“Hey, Emma, isn’t that your brother?”
I looked up and groaned, immediately sinking back down into my chair and holding my paper high in front of my face.
“Stepbrother,” I corrected. “But yeah, that’s him.” I narrowed my eyes and frowned as I watched Derek cross the campus commons in swift strides. “I wonder what he’s doing hanging around here?”
My best friend, Ana, shrugged and twisted her long blonde hair into a messy knot. “No clue,” she snickered. “He’s so hot, though – maybe we should go say hi?”
“No,” I quickly shook my head. “Absolutely not.” The memories of Derek and Damien’s taunting hadn’t yet faded – I’d been avoiding them for the past few days.
“Aw, Em, why not?” Ana looked at me, her brown eyes pleading for answers. “Come on, I haven’t had a date in like, six months.”
“And you seriously think my rich stepbrother will ask you out?”
Ana giggled. “A girl can dream,” she shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask – he’s gorgeous!”
“He’s a jerk,” I crossed my arms. “You can have him, for all I care.”
“I wish I could have him,” said my other best friend, Michael. There was clear longing in his voice. “I would make that boy squeal,” he grinned wickedly. “You sure he’s straight?”
“Actually, no,” I bit my lip. “Damien definitely is – he screws anything with two legs as long as it stands still. But Derek…I’ve never seen him with anyone before, male, female, or vegetable.”
Michael laughed and rubbed his hands together. “Perfect,” he licked his lips. “Let me get in on that hot, rich boy action!”
“Save some for me,” Ana whined. “At this rate, I’ll be single when I’m thirty!”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. "You guys are terrible," I complained. "Do you even care that he’s like, a terrible person?”
“You’re just biased because they think your mom is a gold-digger,” Michael raised an eyebrow. “Homeboys don’t know what’s up or down.”
“Eww…You two are gross,” I sneered.
Ana sniffed and looked offended. “Well, aren’t you at least a little curious about what Derek’s doing here”
I frowned. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”
Ana leaped out of her seat and grinned, tugging at my arm until I reluctantly stood up. “Come on, let’s go find out.”
“Ooh, count me in,” Michael’s eyes glowed. He flipped his hair to the side and gave me a dazzling smile.
“You guys,” I shook my head as I threw the strap of my bag over my shoulder. “You’re too much – you know that?”
“We know,” Ana and Michael chorused in unison. “But that’s why you love us!
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re lucky I’m a pushover.”
Ana put her head on my shoulder. “We love you, Em,” she gave a playful grin. “We’re just…lonely,” she added.
“And horny,” Michael chimed in. “That, too.”
My face must be turning bright red now from embarrassment, “More like lonely and impossible.”
Together, the three of us crossed over the campus commons and into the student union building. Hickory State University was a pretty good school – I’d been happy here for the past four years, occasional physics or math-related hiccup aside. I was grateful to Jack – without his financial support, I would’ve been putting myself through community college while working two jobs. But Mom and Jack both insisted that I refrain from working, they both wanted me to focus on school.
I’d met Ana and Michael at orientation, almost four years prior. Since then, the three of us had been practically inseparable. I knew that for a college student, I led a pretty quiet life – the only time we’d ever gone to a bar, Michael had thrown up after just one shot and gotten us all kicked out. Mostly we liked hanging out and watching old sitcom reruns with a huge bowl of popcorn or a platter of Chinese food. I liked Ana and Michael because they were so genuine, neither one of them had a pretentious bone in their body.
They’re basically the opposite of Damien and Derek, I thought as we walked. They’d never say anything to hurt me.
Ana always complained about being single, but unlike me, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t have a boyfriend. When we’d first met, I’d almost been intimidated by how pretty she was. Blonde, slim, and perpetually tanned, Ana was the picture of California cool. But like me, she was shy and quiet…she clammed up whenever a cute guy was around. That was one of the reasons I knew that we were meant to be friends forever.
“Hey, look,” Michael hissed, poking me in the shoulder.
“Ow! What?”
“Not there, there,” Michael exasperated. He grabbed me by the shoulders and twirled me around until I was face to face with a giant poster of Derek.
“Oh, he’s doing some kind of talk, I guess,” I stepped closer. “On…”
“Starting your own business, wow,” Ana grinned. “That’s sexy,” she added. “I like a man who knows how to do things.”
