Unwrap Me Daddy_A Holiday Romance

by Natasha Spencer

  Or out.

  “We took out two of his men trying to get in from the outside,” his ear piece crackled quietly with static as one of his guards relayed information, “There was a team waiting outside of Mina’s apartment and they just got taken out. Mina is safe.”

  “Aaron, you know she loves you,” Tyler spoke softly as he traced the glass table with his index finger. Aaron tightened his fist.

  “What point is love when there is no respect, Tyler?” he grunted, “What point is anything when there is no respect?”

  “You dumped her ass over a racist fit?” Tyler shot angrily, eyes wild and cutting through Aaron’s form. But Aaron stood his ground.

  “For a lot more than that,” he hissed, “She’s lucky I’m willing to let her be her friend at least.”

  “Oh, you talk of respect, eh?” Tyler stiffened and rummaged for his phone, “And is cheating a form of respect?”

  “Her misunderstandings are not her problem,” Aaron seethed, “I would never stoop so low to do such a thing.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “If that’s the case then why would you ask a cheater to take her back?” Aaron shot, “She deserves better, doesn’t she?”

  Tyler’s fist came down on the table with a bang, “SHE DECIDES WHAT SHE WANTS! AND WHAT SHE WANTS, SHE GETS!”

  Security burst into the room and tackled his arms behind him. Tyler struggled against their hold, demanding to be unhanded as he writhed in their grasp.

  “You’ll pay for this!” he snarled at Aaron who only raised a brow at him.

  “Haven’t you learned that threatening me won’t get you anywhere?” Aaron clicked his tongue, “You’ve already tried that once before and failed.”

  His earpiece crackled, “All pinpointed areas and those nearby are clear. No danger.”

  “Take him away, boys,” Aaron sighed and turned his back to them, looking over the beautiful view ruined by Tyler’s obscenities. He knew Tyler would never be able to involve the mafia he worked for too deep into this, because he was an underclassman to them. The situation held them no benefit in any way. No money, no nothing. Him and his buddies may think they’re the shit, but Aaron knew better.

  He’d been keeping an eye on them all along.

  “It’s trippy, dude,” Tyler laughed, “Just try it this once. If you like it then I’ll get you more.”

  Aaron was hesitant. He wasn’t far from being much of a troublemaker, but there were certain things he was unwilling to try, and drugs were one of them. Not that there were any past traumatic experiences that held him back from it, but he personally felt that in this time of distress, succumbing to drugs for relieve would be a form of weakness. This was not his idea of fun. Fun was when he wanted to have it and had nothing over his head causing his unease. University life was all about unease. Deadlines, projects, GPA, food. If there had to be a good time for drugs, that time was not it.

  But he gave in. He trusted Tyler.

  “Just one puff,” Aaron said firmly, taking the joint from him. Tyler smiled at him proudly, knowingly. As if he was sure Aaron would want more after his first try. That he would become addicted and find the solace he needed. Tyler had already gotten his other friends into it and was already running good business selling it.

  Aaron put it to his lips, his internal-self begging for him not to go through with it. But he did anyway. He trusted Tyler. He wouldn’t let him get hurt.

  The first puff was all right. He felt nothing. Or maybe he had smoked it wrong, so he took a second one. It went down his stomach and churned his insides, making him want to throw up. It went up his head, clouding it into a puddle of haze and making him dizzy. The world spun around him, making him sick. And he wanted to throw up, the sides of his jaws fizzing with spit on the inside. But it didn’t come up. Nothing would escape his system. He coughed it out, feeling nauseous.

  “Hey, you okay, Ronnie?” Tyler asked a little nervously.

  “Awful,” Aaron groaned as he stumbled off of the wall they were sitting on, “I feel sick.”

  “Hey, hey, wait,” Tyler jumped off and after him, “Just breathe, yeah?”

  His hand clamped onto Aaron’s shoulder and he turned around to look at his best friend lost in a frenzy of dull colors smudging into each other, spiraling, spinning.

