“Shit!” I bounced up, almost falling flat on my butt as I lost balance, but Derek hadn’t let go of my hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I’m so heavy.”
He laughed a deep, belly laugh and it echoed across the empty night.
Overhead the thick clouds were rolling in and a storm was brewing. It was time to get out of here anyway. As much as I didn’t want the night or the moment to end, being caught in the rain wasn’t my idea of a good time.
“Please! You weigh nothing,” Derek admonished, stepping towards me. A predatory smirk was on his lips, which sent my heartbeat scattering.
He scooped me up in his arms and I squealed like a five-year-old. Before I had a chance to object he spun me around. I know I should have acted my age, but I threw my head back, stretched my arms out, and giggled. Derek continued to spin me and laugh. With each rotation, the heaviness of our conversation seemed to evaporate and it was just us having fun.
When a fat raindrop collided with my cheek, I sat up and grabbed hold of Derek’s shoulders, steadying myself. “I think that’s our cue,” I said breathlessly.
Nodding, he eased me back to my feet, holding onto my elbow until I was steady. He wrapped his hand around mine and led me back towards the truck at a brisk pace.
We made it. Just.
Derek slammed my door shut and darted around the other side before slipping behind the wheel just as the heavens opened and the onslaught began. Wiping the water from my face, for the first time I was conscious what I must look like. Shit. Worse than shit, if that was possible.
“Don’t!” Derek’s voice was deep and strong, and should have been intimidating, but for some reason it wasn’t.
“What?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what, Derek? What are you talking about?”
“Think that you’re anything less than beautiful right now.”
I was glad I was sitting down. If I hadn’t been, I was one hundred and ten percent sure my legs wouldn’t have been able to hold me up. Where the fuck had that come from? And how the hell had he known what I was thinking?
“I…I…wasn’t.”
“Liar.”
He smirked.
My heart melted.
I was in trouble.
A buttload of trouble.
For so long I’d avoided being in situations like this, associating with people like Derek, letting people in for this exact reason. I was completely pathetic. And with a smile like that, I could end up in a hell of a lot more before too long.
