Derek didn’t typically make women puke with his romantic sentiments.

Well, he didn’t typically make romantic statements. But still.

Pepper groaned and stumbled away, slamming a door behind her. Sounds of retching filtered through the pane of wood.

He crossed over, knocked. “You okay?”

Her only response was a moan and more retching.

“I’m coming in.”

“No!”

Ignoring her protest, Derek turned the handle and stepped into the bathroom. He filled a cup with water, wet a cloth, and turned on the shower.

When it seemed like the worst of it had passed, he handed her the cup with orders to “Swish and spit, not drink.” Her hair was tangled and sporting some serious disarray, so he carefully brushed it off her face then wiped her forehead with the damp towel.

“Okay?” he asked when she released a breath.

A nod.

“Good.” He reached his hands under the hem of her shirt and started tugging up.

Barely an inch of Pepper’s ivory skin was exposed before her hands began flapping like a chicken, shoving him away, grabbing at the cotton material like it was a life preserver and she was going down on the Titanic.

“What are you doing?” She smacked his hand when he reached for the shirt again.

“No offense,” he said, trying to bite back a smile. “But you smell.”

The way her face cleared, went immediately blank made him regret the words. He could practically see the barbed wire being erected.

“I didn’t mean that like it sounded,” he began.

Her smile was forced, and she reached for the toilet’s handle. “Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” A pause. “I’m going to take that shower now.” When he didn’t move, she waved a hand at the door. “You can leave.”

“And let you pass out? Crack your head open?”

She closed the toilet lid and gingerly raised herself up to sit on it. He’d never seen a person’s skin look so gray. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.”

Derek didn’t move.

Pepper sighed.

And he was struck again by how much he liked this. Bickering with her, being with her. Seeing her eyes flare with fire.

He loved her spirit. So much more than the barbed wire.

“Why don’t you go?”

He told the truth. “I can’t.”

Pepper groaned, in frustration this time rather than discomfort.

Or maybe it was discomfort because what the hell did he know?

“I won’t look,” he told her. “But I’m not leaving.”

“You—” A huff. “I— You’re—”

“Wasting water.”

The glare she tossed his way should have unmanned him. Instead, it had rather the opposite effect on his manly part. If she didn’t seem like a stiff breeze could push her over, he would have yanked her close and demonstrated what he could do with that particular piece of his anatomy.

Instead, he covered his eyes with his palms and attempted to not peek through his fingers like a child as she undressed.

He attempted.

Also, he didn’t succeed.

Which turned out to be a good thing because not only did he catch a seriously spectacular view of some Pepper side boob, he was also watching closely enough to see her waver as she tried to raise her leg over the lip of the tub.

He moved in a heartbeat, steadying her before she went ass over teakettle into the shower.

Her eyes flashed to his. “You said—”

“I lied.”

Fully dressed, he gathered her naked body close to his chest and stepped into the shower.

“Oh!” she said then moaned as warm water sluiced over them, wetting his jeans and soaking into his shirt. “That feels nice.”

He shifted so she was more securely positioned in the stream, trying not to remember that this was the third time he’d been sporting uncomfortably wet jeans in as many weeks.

Jeans that were also growing tighter by the second.

Because even though Derek was trying to ignore her nakedness, to be a gentleman and help her since she was sick, he couldn’t pretend she didn’t do it for him.

Smooth curves. Deep red hair. Pale skin that was turning pink under the water’s heat. The same pink he could imagine spreading over her body as he licked and teased and caressed—

Soap. He needed to get her clean and get out. Before he totally lost it.

But even having a purpose didn’t help.

Her skin was like velvet, soft and dewy beneath his fingertips as he spread body wash over her stomach. He further attempted to disregard the rosy pink of her nipples, the buds tightening beneath his touch.

It didn’t work.

Her breasts were lush enough to make a weaker man—and he was one sappy Hallmark commercial away from turning in his man card—cry. Her hips, her ass, hell, even her pinky toe was adorable clad in soapy bubbles.

She was fucking magnificent.

And his body knew it.

