Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) (33 page)

“Thanks
Jemma.”
 

She nodded and
left his office.
 
Derek hoped she was
right, that Roni would forgive him.
 
He
sighed and started typing again.
 
Before
he could get too engrossed in his work, his phone pinged notifying him of a
text.
 
He grabbed his phone and almost
fell off his chair when he saw who it was from.
 

Roni: Thank you for the Ewok.
 
He is the best gift I have ever
received.
 

His brain shut
down not knowing how to respond.
 
He was
starting to panic, knowing he had to send something back to her.
  
His brain kicked his heart to get it out of
its depression and help out.
 
His heart
lurched at not knowing what to say.
 
Finally, he settled for simple just to send something.
 

Derek: You’re welcome!
 
I always thought of you when I walked by it.

Roni:
 
I’m sorry I haven’t returned any of your text.
 
I didn’t know what to say.

Derek:
 
Well, I did go a little overboard with the texting
J

Roni:
 
LOL maybe a little.
 

Ok, this was
good they were having a conversation.
 
He
just needed to not blow it.
 

Derek:
 
I really am sorry Roni.
 
You have
no idea how sorry.

He waited for
a response.
 
Simply staring at his phone,
willing it to ping again.
 
When he was
about to give up and his heart was heading back into the dark room a fresh
playlist of sad songs ready to go, the phone pinged.
 

Roni:
 
My problem with the situation is that you didn’t believe me. You thought
I was like all the other girls you have been with.
 
I wanted to be special, to be different from
those girls in your head.
 

What was left
of his heart broke.
 
She didn’t even know
what she met with him.
 
He should have
told her sooner.
 
He should have done more
so she would have no doubt how he felt.
 

Derek:
 
Oh Roni, honey.
 
You are special
to me.
 
You have been since the moment I
saw you in Starbucks.
 
Please meet me so
we can talk this out.
 
Please,
sweetheart!

Derek was not
above begging.
 
He would do whatever it
took to get her back.
 

He once again
found himself waiting for a response.

Roni:
 
Ok

Derek:
 
Really?
 
When?

Roni:
 
In 30 minutes at 5280.
 
You only
get one shot at explaining your behavior to me.
 

Derek: I only need one shot. I can’t wait to
see you.

Derek quickly
closed and locked his computer and grabbed his keys.
 
“I’m going out.”
 
He called to Jemma as he practically ran to
the elevator.
 

***

Roni walked
into the brewery with a heavy heart.
 
She
had decided she at least owed Derek the opportunity to explain what exactly had
triggered his temper the night of the Gala.
 
She had taken her time to herself after their public blow up.
 
Now she was ready to figure out if they had a
future or not.
 

She scanned
the brewery and saw him sitting at the booth, they normally sat in when they
came to 5280.
 
His back was turned to her
and she could see he was tapping his foot nervously.
 
A feat that was not glad in Prada or John
Lobb designer dress shoes, but instead Nike running shoes.
 
Her eyes moved up to see him in jeans and a
T-shirt.
 
She adored this casual side of
him far more than the uptight suits.
 
This was the true Derek in her mind.

Taking a
fortifying breath, Roni headed to join Derek at the booth.
 
She slid into the bench across from him.
 
Usually she would have sat next to him.
 
His eyes met hers, his face tight with
emotion.
 
“Roni.”
 
He whispered.
 
His shoulders relaxing.
 
Almost as
though her simple presence calmed him.
  

Tears stung
the back of her eyes from the sure need in his eyes.
 
Realizing she was holding her breath she took
a deep breath before speaking.
 
“Derek.”
 
Her voice came out with
more need than she had hoped.

“Would you
like a drink, or something to eat?”
 
He
asked nervously.
 

“A coke would
be nice.”
 

He nodded and
waved the waitress over.
 
He ordered two
cokes and a basket of fries.
 
Once the
waitress left to get their order he turned his full attention back to her.
 
“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.
 
I know I don’t deserve a chance to explain,
but am grateful for the opportunity.”
 

She
sighed.
 
“Derek, relax.
 
This isn’t a business meeting.
 
You are being so formal.”
 

“Sorry, I’m
nervous.
 
I want this to go perfect.
 
I want you to understand.”
 

“So help me
understand.
 
Let’s start with, you lying
about leaving your phone at home.”
 
She
felt no need to hold back.
 
She had a
list of questions in her head and she was damn well going to get an answer to
every last one of them.

He laughed a
little.
 
“That’s your first
question?”
 
He gave his most brilliant
smile.
 

“I figured we
needed to start at the beginning.
 
Unless
I misread the entire evening, everything was wonderful before you went to the
bathroom.
 
Or should I say before you
went to take your call in secret.”
 
Now
that they were talking the sadness was starting to take a backseat to her
anger.
 

“You’re
right.
 
I had my phone with me to check
in on my team.
 
I was waiting on one text
confirming everything with a release had gone according to plan.
 
