Chapter 5: The man in the parking lot

The moment Derek's lips closed over hers, Camilla's entire body froze. Her eyes remained wide open in shock, her hands pinned to her side with his large palms. He was leaning over her, but he held her tightly against his chest.

She stayed frozen for a few more seconds before coming back to her senses. With a deep frown, she raised her hands to push him away from her, but Derek's grip tightened. When she tried to twist her face away, he reached up and gently grabbed her hair, keeping her in place.

Fortunately, Jeremy and the other workers paid no heed to them. They stepped through the front doors of the motel and disappeared inside.

Relieved that he hadn't been discovered, Derek pulled back and let out a sigh. But what happened next shocked the hell out of him.

Camilla slapped him. Her palm connected solidly with his cheek and he felt the sting go over his face. He even staggered slightly with the force of it.

"You bastard!" She shrieked, moving away from him. "How dare you put your hands on me? Just because you helped me out, it doesn't give you the right to take liberty."

"No you don't understand..." Derek tried to explain but Camilla was fuming. She pulled out the wad of dollar bills he had given her and threw it on him.

"Here! Take your money back! I'm not some slut you can manhandle, Mr. Jeremy. Thanks for your bloody help. It will never happen again!"

She whirled around and stormed away, cursing under her breath.

Derek stood there staring after her until she was gone. Then he quickly looked around to make sure there was no one in sight.

He got back into his car and silently sat behind the wheel for a moment, his cheek still stinging from the slap. The incident that occurred a few seconds ago played over in his mind until he couldn't hold himself anymore.

He laughed. He leaned back on the head rest, chuckling to himself. One hand lifted and massaged his cheek, remembering how her petite palm had landed on his face.

To say he was amused was an understatement. Camilla intrigued him, and she was the first woman who had the boldness to hit him.

Most women would gladly give themselves to him, especially when they realized he was rich. But Camilla–she was something else. She had no place to stay yet she threw his money back at him in anger.

He was intrigued alright. Fascinated even. This was the very first time for a woman to snag his attention.

After a while, his brows furrowed in worry. Now that she left the momey with no place to stay, where would she go? She would be in danger if she kept wandering round the streets of New York alone.

As much as he hated what he was about to do, he started the car and drove in the direction she took. Maybe if he saw her, he could explain to her why he kissed her, and apologize too.

But after thirty minutes of driving around, he didn't find her. She had completely disappeared.

Derek sighed and tapped his fingers on the wheel. Why was he even worried? She was just someone he met by chance. They might never cross paths again.

Making up his mind, he turned the car around and drove back to his estate, pushing Camilla out of his thoughts.

A few minutes after Derek drove away to search for Camilla, she stepped out from the spot she had been hiding. She looked around to make sure no one would see her, then hurried over to the parking lot where the dollar bills where still scattered.

She would be a fool to leave the money for someone else to find. She was even lucky he didn't take them when he left.

Bending quickly, she picked and stuffed the bills into her pocket. A part of her was glad that he left the money behind. How else would she have survived the night?

The other part remembered how she had caught him laughing to himself inside the car. He was a weird one, that one. And what kind of man left such a huge amount of money lying freely on the ground? How rich was he?

Shaking the incident out of her mind, she stepped into the motel and booked a room for a few days. The cash she had was more than enough to sustain her for weeks before she found a job and an apartment.

After taking a warm bath and her dinner, Camilla crawled into the bed and threw the duvet over her, yawning tiredly. It had been one long tiring day.

But to her surprise, she couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was filled with the strange man who helped her. She couldn't stop thinking of how he kissed her so boldly.

And despite her anger at him for trying to take advantage of her, she was grateful for his help and generosity. He helped her without thinking, which was more than what her ex husband and his family had ever done for her.

She didn't want to think about Nick or his sister and his mother, or the woman who claimed to be the mother of his child. Those people were dead to her, and she would have her revenge on Nick some day, for murdering her father.

After a while, her eyelids grew heavy and she dozed off. The last thing she thought of was the stranger and she remembered the colour of his eyes.

They were a striking icy blue.