Her Perfect Gift: A Christmas Romance Page 9

  I start to type out a message to Sierra, tell her how much I want it, because it’s the right thing to do, but then Darcy’s face comes into my mind and my heart strings tug hard. How can I even think about walking away without letting her know what’s going on? I promised her that I wouldn’t walk away again, and I meant it when I said those words. I am not going to become a person who doesn’t keep his word. That isn’t me.

  So, I hurriedly run over to the computer and print out the script to show Darcy. If she sees it, she will be able to give me her advice on the job. See what she thinks. Perhaps she will want to come with me to Hollywood while I feel it out. That’s my ideal situation.

  Once the printing is done, I staple it together and rush towards next door. In my haste I forget about how much her mother hates me. I don’t even think about it until I have already hammered on the door, and I’m waiting for someone to answer. I really hope that it isn’t Mrs. McNeill to come to me. Or her husband. He’s a quiet man who doesn’t really get in the middle of things, but I’m sure that his wife will have twisted his opinion of me in the worst way. He certainly won’t think that I’m good enough for his daughter.

  Thankfully, when the door swings open it’s Darcy and she lights up as she sees me. No wonder I’m in love with her, how could I not be when she’s so bloody perfect? Even now with her hoodie on, her sweatpants hanging low, no makeup on, and her hair in a scruffy bun, she’s utterly stunning. It’s that smile. It always gets to me. She’s like a ray of sunshine. The whole world lights up with her grin.

  “Well, well, well.” She shoots me a playful wink. “What have I done to deserve this surprise?”

  “I just came over here to tell you how beautiful you are, that’s all.” I forget the real reason that I’m here as I run my eyes all over her face. “I missed you so much that I had to come here and see you.”

  Without thinking about it, I take a step forward and I press my lips lightly to hers, kissing her softly. I can still feel the stapled important papers between my fingers, but with Darcy in my arms it doesn’t feel quite as prominent. I am too wrapped up in her and how she makes me feel. It’s a bit like I’m torn between my head and my heart, between my career and love, and I don’t know which way to turn. The only ideal situation for me would be to have it all, but no one gets to have it all, do they? That just doesn’t happen. No one gets that lucky.

  Although as I pull back and rest my forehead against hers so I can look into her eyes, I can’t stop myself from dreaming of the life where I do have it all, where my career keeps on going and I get to come home from a hard day of filming all the time to Darcy and her stunning face, her lovely smile, her comforting words.

  “So, have you come to take me out again?” she asks me with a smile. “Because I am a little hungry…”

  “Oh, I would love to.” Actually, this could work out well, couldn’t it? Because we can discuss things there. “I have some stuff that I want to talk to you about actually, so food is a good plan.”

  “Does it have anything to do with this paperwork in your hands?” she says curiously. “Because I have to say I’m intrigued. It isn’t like you to have anything so serious looking with you.”

  I glance down at the papers and start laughing. “Yeah, I suppose you are right. But this is a script.” I feel a little fearful as the color drains from her face. She thinks that this means I’m leaving her. “No, wait don’t panic. This isn’t something to worry about. I just want to talk it through with you, that’s all. I want you to read it.”

  “Oh, right okay.” I don’t like this. Poor Darcy looks freaked. “Sounds good…”

  I don’t want her to feel like I’m pulling away from her again, so I try to reassure her with my actions. I pull her lips to mine and kiss her some more, massaging her tongue with mine, pressing my body up against hers to reassure her that I’m here for her no matter what. If she doesn’t leave with me then I don’t know if I can go. Much as I want this, I can’t give up on this romance now. It’s all I have ever wanted and if I walk away from it, I will always be wondering ‘what if?’. I am not going to live with that regret.

  “What the hell is going on?” As the shrill scream rockets through the house, me and Darcy leap apart as if we have been burned or electrocuted. “What the hell are you kissing him for? I warned you against him, Darcy. I told you that he was an idiot. A player who is just going to screw you around like he does everyone else.”

  Darcy spins around to look at her horrified mother in shock, leaving me almost alone while the attacks come my way. I don’t want to feel stung by the nasty words that she is spewing, I have heard worse, but for some reason these ones hurt a lot more than anything else that has come my way.

  “Why would you be so stupid?” Mrs. McNeill continues. “Darcy, I can’t believe it. I told you that I don’t recognize you anymore and that is even more true today. You are an embarrassment. Acting like that in front of my house like it’s acceptable, with him… it’s disgusting.”

  Wow, all the good vibes that I had only a moment ago have long gone. This isn’t good, is it? I have a feeling that this argument is only just beginning…

  Chapter Sixteen

  Darcy

  December 28th

  “Mom, my God, will you stop it?” I demand with tears filling my eyes. I must be red from the tips of my toes all the way up to my head because this is so utterly humiliating. “Don’t say things like that about Seth.”

  “You think that I’m just going to stand back and watch while you make an idiot out of yourself?” she sneers, refusing to back down. “No way. I know that you must be lonely because you’re a sad twenty six year old who still lives with her parents and has no sign of any real romance in the future, but that doesn’t mean that you should be fooled by someone who definitely doesn’t want you. I mean, how can he? You are here, aren’t you? Any minute now he will be back in Hollywood and you’ll be crying over him again.”