I figured one quick text or call wouldn’t
hurt.
 
All night I felt a little guilty
for having the stupid phone on me.”
 
Derek explained.
 

“You promised,
one night, no business.”

“That was my
first mistake of the night.
 
Breaking
that promise.”
 
He laughed a little.
 
“Hell, if I hadn’t gone out into the hall to
check in with my team, the cluster fuck that happened when I returned would
never have happened.”
 
He shook his head,
looking down at the table.
 

The waitress
delivered their order and quickly left.
 
She must have felt the tension at the table.
 
Roni took several drinks of her coke.
 
Trying to tamp down her anger a little.
 
“Why did you say all those terrible things to
me?
 
I thought you knew me better than
that.”
 
Her voice became weak at the end
of her statement.
 

“Roni, that’s
the fucked up part of this entire thing.
 
I do know you better than that.
 
I
know you have no ulterior motive for being with me.
 
You know me better than anyone besides Alex
and C and yet you still stayed with me.
 
All you wanted from me was me.”
 
He looked on the verge of tears.
 
Which tore her up inside.
 

Placing his
hand over her, his eyes locked on the connection, playing with the bracelet she
wore.
 
Derek continued.
 
“While I was in the hallway I ran into
Jennifer.”
 

“As in the
Jennifer you dated?”

He
nodded.
 

“What did she
say to you?”
 
Now the pieces of the
picture were coming into place.
 

The corners of
his mouth turned up. His gaze still locked on his hand playing with her
bracelet.
 
“How did you know she spoke to
me?”

She allowed
herself to smile a little.
 
“It would explain
so much if she had.” The tension and anger were beginning to leave her
body.
 

He nodded
again.
 
“She did.
 
She told me that no one would want a man who
still owned Star Wars toys and had no social skills.
 
She emphasized the fact that someone who looked
like you would have to have an underhanded reason for dating me.
  
My self-esteem when it comes to the world
outside of computers has always been in the toilet, you know that.
 
She knew exactly what to say to tear me
down.”
 

“Did you ever
think that she was uttering all of those nasty comments to you because she was
jealous?
 
Jealous that you became a man
that every woman in the world would give up chocolate for the rest of their
lives to me with.
 
Sounds to me like she
wants you to be miserable, so she feels better about the mistake she
made.”
 

“Mistake?”
 
Derek asked to finally meet her eyes.
 

Roni turned
her hand over his.
 
Giving him a light
squeeze.
 
“The mistake she made when she
let you go.”
 

He looked
positively stunned.
 
“How can you think
so much of me after what I said to you?
 
After I embarrassed you?”
 

“Simple, it’s
true.
 
She knows she messed up and wants
to make you as miserable as she is.”

He studied her
for a moment.
 
“You’re amazing.”

“Thank you.
Moving on past the sorority bitch.
 
Let’s
say you didn’t run into her when you were in the hall.
 
How would you have reacted walking into the
gala seeing Michael kissing me?”
 
Roni
could see how his mind had been a mess.
 
Now she wanted to know what his true reaction would have been.
 

He pulled her
hand to his lips.
 
A familiar shiver of
lust shot through her system at the simple contact.
 
“The evening would have ended with you
bailing me out of jail for knocking that cocksucker unconscious for laying a
hand on the woman I love.”
 

She gasped at
his words.
 
The tears she had been
holding back flowed freely down her cheek.

***

He hadn’t
meant to tell her he loved her in that way, but was glad the words were finally
free.
 
He reached out wiping the tears
from her cheek.
 
Derek cupped her face
and repeated the words he knew she needed to hear and he needed to say.
 
“I love you, Roni.
 
I had this big grand plan to whisk you away
to an island retreat after the gala and tell you how I felt.
 
That plan went sideways really fast when I
allowed my insecurities to take over and ruin us.
 
I know I have said this so many times, but I
am so sorry.
 
I wanted that night to be
so special. Because to me you are so incredibly special. You made me better.”

He rubbed his
knuckles down her cheek.
 
Rubbed his thumb
over her lips.
 
Derek had missed this
simple touch.
 

Once again he
waited for her to respond.
 
He hoped he
was pulling off the calm, cool and collected look on the exterior, because
inside his heart was hammering against his chest.
 

“I like the
new look.”
 
She smiled at him.

Derek’s mouth
dropped open.
 
“I declare my love for
you.
 
Pour my heart out… and you like my
new look?”
 
He was confused.

She giggled.
Ok giggling had to be a good sign right?
 

Roni
stood.
 
Panic swept through Derek so fast
he almost had a heart attack right there.
 
Before he could protest her leaving, she sat next to him.
 
The panic running through his system turned
to lust when he saw the look in her eyes.
 
She grabbed his face with both hands and crushed her lips onto his.
 
Poking her tongue into his mouth.
 
He grabbed her and pulled her close.
 
This time he was never letting her go.