Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) (12 page)

We both nodded our thanks.

‘So, what movie do you want to see?’ Derek asked as he
swigged his beer.

Shit! I don’t know. I don’t do scary movies where things
jump out at you. I can’t handle that crap.
‘Um ... I’m really not fussed.
You pick,’ I smiled, hoping for a miracle that he loved romantic comedy.

***

Why the fuck did I tell him he could choose the movie? I
mean seriously, how stupid could I be?
After both thoroughly enjoying our
TGI Friday’s dinner, and after proving that I was not a ‘salad and water’ type
of girl, we headed to the movies. Derek had chosen
Species of the Night
and
so far I had witnessed crazy motherfuckers hiding in the back seat of
unsuspecting victims’ cars, along with them springing up out of nowhere on
deserted roads in the middle of the night. Oh, and don’t get me started on the
fucking cats that would jump out from behind doors, behind sofas and within the
confines of a closet.

My stomach was beyond knotted ... it was twisting and churning,
and I was on the verge of either vomiting or passing out.

‘You all right?’ he asked curiously while offering me some
popcorn.

I shook my head at his offering then bit my lip. ‘Uh huh.’

‘You don’t look it,’ he mumbled through a mouthful.

‘I’m fine,’ I choked out.
So not fine. So. Not. Fine.

‘Carly, you’re as white as a ghost.’

Closing my eyes, I breathed in deeply through my nose and
let out my confession. ‘I don’t like scary movies. I don’t do creepy shit. It
terrifies me.’

‘Jesus!’ he whispered. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

Derek put the popcorn down and turned toward me.

I shut my eyes, finally blocking out the giant screen in
front of me. It helped. ‘Because I wanted you to see the movie that you wanted
to see.’

‘You’re so fucking adorable, you know that?’ he said, his
breath caressing my cheek. His sudden closeness startled me, prompting me to
open my eyes. ‘Keep them closed, baby. I know something that will help distract
you.’

The fact he called me baby — which I was beginning to like —
together with what he planned on doing to distract me, made me gasp. My chest
began to rise and fall rapidly and, as I waited for him to do something, I
pressed my lips together quite hard with anticipation.

Suddenly, I felt Derek’s hand gently caress the skin of my
leg just above my knee. His touch on that spot made me flinch.

‘Sh ...’ he whispered, ‘just keep them closed.’

‘What, my eyes or my legs?’ I breathed out, opening my eyes
and closing my legs. I turned my head from side to side in order to see if
anyone was watching. They weren’t and, thankfully, we had no other people
sharing the same row of seats, nor was there anyone directly behind or in front
of us. In the scheme of things, our position was somewhat private.

‘Baby, close your eyes and open your legs,’ Derek
instructed, this time with a firmer tone.

I turned to face him and noticed him adjust the prominent
hard-on within his jeans. The sight had me biting my lower lip.

He darted forward and sucked my lip into his mouth while
forcing my legs apart with his hand. ‘Open your legs and close your eyes,’ he
repeated with a slight mumble before releasing my lip and kissing my eyelids,
the action forcing them closed.

Oh, shit!

Hesitantly, I complied and relaxed my legs while tightly
squeezing my eyes shut.

Derek’s hand began to move up my thigh in a tortuously slow
motion. ‘Relax,’ he murmured.
Relax?
You
fucking relax.
‘Are you
wearing underwear?’ he murmured again.

‘Of course I am,’ I chided quietly. ‘Who the fuck doesn’t
wear underwear to the movies?’

He chuckled. ‘Me.’

‘What? Are you serious?’

His hot breath filtered into my ear. ‘I’m always serious.’
Fuck
me, he’s commando! Commando Caramello Koala.

The thought of his cock pressing hard against the denim of
his jeans made me groan ever so slightly. I wanted to touch it. I wanted to
feel the silky skin of his shaft glide along the palm of my hand as I pumped
him. I wanted to see the head of his cock glisten with desire. I wanted HIM.

‘Your nipples are hard,’ he stated quietly before pressing
his mouth against my blouse. The material of my bra was only thin, which meant
I could feel the warmth and moisture from his tongue as he sucked at my breast.

‘Oh, god!’ I moaned, arching into him.

He bit me gently then pulled away, which was when I noticed
that his hand had found the seam of my underwear. Slowly, he slid his finger
underneath and gently stroked the sensitive skin around my clit. My jaw fell
open.

