by Tara Sue Me
Darcy is beside herself. She gives me big hug, and runs over to sit down. A good idea, I believe because there’s not much time until the play starts. I take my seat next to her, looking forward to getting lost in the play. It doesn’t happen that way, though, and by the time it’s over, I’m more at odds with myself than ever.
I do all I can to hide my unease from Darcy, but she’s looking at me strangely, so I guess I’m doing a piss poor job. Fortunately, for me at least, it’s time for her next surprise, so she doesn’t have a chance to ask me anything.
When the owner of the theater found out how much Darcy loves the current show, he arranged for her to visit with the cast backstage after the final curtain. It’s not very long after the curtain drops that there is a theater employee standing in front of us and asking for us to follow him. Darcy looks back at me and smiles, obviously delighted.
The cast members are warm, friendly, and inviting. Darcy can’t stop smiling and takes selfies with everyone. I have a feeling they would have spoken with us longer, but they had to prepare for the next show. Even so, Darcy is still on cloud nine as we leave.
She turns toward me as we walk out of the theater and gives me a hug. “Thank you, Elliott. This has been an incredible day.”
It’s getting dark by now and according to my plan, time to head to the treehouse. The staff there will have dinner ready for us whenever we decide we want it, but I don’t expect to order it anytime soon. I think about the ring I bought, waiting for me hidden away in a drawer where it will stay until I’m ready to ask Darcy the most important question of our lives.
I tell myself it’s only nerves I’m feeling and that it’s completely normal. I’m almost convinced when Darcy’s phone alerts her to an incoming text. She grabs her phone, reading whatever it is with a puzzled look on her face and when she looks up, her cheeks are flushed.
“It’s Tate,” she says. “He came into the city to surprise me tonight, but I’m not there.” She hurries to add, “I didn’t tell him I was going out with you today. I probably should have because he wouldn’t have driven all the way here if he knew I was with you.”
I don’t tell her he would have if he had any idea what was next on my agenda.
“Let me text him back really quick and let him know where I am, that I’m with you, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” She bites her lip, quietly berating herself for not telling the guy she’s dating that she had plans with another man tonight, regardless of the fact that he’s her best friend.
With that thought, I have to do the unthinkable. The thing I’ve said before that I was doing or was going to do, but never really did.
I reach out and still her hand. “Darcy, wait.”
She stops, but the question is in her eyes when she looks at me. Why?
“I can’t continue this anymore.” I swallow. “Today wasn’t about me trying to see if you should be with someone other than Tate. It was me trying to get you to pick me over him. Over anyone, really.”
Her expression relaxes a bit and she smiles. “I knew that.”
I’m not surprised, really. Between the two of us, she’s always been the smarter. “Maybe,” I say. “But you don’t know where our next stop was.”
“No,” she admits.
“I was going to take you somewhere for a very romantic night. At a place no one knows you want to go to except me. And once we were there…” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. I should never have gone about it the way I have. If I wanted you to see me as a viable option to Tate, I should have made it clear that’s what I wanted. Going about it this way, makes me feel dirty and I don’t want that for you.”
She presses her lips together in thought. “I see.”
I’m not sure what I expected her to say, but it for damn sure wasn’t that.
“I love you, Darcy. And not like a friend. I’ve done a piss poor job of showing you, but that’s because I’ve been scared. Hell, I’m still scared, but I’m more scared at the thought of you walking away from me tonight and not knowing how I feel about you. Tate’s a good man, I knew it when I picked him for you. He’ll treat you right. You’ll be happy.” I almost say that’s all I’ve ever wanted, but I can’t. I wanted a hell of a lot more than that.
She’s texting something back to him and l let her this time. I’ve said all I have to say. What happens next is up to her. I hold my breath when she looks up from her phone. Her eyes are wet and I hate myself for those tears she won’t let fall in my presence.
“I need to see Tate,” is all she says, delivering the final punch with five small words.
* * *
She won’t let me take her home. She insists on calling a cab. It’s just as well, if Tate is still at her house, I don’t want to see him. I’m sure the feeling is mutual. Neither Darcy or I speak as we wait for her cab. She stands at the corner, sniffing every so often, each one is a dagger through my heart.
You did that to her. All this is your fault.
She mumbles something that might be a goodbye when the cab pulls up. My response catches in my throat, so all I can do is wave.
Once she’s pulled away, I walk back to my car. My revised plan is to drive home and drink until I’m numb. Except, I have to stop by the treehouse because I left the ring there. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it now that it’s not going to be on Darcy’s finger. Taking it back is not an option. God, how embarrassing would that be? But I can’t leave it at the tree house either.
There is nothing in this world I want to do less than to go alone to the place I had planned to propose to Darcy and then take her to bed. I have to go, but it doesn’t have to be right now. I drive, going nowhere in particular, or at least I think that’s what I’m doing until I find myself parked outside the place where it all started: the hotel the Charity Ball was held last year. The place I was at when I realized I was in love with Darcy.
