Chapter 12 #2
No way in hell was he telling Kat—or anyone for that matter—anything.
All those little noises Jo made, the way her hips chased his tongue when he pulled away right before she came, the loose, unselfconscious way she curled into his side and interlaced their fingers before falling asleep—those moments were just for him.
Besides, it was a terrible idea to parade his private life in front of his employees.
Bad enough that Kat knew there was something more to his relationship with Jo, but if the band caught wind—if Jackson did?
He’d lose all credibility when it came to behaving professionally.
And he needed everyone to act like professionals if this comeback had any chance of getting off the ground.
Kat sighed. “At least someone’s getting laid on this trip.”
Derek could almost swear her eyes drifted towards Beckett, scowling on the edge of the volleyball court as he dusted sand off his thighs.
“Daddy, we got tacos!” Annie caught her father off guard, barreling into him and knocking him back on the lounge chair.
“You got tacos?” Annie didn’t eat tacos. Annie had a list of exactly twenty-seven foods she would eat, and most of those required copious amounts of ketchup.
“I got chicken nuggets,” she amended. “But we got tacos for the grown-ups.”
“I wasn’t sure what you liked,” Jo said, setting her tray down on the little table between his and Kat’s lounge chairs. “We have barbacoa, sweet paprika chicken, and salmon tacos.”
“Plus chips and salsa,” Annie said. “Of course.”
“Of course,” Jo echoed.
“You are a lifesaver,” Kat said, reaching for the chicken. “Who knew volleyball games lasted so long?”
Jo held out two tightly wrapped tin-foil packets. “Barbacoa or salmon?”
Derek reached for a chip, dunking it in the salsa and popping it in his mouth to keep himself from putting other, more inappropriate things in his mouth.
“You choose.” She hesitated, but only for a moment, before handing him the barbacoa.
He smiled, pleased to see her giving weight to her own desires, even if in such a small way.
But then she moved to pick up the tray again.
“Where are you going? Stay. Eat with us.”
“I promised Annie we could hunt for gold and ghosts,” Jo said.
“I don’t mind.” Annie settled onto the end of Kat’s lounger with her cardboard container of chicken nuggets.
She began meticulously squeezing the ketchup out of a pile of tiny packets into the empty compartment of the container, but her eyes remained glued on Nico.
“We can go on our adventure after. I want to watch the game.”
“Are you sure?” Jo asked.
“Mmhmm. Didn’t you need to take pictures of the band? This is a way better view than over there.” Annie dunked a chicken nugget in the ketchup and ripped off a large bite with her teeth, smiling around the mouthful before chewing.
“If you’re sure it’s okay,” Jo said to Derek.
But he had already pulled over another lounge chair. Jo sat on the lounger, kicking her feet up as she settled back with her foil-wrapped taco. The sarong tied around her waist slipped open, long lines of tan skin from her toes to the tops of her thighs taunting him.
Oblivious to his fixation on her bare legs, she bit into her taco, groaning around her first bite. “You don’t know what you’re missing, kid,” she said to Annie, gesturing with her taco.
“I like my chicken nuggets.”
“Want a bite?” Jo held out the foil packet towards Derek.
Yes. He did. He very much wanted a bite. He wanted to sink his teeth into her thigh, drag his tongue along the crease where her leg met her hip, and—
Jesus Christ, your daughter is here. Get it together.
“No, thank you,” he said.
A whistle sounded at the edge of the volleyball court.
Derek was fairly certain the referee was one of the Hotel Bellwether’s lifeguards, but he was also confident no one particularly cared about the outcome of the volleyball tournament.
It was an excuse to get all the celebrities in bathing suits and have them jump around on the beach for a few hours to entertain the guests.
“Is it over?” Jo asked, reaching for her phone.
“One more set,” Kat replied.
“Princess Annie, did you come to cheer us on?” Nico said as he and his bandmates ambled off the court towards their little group.
“Uh huh! Is it working?” she asked.
“I think it might start working now,” Nico said with a wink as he swiped one of her chicken nuggets, popping the whole thing in his mouth in one bite.
“That’s good. You guys are terrible,” Annie said. Derek choked on a bite of his taco at his daughter’s blunt reply. “What? It’s true.”
