Her Perfect Gift: A Christmas Romance Page 8

  “Of course I do! That sounds amazing.” She grins happily. “And I’m starving, so that would be awesome.” She leans behind her and grabs a jacket. “Let’s get going. I could use a break from this madness.”

  Her hand slips in to my arm as we walk towards the nearest café to get some food, which is more friendly than we have ever been before, but it isn’t quite relationship like either. It’s somewhere in the middle, which I will take for the time being. It saves us having an awkward conversation before either of us are ready for it, since we’re doing our best to live in the moment, it’s best to leave it for the time being.

  Of course I want to tell her that I want to bring her in to my life, to have her with me in LA, so we can have a happy ever after, but I need to hold back and wait for the right moment to say it.

  * * *

  I don’t know at what moment lunch turned in to drinks, and the light of the dark started to get dark, but that’s the problem about spending time with Darcy. The seconds just whizz by, the fun makes the day simply melt away. Even more so now, that the awkwardness has gone and the last six years of not being in one another’s lives has simply vanished, leaving us with the incredible friendship that we once shared.

  “I don’t think I have laughed like this in a long time,” Darcy squeals as she wipes away a stray happy tear. “God, I forgot all about those things happening. We really did have a lot of fun, didn’t we?”

  “Oh, you moving next door to me, made my childhood. It was the best time ever. I wouldn’t be who I am without you. I dread to think about what would have happened to me had you not come.”

  Oops, that might have been a step too far, an emotional outburst to push her over the edge. Darcy looks like her eyes are about to pop out of her head with amazement and she definitely doesn’t know what to say.

  “Come on.” Eventually, she grabs my arm and pulls me in to a standing position. “Let’s go.”

  I almost collapse in to sadness as I realize that our amazing date is about to come to an end, but then Darcy knocks that negativity out of me by pulling me towards the park where the giant tree we were only just talking about, calms me down. We’re going to have more fun, that’s all.

  “Under this tree is where I always thought that I would have my first kiss,” she says wistfully. “And I assumed that it would be with you. Instead, it was at the graduation with Danny and his braces.” She stares at me hard. “Which only happened because you got so drunk that you let Tami feel you up, and I was jealous.”

  A laugh bursts out of my chest. She has told me that story once before, right before we had kiss for the first time, but somehow, hearing it this time, it affects me so much deeper. I wish that I could go back in time to change that. To kiss her then and every day afterwards so that we never lost touch.

  Well, I might not be able to change the past, but I can get that memory out of her mind right now. So, I scoop my hands in her hair and I tug her gorgeously plump lips to mine to get that sweet, delicious satisfaction all over again. Yep, this is what our first kiss could have been, but it’s also what the first kiss of the rest of our lives can be, if we let it and we find a way to make it work. The big if.

  But the more that we kiss, the more determined I become. It only has to be an if unless we make a determined effort to work out how. How is easier, how is what I want…

  Chapter Fourteen

  Darcy

  December 26th

  I’m giddy. Absolutely flying higher than air, as me and Seth walk back towards his house hand in hand. This has been the wildest night of my entire life and I never want it to end. I don’t even know why we’re headed in this direction to be honest; I don’t want to go back home. I just want to keep on going.

  “I’m not letting you go back home,” he suddenly murmurs as he spins around to look at me. “I hope you know that. You’re coming back through my window and you can spend the night together. No sleeping this time.” He leans in and kisses me, making my heart flutter with excitement. “I’m definitely not tired.”

  I’m not either. Every part of my body is electrified and on fire. I don’t think that I could sleep even if someone gave me a drowsy pill right about now. I’m completely buzzing from my head to my toes. My hands hook around the back of his neck and I drag his lips closer to mine, my tongue darting between his lips to deepen to kiss.

  “Come on then.” I pull on his hand, desperate to get inside already. “Let’s get inside that room of yours.”

  We pause to kiss only one more time outside his bedroom window before climbing inside. I thought that I was only ungainly because I had been drinking but with Seth’s eyes all over me, I’m not much better. Luckily because we have shared this friendship beforehand, we can just laugh it off and continue to have fun.

  “You are hilarious, Darcy,” he chuckles as he follows me inside. “Honestly, you are like no one else…”

  Thankfully I know all the women that he is used to, I immediately can tell that this is a compliment. Perhaps it isn’t about looks for Seth anymore, maybe he wants a deeper connection which he knows that he can get with me. Me and him have something deeper because it’s always been meant to be.

  I fall back on to his bed and part my thighs for him to slide in between there. My core is throbbing, pulsing for him, which intensified ten fold when he presses his steel rod against me, showing me just how intense his desire is for me as well. Seth Bishop: the movie star wants me, but I find it more thrilling to think about the boy next door finally responding to how much we crave one another. That’s much more intense.

  Finally, Seth grazes up the hem line of my dress and his fingers touch my bare-naked skin. The breath strips completely from my lungs and I roll my hips closer to him to let him know how much I want him. There is an intense heat coming from his body making him like a hot water bottle. Without even thinking about it, I wrap my legs around him and pull him closer to me, groaning with a delicious excitement.