Just as I was about to pull my friends away, Derek appeared in front of me. Oh, no, I thought. Why did he have to see me? Shoot, what am I supposed to do now?
To my surprise, Derek smiled. “Hi, Emma, how are you?”
“Fine,” I swallowed hard.
“I’m Ana,” Ana said quickly, sticking her hand out for Derek to shake. “And this is Michael – we’re best friends with your stepsister!”
Derek gave her an amused look before shaking her hand and saying hi to Michael. I wanted to roll my eyes – both of my friends were obviously on Cloud Nine now that Derek was here.
“Are you coming to the talk?”
“I don’t—“
“Yes, we’re so curious,” Michael quickly cut my words off.
Derek chuckled. “Cool! Well, see you later – they want me to go get ready.” Derek waved at the three of us, then turned around and sauntered off.
“Oh, my god,” I groaned, putting my head on Michael’s shoulder and sighing. “I can’t believe you! You don’t care about starting your own business, do you?”
“No, honey, but I do care about hunky men,” he laughed. “And what’s with this sourpuss? He seemed perfectly sweet,” he added. “What do you have against him?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled.
“Well, come on, you might learn something,” Ana tugged me forward, and after a second of digging my heels into the concrete floor, I let her propel me into the conference room.
To my surprise, the room was already packed. Ana, Michael, and I found places at the back, leaning against the wall with our bags at our feet.
After a few minutes, the lights dimmed, and a professor I didn’t recognize from the economics department walked onto the stage, waving at the crowd. Everyone clapped and cheered. Feeling awkward, I joined in.
“Greetings, Hicksters!” The professor clapped his hands and beamed. “I’m so pleased to introduce Derek Wilson, a true visionary in his own right!”
The crowd clapped louder than ever. Glancing around, I saw that most of the people sitting down were gorgeous young college girls – there had to be at least ten girls there for every guy. Of course, they came, I thought sourly. They don’t care about what Derek’ll say – they just think he’s hot!
“Derek graduated from Boston Institute of Technology when he was only nineteen years old,” the professor smiled. “He earned his MBA shortly after at age of twenty-one, and was working with his father’s company, Empire Mesa.”
Yeah, yeah, I thought. Just get on with it.
“Today, Derek has two charitable foundations – one he started to help disadvantaged young people afford the proper clothing for job interviews that will take them into the middle class, and one that was started in hopes of curing cancer.”
“Wow,” Michael hissed in my ear. “He’s like, a god!”
“He’s totally not,” I whispered back. “He just looks good on paper.”
“Let’s put our hands together for Mr. Derek Wilson,” the professor cheered. Derek strode onto stage – looking confident and put together, but not cocky like Damien – and shook hands with the professor before taking the microphone in his muscular hand.
“He looks good off paper, too,” Michael said smugly. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t go for that!”
“I won’t dignify that with a response,” I shook my head and turned my attention back to the stage. The applause was still roaring, and Derek smiled awkwardly, gesturing for the crowd to be silent.
“Thank you, thank you all, I’m so honored,” Derek smiled again and began striding about the stage, microphone in hand. In his expensive navy suit, he looked hotter than ever. His brown hair was gelled away from his forehead in a perfect swirl, and his blue eyes twinkled under the stage lights.
“Right now, you’re at a very important time in your lives,” he looked out over the audience. I shrank back, ducking behind the people in front of me, not wanting him to know that I was there.
“And your lives could go anywhere – in any direction, no matter what you think,” he continued. “When I was your age, I’d just begun working with my father.” He chuckled, putting a hand on his chest. “I don’t know how you all feel about your fathers, but mine, well…he’s a tough cat to please,” he joked.
A ripple of amusement went sailing through the crowd.
“So as you can imagine, I worked my butt off for a couple of years,” He frowned. “But still – Dad wasn’t happy, and neither was I.”
“So what did you do?” Michael yelled. Mortified, I punched him in the shoulder and glared.
Derek laughed. “That’s a good question,” he continued. “Well, for one, I founded Dress For Success – my first charity, that deals with collecting gently used or donated professional clothing. It’s important to get started on the right foot, and sometimes that means turning to others for help.”