Zach appeared next, helping himself to the chips and salsa and slinging an arm around Nico’s shoulder. “Nico and I were thinking we should go to that dance party thing tonight.”
Derek frowned, reaching for his phone. “That’s not on your schedule.”
“It’s for the fans,” Nico said. “But we thought it would be fun if we showed up unannounced. Build some buzz for tomorrow night’s concert.”
“No. No unscheduled dance parties,” Derek said, scrolling through the NostalgiCon official schedule to try to find exactly what the guys were talking about.
“Relax, Derek. It’s the family-friendly party, right?” Kat asked.
“The one and only,” Zach said. “And, if I remember correctly, the poster promised milkshakes and donuts.”
“Since when do you eat donuts?” Beckett grumbled as he joined their group, his gait off as he favored his right knee on the uneven terrain. At the edge of the court, Jackson and Logan were locked deep in conversation, the expression on their faces setting Derek’s nerves on edge.
“We don’t all want to live a life without sugar,” Kat said before biting into her taco. Beckett grunted in reply, looking away.
“Can I go?” Annie asked.
“I can take her,” Kat offered before Derek could respond. With a pointed glare in Beckett’s direction, she added, “I love milkshakes and donuts.”
“Everyone loves donuts,” Zach said.
“I can take Annie to the dance party,” Jo said, sitting forward.
“No way,” Nico said. “If we show up with our social media manager, then it looks like we staged it for the publicity.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing, though?” Jo asked.
“Yeah, but we don’t want anyone else to know that. We want it to look like a totally spontaneous decision. Just us and the fans,” Nico said.
Annie folded her hands beneath her chin and turned big puppy dog eyes up at Derek. “So, can I go, Daddy?”
He glanced around the group. Why did he have the distinct impression that everyone was in on some joke except him? But was he really going to turn down the opportunity to spend another night alone with Jo? His pulse jumped at the thought of another night of having her all to himself.
“If Kat’s sure...” He waited for her to nod. “Alright. You can go.”
Annie fist pumped, then turned and gave Kat a high five.
“What’s that about?” Derek asked Beckett, tilting his head in the direction of Logan and Jackson still talking on the court, Jackson seeming to grow increasingly agitated.
“Nothing,” Beckett said without looking. “Like I told you, Jacks is fine.”
“What’re you going to do with your night off?” Nico asked Jo, snagging another one of Annie’s chicken nuggets. Annie jumped out of her chair, lunging for the nugget, as Nico held it out of her reach, taunting her without ever taking his eyes off Jo.
“I don’t know,” Jo said, her cheeks turning pink as she squirmed on her lounger. “Probably go to bed early.”
Annie finally succeeded in rescuing her nugget from Nico, popping the whole thing in her mouth without even pausing to dip it in ketchup. She was hard to understand around that much chicken nugget in her mouth, but that didn’t stop her from saying, “Jo and Daddy went to bed early last night too.”
Beckett’s eyes darted between Derek and Jo. “Did they now?”
“Mmhmm,” Annie confirmed. “Grown-ups get tired easily.”
Zach stifled a laugh behind his fist, unconvincingly turning the sound into a cough. “I’m sure they do.”
Derek swung his attention to Annie, but she didn’t seem to have noticed the innuendo in Zach’s response.
Jo rolled her eyes, though the furious blush coloring her cheeks and throat belied her bravado. “I’m sure you guys have gone to bed early plenty of times at these types of things.”
Nico guffawed. “Oh yeah. Every night if I can swing it. Sometimes more than once.”
Annie glanced between the adults as Zach and Nico laughed and she realized there was something going on she didn’t fully understand, a joke she’d somehow missed. And if she figured it out?
Shut it down.
“That’s enough,” Derek barked. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” Zach glanced at Jo, her brow furrowed as she shrank back on the lounge chair, adjusting her sarong to cover her legs more fully. “Shame. My mistake.”
But as the conversation moved on, Nico and Zach teasing Beckett about the volley he’d dropped before the break, Derek’s eyes drifted to Jo.
She shrank in on herself in her chair despite the plastic mask of a smile curving her lips.
His stomach dropped, slimy, cold realization slithering down his spine as he realized the mistake was, in fact, his.