If I could go back in time, I’d do it all differently, or at least that’s what I tell myself. I’d tell her that night. Looking back, I’m not sure what I thought I was doing by not telling her. I shake my head. There’s no point in replaying the past because there’s no way to change it. All I can do is to hope for the best and that when all is said and done, Darcy will still let me be part of her life.
Saying goodbye to my hopes of what might have been, I turn the car around and head into the future. First stop, a treehouse that will forever haunt me.
* * *
It’s not a long drive to the treehouse. I remember thinking that was such a good thing when I first booked it. In my mind, my overactive imagination warned me it would not be a good idea if it took too long to get to where we were going. Of course, at the time, I had also anticipated both of us being blind with lust.
Now, I find the drive much too short because I am not able to think. I hope I don’t run into the owners. Maybe they won’t find it strange if I never request dinner, although it’s probably too much to hope they won’t notice we’re not staying tonight.
From where I park my car, it’s only a short walk along a winding path to the treehouse. I try to clear my mind, make it a blank slate, and not to think about anything other than getting in, getting the ring, and getting out. I open the door slowly, unable to keep from noticing how everything has been set up to the exact details I’d given when I made the reservation and again this morning when I stopped by to pick up the key.
Don’t think about it now, I tell myself after I look at the bed I had so many plans for.
Fuck, this is going to hurt like hell when I allow myself to process everything. But I can’t allow that to happen until I’m home with a bottle of something to ease the pain with.
I search for the ring box I’d placed only hours ago, but what feels like a lifetime away. I find it exactly where I left it. I slide it into my pocket without sparing it a glance. I stay where I am for several long seconds, kneeling by the bed and trying to find the strength to stand up and walk away.
It goes wi
thout saying, this is not how I imagined my departure from this room happening.
Don’t think about it now.
I sigh and stand. Time to put this dream away forever.
Footsteps sound on the walk outside. The owner, I guess, coming to check and ensure everything is as it should be. I groan and prepare for the looks of shock I’m sure to receive when they see I’m alone.
But whoever it is doesn’t knock, but opens the door.
What in the hell?
I’m all prepared to ask the idiot at the door what the fuck their problem is, when they step inside and the words catch in my throat, because I’m pretty sure I’m imagining things.
Chapter Twenty-One: Elliott
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” Aristotle
“Darcy?” I whisper. I hate to do anything that will disturb the silence, but I have to know if she’s real or not. She’s standing in the doorway with a bit of light fog creeping in behind her. For all I know she’s a figment of my imagination.
“Yes,” she replies.
I wrinkle my brow. “Why are you here?”
She tilts her head, but instead of saying anything right away, she steps into the room and locks the door behind her. More symbolic than anything. I mean it is a treehouse. If someone wants in bad enough, that lock isn’t going to stop them. She walks to where I’m kneeling and sits on the bed, just a bit off to my side. Surprisingly, she looks much better than she did the last time I saw her.
By that, I only mean her eyes aren’t red and wet any more. She appears much better after talking with Tate. She did talk to him, didn’t she? And she still hasn’t said why she’s here.
“Darcy?” I ask.
The way we’re positioned, she’s looking down at me from her place on the bed. She gives me a shy smile and lifts her hand as if she’s going to touch me, but she hesitates and drops it back to her knee. “Where else would I be?”
“Since you said you had to talk to Tate, I assumed you’d be with him.”
“You thought….” She shakes her head, almost like she doesn’t understand what I’ve just said. “You honestly don’t know, do you?”
I can only frown at her.
She laughs, which I think is a bit mean, and stands up. “After all this time and after all you’ve always said about how well you know me.” She offers her hand to me. “Come up here.”
I stand and I admit, her smile captivates me. “What?”
She’s facing me and holding onto both of my hands. “I had to talk to Tate so I could tell him I couldn't see him any more.”
It takes a second longer than it should for me to understand what she's saying. A faint flicker of hope ignites in my soul. “You did?”
“I should have told you, but all I could think about was how he drove all the way here and I had to get to him to let him know.” She glances away briefly, uncertain for the first time since she walked in the room. “I couldn't move forward with you without letting go of him. You understand, right?”
“I'd have understood if you told me.”
“You actually thought I'd pick him over you?”
“Didn't we discuss how we should only be friends?”
She laughs again. “It cracks me up how you planned this amazing day, yet at the end of it, you still go back to that.” She puts her arms around me. “Let me tell you very clearly so there is no chance of misunderstanding. I love you, Elliott. I love you as my best friend, but I love you in every possible way a woman can love a man. And I want you in every way as well.”
I can barely catch my breath because of the impact her words have on me. Words that for so long I never thought I’d hear. Words I still find hard to believe, even though she is standing before me and saying them.
She is standing before me and saying them.
“Darcy,” I say as the truth sinks in and hot tears of joy, relief, and love fill my eyes. “God, I love you. Don’t ever leave me.”
“Never,” she manages to get out before I claim her lips in a kiss.