  And everything went black.

  He was still standing, though. Aaron turned around, not sick anymore. He stood in absolute nothingness, but it all suddenly changed.

  “What have you gotten yourself into?” he heard himself speak, and Tyler was in front of him again, sitting lazily on a chair smoking a cigarette.

  “Business, buddy,” he chuckled and looked at him pointedly, “And I want you helping me with it. It’s big money, you know? Something of your own.”

  “I have plenty to her name, and so do you,” Aaron’s voice echoed to him. But Aaron wasn’t even speaking.

  Tyler’s eyes inspected him carefully. Judgmental.

  “But it was never any of your own effort, was it? What’s the point of success being handed to you on a platter?”

  “I don’t get who’s putting all these ideas in your head, Tyler,” he scolded him, “You should be grateful. Taking after your father to run his company is a huge deal. You make your own successes everywhere.”

  Tyler only scoffed and threw himself back, taking a long drag, spilling smoke from his nostrils.

  “It’s because you’ve never tried it yourself,” Tyler tried explaining to him, “Or are you just scared?”

  “You know you’re meddling with the law!” he snapped at him, patience running thin, “What kind of a success is that where you’re always on the run, always careful, and always in a fight for your life?”

  Tyler sat back silently, watching Aaron’s every move. But Aaron wasn’t really moving from his place. His vision wasn’t.

  “I just don’t want to live on what’s borrowed.”

  That line really bothered Aaron. It bothered him to this day because he knew exactly where it was coming from. And he felt guilty. He felt so guilty.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” came an all too familiar voice, gentle and soothing. He turned around to come face to face with Greta. The scene had changed again and they were in his living room. Greta was on his lap, straddling him. They must’ve been making out before this most likely. Aaron shuddered. At least, he thought he did.

  “It’s not your fault he wasn’t as good as you,” she whispered as she came closer. But everything blanked out before anything else could happen.

  Aaron eyes ripped open from his sleep. It was dark, with only the dim lamps illuminating the room in peaceful hues of yellows against his metallic grey walls. He felt anything but peace in that moment.

  His heart was – yet again – at unease with guilt. The weight on his chest was unbearable. Leaving no room to breathe, no room to suck in air. He rolled off his bed, and paced around, head spinning.

  I just don’t want to live on what’s borrowed, Tyler’s voice echoed in his head. He understood it all too well but never chose to confront it. The very notion of it was ridiculous to him. Why would Tyler ever think that way? He always got it all. The girls, the sex, the drinks, the drugs, the popularity, the friends, and the approval. Tyler always had it all.

  Because you rejected it, something whispered nastily, so they passed it onto him. Because who doesn’t want Aaron McCarthy’s approval? And who was better approved than Tyler himself?

  Aaron understood that a lot that went to Tyler were with the intentions that it would make its way to him and that he would accept it. Tyler was the rejection pile. He was the brunette at bars used to get to the blondes. And it wasn’t just didn’t happen regarding Tyler. It was the same when it came to Tyler’s older brother. What he didn’t like, Tyler would be given. What Tyler didn’t like would still have to be kept with him. Not even passed down to Greta.

  Aaron understood after quite a long time how it made Tyler feel second. And he didn’t deser
ve that. Because Tyler was truly a smart man before those feelings overwhelmed and consumed him. He was a gentleman, he was an achiever, he was handsome. Better than his older brother, really. But favoritism left him feeling excluded and isolated. The second in everything.

  It hurt him. And hurt turned him ugly in every way.

  Aaron wished he’d realized sooner and maybe helped him out, but he understood nothing could have pulled him out of it with the way the world played itself around him. There was no changing the world, and with the stubborn way of thinking he had, there was no changing him either.

  Sighing, his hand reached for his phone absently, finger scrolling through his contacts and coming to stop over Mina’s name. He almost dialed her until his senses acted up from the sleepy daze he was in. It was four in the morning. She’d be sleeping. And he needed sleep, too, since he had a meeting to attend tomorrow. Discussing the progress of the new resort in Dubai alongside his sister wouldn’t take too long unless they had someone willing to work alongside them for a spot in it. And business deals were his forte.