  Wow. I feel like Mom has smacked me in the face. She doesn’t even know about how heartbroken I was over Seth before, I never allowed her to see much of it, but it seems like she saw enough to throw it back in my face anyway. She has been crazy before, but never as bitchy as this. I don’t know how to take it. I’m so shocked that she has me in silence.

  “I am not that person,” Seth tries to insist, but I can already tell that these words are going to fall on deaf ears. “I really don’t know why you are just believing what you read about me when you know me. You have known me for a lot of my life, and you know that these judgements aren’t real. I’m not that person.”

  “Don’t speak to me.” My mother decides to humiliate me further. “I don’t know you. I never have.”

  “Mom, stop it!” Now my face is wet with tears, I don’t quite know when that happened. “Don’t do this. Stop treating me like I’m a child and like Seth is a bad person. He isn’t, you don’t know him.”

  “You are an idiot.” Mom misreads everything that I am saying, and she continues on with her rant to belittle me. My fight or flight instincts have kicked in and all I want to do is run away. “I didn’t raise you to be an idiot, so I don’t know what you’re doing here. It’s confusing. I don’t want to look at you.”

  “Then don’t.” I want to say these words all strong and powerfully, but they come out a little whimpering and sob like instead. “Don’t look at me anymore. Don’t look at me ever again. I am going.”

  I expect her to yell after me as I stalk off, but she doesn’t. My mother seems happy to let me go which is utterly heartbreaking. How can she just leave it like this? Isn’t she supposed to love me no matter what? But it seems like with Seth it isn’t just her being protective but instead she’s pushing me right away.

  “Come on.” In a heartbeat, Seth is by my side, his arm slung around my shoulder to care for me. At least he is here with me. My mother might be shoving me away, but he wants to stick with me, which just proves that everything my mother is saying to me is wrong. He isn
’t a bad person. “Let’s go.”

  This is much too serious for us to climb through the bedroom window, so we go in through Seth’s front door. I’m sure that his father is home but thankfully we don’t come across him. I like him but I’m not in the mood to see another parent right now. I don’t have the emotional strength to keep up a mask of happiness because I feel broken. It’s like my mother has just shattered me, and there is no coming back from it.

  Once inside of Seth’s bedroom, I fall on to the bed and nestle myself in the sheets. As they wrap around me, I realize that this bed feels more like home than my own. In this bedroom I can be more myself, which is sad. I should be more comfortable in my own house. It’s sad that I’m not.

  “Sorry. Seth,” I murmur into the pillow. “That was really shitty. I can’t believe she spoke to you like that.” I hear him telling me that it’s okay, but I don’t let it sink in because it really isn’t. I spin around to look at him desperately. “She has always treated me like a child, but that was something else. I mean, why would she do that to you? Be such a disrespectful bitch. It’s hurtful and it pisses me off. I would never speak about someone else like that.” I’m on a roll and I can’t stop. “It’s bad enough that she embarrasses me like that, but to go after you is unforgivable. And then to let me walk away without even caring… I don’t know if I can go back there, Seth. I don’t think that I can live in that house anymore. I have been telling myself that I need to move out for a long time, but I haven’t done anything about it… there have always been excuses. But now, I can’t put it off. I can’t really follow my dreams and become who I want to be while I live with them, they’re suffocating me.”

  I don’t know if I’m making any sense, I feel like I’m just going on and on. But there are so many feelings that I need to get out and I know that Seth will listen to whatever the hell I have to say. I twist my head to look at him slightly but when I see pain in his face, I turn away from him again. I don’t want to hurt him, I don’t want my family to be a source of his pain, it isn’t right. I don’t want to give up on us, but I don’t want to be too much for him either. He has enough going on, without me adding messes for him to try and clear up.

  “Darcy, this might be a crazy thought, and please stop me if it is.” I push myself up into a sitting position and stare at him as he says these slightly manic words. “But why don’t you come to LA with me when I go back?”

  “Huh?” Of all the things that I was expecting him to say, this wasn’t it. “LA?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugs one shoulder. “I mean, why not? If you’re going to move out, then why not move all the way out, and come to Hollywood with me? You wouldn’t need to worry about the finances of living alone because I already have a place. A massive house just dying for you to move in.”

  “You can’t…” I gasp out while I shake my head fearfully. “What are you talking about? I can’t…”

  I clutch my chest hard, as my heart starts pounding. I don’t know if he even understands what he’s talking about. This is too wild, too rash, too much for today. Just because my mom has been crazy, doesn’t mean that we all have to be that way. We can talk about this, think about it, be rational and calm…

  “Why not, Darcy?” He has the biggest smile on his face possible. “Why not? This isn’t a new relationship, is it? I mean, sure romantically, it is, but we know each other, inside and out. We have been friends forever, and we know everything about one another. There aren’t any secrets to come out. We practically lived together when we were younger anyway, so that isn’t going to be a shock. Plus… and most importantly.” He reaches out and grabs my hands while beaming like a freaking lightbulb. “We’re in love. It makes perfect sense.”

