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“Me, too.” That was a lie. She wasn’t tired at all. She was energized and wanted to practice PDA for a while more. But she knew that had evaporated, like the morning dew in the sun.
She stood up and gathered the duvet around her. “Let’s go in.”
* * *
Derek set down Nara’s sewing machine and surveyed the room. He had set up another table in his office for her so she could start to work on her entry for the fashion contest. They’d brought over three large plastic tubs of fabric from her father’s house, and her rack for hanging clothes. She’d already hung several of her dresses. He kind of liked the pop of color in his office.
Nara walked in carrying another tub and her sewing box. “Do you care where I put this?”
“Nope. Wherever you’d like.”
Nara set it down, then exhaled and a strand of her hair shot up. It was adorable. “I think that’s everything.”
He tried not to stare too hard at her. “Do you think you’ll be able to make the deadline?”
She bit her lip as she rummaged through one of the bins. “If I can find that dress, I’ll be fine.” She dug deeper.
“Where do you think it is?”
“Wait, I think I see purple. This might be it.” She fished around a second longer, then tugged. The dress popped out. “Here it is.”
She held it up to herself. It was fancier than he’d imagined. One long sleeve, the fabric draping over the one shoulder and down the front. It was a good design, from his limited experience, anyway. “Wow, that looks great.”
“You think so?” Her smile traveled to her eyes as she moved, the dress still held to her front.
“I’d totally pick that as the winner.”
She laughed and whacked his arm. “Gee, thanks.”
He loved how playful she could be with him, and he tried to play along. “I’m serious. When they contact me to ask, because we both know they will, I’ll tell them yours is the best one.”
She laughed again. “I knew I could count on you. Now all I need to do is work on my acceptance speech.”
He nodded, sobering his expression. “Yes. You’d better. You don’t want to mess that up.”
She curled her hair behind her ear and draped her dress over the rack. “Thanks, by the way, Mr. Emperor.”
His eyebrows shot up. “For?”
“I saw the strawberry syrup in the cupboard.” She batted her eyes at him. “How did you know that was my favorite?”
Brielle walked out of the guest bedroom, her hair pulled back by a scrunchie, loud workout pants on. “Are you kidding me? He’s been in love with you since forever. He knows everything about you.”
She jaunted down the stairs, leaving only a trace of perfume, and his utter humiliation in her wake. Derek’s mouth went dry and panic filled his chest. What had Brielle just said? And how was he supposed to react to that?
Nara froze, her face unreadable. “What?”
A swirl of thoughts assaulted him, and he couldn’t catch his breath. Brielle just told the love of his life, his major crush through all eternity, that he’s been in love with her forever. He was so used to covering that part of him up, that his first instinct was to deny it. Erase it. Make it so that didn’t happen.
But, then another thought popped into his head. What if he just chuckled and said, “Yeah, you didn’t know that?” What if he played it real cool, and admitted to her for the first time that he’d had feelings for her.
The thought made him balk and he took a step back. He couldn’t do that. It would be way too embarrassing. He wasn’t that cool. He was awkward and stupid. The sweat forming on his forehead was proof enough. He could never pull that off.
Seconds ticked by, and alarm shot through him. If he didn’t say something…anything…she was going to know something was off. He had to react. Now!
Derek made a face. “What?”
Confusion clouded Nara’s features. “Did Brielle just say you’ve been in love with me for years?”
