“What happens now?”
She mentally prepared herself to hear the worst. That the night before had been a one-time deal. It was an affair between two consenting adults while on a business trip. They’d go back to the way things used to be once returning home to the States. They’d call each other and text occasionally and see each other a handful of times throughout the year.
No matter what he said, for Darcy, there was no going back to the way things used to be.
Sean shoved a blueberry scone into his mouth. He furrowed his brow and regarded her carefully as he chewed.
“What does this all mean?” she said again, dread crawling up her spine.
He swallowed and looked down at all the food before meeting her eye. “It means I’m hungry?”
She rolled her eyes. “Not the food. This,” she said, pointing between them. “Us. Was this just one night in London?”
“I don’t want it to be,” he replied as he poured a cup of tea and handed it to her.
Yeah, well, she didn’t want it to be either, and he really hadn’t provided an answer to her question. The issue wasn’t about what he wanted but about what he planned to do about it.
She looked at her reflection in the tiny cup and placed the tea and saucer in her lap. “I live in Providence, and you live in Boston.” She took a sip but quickly put the cup back down, hoping Sean didn’t see how her hand shook.
“Darcy,” he called, waiting for her to look up at him. When she did, he was leaning toward her smiling. “We’ll figure this out. Ewan and Quinn deal with the long-distance thing. So can we.”
As she stared into his earnest blue eyes, the air poured back into her lungs. “You mean it? You’re okay with a long-distance relationship? An exclusive long-distance relationship?”
“Exclusive, you say?” Sean teased.
She nodded sternly.
“Sure.” Sean shrugged playfully. “Besides, I’ll make sure we get to see a lot more of each other. I won’t be able to go too long without that voodoo pussy of yours.”
Of course the bastard had to say that just as she took another sip of tea, half of which she choked on. The other half flew out of her mouth all over the bedsheets. Sean raised his brows as he appraised the mess all down the front of her.
“Having a little trouble there, Darcy?” He tried to pull the sheet away, and in her attempt to keep it firmly in place over her breasts, she ended up spilling more tea.
“Shit! Cut it out, Sean.”
He chuckled. “Okay, okay. But would you please eat something? We need to get to the airport at some point this morning, and we still need to take a shower.”
The twinkle in his eyes turned her internal temperature up instantly as he popped another piece of scone in his mouth. She watched his lips rub together as he chewed and his throat flex as he swallowed.
She didn’t miss the fact that he’d said “we” need to shower, even though he was sitting beside her on the bed with his towel around his waist, his hair still damp from the shower he’d just stepped out of.
She was about to point it out to him but decided against it. There really was no point in arguing with him. And besides, a “we” shower sounded much better than just a “her” shower.
Chapter 22
Sean had never noticed the cobweb in the corner of his living room before. The thin and delicate web shifted slightly as the evening breeze wafted in from the open window.
Back and forth it moved. Back and forth.
He looked down at his watch for the thousandth time. Half past eight. They were supposed to meet Ewan and Quinn a half hour ago.
“Darcy! What’s the holdup?” he yelled. “Did you fall asleep up there or something?”
He heard some rustling and drawers shutting before she yelled back, “I’m almost done!”
With a sigh, he let his head fall back against the chair. Women were notorious for taking forever to get ready. He’d dated a couple of women who would take forever to put on the finishing touches while he waited in their foyers or living rooms. He just never figured Darcy would be that type of woman.
Not that he minded. Not much about her bothered him, except when she made him all hot and bothered. But then again, he didn’t mind that either.
He’d gotten the impression earlier she was a little nervous about tonight. She’d asked a million questions about where they were going and who would be there. He didn’t know why she was nervous. They were meeting Ewan, Quinn, and some others who they’d been out with a million times since they were old enough to get into bars without fake IDs.
Whatever Darcy’s hang-up was, it was cutting into their night. They had to stay at the bar for a socially acceptable amount of time before they excused themselves so they could hurry home to the confines of his bedroom, where he planned to do all sorts of naughty things.