  “You feel so good, Darcy,” he whispers, his words tickling all over my face and neck. “I want you.”

  I want to reply but his hands have scooted further up my dress and he has my breasts in his fingers. The way that he is tugging on my nipples has my head spinning, making it impossible to make any sounds other than the primal gasps of bliss that are exploding from me right now. Noises I have absolutely no control over.

  “I… I…” One of his hands trickles downwards, towards my core, as he struggles to say something. My heart thunders loudly in my ears, so I don’t know how clearly, I will hear him anyway. “I love you…”

  “What?” My eyes snap open and I push up on to my elbows to stare at him with shocked wide eyes. “Did you say? Because…” I gulp down thickly. “Because it sounded like you just said to me that…”

  “I love you,” he chuckles with hilarity. “Yes, I did say that because it’s true.”

  “But you can’t… you can’t think that… we haven’t even… you know… so, how do you?”

  “I don’t need to have sex with you to know that I love you. I have always loved you. I think I realized that a long time ago, but I was just too scared to really think about it. But now I’m not scared. I love you.”

  “I… I love you too.” Shitting hell. It feels really exciting to say that aloud. “I love you.”

  He kisses me harder this time as his fingers shove my panties to one side and plunge inside of me, stealing any remaining breath out of my body. He massages me, grazing against my most sensitive areas, causing me to see stars. The way that he is making me feel is one thing, but the warmth in my chest is mostly coming from his words. The fact that he has admitted his love for me makes me feel incredible. Better than I ever thought possible.

  This is it; I tell myself as my hand slowly travels down his body. This is us forever.

  Eventually, my hand slides underneath his trousers and I slip into his underwear, finally wrapping my fingers around him. I stroke him slowly up and down as his thumb brushes over m
y clit, making me shudder violently. I angle his thick, throbbing cock towards me as my eager thumb touches his tip, just to give him a glimpse of what he’s doing to me as well. I need him inside of me and I need him now. I don’t know how much longer I can wait.

  “Stop.” Oh my God. I nearly die when he halts me right at the pivotal moment, just before I finally slipped him inside me. It’s only the desperation in his tone that causes me to do what he commands. “Protection.”

  Ah, right of course. He’s being sensible. Just because we’re in love doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t protect ourselves from moving too quickly. Especially since this is the first time having sex. In all of my fantasies, I haven’t had to think about the practicalities of this. I lean back and watch him as he opens his nightstand drawer and pulls out a little silver square. His eyes connect with mine as he tears it apart and I can see the desire dancing behind his gaze. I love how he’s in flames, just as much as I am. But I want more. So, I lift my ass off the bed, and I tug my dress over my head. His eyes light up as I toss it on the floor in a heap.

  “Wow, that body of yours is amazing,” he gushes. “You look incredible. I want to kiss you all over.”

  I don’t want to complain about that compliment because it feels incredible and makes me feel more of a sexual goddess than anything else, but it is nerve wracking to assume that he could actually mean it. His eyes and the way that he’s looking all over me suggests that he really does mean it.

  Luckily, it doesn’t take him long to roll that latex down over him because my core hurts, I want him so badly. I can’t take it much longer, so when he drags his body up over me and his weight lies down, I feel wild with excitement. I grab on to him so hard my nails practically pierce his skin.

  “I want you,” I gasp out as he grows inches nearer by the second. “Oh God, I want you, Seth.”

  Since he is as eager as me, there is no teasing or torturing me, no screwing around. He thrusts hard, slamming deeply inside me, flooding me with the hottest wave of intense bliss that I have ever experienced. I don’t know if me and Seth are alone in this house, but I’m screaming loud enough to wake anyone up.

  “Oh God, I love you,” I pant through my ragged needy breaths. “I love you so much, Seth.”

  That adds to the pleasure, it causes the orgasmic pressure to build even higher, stacking up inside of me, filling me up until I am on the edge, about ready to scream and tip over the edge. The abyss is waiting for me like a giant hole of wonder and heaven and I can’t wait to fall in and embrace it…

  “Fucking hell.” My body bucks and writhes as the orgasm finally swallows me up whole. It’s overwhelming, intense, powerful, and so much more of everything than I have ever had before. No man has ever made me feel this way, I haven’t ever even been able to give myself pleasure like this, and it only confirms everything that I have already assumed… me and Seth are one hundred percent meant to be. I hope that it never ends. I grip Seth to hold on to him, to keep the sensation swimming through me, warming up all of my organs along the way…

  As we collapse on the bed next to one another, gasping equally as we try to survive the post orgasmic bliss to return to normal, a small spike of panic pokes at my belly. I turn on my side to look at Seth carefully, desperately hoping and praying that I’m the one right, not everyone else, and that he wasn’t just saying those words. I have seen men say what they think women want to hear to get them in to bed, and I really hope that this isn’t a case of that. I can’t imagine that Seth Bishop would become that person, but I can’t be sure.

  “Are you okay?” he asks me quietly while wrapping his arm around me. “That was incredible, wasn’t it?”

  “It really was.” I have to agree with that because it’s the truth. “But Seth, are you going to make a fool of me again here? Are you going to run back to LA at the first opportunity and never speak to me again?”

