Unwillingly Yours (Warning: Love Moderately) (10 page)

          A shirtless Derek came out, and his eyes found her before she could even think of moving. She waited for him to say hello, to smile teasingly like he always did, but Derek did none of those.

          The morning light was behind him, and she had to shade her eyes just to see his face clearly. He was even more beautiful now, sexier too, with his tousled hair, blue-gray eyes still drowsy and stubble on his chin.

          She wasn’t Diana Hepburn, and he wasn’t Anthony Carras, but oh God, what if they were worse?

          “What’s wrong?” He didn’t even come close, and it made her want to cry. Why did Derek Christopoulous seem to know her better than she knew herself? How did he know when to give her space and when not to give her even a second to think?

          “You’re scaring me, baby. What’s wrong?”

         
Everything,
Jaike thought with an inner sob.

          She was his now.

          For better or for worse, she belonged to Derek, and she was so damn afraid of what that would mean for the rest of her life.

This short is for promotional purposes only.

The rest of Derek and Jaike’s story will be out on June, 2013.

This is the debut novel of L. Marcelo.

About the Authors
Marian Tee is a Filipino-Chinese with a degree in Business Administration and a passion for
manga
and all things Japanese as well as learning languages. As a horror enthusiast, she loves watching scary flicks in her spare time and count
Ladda Land
and
The Sixth Sense
among her favorites.
L. Marcelo’s skills in drawing and photography have earned her an Animation degree, but her love for books has eventually taken her life to another direction. A fangirl at heart, she occasionally flies out of the country to attend special events of her favorite Taiwanese and K-Pop stars.

If you like what you’ve read, both authors would greatly appreciate if you were to leave a review for the book in Amazon and/or Goodreads.

Readers are welcome to drop by at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Literary-Flings-Co

to chat with the authors.

Marian may also be contacted through her website at MarianTee.com

Turn to the next pages to read excerpts of Marian Tee’s other works in Amazon.

Note: The second and third books in the trilogy,
Courted
and
Caged
, are already available in Amazon.

Sensing the man next to me turning to my direction and not getting any unfriendly and competitive vibes from him, I silently breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of having at least one person in the room
not
antagonistic toward me.

          Friendly smile in place, I said, “Hel—
oly shit
.”

          Bottle Blonde gasped.

          I cringed at the sound.
That
was what I should have done.
Gasped.
But then – who could blame me, really? Anyone would have been completely shocked at seeing someone so incredibly beautiful in person. Men were
not
supposed to be beautiful, dammit. But this one was.

          His sun-kissed hair seemed to have all the shades between dark gold to copper – his natural hair color, in other words. It was impossible for any artificial hair dye to create his kind of hair, which was also naturally curly. Those adorable curls would have made him look gay if not for his strong jaw. His eyes were the lightest shade of gray, almost silver – and they were laughing at me, with his sexy-looking lips curved in a slight, amused grin.

          My heart sank the second time in minutes at the sight of it.
Great.
Way to make an impression on a potential rival in the workforce: let him know he’s turned your head around completely.

          Desperate to make him forget my embarrassing gaffe, I asked quickly, “Are you applying for the marketing research position, too?”

          He raised a brow, making me wonder what I had said wrong. His sexy secretive grin still playing on his lips, he said simply, “No.”

          We stared at each other after that. I didn’t want to – I swear I didn’t – but somehow his gaze was commanding and magnetic, and I felt like I wouldn’t be able to pull my gaze away unless he
let
me. And really, I knew how ridiculous that sounded – especially where I was concerned.

          My parents had even nicknamed me “Little Miss Granite” because I was stubborn as a rock. Even as a kid, I had a tendency to be headstrong when there was something I wanted.

          I had never been a pushover, and yet here I was - a slave to a stranger’s gaze. I was scared that if this man told me to bend over, I’d ask if he wanted me to take off my undies first or let him do the honors.

Somehow, I expected something a
lot
kinkier than this cozily furnished room. It even has its own
faux
fireplace and a rocking chair. If this was an orgy house, it would seem like Mr. Moretti has a taste for cougars. The really old ones.

Past the mini-living room in front of the fireplace is a breakfast counter and a small but fully-equipped kitchen. There’s even a basket of fruits on the worktable, plus a blender half-filled with some thick-looking yellow liquid.

Organic Viagra, perhaps?

When I glance back at Domenico Moretti, he’s visibly exasperated. “It’s just fresh mango shake, my dirty-minded little darling.”

Forget about the dirty mind part. I’m totally blown away he’s called me his darling.

“Don’t believe the stuff people have been saying about me. Most of it is garbage.” He frowns, staring hard at my face as if he’s seen something that doesn’t make sense.

Shick!

I try to school my expression into something less obvious, but it’s too late.

He makes a choking sound. “Are you actually
disappointed?”

“I’m not!” My cheeks heat up at his accusation. And I’m not – really!

