Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Derek laughed. “Is that your way of telling me that my body looks too irresistible to indulge in barbecue?”
Yes. “No. Just that I didn’t think it was allowed on your diet.”
Derek held the door open and scoffed. “Diet? Don’t you dare say that word to me. I am a man, and real men don’t diet. I eat what I want and then work my ass off to make sure I still look good and healthy.” He did a quick hip swing to prove his point and against my better judgement, I laughed. “Chase told me about this place, actually. This is where he and Carlotta bonded over their love of global barbecue.”
I laughed again at that image. “Really? I can’t picture either of them doing something as messy as eating barbecue.”
“Well, I’m told that love makes people do crazy things.” His words were sincere, and I took them at face value as we were seated.
I accepted the reprieve the oversized menu provided and hid behind it until my neutral, unaffected mask slid back into place. “Wow, there’s so many types of barbecue.” I didn’t even know what the hell Brazilian barbecue was.
“We can pick a platter to share,” he offered with a sexy grin that had me diverting my gaze over his shoulder. “How about the pick six option? We both pick three and share.”
Sharing food with Derek felt too intimate for our first fake date, but who knew when I’d have time to come here again. “Sounds good.” We placed our order with the lanky, young waiter, and then it was just us again. Just me and Derek and the heavy silence between us. “Have you ever been in love Derek?”
He blinked, taken aback by the question. “Sadly, no. But I haven’t really sought out a woman to love, because it wouldn’t be fair to anyone with how much we travel. And so far, no woman has made me reconsider my life on the road. What about you?”
This was what a first date was meant for, getting to know each other. I could do this, easily. This wasn’t my first, first date. “I thought so, more than once. But with two divorces under my belt, I think maybe I just wanted to be in love so badly that I convinced myself I was.”
“Maybe you were in love, but it wasn’t the forever kind of love?”
His statement surprised me. Again. “You believe in a forever kind of love?”
He sat back and shrugged, taking his time to think about his answer, which I appreciated. “I’m not sure, but I think you can really love someone and it still doesn’t work out. I don’t really buy the notion that the end of a relationship is a failure. I mean, maybe you were incompatible living partners, or maybe that relationship was a lesson for you take with you into the next one.”
“Wow.” His insight was smart and deep. “I never thought of it like that.”
He looked uncomfortable with my praise, and flashed a playful smile. “Do you think your exes will be a problem in the custody fight?”
“No,” I sighed, grateful that neither of my divorces were contentious. “There are no hard feelings between us. The relationships just didn’t work out. We weren’t right for each other, and it took getting married and everything that goes with that, to see it.” Which said a lot more about me than either of them. “Cesar is remarried with twins, and Paul is madly in love with an Italian photographer.” It was just more proof that the problem was me.
Derek snorted and shook his head. “Sounds to me like they’re idiots for being unable to hang on to such a fine woman.”
I laughed. “You’re full of smooth lines, aren’t you?”
“They’re not lines if they’re the truth, Bella.”
Damn him for saying my name in that velvety voice of his. That voice that made a woman crave things that were bad for her, things that were destined to leave her heart battered and broken. Possibly unable to recover.
“I don’t say things I don’t mean Bella, not ever. I’m an honest man who you knew when I was a shitty little boy.” He leaned back and raised his glass high in the air. “To getting to know each other. Again.”
I smiled and raised my glass. “For the first time.” Getting to know Derek felt dangerous, like something I should avoid at all costs just in case he had turned into a good and decent human being. It was better, easier if I kept him in the role of that teenage jerk, because I could already see just how easy it would be to let myself be charmed by Derek Gregory. But I had to be careful. I couldn’t trust him too easily, if at all. The stakes were too high.