Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“Your sister can be incredibly persuasive,” Asher chimed in from beside Nikki. He wore a smirk on his face, which told Derek the jerk was enjoying his discomfort way too much.
“I’m well acquainted with her feminine wiles,” he replied, while his sister merely batted her lashes at him oh-so-innocently. “It would have been easier for me to just write a sizeable check for the nonprofit.”
“But not nearly as much fun,” Asher said, his eyes alight with amusement—a lighthearted side that Nikki brought out in him. “It’s not often I get to see you squirm.”
If they weren’t surrounded by high society, Derek would have told his friend to politely fuck off.
“It’s for a good cause,” Nikki piped in, looping her arm through Asher’s.
“I’m not refuting that.” Derek slipped an index finger between the tight collar of his dress shirt and his throat and gave it a tug. The damn tuxedo bow felt as though it was tightening around his neck like a noose. “I’m just a little leery of who I might end up with and what she’ll want out of her three days with me.”
“Maybe a little stud service?” Asher joked.
Nikki smacked Asher on the chest. “Behave,” she scolded him. “Not all women are sex-crazed.”
A slow smile curved Asher’s mouth as he gazed at his fiancée, and Derek grimaced as he read between the lines of that look. “Jesus Christ, I do not need to know those things about my sister.”
Nikki blushed, then quickly changed the subject. “By the way, did you happen to see who is here tonight?”
The way his sister wrinkled her nose in distaste told him exactly to whom she was referring. “Yes.”
His ex-fiancée, Claire Sutherland—who gave new meaning to the phrase dodged a bullet. He’d ended things with her a little over six months ago, but that hadn’t stopped Claire from trying to mend a relationship that was, quite frankly, unfixable. There were just some lies and deceit a person couldn’t overlook.
“I’m sure she’s here to find herself some fool who is blinded by nothing more than her pretty face.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Nikki gave him a pained, apologetic look and quickly added, “No offense.”
“None taken,” he said and meant it. As difficult as it was to admit, even to himself, he had been Claire’s fool at one time, until he’d discovered she was all beauty and no substance. He’d later learned she’d even said some shitty things about Nikki and her modeling career behind her back. Badmouthing his sister was also unforgivable. “As long as she leaves me alone, that’s all I care about.”
So far, he’d managed to avoid her by keeping to the opposite side of the ballroom or staying in groups of people, but he didn’t know how long that reprieve would last. Since their breakup, Claire had been calling and texting, telling him how sorry she was for everything that had happened, asking for a second chance, and swearing to him that she’d changed. That what she’d done wasn’t really that bad in the scheme of things . . .
Hell, even his own mother was pressuring him to give Claire a second chance. Then again, Collette Bettencourt always had ulterior motives for everything she did, and it was usually to elevate her and his father’s social or political standing. Hence, his mother’s desire to see him marry a woman from a wealthy family who was a major donor to his father’s potential, and very likely, presidential campaign.
Sure, Derek believed anyone could change, but once burned, twice shy and all that. Not only did he not trust Claire but he didn’t like her as a person—no matter how much she professed she’d learned from past mistakes.
“So, how did your partner get out of being a participant in the bachelor auction?” Asher asked, snapping Derek out of his unpleasant thoughts.
“Ben’s out of town on a business trip, the lucky bastard,” Derek said jokingly.
Ben Cavanaugh was his longtime friend and business partner in Blackout Media, a conglomerate company that dealt in mergers and acquisitions of failing media enterprises and turned them into multi-billion-dollar businesses. They’d started the firm during their time together in business school and had built it into a major contender in the industry.
“I did see that Jessica is here,” Nikki said, mentioning Ben’s sister. Jessica and Ben had grown up a few houses down from Derek and Nikki in the same upscale neighborhood. But eight years separated the women, so while they were now friendly, they’d never attended the same school, their age gap too far apart.
Derek nodded. “I talked to Jessica briefly during the cocktail hour.” And he’d been seated at the table across from her during dinner.
She’d been within his line of sight and he’d watched her throughout the meal, his dick hardening in a way that would make her brother want to kick his ass.