  I feel like shit for even letting this question out, but I didn’t ask it last time and that bit me on the ass. I’m older now and more experienced. More jaded and if something bad will come my way then I want to be ready for it.

  “No,” he insists right away. “No way. I wouldn’t do that to you. Not a chance.”

  “It’s okay if that’s what you have to do because of your job, I get it. I just want to know…”

  I don’t know how I would even begin to prepare myself for him leaving me again, especially after all of that, but I would like as much time as I can to get myself mentally ready for it. Just in case.

  “Darcy, no way.” His eyes scream seriousness. “I want to be with you. I want to make this work. I love you; I want to be with you, Darcy, this is everything that I have ever wanted.”

  “You mean it?” I gasp happily. “Because that’s how I feel as well.”

  “Of course I do. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.” He kisses me on the head. “I mean all of it.”

  Okay, that’s good to go with. I mean, he isn’t exactly telling me how we will make it work, but that’s okay. Now I know that he’s in love with me and he wants to make it work. It allows me to lean on his chest and dream much calmer. Now, I can truly imagine what our happy ever after will look like, and not in a hypothetical way, but in a real, me and him forever more, kind of way.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Seth

  December 28th

  Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…

  I grab my cell phone, remembering the real world, which is still out there somewhere, even if I’m in my little bubble with Darcy right now, ready to block it all out. Since Sierra is calling me, everything is going to come back with a thump. I guess I haven’t been in touch with her as much as I should have been.

  “Hey, Sierra,” I say with a much too bright tone of voice. “How’s it going? Merry Christmas, by the way.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she snaps back, straight to business as always. “Merry Christmas, I hope that you had a good time. Listen, when are you coming back here? Because LA needs you and right now, I need you.”

  “You don’t need me, not really,” I scoff, letting out a little laugh. “I’m sure you’re doing just fine. I don’t know when I’m coming back. Right now, I’m having a good time here. I want a bit of a break.”

  “A break?” Oh my God, Sierra screeches, totally horrified for some strange reason. “You can’t have a break. Are you kidding me? I’m not joking when I say that I need you back here. Everyone wants a piece of you.”

  I roll my eyes knowing exactly what Sierra is trying to do, she wants to reel me in, to get me back where she needs me the most. When I’m with her, she can earn more, so it benefits the pair of us. But right now, I don’t want to be back there. I’m having too much of a good time here, I don’t want to burst the bubble.

  “I know. But I don’t want to do any of the usual stuff, no matter what the price tag is. I need to try something new and while I am waiting for that to come in, I want to take a break and stay here with my family.” I smile to myself. “I’m having a really good time with everyone, getting back to my roots and everything…”

  I can hear the anxious edge to her sigh. Sierra isn’t about to let me off the hook too easily. But I’m going to stand strong because I know that being here is the right thing for me to do. I’m having the best time of my life with Darcy and my friends. My father too. There isn’t anything that she can say to change my mind.

  “But that’s the thing, this is something different,” Sierra insists. “This is exactly what you want. I wouldn’t be calling you in such a panicked way if this wasn’t perfect for you. I have a script here that is everything that you have asked for and more. Trust me, when I send this to you, it will blow your mind.”

  Uh oh. Now those might be the only words that can pull me out of my funk. Much as I am loving it here, if I can have the perfect opportunity, then I would be crazy to turn my back on it, wouldn’t I?

  “What… erm, what do you mean?” I ask with a little stammer in my voice. “What so
rt of script?”

  “I’m emailing it to you right now.” I don’t miss the smugness in her tone. “Take a look at it. But you need to do it right now because much as the director wants to have you in the lead role, it’s highly sort after and if you don’t give an answer by the end of the day then I’m pretty sure they will go for someone else.”

  Shit. I’m used to it working in this way, Hollywood can be fast paced, but this feels a bit much when I’m miles away. My hometown doesn’t move anything like the same pace, so it’s a bit hard to process it.

  “Right, I will print it out right away.” I gulp down a thick ball of nerves that lodges in my throat. “Then I will take a read and let you know what I think. I know that you need to know today.”

  “As soon as possible,” she insists. “Yesterday, if possible. It really is that sort of script.”

  “Oh God, that sounds intense, Sierra.” My heart is beating a million times faster. “Okay, send it to me.”

  “It’s gone. It should be in your email already. Don’t let anything distract you. Read it quick.”

  Sierra hangs up quickly leaving me in a real state of panic myself. Her words have gripped hard on me, especially the part about the script being exactly what I’m looking for and the director wanting me excites me. I open the email quickly and take a look at the words, allowing them to soak inside of me.

  Shit. Sierra is right. This is good, really good. It’s everything I have been looking for. It’s much better than I expected, and the director wants me for the role. I’m sucked in by the script, gripped by the words, I’m falling in love with the characters already, my instincts are crying out for this, I can already tell how I would play the main character, my creative juices are flowing. I haven’t felt this good about a role in a long time. I know that I want this, I need it, this is the right step for me. But it will involve going back to LA, giving up the bubble that I’m in at the moment.