Page 46 of The Love Audit
“I thought about reaching out to you, but our lawyers advised against it. After the dust settled, too much time had passed, and to tell you the truth, I was still angry.”
“Do you believe the rumors about my parents? The people you called your aunt and uncle your entire life?”
“Honestly, Jasmine, I don’t know what to believe. My parents weren’t very forthcoming about what caused the rift. Chris and I pored over every legal document and deposition we could legally obtain and nothing,nothing, gave us any clue as to what really happened. What did your parents tell you?”
“They told me that partnerships sometimes end and that sometimes the people that you thought you knew weren’t always who you thought they were.”
“And that was good enough for you?” Derek pulled me over to a bench so we could sit.
“Of course not.” I shook my head. “I tried to get answers for years. My father was too angry, and my mother was stoic, but I could tell she was affected by it. I’d just started school. It became easier to pretend the Carters didn’t exist, like they’d never existed… around my parents anyway. Outside of the family, it wasn’t so easy.”
“Our parents cast a long shadow.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Did you ever want to reach out to me?”
“All the time,” I admitted, “for the first few years anyway. Then, when I realized that you were never going to reach out to me, it became easier.” I shrugged, momentarily averting my eyes from Derek’s pained expression. “Plus, I was too busy trying to separate myself from my parents’ reputation.”
“I did the same thing. I worked my ass off in school. Clawed my way to the top of my department at MasonCorp. I made sure that no one would even think about comparing me to my parents.” His face was stony and determined. “And it worked.”
“Yeah, it worked until MasonCorp decided to buy Westwood.”
“I guess we couldn’t run from our past forever.”
“No.” I shook my head. “We couldn’t.”
We sat in silence for a moment. I couldn’t speak for Derek, but I couldn’t help but remember that no matter how beautiful this moment with Derek was, the reason we were sitting here together on this bench with Tora lying at our feet was ugly and messy, and we didn’t have the luxury of avoiding it for thirteen years. Thisthing with Derek would have to end. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
“Jasmine.” Derek squeezed my hand. I didn’t realize until that moment that he was holding it. “I don’t want this time with you to end.”
“I don’t want it to end, either,” I confessed. “But I don’t know how staying together could be possible. I’m not going to give up my career, and I know you won’t, either. Only one of us is going to get Miller’s Cove, and even without this project, our future would be messy, complicated. It just feels like too much.”
“Jasmine.” He pressed his palm against my cheek. “You were always too much.” He smiled when I rolled my eyes at him. “But you were always worth the effort. I don’t know how any of this is gonna end, but I know that holding you in my arms was always meant to happen. I’ve never backed away from a challenge, and I’m not gonna start now. Now that I have you, nothing is gonna take you away from me again—not Mason, not our parents, nothing.” His expression was a fierce glare, and I knew there wasn’t a shred of doubt in his words. I believed him. With my entire heart, I believed him.
“Jas—” Before he could finish saying my name, I leaned forward and kissed him with everything that I had. At that moment, I lacked the ability to describe what his words meant to me but I hoped my kiss would. He grinned at me when our lips separated. “Plus, I don’t think Tora would forgive me if I didn’t do whatever I had to do to keep you in our lives.”
“I am married to both of you.” I giggled and held up my rings, which felt like more than props for a ruse.
“Where did you learn to cook like that?” I pushed my empty plate away and leaned back in my chair.
After the park, we walked to the local market, where Derek bought ingredients for a home-cooked dinner. I was skeptical of his culinary skills after never having witnessed them the entire time we knew each other, but two hours later, I found myself eating my words, literally.
“Get to know me, Jasmine.” He stood from the table and kissed my head. “You’ll discover I have a lot of skills that you don’t know about.”
“Is that so?” I raised an eyebrow and stood up.
“It is.” He grabbed me around the waist and turned me to face him when I tried to clear the table. “We’re not done yet.” He pressed his face into my neck and nibbled.
“Are you hiding a second dinner somewhere?” I giggled and gently raked my fingernails over the back of his neck.
“I was hoping for dessert,” he growled into my neck.
“Derek, we didn’t get any dessert.” I squealed when he scooped me under my thighs and hoisted me onto his waist. “Derek, what are you doing?” I leaned back to look him in the eyes. He responded to my question by biting his bottom lip and raising an eyebrow. “I’m dessert, aren’t I?” He answered me without words again, this time with a slow nod as he walked toward the bedroom with me still attached to his waist.
He shut the door with his foot, leaving our third roommate in the kitchen finishing his dinner, before he tossed me on the bed.
“Derek,” I whispered as he climbed on top of me and began planting kisses on every inch of exposed skin as he made his way to the foot of the bed. “I thought you said no sex while I was still sick.”