It had been two weeks since London, and he couldn’t get enough of her. She was to Sean what catnip was to cats.
Darcy was Sean-nip.
He twisted his lips at the clever quip and let his mind wander back to last weekend. He’d driven down to Providence the moment he had left the office on Friday. They hadn’t left her apartment until Sunday night to go to dinner. He’d driven back to Boston afterward and floated on some sort of sex high the rest of the week.
The moment she’d walked into his townhouse last night, he hadn’t even bothered with the polite “Hey there” or the casual “So, how was your drive?” He’d lifted her up by the waist and kissed her all the way out of the kitchen, up the stairs, down the hall, and into his bedroom. He hadn’t even cared that his roommates were home and saw the whole show.
He flexed his fingers against the upholstery on the armchair. Sex had never been this exciting. Sure, he’d looked forward to it before.
But being with Darcy was like walking around with a set of blue balls all the time. He ached at the thought of her smooth skin. He constantly thought about getting inside her, and then when he finally got there, he never wanted to leave. She was becoming less inhibited—more confident—and the sex just kept getting better.
Over the last two weeks, he’d wondered why that was. Why was she so irresistible to him when other women were so forgettable? Why did he find himself thinking of her all day long when he should have his mind on work?
If he and Darcy had started a relationship years ago, would it have been this good? Was Darcy some untapped sex siren who would have rocked some other guy’s world if he hadn’t gotten to her first?
Whenever such questions would arise, he’d dismiss them as quickly as he could. His mother always told him he was like an ostrich. Instead of facing issues or tough questions or challenges, he’d stick his head in the sand and wait until they’d passed him by.
He didn’t necessarily agree with his mother’s assessment. In fact, when it came to his mother’s advice, he usually let it go in one ear and out the other. She’d have him married with a whole brood of kids by now. That was definitely something he wasn’t ready for. At least at this point in his life. Maybe someday in the future. Way in the future.
He wasn’t running away from tough questions, he just didn’t think it was worth his time and effort to worry over something that wasn’t going to affect anything in the present or future.
Why ponder such things? They were together now, exploring each other and this thing they had going on. Why sit and think about the past when she was upstairs in his bedroom at this moment getting dressed in what he hoped included some hot lingerie?
He felt himself hardening and cursed. Maybe they should just skip the bar altogether. Tell everyone that he’d come down with a case of dengue fever or some shit like that.
He heard another drawer slam upstairs.
“Seriously!” he exclaimed. “You must be sleeping ’cause I have no idea why else it’s taking you so long. I know I wore you out last night and all, but you drank all of your girlie latte plus half of my man coffee this afternoon. You can’t possibly be tired with
all that caffeine.”
A laugh floated down the stairs. “I’m not sleeping, I’m getting ready! And stop flattering yourself, Sean. If anyone wore anyone out last night, it was me.”
“Woman, please. I’ve been taking it easy on you since you’re just past virginal.”
Another laugh from upstairs. “What’s the next step then?”
Sean stood up and went to the bottom of the steps. “See, that just goes to show how not ready you are. You don’t even know what the next step is.”
He heard a zipper, then a light switch turned off. “Please, Mr. Sex Guru. Enlighten me.”
Sean leaned against the wall. “I can’t. It’s against guru policy to divulge the secrets of the next level of sexual satisfaction if you’re not ready. You gotta pass the test first.”
He heard footsteps and looked up to see Darcy finally coming downstairs. She wore a long-sleeved green dress and nude high heels. His eyes moved from the roundness of her breasts hidden underneath the dress down over her shapely hips and her exposed legs. She looked good enough to eat.
Darcy stopped on the last step, and her warm, familiar minty scent surrounded him. “What kind of test is it? Multiple choice? Short essay?”
He reached for her and pulled her snug against him, loving the way her breath hitched when he squeezed her ass.
Sean smiled before answering, “It’s an oral exam.”
