Deceiving Derek Read Online Free PDF

ex-girlfriend’s voice grated over the line.
“You’ve taken advantage of me for the last time.”
    “Taken advantage?” Justin echoed like some
slow-on-the-uptake parrot. She made him sound like a class-A
jerk—as if she’d never had a hand in defining the casual nature of
their relationship. He shook his head. “I’ve never taken advantage
of you any more than you’ve taken advantage of me.”
    “Then let’s say I’ve grown tired of the
game.”
    “Game? Tina, wait, this isn’t a game.”
Racking his brain for a recent list of sins he must have
com-mitted, Justin paced his efficiently organized office above the
main Vancouver branch of his three CycleMania bike stores. He
couldn’t let Tina walk out on him now. The ink hadn’t been applied
to the deal with Willoughby Bikes yet.
    He wanted that distributorship, and he needed
Tina’s help to get it.
    “Besides,” he reminded her, “I thought you
liked what we have going together. I thought you liked it as much
as I do.”
    “I did like it, Justin, but things change. Or
maybe I should say I’ve changed. Do you know what this weekend
means to me?”
    “Of course I do. The same as it does to me.
The Willoughbys are flying in tomorrow, and we’re taking them to
Whistler.” The nearby mountain resort town would serve as the
perfect backdrop for convincing Nathan Willoughby that CycleMania
would fit seamlessly into the British bike manufacturer’s growing
worldwide “family” of distributors. Justin had been counting on
Tina’s presence to cement the image of stability the English
businessman demanded.
    Tina snorted, rather delicately, but a snort
all the same. “Work is the first thing you would think of. But if
you try real hard, you might come up with something else.”
    Justin shoved a hand through his hair. He had been
trying to decipher this disconcerting new dialect of Tina-speak,
and he’d wound up several thousand syllables short. What did she
expect? She’d propelled him into alien territory.
    “It’s your birthday?” he guessed.
    “No, it’s not my birthday. That was in April.
It’s July.” A huff of irritation resounded in his ear. “Damn it,
Justin, you’re dense. You’re either dense or you don’t care.”
    He frowned. When had his superficial and
how-he-liked-her Tina transmuted into this perplexing pod person?
Dragging in a breath, he focused on a framed poster of the
Cyclone—Willoughby’s pro-level, full-suspension mountain bike—he’d
hung on the wall to inspire motivation.
    “What then?” he asked.
    “It’s the six-month anniversary of our first
date.” Her tone assumed the durability of quick-dry shellac.
    Shit . He hadn’t realized they were keeping track. “I
didn’t think that sort of thing mattered to you.”
    “I didn’t, either—in January . Like I said, I’ve changed.
I’m thirty-four now, Justin. Your mid-thirties might spell fun and
games to you, but my damn clock is ticking. I want to get married,
maybe have a baby. I’m not prepared to wait forever for you to
decide you want the same.”
    “Come on, Tina, be reasonable. You can’t
suddenly announce that you’re thinking babies and marriage when all
along we’ve agreed they’re not on the agenda.” Justin refused to
repeat his father’s mistakes. He wouldn’t mix marriage and raising
a family with building a business, the way his father had done with
his law practice. He’d thought Tina understood and accepted that
about him.
    “Oh please. I refuse to feel guilty for doing
this. My needs have changed and yours haven’t. It’s that
simple.”
    “But to break up with me now? Nathan
Willoughby and his wife expect to meet you. How can I take them to
Whistler without you?”
    “Tell them I have the flu.”
    “And next week?”
    “Tell them I fell off a cliff. I don’t care.
You’ll think of something. You always do.” She paused. “Listening
to you, Justin, it’s clear you don’t want me. Not in the way I
need. So why should