we flirted considerably with each other.

Alexis opened the door and we all filed in. ‘Don’t touch the
instruments,’ she ordered.

Steph pouted. ‘Aw, you’re no fun.’

‘Awesome, a pool table! Rack ’em up, bitches,’ Tash hollered
as she frisbee’d the CD to Jen.

I glanced at the pool table, not wanting to go near it. My
emotions were already festering within me and I couldn’t explain why.
What
the fuck is wrong with me tonight? I’m all over the place; happy, sad, hot and
cold. Oh, my, god! Am I menopausal? Shit! Can you go through menopause at age
thirty-five? Does this mean I won’t be horny anymore?
The howl of a wolf
sounded through the speakers around the room, snapping me out of my climacteric
terror. The beats of
Thriller
ensued, together with a whistle from Lil.
Tash and Lex instantly started jerking their shoulders as if they had an involuntary
twitch, both of them taking slow steps toward each other. And I must say that
Alexis’ limp actually complemented her zombie impersonation. It made me laugh.

One minute we were casually standing around the man-cave,
the next we were possessed by Michael Jackson’s zombies. It was crazy, but I
loved it. This was the stupid kind of fun us girls had together. It didn’t
matter how old we were, or what we did for a living. We were just completely
comfortable with one another and, as a result, our inhibitions went out the
window.

Jen let out an MJ holler and threw her hands up in the air,
dangling them like claws, and Jade and Lil then proceeded to stomp around the
room with me and Tash joining in.

I was happily twitching my shoulder, rocking the shit out of
the song and putting a zombie to shame, when I turned around and locked eyes
with Derek.
Well, fuck me stupid.

Absolutely fucking mortified did not even begin to describe
what I felt at that moment and, having no other choice than to initially smile
sheepishly like an idiot, I turned back around and pretended he was not in the
room and had not just caught me dancing like a freak.

Please don’t come over here. Please don’t come over he—

‘Will you twitch like that when my cock is inside you?’ he
asked, his voice low, his warm breath cascading over my ear and neck.

I didn’t turn around, instead continuing to slowly move to
the music while he stood behind me.

‘Hello, Derek. Long time no see or hear,’ I said bitterly.

Why I was bitter was beyond me. I was the one who didn’t
call him. Plus we’d barely gotten to know each other before whatever it was
we’d established had ended. One thing was for sure ... he made me so fucking
confused, which was probably why I was angry with him. God I hated drama kings.
I was more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of girl, and I wanted that in
the man I screwed ... minus the girl part.

‘Carly, we need to talk,’ he said quietly, as he gently
moved a piece of hair away from my neck.

The second I felt his finger on my skin, I jumped and spun
around. ‘No, we don’t. Six weeks is a long time to get over whatever it was
that happened back then. It’s all good, Derek. We don’t owe each other
anything,’ I explained, then smiled contemptuously before stepping aside and
making my way to the bathroom.

I needed air — or a vibrator — or perhaps just a moment to
calm my raging fiery hole. Apparently it never got the memo that firefighter
Derek was a topsy-turvy arsehole.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

My plans to hastily go to the second floor guest bathroom
were halted when Derek slid his hand in between the closing doors of the
elevator cart.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked angrily.

He stepped inside, stopping just shy of where I was standing
with my back pressed against the far wall of the elevator. The doors closed
slowly behind him, thwarting my escape.

‘We need to talk,’ he said sternly, the look on his face one
not to be argued with.

‘Why? What’s the point?’

‘Because I want to set the record straight,’ he said with
determination. ‘I never got the chance and that was partly my fault.’

I sighed, but at the same time let out the breath I had been
holding. I didn’t want him to see the emotional havoc his presence caused me.
‘I need to pee, Derek.’

‘You pee, I’ll talk,’ he offered, flashing me a cocky smile.

I raised an eyebrow at him
.
‘Fine, if you must,’ I
said with frustration as I fisted the level two button. ‘Talk, but again, there
really is no need. You don’t have to explain anything.’

‘Layla is my sister-in-law,’ he said quickly. ‘She is
married to my brother who I no longer speak to, nor want to speak to.’

Oh, shit! Did I jump to the wrong conclusion or what?
Chancing
a quick glance from the corner of my eye, I spied Derek gauging my reaction.
When I didn’t say anything — because I felt like an absolutely stupid bitch —
he continued. ‘Layla has been lobbying for me and my brother to “kiss and make
up” for quite some time. She loves Sean and wants us to play happy families.’

The ding of the elevator indicated that we’d arrived at the
second floor, followed by the opening of the doors. I stepped out and made my
way to the guest bedroom, Derek following closely behind me. ‘When you
insinuated that she was a past girlfriend, it pissed me off.’

Stopping, I turned around and nearly bumped into him. ‘I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean —’

Derek captured me in his arms and pressed me up against the
wall. ‘It pissed me off that your first thought was that I had fucked her. I
hate how you see me as some kind of bloke who likes to fuck around, Carly. I’m
not that bloke.’

His sudden closeness, his firm body pressed against me, and
his face mere centimetres from mine, had intensified my heart rate. My chest
rose and fell as I looked into his bright blue eyes, breathed in his fresh
aftershave tinged with beer scent, and felt the heat radiating from him. ‘Yes,’
I said honestly. ‘I do get that impression.’