Somehow he managed to make it through that shower.

Pepper, however, wasn’t doing quite so well. Her eyes kept sliding closed, and she leaned more heavily against him. By the time he rinsed the soap from her hair, she was nearly limp.

“You okay?” he murmured, worried that she was going to pass out.

Come on, of course he’d catch her. But passing out was surely indicative of a bigger issue than a stomach bug, right?

“Fine.” A sigh. “Tired.”

“Okay,” he murmured, checking her hair one last time for shampoo. “Almost done.”

When it was completely clean, he turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around her.

Newsflash. Drying wasn’t any better of a process for his libido.

But he was able to get her dry and in fresh pajamas. Though—heaven help him—not in any sort of respectable undergarments. One look through that drawer filled with lace and color and black fucking silk and he’d been done for.

“Thanks,” she murmured as he tucked her back under the blankets. Fresh sheets probably would have been a good idea, but he had no idea where they were and he’d already dripped over the floor enough.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

Her hair was already drying, curling up around her temples. She looked about ten years old, innocent to the Nth degree. Of course that was until he saw her lips, lush and soft and pink, the way sunlight sliced over her cheeks and highlighted the bones there. Delicate, strong, a juxtaposition that confused his mind and heart.

He’d turned to leave the room—in search of a dryer for his clothes—when she asked, “Why are you here?”

A pause as he decided whether or not to put her off.

“The truth,” she said.

Emeralds. Her eyes were spectacular green emeralds. But they also pierced straight through him, pinned him in place.

Derek crossed over to her, kneeling at her side next to the bed. “Does it matter?”

No hesitation. “Yes.”

Shit. He’d been purposely not investigating his motivations too closely. He knew she was gorgeous, his body couldn’t let him go a moment without reminding him, but the rest of it, the emotions swirling under the surface, the uncomfortable truths that he didn’t want to think about . . . that was the part he didn’t necessarily want to face.

“Your father—”

One red brow rose. “Try again.”

Okay, fine. That had been bullshit. Yes, he was between a rock and a hard place when it came to financing the film, but this wasn’t about that.

His mind, hell, his heart knew that much.

A strand of her hair was creeping forward, tickling the outside of her eye. He carefully brushed it back.

“Derek.”

He sighed. “I’m trying to put into words what I feel in my heart.”

Pepper’s mouth formed an O and it was all he could do not to kiss her, stomach bug germs be damned.

“Every time I see you, a hundred memories flash through my mind. Summers at your house. This”—he touched the scar bisecting his right eyebrow—“demonstrating your lack of baseball skills. White string bikinis. And then I remember cannonballs by the pool, ruined birthdays . . .”

Emerald hardened. No, that wasn’t the right word. The softness was still there, just hiding beneath a layer of steel. Protected. Ensconced within.

And if that wasn’t Pepper to a T, then he didn’t know how else to describe her.

She was all of those things. Strong with sweet. Tough with vulnerable.

“You feel sorry for me.”

“No,” he said then decided on full disclosure. “Okay, that used to be part of it.”

More layers. More armor and he was seriously fucking this up.

Blame it on the damp jeans and wet underwear. Chaffing was not his friend.

“It was all so much simpler when that was my life,” he said. “When all I was interested in was parties and lawsuits. It was easy to ignore you.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek, watched as her eyelids slid closed. “I could ignore the pull I felt every time you were in the room, the pretty way you blushed, the laugh that slid down my spine and made its way into my heart. But then things changed and . . .”

When her eyes didn’t open, he went on trying to convince her. “Everyone always dismisses you, but I see the real you. I understand that you’re more than you seem and . . . and I think that I may be falling for you.”

Silence.

Slow and steady breathing.

He’d unloaded his heart and—

A soft snore.

Pepper was asleep.

Awesome.

Quietly, he pushed to his feet and walked from the room.

Two minutes later, he was naked, wrapped in a towel, and his clothes were in the dryer.

But not even the draft down under could distract him.

He’d bared his feelings, and Pepper had fallen asleep.

Clearly, he was losing his touch.