As Derek paraded around on the stage, talking candidly about his philanthropic endeavors, I couldn’t help but start to think of him in a light that was almost…new. Away from Damien, away from Jack, heck – even away from my mom – Derek was a totally different person. He didn’t have Damien’s explosive masculine chemistry, but there was…well, there was something there.
By the end of Derek’s talk, I even found myself wanting to know more about him. Before now, I hadn’t known anything about Derek’s work life, or his charities. Jack had mentioned them in passing, but Derek wasn’t a braggart like Damien…it made sense that I knew almost nothing about him.
“Hey, come on,” Michael said. “Ana wants fro-yo. You want some?”
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry, for once,” I glanced down at my belly. “I think I’m gonna hang around here, maybe do some work.”
Ana leaned in close and raised an eyebrow. “I bet she’s gonna wait for Derek,” she said in a sassy voice, cocking her head to the side. “Not that I blame you,” she quickly added.
I flushed hotly. “I’m just doing to do some homework, that’s all.”
Ana and Michael rolled their eyes. “Sure,” Ana pulled me into a brief hug. “Hey, call me later, okay?”
I nodded. “See you guys.”
Ana and Michael grabbed their stuff and left the conference room, chattering excitedly about Derek. As I waited for the room to clear, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. I had to admit, now that I was curious about Derek, I wondered if there were any surprises about Damien. Maybe his bad boy alpha act was just that – an act, meant to confuse and distract.
“Hey, kid,” Derek tapped me on my shoulder. “Didn’t expect to see you still here.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, my friends, um, they wanted to eat, but I’m not hungry,” I babbled “I think I’ll just do some homework.”
Derek nodded. He was all serious again – the young executive once more. “How about a ride home? I have to drop some stuff off for Dad,” Derek said. “I don’t mind driving you.”
“That would be nice,” I flushed and swallowed. “Thanks.”
Derek and I walked to the parking lot in silence. I noticed that even though Derek was much taller than me, with much longer legs, he didn’t walk too quickly or make me jog to keep up. I appreciated that.
“You gave a good talk,” I climbed into the passenger seat of his luxury car. “It was nice.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he shrugged. “I hate public speaking, it makes me so uncomfortable.”
I burst out laughing.
“What?” Derek narrowed his eyes as he put the car into gear and raced out of the parking spot. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” I tried to erase my guilty smile. “It’s just funny to hear you say that – you were a natural in there, everyone was hanging off your every word.”
“Well, I’m not like Damien,” he said casually as he steered onto the highway. I clutched the underside of my leather seat, trying not to let him know that I was terrified.
“That’s a good thing,” I forced a laugh. “Damien…I mean, he’s something else.”
Derek shrugged. “Yeah.”
I knew I shouldn’t keep talking, but I couldn’t shut up.
“He’s a jerk, really,” I turned and cocked my head to the side, scrutinizing Derek. Suddenly, I realized that Ana and Michael were right – Derek was totally hot.
“It’s just the way he is, he’s always been like that,” he leaned back. “I know it’s hard, but I’d try not to take it personally.”
I frowned, remembering the way Damien had taunted me in the kitchen, simultaneously embarrassing me and arousing me beyond my wildest dreams.
“You okay? You're quiet,” Derek observed. He pulled into the far left land and sped up until I gasped.
“I’m always quiet,” I stared off into distance. “So are you, for that matter.”
He snickered. Just as I was about to ask him what was so funny, there was a loud pop! sound and I gasped as the car whirled to the right.
“Shit, shit!” Derek muttered under his breath, gripping the wheel. My heart skipped a beat when I looked at his hands and saw that his knuckles were white.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a panicked shriek. “What’s happening?!”
The car skidded to a stop on the left shoulder, and I gasped, leaning against the seat, my breasts heaving with each breath.
“Flat tire,” he sighed heavily. “I saw the tire maintenance light was on this morning, but I thought I could make it to and from my engagement without blowing.”
“Oh.” It was all I could say. “Um, do you want me to call Mom? Or Jack?”
“I can call a tow truck,” he waved his hand dismissively in the air. “Give me a second.”
Derek climbed out of the car and walked around, looking down critically at all the tires and frowning, his phone clutched tightly in his hand. When he made the call, I couldn’t hear him over the roar of traffic, but I watched his lips move. Something about his face stirred my insides and made me feel hot and melty, like the way I felt after having a couple glasses of wine. I rarely drank, but I realized the sensation was almost the same.