Mr. Moretti laughs, a full-bodied one that shouldn’t have sounded so sexy but does. He leans back against his chair, still laughing. Seated as he is, head thrown back and lean muscular legs fully stretched out before him, Domenico Moretti looks like a picture-perfect ad for Playgirl.

He’s also unapologetically aroused.

I can’t help noticing, and it turns me into a tongue-tied lump of melting jelly. The shape of his erection is more than visible against his pants, which stretch tautly on his thighs. My heart speeds up, working double-time as he finally stops laughing and leans forward.

“I’m sorry I made you faint,” he murmurs.

“Relax,” he murmurs. “I’m not going to have sex with you, I promise.” A wicked grin briefly appears on his lips. “And that kills you, doesn’t it?”

I want to say ‘fuck off’. I want to flip him the middle finger. But years of strict Christian upbringing are hard to ignore.

“Piss off,” I say again instead.

He blinks. “This is going to sound weird, but…do you turn Brit when you’re mad?”

          “Piss off.”

We get into a tug-of-war, one that Yuki easily wins, and I’m out of the car in a flash.

“Say ‘fuck’ and I’ll let you go right this minute.”

“F…f...piss off!”

Yuki doubles over. “You do!” He looks at me with tears in his eyes. “When we have fantasy sex, do I get to have a British accent, too?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course not.” Then I scowl when I realize what he’s made me say.

He laughs. “You’re the most fascinating person I’ve ever met,
senpai.
You really are.”

“You can go now,” Lucian reminded me without meeting my eyes.  He was finding the ceiling a suddenly fascinating sight.

Oh, my God. 
Could it be possible?  Could someone like Lucian have a crush on me the way I was so crushing on him?

I thought about it.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to dream, would it?

“Lucian.”

It took him a long time to look at me.  The mask of impassiveness had settled back on his face.  “Yes?”

I smiled at him and teased, “I’m going to miss you.”

His eyebrow lifted just the tiniest bit.

I wasn’t done.  I tiptoed to his side and surprised him with a kiss on his cheek, Lucian’s whole body freezing as my lips touched his skin.  “I’m sure you’ll miss me, too,” I told him with a mischievous smile before straightening and skipping out of the room with the silliest smile on my face.

Will suddenly pressed her legs together. “I need to pee.”

                        
“For the love of...” Stud looked like he wanted to strangle her, but we made a detour nonetheless to the third floor restroom, the nearest one to the library. Unlike the other restrooms in school, it hadn’t been renovated. Understandable, considering how rarely used it was.

The tiles were light blue but showing signs of age. The doors hadn’t been repainted and its edges were beginning to chip. The toilet bowls didn’t even have covers. The fluorescent lights were off but we didn’t switch them on. There was enough light coming in from the window at the side.

Everything was sparkling clean, though, remarkably so for a little-used area. It even smelled faintly of peroxide.

Stud rapped at the door from outside. “Hurry up!”

“Jerk,” Will muttered as she entered the first cubicle.

I switched the tap on and the slushing sound of water dominated the room. I tried the hand dryer but nothing happened. I heard someone scrubbing at the far end. Good. I needed to ask if they had hand wipes or toilet paper to spare. I walked to the end of the restroom until I reached the last cubicle, right across the knee-high washing area for mops. I raised my hand to knock when I saw below the door that no one was inside.

          The scrubbing continued.

          
Not again.

          Will came out of her cubicle. “I’m done.” She went to the mirror and took out a lipstick from her bag.

          The scrubbing stopped.

          I didn’t dare look back as I turned around to face Will, a smile pasted on my face. “Let’s go?”

          Not so soon, God. Not right away.

          I walked at a sedate pace even as my heart sped up with each step I took. Peripheral vision taunted me with the reflection of a gray-haired woman on the mirror, staring straight at my back, one arm outstretched.

          She did not make any sound, but her lips were parted.  She disappeared only to appear a few steps closer. She was close enough that I finally understood the sickening reason for her mute appeal. Someone had cut out half her tongue, leaving just a mass of flesh that began to flood her mouth with her own blood.

          I wanted to run, but I knew speed would only slow me down, would only expose the truth and thrust me into her world. She sensed me the way I had sensed her, but she was not sure. She wasn’t sure I could really see her and it had to stay that way.

Please God, please.

          Will smacked her newly glossed lips and turned to me with a smile. “Let’s go?”

          All I could do was nod, fixated on maintaining my pace. The woman did not stop coming after me and I couldn’t start running or she’d know.

Please, God, oh God, please.

          Will swung the door open for us. I reached her side just as the woman tried to touch me. I did not look back. The door swung closed and I placed my ear next to it. But I heard nothing, not even the tiniest scrub. I didn’t sense despair. She didn’t need me that badly then. I still had time.

I wondered if she had her ear to the door, too, listening for my breath. The thought of it had me jerking away and bumping into Stud.