‘Jesus fucking Christ, you shave,’ he groaned against my
neck.

‘Yes,’ I panted, ‘I don’t like vajungles.’

Derek let out a loud laugh which prompted me to open my
eyes. ‘What?’

He shook his head with amusement and then kissed me passionately.
As his tongue fondled my own, his finger twitched fervently. The quick flick
against my clit had me closing my eyes and dropping my head back on the seat
once again.

‘Your pussy feels amazing, Carly. I can’t wait to have it on
my face and surrounding my cock,’ he whispered as he slid two fingers inside
me.

Words, sounds, anything coherent escaped me in that moment.
I was completely overcome with the sensation he was gifting me. And it was a
gift. What we were doing in the cinema was by far one of the most rewarding
sexual experiences I’d had. And I was certainly no prude.

Slowly, he slid his fingers out, then back in. Out, then
back in. I couldn’t help myself and rocked against his hand.

‘Fuck,’ he ground out. ‘Come on me, baby.’

‘No,’ I protested with as much enthusiasm as a wet sponge.

He nipped at the skin of my neck then said with a harsh
rasp, ‘You’re not going to get a choice.’

His sliding motion increased in pace while his thumb rubbed
against my clit. The pressure he applied was perfect. Not hard and not
pansy-soft either.

As he rubbed and probed insistently, my head flushed with
heat and the muscles in my lower abdomen and inner thighs contracted. The
sensational tingling intensified, and I had to raise my hips from the seat and
dig my nails into the armrests as my orgasm washed over me.

Opening my mouth, I breathed in and out ardently, trying to
regain my composure. Derek’s mouth gently grazed my collarbone before he
dragged his lips higher and whispered in my ear. ‘You fucking rock.’

I let out a laugh of relief and opened my eyes, blinking to
regain my vision. As I began to decipher my surroundings once again, Derek
dragged his finger from within my pussy and placed it in his mouth.

I smiled. ‘No. You fucking rock.’

***

We never watched the end of the film, instead kissing in the
darkness of the movie theatre as if we were a couple of horny teenagers. It was
strangely sweet.

Soon after, Derek drove me home where we continued to taste
one another’s mouths on my front doorstep.

‘So,’ I purred coyly, but with a hint of sexy innuendo, ‘do
you want to come in?’

‘I want to come in
you
,’ he mumbled as his lips
teased my neck and ear lobe.

The state of bliss that he cast upon me was both good and
bad, bad being the words that had a tendency to uncontrollably tumble out of my
mouth. ‘I want you to douse my fiery hol—’ I heard myself begin to say when the
front door was wrenched opened behind us.

‘I’ve been trying to ring you for the past twenty minutes,’
Libby said desperately.

‘Oh, sorry,’ I responded, a little stunned. ‘My phone must
still be on silent from when we were in the cinema.’

Taking in her distraught face, my stomach began to
butterfly. ‘Why, what’s wrong?’

‘It’s Sasha. Something’s not right,’ she replied, a little
panicked.

‘What?’ I pulled myself free of Derek and pushed past Libby.
‘Where? Where is she?’

‘She’s in the lounge room,’ Lib called out, following behind
me, Derek close behind her.

As I turned the corner, my heart constricted when I spotted
Sasha lying on her stomach on the floor. She stood up when she saw me, and
straightaway I noticed her twitching.

‘Sashy, what’s wrong, sweetie?’ I said as I dropped to my
knees and patted her head. She was frothing at the mouth and clearly
distressed.

Derek squatted down beside me and placed his hands on either
side of Sasha’s face. He then scooped her into his arms. ‘I’d say she’s
ingested something. She needs a vet. Now! Carly, reach into my back pocket and
take out my phone,’ he said as he stood up.

I did and then followed him. ‘Where are we going? What are
you doing?’ I asked in a panic, tears welling in my eyes.

‘Activate the phone. We’re taking her to the vet. Elizabeth,
what has she eaten?’ he asked Lib as we hurried down the hallway.

‘She didn’t eat her dinner after I took her for a walk,’
Libby explained. ‘So nothing.’

I swiped the screen on Derek’s phone. ‘What’s your
password?’

‘Sixty-nine, sixty-nine.’

If I weren’t scared out of my mind, I would’ve rolled my
eyes at him.

