Men of Fortune 1: Derek (7 page)

She moved her leg away and was relieved when
the sensation went away. A mosquito then. She’d have to get Derek
to spray—

It was back, and now it had crawled up to
her thigh. What the—

It was a hand, a man’s hand on her left
thigh caressing her through the thin fabric of her skirt. What
the—

Shocked, her gaze swung to Adam, who was on
her left. He ate and laughed as though nothing of the ordinary had
happened. Was she going nuts? No, because his right hand was
missing, that is, she couldn’t see his right hand above the
table.

Sure now that he was feeling her up, she
knocked his hand away. She was certain the caress wasn’t accidental
either, as he’d rubbed the same spot on her thigh over and over.
Angry that Derek’s cousin would do such a thing, a cousin he
trusted, she glanced toward her husband. Did Derek know?

Probably not. Her heart sank as she perused
his laughing visage. He wouldn’t be this comfortable and at ease
with them had he known one of his cousins was a vile seducer who’d
hit on his wife.

Or would that make them in the same league?
One an adulterer while the other entices married women to
adultery?

Her head spun.

Marrying into the Fortune family may not be
so fortunate for her.

All right, Adam had to know her intentions
by her actions. She’d let it go this once. But if he did it again,
she’d have no choice but to let Derek know. No matter how it hurt,
her husband needed to know that his cousin had hit on her, with no
invitation from her.

“Carly, you’re not eating.” Adam frowned
down at her plate, which was still half-full. “Anything the
matter?”

How could he look at her with such warm,
innocent, brown eyes? Was she wrong somehow? Had she imagined the
whole thing? She shook, tiny fine tremors radiating from within her
body. Was she losing her mind?

“Honey?”

She attempted a smile. “I’m fine. Cooking a
storm always robs me of appetite.”

“Hmmm.” His eyes turned appraising as he
surveyed her figure. “You should eat more. You’re too thin as it
is.”

A flicker of heat leaped in his eyes,
causing an answering passion to rise up in her. Yes, she was
attracted to Adam, in fact, to all Derek’s cousins, as they all
looked good enough to eat, but so what? One didn’t eat all the
beautiful cakes that caught one’s eye. Moreover, she was a married
woman now, allowed to look but not to touch and certainly not to
respond.

Who was she kidding? They probably weren’t
even attracted to her. After all, with looks like theirs, they
could have any woman they wanted. Why would they want somebody like
her, average and even plain? As for Adam, the man was a born flirt.
He’d hit on old, toothless, wrinkled Granny if there were one
around.

She willed her pulse to slow down and become
steady. “Really? My gym instructor would disagree with you. I’m
close to ‘overweight’ on the BMI index.”

On her other side, Oliver made a snort of
disbelief. “I agree with Adam, but then, we like our women with a
little meat.”

“Thank goodness I’m not one of your
women.”

When Adam replied, “But you are,” her head
whipped around so fast she feared it would tear off from her neck.
“Explain yourself,” she demanded, heart pounding.

Perhaps he’d damn himself. She had a witness
after all—Oliver.

Adam only smiled lazily. “You’re Derek’s
wife, a Fortune. Of course you’re one of our women.”

That was logical, only she wasn’t quite sure
that was what Adam meant when he’d dropped that little bomb or
Oliver when he’d agreed with the other man. What was going on here?
She didn’t remember the men being this ambiguous and mysterious
before, saying things that could have a double entendre.

Adam’s hand hit her thigh again, and this
time, he gave her a little smile, the heat flaring to life in his
eyes. He insinuated his hand under her skirt, so that he touched
her bare skin, and where he touched, her flesh burned—to her
shame—with want.

She trembled and froze. No, she couldn’t
want Adam, and no, she couldn’t make a commotion. She’d vowed
earlier to tell Derek if Adam made a pass again, but not like this,
not through making a scene. Derek would be so hurt to know his
cousin—

No, she’d need to ease him gently into the
knowledge—

Adam’s hand inched higher with every second
that she didn’t do anything. His hand carved a burning path on her
skin. Riveted by the pleasurable sensations—reluctant as she was to
acknowledge them—held motionless by the guilt and shame, she could
do nothing but stare into his eyes, which while flaming with
passion also contained another emotion, something
like…condemnation? Disgust?

