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

and spotted Derek standing in
the office reception area. Her jaw dropped open and she turned the shade of her
hair — bright red! ‘Oh. That’s ... great!’
    Trying to retain my calm professional manner, I walked past
her. ‘Can you man the office for a minute while I show the MFB where they can
set up?’
    By that point, I was still standing behind the doorframe and
out of Derek’s sight, but I was, however, in Libby’s line of vision.
    ‘Sure,’ she said with an unsure smile as she glanced at
Derek, then back to me.
    When her eyes met mine again, I performed a few
indistinguishable hand gestures and mouthed the words, ‘That’s Derek, that’s
the firefighter’, while overly accentuating my finger-pointing in his
direction.
    It took her a couple of seconds to figure out what I was
getting at, but when she did, her face morphed into an unusually large smile
... even for Libby.
    Stepping up to the counter, she offered her hand. ‘Sorry,
I’m Ms Elizabeth Hanson ... or Libby, when my class isn’t listening,’ she
babbled, her flushed cheeks now downgraded from Elmo-red to Miss Piggy-pink. OMG!
Lib, you little flirt.
    ‘Senior Officer King ... or firefighter Derek, when your
class is listening,’ he smiled with a wink while shaking her hand. Fucking
man-whore!
    I shook my head, rolled my eyes and walked around to where
he stood, fully kitted out in his uniform. The sheer magnitude of his sexiness
nearly had me grabbing at the reception counter for stability. My god, I
love a man in uniform. I mean, seriously, how hot are firefighters, military
officers, policemen, Batman, Thor? Wait a minute, does Thor wear a uniform?
Pfft, who the fuck cares, he’s hot! Anyway, my point is a man in uniform
screamed sexy. It screamed, ‘I am one fuckable piece of man candy, put me in
your mouth and suck me.’
    As I fantasised about consuming Senior Officer King, my eyes
travelled the length of his yellow coloured protective pants which were held up
by red braces. Surely it was a crime of some sort that those braces were
currently functional. I wanted nothing more than for those protective pants to
just drop to the floor in a pool of material around his booted ankles. His
presence alone made me weak at the knees and slightly giddy.
    Derek began to take steps toward me and I noticed that his
mouth was moving, but the words he was speaking were not registering. I
honestly felt as though I was in a fog, a trance of some kind.
    ‘Carly, are you all right?’ he said as he gently placed his
hands on my shoulders. He squatted and lowered himself to my eye level.
    I could see the concern in his eyes. ‘What? I’m fine. Sorry,
I’m fine,’ I stuttered, apologetically.
    Derek tilted his head slightly, indicating that he thought
my explanation was bogus. ‘Are you sure? You looked as though you were about to
faint.’
    ‘Yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little woozy. My appetite has not
yet returned,’ I flippantly remarked.
    Technically, that statement held some truth. The ‘some
truth’ being the woozy part, because my appetite had returned tenfold. No, I
was woozy because he was standing before me in his firefighter uniform and it
was making me light-headed.
    ‘Do you two know each other?’ Libby asked, with a smile only
I could see the meaning behind.
    Still standing there with Derek’s hands on my shoulders, I
became aware he was staring at me. I very quickly glared at Libby. ‘Yes, we’ve
met before.’
    Derek leaned in closer and pierced me with his baby blue
eyes. The close proximity of his head and the intense stare he placed upon me
stole the air from my lungs.
    ‘Is it on vacation?’ he asked, his expression dead serious,
his eyes continuing to peruse my facial features.
    I gave him a crooked smile and answered with great
difficulty, my response a challenge due to noticing that his gaze kept returning
to my lips. ‘Is what on vacation?’
    ‘Your appetite,’ he responded, still displaying a