‘Go to contacts and find Layla,’ he instructed. ‘What about
during the walk? Did she eat anything then?’ he continued to ask Lib.

Before I knew it, we were outside, standing next to his
Ranger.

‘I ... I ... I don’t know,’ Libby stuttered. ‘She was fine.
I’m sorry, Carly. I was just about to call the vet when —’

‘Not now, Lib. It’s fine,’ I said, my tone unintentionally
clipped.

Although having difficulty seeing from the tears welling in
my eyes, I scrolled down his list of contacts until I found Layla. ‘Okay, I’ve
found her, Derek.’

‘Dial her number and press speaker,’ he instructed.

I did as I was told and climbed into the front seat of his
car, holding the phone in the air for him to speak. He placed Sasha on my lap
as the call connected.

‘Derek, long time no hear. To what do I owe the pleasure?’ a
woman’s voice sounded from the speaker of his phone.

He took it from my hand. ‘Layla, I need a favour,’ he said
loudly. ‘Can you open up the surgery for an emergency, please?’

‘Um ... yeah. What’s the problem?’ she asked.

‘I’m bringing in a ...’ he paused, ‘a friend’s golden
retriever pup. I think she’s eaten poison. Quite possibly snail pellets or
rodent poison.’ He leaned forward and wiped a tear from my cheek then closed
the door.

Looking down at Sasha, I took note of her body violently
twitching. Her breathing was frantic, and I could no longer hold myself
together. ‘It’s okay, baby girl. What did you eat? This is all because I said
no Schmackos, isn’t it?’

My trembling hand gently caressed her fur. She looked so ...
so hyperactive yet scared.

Derek opened the driver’s side door and hoisted himself into
the seat. ‘She’s meeting us there. The veterinary surgery is only twenty
minutes away.’

I nodded and looked back down at Sasha, blocking out everything
around me. It was just me and her.

***

We pulled up
to the veterinary clinic. Derek quickly made his way around the front of the
car, opened my door, and then lifted Sasha into his arms. I climbed out of the
car and took his keys which were dangling from his finger, and then locked the
car door before both of us raced up the ramp.

‘Press the button on the wall, Carly,’ he said, pointing to
a red knob with his head.

I quickly slammed my hand into it which then inevitably
sounded an alarm tone.

A petite mousey-brown brunette rushed toward the glass door.
‘Hey, what do we have here?’ she asked, looking from Sasha to Derek to me.

I stumbled on my words at first. ‘Um ... this is my
eight-month-old golden retriever, Sasha. We came home and she was like this.’

Layla assessed Sasha from within Derek’s arms. ‘Did she eat
snail pellets?’

‘I don’t know. My room-mate took her for a walk and said
that not long after they returned home, she started twitching and drooling.’

‘Okay, let’s get some apomorphine into her to make her
vomit. Follow me,’ she said with a smile.

Why do they always smile? It doesn’t bloody help. Clearly
my dog is horribly ill. I’m not going to fucking smile.

Layla led Derek and I into a surgical room and then
disappeared to get the apple morphine, or whatever the hell it was bloody called.

‘Did you eat snail pellets, Sashy?’ I asked, resting my head
on hers.

Suddenly, I felt Derek’s hand rub my back soothingly.
‘She’ll be all right, Carly.’

I didn’t look up as tears formed in my eyes. ‘How can you be
sure? You can’t.’

He stepped closer, put his arm around my shoulder, and
pulled me into him, all the while patting Sasha. ‘No, but there’s nothing wrong
with being positive.’

‘All right,’ Layla announced clearly as she entered the room
again, ‘I’m going to inject Sasha with this medicine which will make her vomit
and remove the toxin from her stomach, okay?’

I nodded.

‘Now hold her head, because it will sting a little and she
may want to get away from me.’

Doing as instructed, I wrapped my arms around Sasha’s head
as if I was giving her a cuddle. She whined a little, but then sparked up with
even more excitement as soon as the injection was done. She was kind of a
little crazy.

‘Okay, let’s just clip this leash to her collar and take her
outside. The medicine should make her sick soon enough.’

Layla led Sasha out to the courtyard behind the clinic with
me and Derek in tow. ‘And now we wait,’ she explained with an apologetic smile
while still holding onto Sasha’s leash.

‘What if it’s not snail pellets?’ I asked, concerned.

‘I’m fairly sure it is ... I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name
before?’ Layla asked with an inquisitive look.