###
Darcy wished someone would pinch her, because she surely was in some parallel dimension or something. She should feel at ease and comfortable, but she didn’t.
She looked nice in her peasant dress. Her well-worn heels felt like slippers. Her hair was down, parted on the side, and curled under slightly above her shoulders. And she was going to spend the evening with her roommate and other friends she’d known all her life.
Yet her heart pounded with anxiety. Perspiration dampened her palms as she grasped her clutch on the way to the bar. By the time their first round of drinks hit the table, she’d already chewed off all her lip gloss.
Every so often she would steal glances around their high-top table, and no one else seemed to be acting any differently. So why did she feel like a giant spotlight was shining directly on her seat?
This was her first time hanging out with friends since she and Sean had hooked up. Of course, Quinn and Ewan knew. Quinn was beyond excited and had wanted to know every detail of Darcy’s trip to London.
Ewan had probably figured it out after Sean bummed a ride to Providence with him last weekend. But their other friends? She wasn’t sure if they knew.
She hadn’t said anything to anyone else about it, but she wasn’t sure if Quinn had blabbed to her cousin, Rory. And if Rory knew, he most likely would have told his wife, Erin. And if Erin knew, then their entire hometown of Ballagh would know by now.
It wasn’t something she could just announce to the table: “Oh, by the way, Sean and I are fucking.”
With the way Sean was acting, no one would ever be the wiser.
So far tonight, he’d said maybe four sentences to her after arriving at the bar. The rest of the time he talked with Rory and Ewan about some stupid football game that was televised last night.
He hadn’t said anything about her dress.
He hadn’t offered to take her coat.
And he hadn’t rested his hand on the small of her back like Ewan had been doing to Quinn ever since she’d perched her tiny behind on her stool.
Nope. Sean had walked into the bar first, clearing a path to where their table was, hugged and kissed all their friends, and totally forgotten she was trailing behind him like a lost puppy.
“How’s work been, Darcy?” Erin asked.
Darcy pulled her eyes away from the empty glass in front of her to where Erin sat. Her flaming-red hair was pulled dramatically up in a high bun, and her big blue eyes were clouded with alcohol.
“It’s going well. I have a few small local projects and another larger project coming up here in Boston. I’m keeping busy. How are things at the doctor’s office?”
She shrugged. “Boring. Why didn’t anyone tell me that accounting was so dull?”
“You thought accounting would be exciting?” Quinn laughed.
“Maybe not exciting but at least interesting. Instead, I know way too many trivial facts about ob-gyns. You don’t even want to know how much lube Dr. Kearney goes through on a weekly basis.”
Darcy laughed. “Ever thought of getting out of Ballagh? Moving to a bigger place, where you could handle the books for some high roller instead of a small-town ob-gyn with a three-person office?”
Erin shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You really think I could get Rory to move?”
She was probably right. Rory was probably a Ballagh-lifer. His widowed mother lived there, and he was the lead singer in the only band in town, which made him a bit of a small-town celebrity. Bono he was not, but they were booked almost every weekend, and music was his passion.
“More drinks, ladies?” Sean asked, nabbing Darcy’s empty mug along with Quinn’s and Erin’s.
“Yes, please!” Quinn yelled.
She was two drinks into their evening, and the girl was already floating. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks rosy pink from the beer. She laughed at everything. She was the happiest drunk Darcy had ever seen.
“Looks like Ewan’s getting lucky tonight,” said a familiar voice.
Darcy turned to see Lisbeth Tanner and a tall, dark-haired guy approach their table. Darcy’s hackles stood on end when Lisbeth put her arms around Sean’s neck and kissed him on the cheek.
“Hey, Lisbeth,” Sean replied in his smooth tenor, leaning into her but not hugging her back with his arms full of empty mugs. “Didn’t know you were coming this evening.”
“Erin told me you guys were meeting here tonight,” she explained, making her way around the table to greet everyone. “I can’t believe no one invited me!”
