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She laughed, feeling like a teenager flirting with her crush. “Serves you right for being immovable.”
He gazed up at her. “You never have been one to back down from a challenge.”
“You know it.” Her words came out sounding funny and she realized she was out of breath. Did pushing him over take that much energy? Or was it the fact that she was now pressed up against him, her lips so close to his she could feel his breath on her cheek?
Curiosity grew in her. What would it be like to kiss him? She’d almost found out when they were in the jacuzzi. If she hadn’t been interrupted, she would have kissed him, and then blamed it on the need to act like a real couple.
Her heart thumped out a wild rhythm. What would he do if she closed the distance, and placed her lips on his? Would he be startled? Would he toss her away, like a ragdoll? He was certainly strong enough. But would she upset him?
Time moved slowly. Butterflies erupted inside her stomach and she knew she was going to kiss him. She moved closer and closed her eyes. And suddenly his lips were on hers, moving across them in a way that caused her to lose all thoughts in her head.
His hands moved up her sides, and tingles shot through her. Every little movement from him caused lightheadedness, as if she could lose consciousness any second. It felt both amazing and overwhelming at the same time. She wanted more, and yet, couldn’t handle what she was feeling. How had she never known kissing a man could be like this?
Derek froze, as if he’d suddenly realized what was going on, and was aghast. He pulled back and she grew embarrassed that she’d practically accosted him. She jumped back, heat creeping up her neck. She scrambled to her side of the bed.
Derek sat up, looking like he’d just stepped on her pet hamster, and now didn’t know how to make it better. His mouth opened, and then closed.
She couldn’t catch her breath. Her skin still tingled from his touch. Her heart raced, and words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. But the way Derek looked, she feared he thought what had happened was a mistake. She wanted him to know it wasn’t. But she couldn’t think. “Uh…”
“Don’t say anything.” He held up his hand, cutting off any other noises that might come out. “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go to sleep.”
Her mouth dried up, and the high she had from a moment ago crashed. He hated it that much? He didn’t even want to talk about it?
She licked her dry lips. “You want to sleep?” After that? Nara didn’t think she’d fall asleep for a week. She stared at him, like he had said something in German and she couldn’t understand.
“I think it’s best. I’m tired now.” To prove his point, he climbed under the covers and laid back on his pillow. “Let’s call it a night.”
Nara couldn’t believe it. How could he ignore what had happened? She couldn’t even breathe properly yet. She didn’t want to forget it. She wanted to keep doing it. Kissing Derek had tilted her world. And now she had to roll over and fall asleep. She laid back, but stayed on top of the covers. She was already too hot.
She couldn’t even comprehend why Derek wanted to pretend the kiss hadn’t happened. He must have thought it was the worst kiss he’d ever had. Maybe she smelled bad? Oh, no. Did she have bad breath? She rolled over and quietly breathed into her hand and sniffed it. She didn’t smell anything terrible. What if she had body odor? A quick check told her that wasn’t it. Maybe he just didn’t like her.
Disappointment fell over her like a shroud. She’d thought they were getting along so well. What if he simply thought she was a bother? He couldn’t be attracted to her if he could stop a kiss like that and roll over and go to sleep.
She closed her eyes and hugged Larry to her chest. She would pretend that she was asleep as well. If Derek wasn’t into her, then she would do her best to stay away from him, because she couldn’t handle more kisses like that, and then simply walk away from the marriage, like it didn’t matter to her.
She would have to steel herself. She couldn’t allow herself to fall for him.
Chapter 15
Derek stepped from the shower. The steam was so thick it was hard to breathe. Maybe he’d spent too long in there, but for the first time in the last eight hours, he was able to relax a little. The spray felt good on his tense back muscles.
He hadn’t slept at all last night. He’d messed up royally, and now he wasn’t sure how to face Nara. He’d seen her face yesterday after the kiss. She was shocked. She couldn’t even say a word, and there had never been a time in his life where he’d seen her speechless.
He’d taken advantage of her. She had been goofing around. And he’d taken that and made it into something it wasn’t. And now he didn’t know how to face her.
He wrapped his towel around his waist and wiped down the mirror. Holy guacamole. Since when did he look like a zombie? He had bags under his eyes, and a vacant stare he’d never seen on himself before. He blinked a few times and ran his comb over his hair. That helped. A little.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked his mirrored self, and then felt stupid for talking out loud to no one. Hopefully Nara didn’t hear that. Of course, the resort was dead quiet, so it was almost impossible to think she didn’t hear it.
Nice. What else could he do today to embarrass himself? Maybe the towel on the door would fall down just as he was getting his underwear on? The thought made him swivel around to make sure the duct tape was still holding. Luckily, it was. In any event, he rushed to get dressed just in case.
After he could no longer justify staying in the bathroom, he exited. Nara was sitting on the bed, her sketchbook next to her, the diary in hand. She closed it and gave him a nod. “Hey.”
The air between them seemed strained, as if the molecules could feel that something was off. “Hey,” he said.
Well, that was sure awkward. And now he didn’t know what to say. The silence grew heavy as he just stood there. He probably should do something, but he wasn’t sure what. His shirt was loud, but unfortunately that wasn’t helping any.
“I thought we could order breakfast to the room. They have pancakes on the menu today. You okay with that?” Nara fiddled with a pencil.
