Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Asher nodded in understanding. “Nikki doesn’t blame you,” he assured Derek. “This is her issue, and she doesn’t expect you to be estranged from your parents on her behalf.”
Which would be incredibly easy to do when it came to his mother, Derek thought. Not so much with his dad.
Asher must have sensed his unease because he changed the conversation to business, then sports. They discussed the upcoming football season and debated which teams would end up at the Super Bowl, but their attention never wavered from the girls in the main club area.
A few hours passed, and Derek tried to keep that green-eyed monster from emerging as he watched Jessica flirt with the same guy over the long night and order a few more drinks. She laughed with abandon, continued to toss her hair in a sexy, seductive manner, and put her hand briefly on the other man’s arm. Then there was the dancing and the way she moved her body with confidence to the rhythm of the music. The more she drank, the more uninhibited her dance moves seemed to become.
She was having fun, Derek repeatedly reminded himself and let her enjoy the evening despite the possessiveness escalating inside him . . . until the other man put his hands on her waist. Jessica immediately made it clear his advances were unwanted, removing his hands from her waist, and her hips, and her ass . . . all with a playful laugh or a smile.
But the asshole wasn’t taking the hint.
“Jesus, you look like you’re going to blow a fucking gasket,” Asher noted, his tone amused.
“That dick she’s with is mauling her,” he fumed, his entire body stiff with irritation.
Asher arched a brow. “Mauling, really? She seems to be handling herself just fine.”
Derek gave him a pointed look. “Would you be saying that if it was Nikki in that situation?”
“No, because Nikki is my fiancée, which gives me the right to kick any guy’s ass who touches her.”
Derek’s jaw clenched so tight he was certain he was going to crack his molars. “Are you saying I have no right to interfere?”
Asher shrugged, a sudden smirk on his face. “Depends on if you’re staking a claim.” He paused a beat. “Are you?”
Fuck yes, Derek wanted to roar as he watched as the guy, yet again, tried to pull Jessica against his chest. “No,” he gritted out. “I’m protecting her from assholes who want to take advantage of her.”
“Okay, yeah, sure.” Amusement flickered in Asher’s eyes. “Then go do your thing, caveman. I’ll just sit here and watch the show.”
“Fuck you,” Derek said, ignoring his friend’s loud laughter as he jumped up from his chair and made his way down to the lower level.
Getting through the crush of people around the bar and pushing his way to the dance floor wasn’t easy, but he was determined. When he reached Jessica and her dance partner, who’d managed to secure a hand around her waist to keep their bodies flush, Derek had to resist the urge to throat-punch the bastard for leering at her tits with pure lust in his eyes.
He grabbed the douchebag’s arm and flung it off Jessica, then shoved his shoulder, causing him to stumble backward. “Get your fucking hands off her,” Derek said, a heated warning in his voice. “She’s with me.”
The guy eyed Derek up and down, his glassy eyes telling Derek he’d had too much to drink. “Who are you?” he sneered. “Her brother?”
Derek’s hand curled into a fist. “No, I’m her goddamn boyfriend,” he said, barely recognizing the feral tone of his voice. “And unless you want to leave here without your teeth and all your extremities intact, I suggest you walk away. Now.”
“I didn’t know.” The guy lifted his hands in a show of neutrality as he backed up farther. “No chick is worth this. She’s all yours.”
“Damn right she is,” Derek said, watching the other man retreat before glancing back at Jessica, whose glossy lips were curved into a delighted smile.
“My boyfriend, hmm?” She stepped closer and slid a hand along his chest, ignoring the couples dancing around them, including her friends, who were too busy to notice the scene he’d made.
Even through his shirt, her touch made his skin catch fire and his dick stir in his pants, and he caught her wrist, gently pulling it away. “He was disrespecting your boundaries, and it worked to make him leave you alone.” That was his excuse and he was sticking to it.
“Yes, he was,” she agreed, and as soon as he released her hand to escort her off the dance floor, she lifted her arms so that they circled his neck and brazenly pressed her body to his. “And I would have kneed him in the dick if he did anything that made me uncomfortable.”