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.
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