  He plopped back into his pillows, grabbing one and cuddling it. He wished desperately that it was Mina. She was so soft and warm against him. And small. And cute. So innocent and inexperienced. It sparked a kind of mischief into him that was willing to take her way beyond her comfort zone and show her what pleasure was like.

  He did not deny admitting that he and Greta had gone lengths in their relationship sexually, but never breaching onto sex even then. At least, not with his genitals directly. His hands had explored quite a few places, and maybe hers on the rare occasions he felt like letting her. But the things he was thinking of wanting to do with Mina were way beyond that. And it wasn’t scaring him at all.

  He groaned and tucked the pillow harder against him, his hard-on starting to rage.

  Well, fuck, he grumbled mentally, should I masturbate?

  Porn did not work the way it used to. He did not feel satisfied with his session. It wasn’t what he wanted to see. It was something he wanted to do with Mina. He wanted her hands, her voice, her body, on himself.

  God, why is this happening?, he demanded. He’d never felt like this for Greta. He never felt this desperate like he did for Mina. He never felt so unsatisfied.

  This was the worst.

  Chapter Seven

  Mina was embarrassed. Beyond embarrassed with herself. She couldn’t believe she had a wet dream. And such an intense one at that.

  She was scared of sex. And that’s why it surprised her to have come so close to having one with Aaron in her dream.

  All he did was kiss you, you wanton, she scolded herself, but she felt no shame. And why should she? She was a grown woman, and human with sexual needs and desires. Every person is born with it to some degree, and so was she. And she had the right to enjoy it, didn’t she?

  I don’t even know how to masturbate, she thought in despair. It’s not to say she had never tried before. She had. Countless times. With all she could get her hands on. But it wasn’t of any use. She’d never orgasmed in her life.

  Not once.

  Maybe Aaron could – oh her, God! No!

  She was a mess inside in every way. She was horny, shy, and inexperienced. If she had to subject herself to such torture then she should’ve been a nun instead.

  She looked at the time. She’d gotten up way too early according to her schedule. She had an hour to catch some more sleep, but she knew it would be impossible with the dream she had. Also…

  She needed to change the sheets. So she heaved a sigh and pushed herself out of bed, ridding herself off of her clothes to take a shower first. There was no way she could let the housekeeper, Tyra, see this when she came in two hours to help around.

  The shower was no help apparently because her thoughts ran amok there, too. She felt like smashing her head against the tiled walls repeatedly. She couldn’t get the image out of her head. She didn’t think she could imagine something so hot in the first place. She’d watched porn, but she could never get herself to watch the penetration. Her fear was absolutely irrational…

  Well, maybe not. Her past experiences with numerous sexual assaults left her wary and battered to the thought of achieving such comfort and intimacy with anybody at all. But it was weird how willing she was to let Aaron in the way she wanted him to.

  She had no problem imagining it, definitely not. But it just seemed impossible for it all to come true with someone, anyone at all. It was all better off in her head.

  A few distractions needed to be in order if she was going to make it through the day productively at all. The thoughts lingered deliciously in the crevices of her mind, reaching out to her seductively. But this new design her client needed was due in a month and would need absolute concentration. A one floored villa with traditional Italian accents and modern interior, an indoor pool and waterfall. She liked working on those. Along with the architecture, she also took responsibility for the interior design.

  The concept drafts took up space on the bulletin board before her drawing table, coming together in themes that complimented each other. And it wasn’t too long before she was absolutely engrossed in her work. So engrossed that she didn’t notice the time passing by, her housekeeper leaving after finishing her duties, and the familiar breath of someone down her neck.

  Aaron watched her work. Her hand was quick and lithe over the papers as they sketched out various designs. And with each unhappy scribble, she’d crumple and throw it away. There was one particularly good one of a staircase he liked. Even Mina paused to study it, hands on the either side of it as she bent over it like a prey. Aaron almost chuckled, but held his breath and watched her carefully. She sighed, shook her head and moved to crumple it. But his hand shot out from behind her and slammed itself onto the drawing.

