The Tycoon's Fiancée Deal
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She’d forgotten how fun it was to not know what was coming next. How much she enjoyed the first flush of attraction. And this was safe. Right? Derek wanted a fake fiancée. She could do that. Be close to him, have her little infatuation but protect her heart. She wasn’t going to fall for Derek Caruthers. The man was married to his job.
Everyone knew that.
There was no sense in pretending that he’d ever be interested in any woman for longer than a few months. It was precisely why he’d suggested a temporary pretend engagement.
“You have the funniest look on your face,” he said. “I’m not going to abandon you before I see you home. My dad would whup me if word got back to him.”
She smiled because she knew he meant for her to. “You can see me to the sidewalk outside the house. If you come to the door my mom is going to grill us both and we haven’t made a decision yet. You promised me time to think.”
As if thinking was going to do her any good now that lust had entered the picture. She closed her eyes, desperately tried to remember what fifteen-year-old Derek had looked like. Tall, gangly, still wearing braces and with a little bit of acne, but it didn’t matter because as soon as she opened her eyes she found herself staring at his mouth.
Adult Derek’s mouth was lush; his lips just looked kissable. She’d kissed her fair share of men and some of the kisses had been disappointing but his mouth...he looked like he wouldn’t disappoint.
“Bianca, I’m trying not to notice but you are staring at my mouth,” he said.
“Mmm-hmm,” she said.
“It’s making me stare at your mouth and that is putting some decidedly different thoughts into my head.”
“Like what?” she asked, throwing caution to the winds. Maybe he’d suck at kissing and she’d be able to walk away from him.
Or maybe not.
* * *
Derek knew he was treading very close to the edge of someplace that there would be no turning back from. He might be able to make the whole platonic-friends-helping-each-other thing work if he was able to keep his mind off the curve of her hips and the way she nibbled her lower lip when she was mulling over something. But when she looked at his mouth, chewed her lower lip...it didn’t take a mind reader to figure out what she was contemplating.
And for the first time since his ill-fated affair with Marnie he was on the cusp of doing something that might derail his career goals. Because he was afraid one kiss wouldn’t be enough. He wasn’t ready to settle down until he’d been established as head of cardiology. He wanted to keep his focus on medicine. He needed someone like Bianca because she was respectable, well-liked and not the kind of woman Marnie would ever believe he’d coerced into being his fiancée. A smart man would remember that instead of reaching out and touching a strand of Bianca’s hair as it blew in the summer breeze—and possibly blow his chance of her going along with the fake engagement.
A smart man would be taking two steps away from her instead of one half step closer and letting his hand brush the side of her cheek. Her skin was soft, but really that wasn’t a surprise. She looked like she’d have prefect skin. The scent of her perfume once again drifted on the breeze and he couldn’t help himself when she tipped her head to the side and her eyes slowly drifted closed.
She wanted his kiss.
He wanted to kiss her.
He leaned in and felt the soft exhalation of her breath over his jaw just before he touched her lips with his. Just a quick brush. That was all he intended but her lips were soft and parted slightly under his and he found himself coming back and kissing her again. He angled his head slightly to the right and she shifted as well and the kiss deepened. His tongue slipped into her mouth. She tasted of Indian summer and promises.
He shifted his hand on her head, cupping the back of her neck as he took all that she offered in the kiss. She was like the sweetest addiction he’d ever encountered and he knew that walking away, just forgetting this, wasn’t going to happen. He wanted her.
He felt the stirring in his groin and his skin felt too tight for his body. He started to draw her closer to him but stopped. He didn’t want to rush any second of this. He wanted this embrace to last forever.
Because this was Bianca. The girl who’d always been too pretty, too smart and some would say too good for him. He didn’t want the kiss to end and her to come to her senses.
Maybe it was the moon or the night or the warm breeze making her forget that they were friends. That she’d friend-zoned him a long time ago but he knew he wasn’t going to want to let her go. Not tonight.
But he had to.
He pulled his head back, looking down at her. Her lips were parted, moist and slightly swollen from his kiss. Her eyes slowly blinked open.
“Derek...that was...”
He put his finger over her lips. He didn’t want to discuss it. “Just a kiss between friends. We’re doing each other a favor and tonight, seeing you here in the moonlight, I just couldn’t resist.”
She chewed her lower lip for a second and then nodded. “Do you think it was an aberration? That maybe it won’t happen again?”
Lying to himself was one thing, but lying to her was something else. “Honestly, I think we’d be kidding ourselves—or at least I’d be kidding myself—if I said I wasn’t going to be tempted to kiss you again.”
“Me, too,” she admitted. “I was sort of afraid that you didn’t feel the same.”
“That kiss was...”
