Love Punched | COMPLETED

20. Body Building

(Lila's P.O.V)

"Sure."

Derek grinned and I was surprised at the manner in which it transformed his face. The tense lines in his handsome face melted away and something in me liked that I could make him feel at ease.

It was strange.

And annoying.

Everything associated with Derek Greyson was annoying.

But what could I, a super nice girl and neighbor, do after all?

I could be his distraction if he wanted and I was actually pleased that he didn't smoke but instead called me out.

Granted, I was planning on ignoring him but something in me wanted to see Derek's face after all despite my previous claims of being glad I didn't run into him today.

I hummed in response and decided that prying his secret of why he was agitated would have to wait.

I was no longer uninterested in Derek. I mean not in that way, ugh. Just....I wanted to know who he was.

So instead of questioning him, I brought up a topic I knew he would enjoy talking about. "Why have you been gone in the evenings so frequently this month?"

Dark hair fell over his forehead, the sides cropped short as Derek's full lips twisted up in amusement. His copper eyes looked a dark brown in the night with the street light so dim. But it didn't make him look any less appealing.

My eyes dipped to the straining shirt he wore, his muscles definitely more defined and bunched than they were a month ago.

Damn Diego and the workout sessions he put him through.

"Why? You miss me, Kitkat?" He rose a brow suggestively and I snickered.

"More like enjoy your absence but you can delude yourself. Go right ahead." I jerked my chin in a 'go ahead' motion and he gave me a look of mock hurt that I easily brushed off.

"Still. You asked. Meaning you noticed." Derek pointed out, smirking.

I smacked myself mentally for agreeing to be his distraction.

You're no Mother Teresa, Lila. You shouldn't be so self sacrificing.

And as far as noticing went, of course I noticed. I wasn't dumb and we were basically in the same place while at Blue so of course I knew! But I suppressed the desire to throw a lamp at his handsome smirking face and smiled blandly.

"So what have you been doing?" I ignored the direction he was steering the conversation in and rose a brow.

His dimple slightly visible, the tattoo over his neck and shoulder shifting with his movements, Derek replied. "That's a secret. I don't think I can tell you."

I sighed like he was being a bother but shrugged. "Okay."

He blinked and then frowned. "Okay?"

I bit back my smile and nodded casually. "Yeah. Okay. Keep your secrets, I don't care."

Derek stared at me and I kept my face expressionless.

I'd just done the opposite of what Derek expected me to do and it was easy to figure out that this reaction would guarantee me a good enough answer.

Act uninterested in something he wanted me to know and he'd not only tell me himself but the hit to his pride would be misinterpreted inside that haughty brain as amusement at my uncommon rebuttal.

A reader is so knowledgeable. And being an avid one myself, I could tell Derek was the kind of guy fitting a somewhat loose reputation of a bad boy. But he was unlike the many male characters I'd read about and that was what made handling him difficult at times.