After a one night stand on New Year's Eve, Lia and Derrick don't expect to see one another again. After all, she's a Harvard PhD student and he's a professional hockey player for the Boston Knights - there's no way their paths should cross again.
E...
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"So, let me get this straight," Derrick started, brow quirked as he glanced back over his shoulder at me, "this guy you work with—"
"Miles."
"Yeah, whatever." He waved me off before flashing his fob in front of the entrance to his condo building. "He tried asking you out the week I left Boston?"
"He did," I confirmed. "But I shut him down. Esme and Harper always thought he'd had a thing for me for years, but I never saw it. We were friends, you know."
"And now that you're both about to go your separate ways, he's trying to get out of the friendzone?"
"Exactly."
"Well," he drawled with a smirk appearing on his lips, "if he asks you out again, just make sure to mention your big and strong boyfriend while you let him down easy."
"I think he's realized you're still in the picture, especially since you sent those flowers," I mused, though sincerity seeped into my tone as I reached out my hands and placed them on his lower back, leaning in to kiss the exposed skin on the back of his neck. "Which, thank you for, again."
"No need to thank me," he replied as we stepped on the elevator. Turning so that we were side by side, he threw his arm around my shoulder and dropped a quick kiss on my lips. "You deserve to know I'm still thinking about you even when I can't physically be there."
Not for the first time that night, I was both touched and pleasantly surprised at how thoughtful and attentive Derrick was as a boyfriend. Or just as a man, period. Yes, having dated for a few months already, I'd known he wasn't an asshole, but he had an unassuming sweet side. Like he was a closet romantic.
On the drive out to Malibu, he'd held my hand. As we strolled through the market, subtly keeping an eye on the sunset, his palm never dropped from the base of my back. When the sun had finally begun to dip below the horizon, we'd found a spot to sit in the sand, and he'd cradled me between his thighs with my back against his chest. We'd spent the time murmuring to one another, listening to the waves roll in and watching the colors dance across the sky.
And that was only tonight.
Over the last couple of weeks there'd been good morning texts, flowers, and so many other, subtle peeks into the kind of person Derrick was. All of them conflicting with the version of himself he'd described when telling me about the last relationship he'd been in. Which made me think it'd been his ex who'd depicted him as the bad guy, because besides the long distance—an unavoidable part of his career—he was the furthest thing from a villain that I could imagine.
Definitely much closer to a Prince Charming.
Fading out of my thoughts and back into the current conversation, I hummed suggestively. "Well, you're physically here now. Or since I came to you, I guess I am."
"That you are," he said, lust shining in his irises. "And don't worry, I have big plans for you tonight."
