"I think I might need to hurt her for 'this' and 'that'."
They all grin while they polish off the food. There's a companionable silence, and while they eat, I turn to look at the view behind me. Through the patio doors, I see endless green. Blooming trees freshly cut lawn, and so many different types of flowers. It's beautiful. There's a stone pathway that leads to a gazebo and even further to where I can't see.
"I love your yard, Derrick. It's gorgeous," I praise.
"Thanks. I helped plan and design it, but I have someone who maintains it for me. I definitely do not have a green thumb," he informs me.
"Aha! So there is something Derrick Pierce can’t do. I was beginning to wonder," I announce.
Derrick chuckles. "There are a lot of things I can't do."
"But a whole lot of things you can," I counter.
His eyes get darker, lusty, and I wish I felt better so I could act on the attraction and get him out of my system already. I'm pretty sure all it would take was a night or two. Then I'd know. I'd get dumped and be prepared so I wouldn't end up hating him, and I could move on already. He's ruining my sex life—in that, there hasn't been one since this attraction began.
"So," Mark begins looking at Alex who's grinning, "the plan is to keep you here until you feel better."
Alex nods. "Yep. Derrick said as long as it takes."
"Did he, really?" I question. "Since when can he stand to be in the same room with me longer than necessary?"
"Since—" Alex elbows Mark in the stomach, cutting him off.
"Since he's a worrier," Alex says hastily and Derrick looks at him like he's lost his mind.
"I am?" Derrick asks.
Alex nods. "Yep. He's chivalrous to damsels in distress."
I snort. "I just bet."
Derrick frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know what that means 007."
Alex winces. Derrick frowns harder.
Mark laughs. "Your reputation precedes you."
"My reputation or assumptions?" Derrick questions.
"A lot of the first, maybe a little of the latter," I admit.
He nods. "Talk about stereotyping."
"I call 'em like I see 'em, and I see Jamie fending off a whole lot of unhappy women via phone and when they show up at the office. You don't even bother to dismiss them yourself. You make poor Jamie do it," I chide.
"She's got you there, buddy," Mark informs him.
"Maybe. But I make no excuses for having a healthy sexual appetite," Derrick informs me.
"Or tossing women aside like trash when you're finished with them," I chastise.
"You don't know that. Here you are again with the assumptions," Derrick argues.
"Again, I call 'em like I see 'em. I really do see 'em. I hear them cry or yell and anything in between," I scold.
"I make them no promises. They know how it is. If they're hoping for more or to change me, that's their own fault," Derrick replies.