When he brushed against her mound, she
jumped out of her stupor and straight into anger—at herself. Her
body might not recognize the man, but she did, and Adam was a man
she couldn’t want.

She pushed back her chair, causing Adam’s
hand to fall away. She’d made such a commotion that the
conversation died away, and all the men glanced at her end of the
table, startled. She stood and asked, her voice sweet and deadly,
masking the fury that lurked beneath, “Adam, dear, would you be so
kind as to help me carry in the dessert?”

The men returned to their meals as Adam
grinned and followed her. However, once they were safely out of
earshot in the kitchen, she whirled on him. “What do you think
you’re doing? I wouldn’t have thought it of you, Adam Fortune!”

Naked surprise crossed his face, then he
lounged against one of the countertops, a charming, easy smile on
his face. “Can’t you guess?” he asked softly. “I want you,
Carly.”

She’d suspected something along that line,
but hearing it out loud still surprised her and made her gasp.
“What!”

“At work, when you sashay among the models
in your high heels, you’re the one I want to fuck,” he continued in
that soft voice, almost, but not quite, hypnotizing her. “You’re
the one I want to bend over the props table and fuck for hours on
end.” His voice thickened. “Can you imagine my cock moving in you,
as I thrust deep, deep,
deep
into you?”

She released a strangled sound.

“I’ll have you naked in front of the camera,
lying on a bed of white satin sheets, your legs spread wide, your
pussy—”

No, she wasn’t listening to this anymore.
She managed to force out, “I’m—I’m your cousin’s wife.”

“He doesn’t have to know.” He shrugged. “We
can meet when he’s out on location shooting—”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” She
couldn’t believe she was hearing this. From Adam no less, a man she
respected, who possessed a talent she admired. That he would betray
his cousin like this was unthinkable and made him sink in her
estimation of him.

“I do. Really I do.” He reached to take her
hand, but she snatched it away. He shrugged, then started to undo
his belt.

No, no, no.

She couldn’t help it. She watched in morbid
fascination as he unbuttoned his trousers and pushed them down his
hips, together with his underwear, if he wore any. His cock sprang
out, erect and engorged, long and thick and beautiful.

He grasped it in one hand and stroked. “I
want to fuck you, Carly, and this is the proof. This erection is
for you.”

She moaned.

“Do you want to fuck me, too?”

She moaned again, and this time, she could
make out what she was saying.

No.

At the same time, fury surged up within her.
“How dare you.” She slapped him on the cheek. Her hand stung, but
seeing her handprint on his cheek gave her a savage satisfaction
she’d never felt before. “I’m Derek’s wife, and I won’t betray him.
If you value your friendship with him, you’ll stop this now and
promise not to repeat it, and I won’t tell him. But if you
don’t…”

The damn man looked unconcerned. He stepped
out of his pants, grinning. Naked except for his shirt and socks,
he was breathtaking. “I knew there’s a reason I like you.”

“Well, I’m finding I don’t like you very
much!” she hurled at him, cheeks flaming red. No matter how hard
she tried, she found her gaze going south, drawn by his beautiful
hard length.

“You’ll change your mind soon enough,” he
informed her cheerfully. “You’ll even beg me to fuck you.”

“Never!”

“Never say never,” he chided. “I won’t take
that against you, since you don’t know yet what it’s like to be
fucked by the ‘great fuck machine Adam Fortune’.”

If she weren’t so incensed, she’d have
sputtered with laughter over his arrogance. The moniker was one the
models gave him for his prowess in bed; it was rumored that he
fucked all the models he shot. Or so she’d heard.

“Put your clothes back on or—”

“Or what?” he countered. He placed his hands
at the hem of his T-shirt, took it off and let it sail—

To land on the face of the person who was
coming through the kitchen door just then.

“What’s going on in here?”

Derek.

Her heart lurched, panic setting in. She
knew what the situation looked like, and it was very damning. Only
Adam was out of his clothes, but she’d been in here with him a long
time. Why, oh why, didn’t she leave him be? She should’ve gone out
the moment he took out his cock.