  “This one is good!”

  “HOLY SHIT!” Mina screamed, and Aaron swore his eardrums popped. She turned around and her knee came right into his groin. He squeaked in pain, eyes crossing over as his hands held his privates, falling to his knees.

  “Oh her… OH HER, GOD!” she screamed even more, “AARON, I AM SO FUCKING SORRY!”

  “It’s fine,” he forced through his constricted throat, but, hell, it hurt.

  “I mean, if you’d only told me you were-” she stopped short as something dawned onto her, “You broke into her house!”

  “Tyra,” Aaron wheezed, and Mina sighed. Tyra must’ve met him at the door as she was leaving and let him.

  Mina dropped to her knees beside him and gave a childish ‘hmph’ and started to scold him, “What was wrong with letting me know you were here in a normal way?”

  “Are we ever normal?”

  “Not really no.”

  “I’ll be fine,” he patted her arm with a hand, “give me a minute, okay?”

  “Take all the time you need,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “But honestly, why the fuck would you even pull something like that on me? You know I have reflexes.”

  “Very impressive ones at that,” he nodded his head appreciatively and Mina battled to contain her smile. Shaking her head, she pinched his nose.

  “Ow ow ow!” he cried, “Mina! You’ve probably incapacitated me from having children! Spare her sense of smell, okay?”

  “I’m pretty sure you’ve been kicked in the nuts before, too.”

  “They’re as bad as period pains.”

  “Except that you probably asked for it,” she countered with a raise of her brow.

  “Touché.”

  Mina only shook her head and lifted herself off from beside him, “Look, I have a quota to fulfill today, so make yourself comfortable. This should take me around an hour until I get her break time.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he sighed and finally rolled onto his knees carefully, “That’s the bathroom, right?”

  “Yes, Aaron,” she chuckled, “Please leave the seat down before you leave. And wash your hands.”

  “All right, geez, mom,” he rushed into
the bathroom, locking it.

  Aaron was lounging in the living room scrolling through Mina’s movie list. She had a knack for animated, sci-fi, and horror. And anime.

  …and Kpop, too. He leaned forward looking at thumbnails of Korean girls in tiny shorts and skirts, and boys with colorful hair and gentle features. He noticed that they all had a theme to go with each album, and that some bands had similar themes in different ones.

  He recalled Paige having a phase. Well, not really a phase, it had become more of her personality and she still liked it. She’d been nuts for them ever since she was sixteen, her room splattered with posters of people very familiar to the ones he was seeing right now. She travelled to Seoul, South Korea whenever she got the chance for a break, and occasionally to Tokyo, Japan. Like Mina, Paige was obsessed with Korean and Japanese media, technology, language, and art. If he recalled correctly, Mina and Paige were exchanging words of secrecy in either language. Sometimes he wished he knew as many languages but as much as he appreciated them, he didn’t hold the interest and stamina to study them.

  Mina, on the other hand was staring at her window, trying to decide her next move. There was a man in all black suspended before her window, a gun behind it poised to aim right at her head.

  She knew she was fast, but she did not want to risk creating a commotion and inviting Aaron to the scene. He wouldn’t be able to engage in combat.

  She didn’t think she had much time on her hands, but she recognized the fact that he really wasn’t going to shoot her. He would’ve done so already if it was his intent. She knew this was just a threat for now. So she moved, flipping her table over and ducking. The bullet pierced through the glass and against the table, the bullet bouncing against it. Now she knew the gun wasn’t as dangerous as she would’ve expected it to be.

  She rolled under the window and prayed Aaron heard nothing. But she knew it would be impossible, with the way the man kicked away the glass to unlock the window and slide the frame away to the side.

  He jumped inside and Mina jumped straight for his feet, tackling him and managing her way onto his stomach, punching him out cold.