Darcy had to steady her breathing and bite her tongue, or she’d blurt out something rude. To say that Darcy and Lisbeth were friends was a bit overstated. Lisbeth and Erin had been joined at the hip since they were girls. When Darcy had moved to Ballagh, Erin had befriended her and along with Erin came Lisbeth.
The tall, leggy blonde looked like a centerfold model and had the smarts to boot. However, she wasn’t blessed with any sort of moral compass. She’d had more turns than a doorknob. It was a wonder the girl had managed to keep herself from getting knocked up all these years.
Lisbeth’s promiscuity wasn’t something that bothered Darcy until she’d found out that Lisbeth had fucked Sean in high school. Darcy had been doubly disappointed: in Sean for stooping so low and in the fact that the universe just wasn’t fair.
Lisbeth was not a nice person. Plain and simple.
“Sean, I haven’t seen you in forever,” Lisbeth said, squeezing in between him and Darcy. “You look good.”
He grinned. “Why, thank you. I always wake up in the morning and say to myself, Sean, today might be the day that you see Lisbeth again, so you better make yourself look pretty.”
Sean’s flirty nature grated on Darcy’s nerves.
A slow, sensual smile spread across Lisbeth’s face. “You think about me in the mornings?”
Darcy wanted to vomit. “He can’t help but think about you every morning. He’s been living in fear that his night of poor judgment in high school will come back to haunt him. Lisbeth and herpes are synonymous, after all.”
Sean gave her an unfathomable look. She couldn’t tell if he was insulted by her comment or surprised that she knew he’d slept with Lisbeth. She was betting on the latter. But even if it was the former, Darcy didn’t care. If he continued to flirt with other girls in front of her, he’d definitely feel her wrath.
“Darcy! What the hell!” Lisbeth slapped Darcy on the shoulder before turning around to look at her date. “I don’t have herpes.”
Ewan was smiling into his glass of water, and Quinn sat across fr
om Darcy and mouthed O-M-G.
Darcy didn’t always think before she spoke, but when it came to Lisbeth, most everything was fair game. The woman was trouble and was usually the instigator anyway.
“Something’s different about you,” Lisbeth considered.
Darcy looked back to see the blonde’s eyes roaming over her face and down her dress, even peering under the table to look at her shoes. Jesus, what a bitch.
Sean snickered. “Yeah, something is definitely different about you, Darcy.”
“What is it?” Lisbeth asked. “Your manners haven’t improved at all. That’s obvious. Your hair’s a little longer, but that’s not it.”
Darcy took a deep breath. What the fuck was she getting at?
“You haven’t lost any weight,” Lisbeth stated, narrowing her eyes on Darcy’s face.
Actually, Darcy had probably dropped about ten pounds since Lisbeth had seen her last. But she wasn’t going to sit there and argue when Lisbeth was obviously trying to get a rise out of her.
Sean leaned past Lisbeth so he could meet Darcy’s gaze. “You are positively glowing, Darcy. Did something life-changing happen on your recent trip to London? Because whatever you are doing is definitely working for you.” His blue eyes danced with mischief.
Quinn spit her ale back into her mug and started coughing. Ewan cursed and lightly pounded on her back until her coughs turned to giggles.
Lisbeth looked around the table. “Am I missing something?”
“I think we’re all missing something,” Sean replied, looking confused. “Darcy, why don’t you tell us who—I mean what you’ve been doing?”
Sean winked at her. The smug bastard. He thought he was so clever. Darcy had to admit it was kinda funny.
“Oh, my God! Are you two sleeping together?” Lisbeth gawked.
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Only you would ask something so inappropriate.”
“How is that inappropriate? You could ask me, and I wouldn’t care.”
“I wouldn’t have to ask you because I’d already know the answer. And you," Darcy said, pointing to Lisbeth’s random guy, "if you haven’t fucked her yet, don’t worry, it'll happen. She's a sure thing."
Not In My Wildest Dreams (McKenna Series Book 2) Page 25