“Magic,” she said. “Like you intimated earlier it was probably the pale moon and the balmy night that are making us a little crazy. We’re friends. We are doing each other a favor. Complicating things by kissing each other and thinking about each other in a non-friend way—”
“Non-friend way?” he interrupted. “I didn’t realize friends couldn’t kiss each other.”
“You know what I mean,” she said, crossing her arms under her breasts in a defensive pose.
“I do. But I wanted you to know that your friendship comes first. I have to admit I’ve thought about kissing you since you came home this summer. I hadn’t realized how much you’d changed. You’re prettier than I remembered, which is saying a lot, since you were so beautiful when we were teenagers.”
“Thank you. That is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. I should be getting home,” she said.
He took her hand in his and led her up off the footbridge to the sidewalk in front of her house. She didn’t say anything else and neither did he. He felt like there had been too much between them for this one night. He needed her.
For his career.
And he wanted her.
For himself.
And never had he been so conflicted about what he wanted.
“I guess this is good-night.”
“Good night,” he said. “I’ll see you and Benito in the morning?”
“Yes. Probably around eight unless that’s too early.”
Normally eight on a day off would be too early but this was Bianca. And he had a feeling he was going to spend a restless night remembering that kiss. And trying to figure out how he was going to keep from repeating it once she moved in with him. Unless he could sleep with her and then let her walk away. But since he’d promised to stay friends with her and her son, Derek thought it would be wiser to try to keep them from becoming lovers.
And his gut seemed to say that her answer would be yes. That they were going to be living together.
He needed a plan to keep himself together when that happened.
“That’s perfect,” he said.
He stood there until she entered her house and then headed back to the club.
Four
Her mom was waiting for her in the formal living room when she walked in the door. Bianca took her shoes off and then walked into the room and sat down on the settee next to her mother.
“Another dud?” her mom asked.
“Sí,” Bianca answered her in Spanish. “But I did have something interesting happen.”
“Good. Tell me all about it,” she said.
“Not yet. Probably tomorrow. I’m tired and need to process it.”
Her mom reached over and pushed her hair back from her forehead. “Are you okay?”
She shrugged. She’d kept the gory details of Jose’s cheating from her parents but her mom had somehow figured it out. Somehow talking about it out loud had always made her feel like it would be more real. Bianca had almost been able to fool herself into believing that no one else knew if she kept it silent.
“I’m getting there,” she said. And she was. “I think you might be right that dating is a good idea.”
“Of course I’m right,” her mother said with a smile. “Want something to drink?”
“Not tea. Maybe sparkling water with lime.”
“I have to work early tomorrow,” her mom said as they approached the kitchen. Their housekeeper always kept the bar cart stocked with sliced citrus, maraschino cherries and olives.
Her mom drove to Houston very early in the morning for work at the TV station. She could have requested that the family move to Houston to make her commute easier but she never had. The Velasquez family was rooted in Cole’s Hill. Bianca’s father’s family had settled here with a land grant from the Spanish king generations ago. The fact that they now made their money from a world-class breeding and insemination program for thoroughbred horses instead of from actual ranching didn’t make a difference.
“Beni will have me up very early, too. And I have an appointment in the morning.”
“That little scamp does like sunrise,” her mom said. “Sit down. I’ll get our drinks. I gave Caz the night off. No sense having her in the house with just me.”
“Makes sense. Do you and Dad think you’ll downsize any time soon?” Bianca asked. She wondered how long her parents would keep the big house now that it was just the two of them. Having her and Beni here really hadn’t made a difference in the huge house. Growing up with four brothers she’d never felt crowded.
“I don’t know. Your poppa doesn’t want to consider moving. Instead he wants to be here for our grandkids. Are you thinking of moving somewhere else?” her mom asked.
“I don’t know. I am really happy being back here and am trying to find something I can do so that Beni can grow up here, too,” she said.
Her mind drifted to Derek. His idea was a sort of solution. This was what she needed to mull over. Was the risk of the attraction she felt for him worth the chance she’d have to really figure out what she wanted? The fake engagement would give her space to think. She was afraid if she kept living with her parents she’d start to want what they wanted for her and Beni. Not what she wanted for herself.
Her mom talked about the housekeeper and her father’s new idea to trade his pickup in for a Harley and Bianca listened with half an ear. She missed her son. It was only a little after eight o’clock but he had a late nap on Wednesdays so he could stay out until nine with his uncles and his grandfather. She wished he were home so she could stare into his little face and try to decide if going along with Derek’s idea was the right thing or not.
It was hard to believe that she was considering it. Why wouldn’t she agree to it?
After that kiss she had another reason to think twice about his proposition. This wasn’t as straightforward as it had been when Derek had first sat down at her table in the club and made his offer.