  It does actually. I don’t know if it’s just the way that he’s worded it, but it does make a lot of sense. And in my mind, I can see it. When I have thought about me and Seth before, he has always given up fame and fortune for me, he’s living back here, and we continue on with our quiet little lives. But that isn’t his destiny, is it? He’s meant for the bright lights and the glamorous world. And he wants to bring me along with him. I could be in LA with him, enjoying the red carpet life alongside him, seeing another part of the world…

  It’s exciting but utterly terrifying all at the same time. I don’t know if I am up for it. I don’t know if I can do it. I mean, for Seth it’s different, he was made for that, but I don’t know if I am. I might be too small town.

  “But my makeup line,” I pant, trying my hardest to find an excuse that makes any sense. “How would I…?”

  “That is perfect for LA,” he insists. “It’s the mecca of makeup. You are bound to have much more success there than here. There isn’t really the audience in this small town, is there? Not one big enough for you anyway.”

  Oh my God, these words fill me with even more excitement. My ambitious side creeps up and wants this more than anything else in the world. To think I could be selling my make up to celebrities is just crazy. And Seth knows actual famous people, so that will help me a lot. One photo of someone online with my product and I will be set. My life, on the right track forever. It’s what I need. And it gives me some independence as well. It allows me to get away from my parents and their judgement with the man I love.

  I am twenty six years old, damn it, and it is time to move on. Time to be with him. I know for sure that I don’t want anyone else, that I’m never going to be as happy as I am with Seth, so why not? It could be amazing.

  “Okay.” I smile as this word finally comes out of my mouth. “Okay, I will come to LA with you. Tell me about this movie you are going to star in. Is it another high-octane action flick or what?”

  He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he dips his head down and he kisses me, sealing our love with his lips once more. His hands snake around my waist and he holds me with him for a while, allowing my brain to see the picture for real. I don’t know LA at all, I don’t know what his life is going to be like, but with him I can do anything. I can stand tall and be whoever I need to be. I can finally be me.

  “No more action,” Seth murmurs softly against my lips. “No more meaningless movies, meaningless flings, my life is all going to be real now. Me and you, deep movies, a brand new life for me…”

  See? It isn’t even going to just be me who goes through changes. It will be him as well. He’s going to be turning his life upside down for me too. Maybe not quite as much, but that doesn’t matter. It isn’t a competition. It’s love. The pair of us are going to start on our journey together, see what life holds. Finally, I’m going to make something of myself and I can’t wait. I will shove my new life in my mother’s face and show her that she doesn’t know what’s best for me after all.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Seth

  December 28th

  All of a sudden, the mood surrounding me and Darcy changes dramatically. It sizzles with tension. The sort of sexual desire that I’m happy to let engulf me entirely. The sensation of her lips against mine, plus the words that we have just spoken which have proven to me that I really can have it all. The career and the girl. As my fingers knot up in her hair, a little moan escapes her lips which brings me more to life than ever before.

  Her eager fingers travel down my body, taking some time to massage my muscles on the way. Every time she touches me, a bolt of lightning shoots all the way down to my cock stiffening me up even more. The passion is too much for me, I can barely contain myself, I need her, and I need her right now.

  The moment she grazes my throbbing erection through the material of my pants, I need her top off right now. My hungry fingers yank and tug at the material, until finally she breaks out of it and I can touch her soft skin. But even the feel of her stomach is enough to turn me in to a primal animal needing to consume my prey alive. I go with that, and kiss all over her skin, neck, collar bone, her belly… all of her.

  Eventually, my lips find her nipples, which are standing at attention for me, and I pop the left one
inside my mouth. I tug and tease, using my tongue and teeth to drive her wild. Her back arches as the bliss rockets through her, I glance up to see her expression contort in pleasure, and I immediately know that I want more from her.

  The last time that we were together, it was hurried and needy, six plus years of sexual frustration bursting out in one go, whereas now I can take the time to explore her, to taste her all over. It will be an experience like no other, because I want every little bit of her in my mouth. I need to know every damn inch of her.

  I kiss the bottom of her belly as I fiddle delicately with her pants. I slide them down in by inch, taking my mouth and licking under her waist band, which makes her purr and mew like a fucking pussy cat. Each sound is as addictive and intoxicating as the last, which makes it hard for me not to crumble and explode already.

  “Fuck, that feels good,” she whispers once her pants are gone and my tongue is working its way back up her legs. “I can’t be teased, Seth, I need you too much for that. I want you; I want you now.”

  I love the way that she’s taking control of her own pleasure, it’s sexy as fuck to have her demanding things from me, telling me what she likes. It makes me want to do exactly what she commands. So, I don’t spend any more time tantalizing and teasing her, I yank her panties off and plunge my fingers inside of her.

  “Oh God.” She bucks and screams with bliss. “Oh, Seth, oh my God. That feels amazing.”

  I love that I’ve cheered her up. Today was on a bad turn a moment ago, but now, we are in an incredible place. Her thighs have spread for me and I inhale her deeply. My head spins with lust, desire writhes through my system, I slip my nose in closer just as her wetness pools around my fingers.