I pull her closer, holding her to me tightly, needing the direct physical contact as confirmation that she’s here, she’s mine, and this is really happening. Kissing Darcy is incredible. If I took the five best kisses I’d had that weren’t with Darcy, added them up, and multiplied by ten, they still wouldn’t come close.
To have her body pressed against mine is intoxicating. Being able to feel her breath catch and her heart race. To not only hear her moans of pleasure as I run my hand along her side, but to taste them, is the biggest turn on I’ve ever experienced. I manage to pull away from her just a bit, just enough to talk.
“You know,” I say. “My plan was to get you here and then to seduce you.”
She teases the hem of my shirt with her fingers. “Lucky for you, I don’t need to be seduced. I’m telling you right now, you can have me anyway you want, for as long as you want."
“Can I get that in writing?”
“I’ll do you one better,” she says. With her eyes filled with mischief, she takes half a step back and unzips the back of her dress, all while looking at me. Slowly, she slips one shoulder out, followed by the other. And then I almost forget how to breathe, because the dress slips off her body completely and reveals she’s not wearing a bra.
She is so perfectly beautiful, I should probably be still and enjoy the sight of her, but I can’t. I have to touch her. Two steps and she’s in my arms. Four, and the back of her knees are against the bed.
“Tell me now if there is anyone else you need to speak with tonight.” I have one hand in her hair the other is cupping her breast. “Because once we’re on that bed, there is nothing else in the world other than the two of us until morning.”
“I only need you,” she whispers into the skin of my neck. “Only you.”
I lift her up and put her on her back on the bed. “You’ve got me, Darc.” I make easy work of my shirt. “In fact, I’m afraid you’re pretty much stuck with me forever.”
She moves up to where she’s reclining against the pillows. It’s a position that allows her to reach me easily and I suck in a breath when she trails a finger across my chest. “I think forever is a good place to start. You have the most amazing chest. I’ve always thought that.” She flashes me a smile. “I’ve always wanted to do this, too.”
I don’t have a chance to ask her what she’s talking about because, before I can formulate a response, she’s pushed me on my back and is leaning over me. “Darcy?” I ask.
“I’ve always wanted to know how you taste.”
She dips her head and licks me. How it’s possible that her licking my chest can send a jolt of electricity to my dick I don’t know.
“Mmm,” she hums, moving her mouth further down my body until she gets to my belly button. “Even better than I imagined.”
I’m starting to think it’s entirely possible I may not survive a night with Darcy in bed. But when she begins her southward exploration and tugs at my pants, I make her stop. “Not right now.”
“But I didn’t get to taste every thing I wanted.”
“Later,” I promise her. “First, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do. Or rather taste. Do you remember the conversation we had the night you made the first dare?” The soft flush of her cheeks says all I need to know, but I want more. “Tell me.”
“Yes,” she says. “Of course I remember. Hard to forget something like that.”
“Then you know what I want to taste.” I don’t wait for her to acknowledge anything. “Go face the headboard, hold on to it, and squat.” My dick is about to explode at the thought of finally getting my mouth on her. She pushes the waistband of her panties down, but I stop her. “Leave them. They play a part in my fantasy.”
Chapter Twenty-Two: Darcy
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." Emily Brontë
I’m pretty sure I’m in a dream. I brace myself for the alarm that’s bound to go off in the seconds
before Elliott touches me. The bed sinks, though, as he moves, and I don’t ever remember dreams being that detailed. Which means this is real and everything is finally the way it should be.
I would weep with joy if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m so aroused I’ll probably lose it the second he touches me. The bed moves again and his breath is warm along my inner thighs. My hold on the headboard tightens at the feel of his fingers on my skin.
“Look at this.” He traces the middle of my panty from front to back, the cotton is damp.
“Your fault,” I somehow get out because he keeps stroking and it feels so good, my eyes are about to roll to the back of my head.
He chuckles. “I suppose since it’s my fault you’re in this predicament, that I should take care of it.” Ever so slowly, he pushes the cotton to the side, and I whimper at the way his fingers brush across me.
All it takes is his mouth on me and I’m so primed, my body shatters with release.
“Holy shit,” I say, when I can talk because that was the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had and he’s barely touched me. I expect him to stop with the foreplay since I’ve already climaxed once, but he keeps on.
“Oh my, God.” I’m close to grinding myself on him and all I want is him in me now. “Elliott, please.” I shift so I can get down on the bed, but he stops me.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“I’ve come already, you don’t have to keep on doing that. We can move on.”
“That’s good to know.” He places a kiss on my inner thigh and then looks up at me. “However, I’m not finished enjoying you like this.”
“I just figured it was something you felt like you had to do. Not that it was something you necessarily wanted to do.”
He dips a finger inside me and removes it. “See this?” At my nod, he continues. “This is what I do to you. This is how I make you feel. It means you want me. You’re attracted to me and your body is preparing to have me inside it. Call me arrogant or prideful, but I love the fact that I have that affect on you. So like I said, be still, I haven’t finished with you like this yet.”