But she didn’t regret the kiss.
How could she?
“Don’t you think?” her mom asked.
“What?”
“You aren’t listening to a thing I’ve said. Are you okay, sweetie?”
She shrugged. “Yes. But I have a decision to make and I’m not sure what to do.”
“Can I help?”
“No!”
“Well, I was just offering.”
“Sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean it like that. This is just something I need to decide for myself. And it’s weighing on my mind. I didn’t mean to ignore you. What were you saying? Something about Dad and a motorcycle?”
Her mom took a sip of her sparkling water and then reached across the table, putting her hand on Bianca’s and squeezing it. “When I was trying to figure out if I should give up my job and be a stay-at-home mom like everyone expected me to, I spent a lot of time mulling things over. And in the end, well, you know I chose the morning news job.”
“I know. That must have been hard, Mom,” Bianca said.
“It wasn’t as hard as living with the decisions afterward. The first three or four months I second-guessed everything. Should I have been home when Diego fell off his skateboard and broke his arm? Was my job the reason it happened? All of these were making me crazy and I was very unhappy. But your poppa pulled me aside one night and sat me down and said no matter what decision I had made, not picking the other choice was going to haunt me. He told me to commit to the decision I had made. And enjoy my life.”
Bianca hadn’t thought she needed to hear anything from her mom tonight but as always, her mom had found the exact right thing to say.
“Thanks, Mom. Every time I think I’m all grown up and know what you are going to say you surprise me.”
“Good. Keeps you on your toes,” she said with a wink. “Want to talk or watch a reality show?”
“Reality TV, please. I need some fake drama in my life,” Bianca said.
They spent the rest of the evening watching TV until her dad and Beni got back home. Beni was dozing in her dad’s arms and her father carried the little boy up to his bedroom. After her parents left, Bianca changed him into his pj’s and then lay down on the bed next to her son, watching him sleep.
She wanted to say yes to Derek’s proposition. And if she was very careful maybe he could be the transition between this and the next phase of her life. He wanted temporary and she had the feeling temporary was all she could really handle right now.
Plus, it was Derek. He was one of the few men she could count on always having her back and usually not expecting anything in return. And he had never asked her for anything before. She was intrigued and knew that she wanted to do it.
Why was she hesitating?
The last time she’d followed her gut, it hadn’t worked out so well, she admitted.
* * *
Derek had taken the long way back to the clubhouse and now was headed to the billiards room—which was just what the club called one of the fancy private rooms that had a pool table.
“What’d she say?” Nate asked as Derek walked into the room.
What had she said? He hadn’t thought of anything but that kiss and how complicated she really was. So much more than he’d anticipated when he’d first thought of asking her to help him out. But he realized now that even though they were friends there was a lot about Bianca he didn’t know. He was intrigued—he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t. And a part of him was worried that if she said yes she’d be a constant distraction. The other part of him was concerned if she said no that he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about the kiss and he’d go after her.
And his track record with long-term wasn’t the best. So that would mean losing her completely from his life when they were done with their arrangement. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was he did wrong with women but generally speaking he wasn’t friends with any of the women he’d slept with.
“D? Something wrong with your hearing?” Hunter asked.
Derek gave him the finger while he opened a bottle of Lone Star beer and took a deep swallow.
“She’s thinking it over,” Derek said, turning to face the room and his brothers. Ethan and Nate stood near the table, while Hunter was racking the balls.
“That’s not really much better than a flat-out no. Are you sure about this?” Hunter asked.
Hell, yes. If he’d had any doubts they had been amplified the minute her lips had melted under his. He rubbed the back of his neck, glanced at his watch and realized only forty-five minutes had passed since he’d left her. How was he going to make it until eight the next morning when time seemed to be moving so incredibly slowly?
But telling his brother that wasn’t something Derek wanted to do.
“Yes. I’ve never been as sure of anything other than that I am the best surgeon in the world.”
Hunter clapped him on the back. “Okay. But you know we are going to tease the hell out of you about this.”
“How would that be any different than what you always do?” Derek asked. “You’re forgetting that you have a honeymoon and a wedding night coming up. I think you’re in for your share of teasing.”
“But you also have the bachelor auction,” Hunter added. “You and Ethan are going to be representing the Carutherses. Don’t let us down. Or are you going to use your engagement to get out of it? I wouldn’t blame you one bit.”
“That’s a good idea. I should line someone up. We need to bring in the big bucks like we always do,” Ethan said. The auction raised money for the women and children’s shelter.
“We don’t always beat everyone else. The Velasquez boys beat us last year. And the Callahans think they are going to have a better shot this year because of Nate and Hunter being taken,” Ethan said. “Liam was bragging about it over at the Bull Pit last night.”
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