Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4) by K.M. Golland Read Free Book Online

a cake I wanted to desperately
sink my teeth into. OMG! That thing is huge! I loved cake but couldn’t
bake the damn things even if I tried. Turning out a deliciously warm, fluffy
moist cake was not something I was exceptional at. Cooking was definitely not
my forte, but that didn’t mean I didn’t try.
    Before my aunty passed away, she always offered her two
cents worth every chance that she got. There was one particular time where I’d
had to produce a painting for school. I’d given up before starting the task,
hell-bent on the ‘I can’t do it’ reaction. I remember her saying to me, ‘Try,
Carly’, to which I’d responded with an exasperated, ‘That’s it? That’s all
you’re going to say? That doesn’t help.’ She’d then said, ‘It really is that
simple. If you try and fail you still succeed, for succeeding in failure is
still a success.’
    My aunty was optimistic and smart, and like Alexis, she was
a combination of a best friend and the sister I never had.
    ‘That was a surprise,’ Derek exclaimed, once again bringing
me back to the moment. ‘Good on them. They both deserve to be happy, and Alexis
makes Bryce very happy. I’ve never seen him like this before.’
    ‘I agree. Lexi deserves a man who will treat her right,
especially after what her husband did.’ When no one was watching, apart from
Derek, I stole a raspberry from the top of the cake. ‘So ... how long have you
and Bryce been friends?’ I mumbled as I popped it into my mouth.
    He watched my actions with an amused smile on his face.
‘Since high school.’
    ‘Nice.’ I covertly snuck another raspberry and, this time,
peeled off a shard of white chocolate.
    Derek stifled a laugh. ‘How ’bout you and Alexis?’
    ‘Since we were four,’ I mumbled again as I consumed the
stolen cake topping. ‘We were neighbours for eighteen years, right up until
Alexis moved out to live with Rick and I moved to Melbourne.’
    Derek nodded as if he were interested in what I was saying
but, like all men, he was probably more concerned with what size my tits were
and if they were real or not. I put that theory to the test by deliberately
licking the icing off my fingers.
    ‘Whereabouts in Melbourne do you live?’ he asked with an awkward
shuffle of his feet.
    I couldn’t help but bite the inside of my mouth and smile —
I bet he just formed wood. His attempts to feign interest in order to get
inside my pants were exceedingly obvious, but also terribly cute. ‘Epping,’ I
answered.
    ‘I live in Richmond.’
    ‘Huh. So what do you do?’ I asked, pretending to be none the
wiser when, truth be told, I wanted nothing more than to see him douse my fiery
hole with his man-hose.
    ‘I’m a senior firefighter with the MFB,’ Derek answered with
a tinge of pride.
    My eyes widened mischievously. ‘That’s hot!’
    He raised his eyebrow at me.
    ‘What?’ I giggled, deliberately touching his arm. ‘That was
good.’
    ‘It was lame,’ he countered.
    ‘It was not. Pick-up lines are lame. That was puntastic.’
    ‘Puntastic?’ he queried, shaking his head in amusement.
‘Pick-up lines are not lame. Some are actually quite good.’
    ‘Oh yeah, name one,’ I probed.
    ‘Is that a mirror in your pocket? Because I can see myself
in your pants.’
    ‘Please,’ I groaned, ‘that was terrible.’
    ‘Okay, how about ... I lost my number, can I have yours?’
    Looking down at my hand, I checked that my nail polish was
pristine, all the while pretending I was bored. ‘So original.’
    ‘You smell like trash. May I take you out?’ he offered
before taking a swig of his beer.
    I had to laugh at that one. ‘Not bad. Although, telling me I
stink is going to get you nowhere.’
    ‘So saying, “Did you fart? Because you just blew me away,”
won’t work either, huh?’ he asked with a smile.
    This time I cracked up laughing and clutched at my abdomen.
‘No.’
    ‘Okay, I’ve got one.’ Derek placed his empty beer bottle
down on the