She flew to her husband, just as he threw
the shirt to the floor. “Derek, this isn’t what it looks like.” The
words rushed out of her. “I was convincing Adam to put his clothes
back on—”

“What?” The whisper that came out was deadly
soft and stopped her torrent of words.

She gulped. She wanted to touch him, but she
didn’t know if he’d fling her hand away, and she couldn’t take
that. Her hand, lifted midway, fell back to her side. Despairing,
she knew the only conclusion he would make. Any hope she had of
repairing her marriage washed down the drain, just like that. Tears
threatened, but she’d be damned if she let them fall. She didn’t do
anything wrong.

Her chin lifted, to find Derek looking from
her to Adam and back again. His face was so dark and stern, wearing
an expression she’d never seen before, and it struck fear into her
heart. But that was before she saw the bleakness in his eyes.

“I came in to find out what’s taking you
both so long to walk into this—this—” Derek drew a distracted hand
down his hair. “Will someone tell me what’s happened?”

Carly wanted to speak, to try to explain the
situation before Adam could dig them further into the hole, but
Derek continued, “Adam? Do you mind telling me why you’re naked in
my kitchen? This wasn’t part of the plan.”

In her misery, she latched on to the part
that made no sense. Plan? What plan?

Adam shrugged. “I revised part of it.” The
odious man was still grinning. If he sabotaged her, wrecked her
marriage, he had a lot to answer for. First of which, he’d find
himself without a job come Monday. Somehow, she would manage
it.

“I seduced Carly at the table…”

The tension in Derek’s body communicated
itself to her. She could reach out and touch it; it was so
tangible, as was the feeling of inevitability rising within her.
Adam, blackguard that he was, was sure to twist the tale and make
it seem like her fault.

True enough, he was now saying, “To my
surprise, she invited me into the kitchen. You heard her.”

A glance at Derek’s face revealed that his
expression had grown even darker, prompting her to protest, “No, it
wasn’t like that at all—”

Derek’s fingers bit into her arm, and his
eyes blazed. “I did hear you.”

“Derek, please, listen to me—” Her arm hurt,
but it was the bitterness in his eyes that stunned her, felled her,
made her want to take him in her arms and comfort him. Somewhere in
his past, a woman had hurt him, badly. A past she hadn’t known
about.

The truth shook her. She didn’t know her
husband at all, hadn’t thought that the charming, easy-going man
she’d wed would have ghosts in his soul.

At this moment though, nothing mattered, not
her insecurities, not her suspicions about Derek’s activities,
nothing but the need to tell him what truly transpired. “I rejected
him.” When he just looked at her, she repeated, “I rejected Adam.”
Nothing mattered but Derek.

Some of his tension eased, and her heart
lifted. Perhaps there was hope for their relationship after all.
Since trust still existed between them—and love, too—there wasn’t
anything they couldn’t conquer, nothing they couldn’t get through.
Together.

She would clear the air after their guests
leave. They’d start anew, build on top of what they already have
and cement a stronger relationship.

She exulted too soon.

Derek glanced toward Adam.

“I admit, I removed my clothes with the
intention of seducing her, but she turned me down. Slapped me even.
So hard you should still be able to see it. Here.” Adam turned his
slightly reddened cheek toward his cousin. “Threatened to tell you
about me if I don’t stop. You’ve got a keeper here, cuz.”

She would’ve been gratified at Adam’s
corroboration or even taken note of his admiring glance at her if
she weren’t so incensed. It had taken her as soon as Adam spoke for
the realization that Derek had looked at his cousin for
confirmation to clout her over the head.

So much for trust.

“You believed him and not me?” she demanded,
shoving Derek with a hard push at his shoulder. “He’s the villain
here, Derek, the one who’s naked, the one who tried to seduce me
without encouragement on my part and you
look to him for confirmation of my
word
!” She was shouting by now. “Maybe you should’ve married
him instead. Maybe you should—”

Derek’s mouth came down on hers, hard and
possessive. She struggled at first, tried to hold on to her anger,
but she was no match for the desire that coursed through her, the
desire that always came to the fore at one touch from him.
Somewhere in all that lust, love pulsed, and it was this that
caused her to soften, her body melting to accommodate him. He
sensed this and pushed his advantage.