He's really hot, I watched as Derek climbed back inside the car and slammed the door. Why didn’t I see it before?
“They said it might take an hour,” Derek groaned. Just as he spoke, I saw raindrops patter onto the windshield.
“Crap,” I rummaged through my bag. “I didn’t bring an umbrella!”
“We’ll stay in the car, it’s fine,” Derek tried to calm me down. “Just chill out, Emma.”
I bit my lip and flushed. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever said my name,” I cooed.
Derek laughed. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess…I don’t know, I thought that maybe you and your brother hated me.”
“We don’t hate you,” he explained. “Damien’s just…well, he’s just like that. He likes to keep people on edge.” Derek rolled his eyes. “I think it probably makes him feel better about not having accomplished much in life. If he rides everyone else hard, no one can ride him.”
I blushed hotly, thinking of what it would be like to ride Damien.
Derek chuckled. “What? You’re blushing,” he teased.
“I’m not,” I lied, my flush deepening to a crimson red. “I’m just hot. That’s all.”
“It’s steamy out there,” Derek agreed. He turned the car on and cracked the windows, then cut the ignition. The drizzle turned into a downpour, and I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered as I watched the heavy rain outside.
“So,” I asked out of curiosity, “How did you get into charity, anyway?”
“I figured it was something I could do for other people, and that made it a hell of a lot more appealing than working for Dad,” Derek replied. “I enjoy working at Mesa – at least, I do now that I have my own stuff going on.”
I nodded. “That makes sense.”
“What are you thinking of doing when you graduate?”
“I don’t know. Mom really wants me to work for Jack, but I don’t know if it’s the thing for me. I’ve been thinking about doing the Serenity Corps, or something like that.”
Derek laughed, his body relaxing. “Man, I had a buddy who did that – he got placed in this village in Zimbabwe, living with these priests who sang all night and drank beer.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That sounds terrible.”
“Yeah.” He smiled – it was easily the most relaxed I’d ever seen him. “He quit, but I heard other people have things a little easier.”
I nodded. “Anyway, it’s not like I’ve made up my mind,” I shrugged. “It’s intimidating, you know?”
“I get that,” Derek acknowledged. “You’re smart, I’m sure you can do whatever you want.”
“Really?” I bit my lip, trying desperately not to blush. “You think I’m smart?”
“Don’t play it down, I know you are,” he snorted. “You’re just shy. Like me.”
My stomach jumped nervously, and I licked my lips. “Thanks,” I murmured, looking down into my lap.
“And you’re incredibly pretty,” he reached over and stroked a finger down my face. “You’ll have no time doing whatever you want after you graduate.” He paused, “Just don’t let anyone get you down.”
I forced myself to look into his eyes. In the semi-dark of the evening, his eyes were two pools of midnight blue, like sapphires. His gaze was hypnotic, and for a moment, I forgot where I was.
“Thanks,’ I said softly. “I…that means a lot, thank you.”
Derek smiled. It wasn’t Damien’s gamine grin, but a genuine, friendly smile. Derek pushed a piece of brown hair behind my ear, but he didn’t take his eyes away from mine. My heart was beating faster and faster, and I shivered as he moved his hand from my ear to my neck, gently rubbing the exposed, delicate skin.
“Emma…” Derek trailed off as he leaned over, pressing his lips to mine.
It was like a spark ignited between our bodies. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him close and passionately kissed him back, moaning softly as Derek’s tongue slipped into my mouth.
Oh my god, what am I doing, I thought nervously as our kiss deepened. He’s my stepbrother! I can’t do this, it’s wrong! I don’t care, I decided, purring and pushing my body against Derek’s, straining against his muscular chest.
Just as Derek was sliding his hands down my back, a loud sound made me squeak and jump back in surprise.
“Yo, mister, you got a flat?” A man in a blue jumpsuit was knocking on Derek’s window, looking at me smugly.
“Yeah,” Derek detangled himself and stepped out of the car. “Yeah. I do.”
I swallowed nervously and leaned back against the seat, shivering as lust coursed through my veins. I wasn’t exactly sure what happened – but somehow, I knew that from this point on, things would be different between Derek and me.