Irish Charm; St. Patrick's Day Romance Collection, page 39
As with the suit for the garden party, though, Gavin had loaned me pair of his sunglasses.
“You’ll thank me later,” he’d said with a knowing smile.
I didn’t love it when he pulled the wise big brother shtick, not least because he was only two years older than me, but I couldn’t say he was actually wrong.
“Snazzy and sexy,” Darcy said now, as I slid the aviators on.
“Gavin’s,” I told her.
“Not a big call for shades on the Emerald Isle?”
“The sun only shines about two weeks out of the year,” I said, my accent already getting more American.
Darcy’s was getting more Irish. We were definitely having an influence on each other.
I couldn’t believe I was strolling to the park entrance in Los Angeles on a hot summer day, my shirt untucked and the top three buttons open, holding hands with my soulmate. Those were several things I’d never pictured myself doing.
Birds chirped happily in the trees, as well as in my pocket, or so it seemed. I stopped for a minute to assess the situation.
“I didn’t know birds could do ventriloquism,” Darcy said, suppressing a laugh.
I drew my cell phone from my shirt’s front pocket and tapped the green answer icon.
“Hello?”
“Well, if it isn’t the invisible man,” Gavin said.
“Eh?”
“I mean, I see the evidence of your existence on occasion. Clothes in the guest room closet, lunch dishes in the sink, hair in the drain. But I never actually see you there. Are you in some kind of ninja training?”
“No, but that would certainly be useful,” I said with a chuckle.
“Fool that I am, I thought you were here to visit Maggie and me.”
“I was, I mean I am, I’ve just been—”
He laughed.
“Oh, I think we all know very well what you’ve been doing and who you’ve been doing it with.”
I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as I began to blush. I stole a glance over at Darcy, who squeezed my hand.
“Aye, you’ve got me there,” I admitted. “I have been a bit, er, occupied the last week or so, sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize, I understand, and better than most. Maggie and I would like to see you guys though. How about we go for pizza later?”
“Pizza it is.”
“Pizza?” Darcy asked when I hung up.
“Oh, shite, sorry, it was Gavin. He was busting my chops about them not seeing me. Would you like to go for pizza? It could be like a double date.”
“I’d like that. We should probably let Maggie and Gavin know what happened yesterday at the garden party, too, just to keep our stories straight.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
I turned my phone to silent so we could enjoy the day together with no further interruption. Not that the one I’d had was particularly bad so far. I had planned on spending more time with Gavin and Maggie, but with Gavin’s job and me spending time with Darcy, we hadn’t really seen much of each other.
“That sucks that Gavin says he hasn’t seen you enough. I don’t want to get between you and your family,” Darcy said, as we continued along the duck pond.
“Oh, he was just kidding around. I mean, it’s true, I haven’t seen them much, but Gav, in his big brother’s role, rightfully kicked me in the arse. It’s one of the things we do— keep each other grounded,” I told her. “We all put him through relentless ribbing when he said he wanted to be an actor. Not that we weren’t supportive. It was no less realistic than any other job where we were from. We just wanted to remind him of who he was and keep him from becoming an insufferable showbiz wanker.”
“Like Harry Ashton?”
“Hey, you said it, not me,” I said, absolving myself of blame.
“Yeah, but you were thinking it.”
“True,” I conceded.
“Well, thanks to you, we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
It was true enough. I wasn’t sure about my tactics, but at least I’d gotten her free of any obligation to marry Ashton. Like Finn McCool saving Samuel from a monster.
Not that I saw Darcy as helpless. She was one of the most capable people I’d ever met. I was mostly just happy to be of service.
“How about some ice cream to celebrate?” I suggested.
“Sounds great, no mint, though. I try to avoid anything green these days.”
“You still having the flashbacks too?”
“Oh yeah, there are still times I wake up screaming ‘seafoam,’ and I didn’t even have to wear that particular shade of green.”
“God bless the humble bridesmaids,” I said solemnly, hand on heart.
It was odd, having definitions changed. Terms that always held one meaning suddenly took on a whole other aspect. I’d known what fun was but had never really experienced it until I’d met Darcy. I’d never had as much fun as this in a park at home, at least not in my adult life, though that was mostly because I worked all the time.
I also didn’t have Darcy there to make me want to do something other than work. Not so much in terms of a distraction as a viable alternative, something that seemed a lot like the ‘work-life balance’ I kept hearing so much about.
It was a mad notion, and what was more, I must have been crazy to even entertain it, yet there it was sitting behind my eyes, just waiting to pounce. A vision of me living in L.A. with Darcy, having the time of my life.
It really did look fun. Too bad I also knew it was a pipe dream. And not possible for several reasons.
I was really only torturing myself by even considering such a thing. I was integral to the business, and I loved my job. Plus, I also didn’t want the next time I saw my family to be at our dad’s funeral if he kept on the way he was.
It was a stupid notion but not one I dismissed out of hand, unwilling to let the dream die so easily. I wondered, in all seriousness, if Darcy might consider moving to Ireland with me. Gavin had moved to L.A. and made a home there. Was it really so mad to think Darcy could find a place with me?
There would be a bit of culture shock, but I had a feeling she would acclimatize quickly. I wanted to ask her, but I also didn’t want to freak her out by bringing up such a serious subject too soon. I had to find just the right moment.
The time buzzed past like a hummingbird. Hours elapsed without notice, let alone comment, and before we knew it, it was time to go and meet Maggie and Gavin.
“Hey there, prodigal son,” Gavin said when we saw him, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
“I think that would be you, Gav. You’re in for some serious ribbing next time you visit home.”
“This is my home now,” Gavin said, a bit too seriously.
“Oh, aye, you know what I mean.”
“Of course I do, just busting your chops again, little bro.”
Maggie and Darcy looked at each other as we laughed. Darcy seemed to be asking, Are they always like this? And Maggie’s look appeared to reply, Yup.
I began to suspect they had their own kind of link going on. One forged in the familiarity of a long friendship.
I didn’t broach the issue of Darcy moving to Belfast then in front of Gavin, either, even though I thought he might have some advice. Everyone was having such a great time, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
We explained about the fake engagement, though. Maggie and Gavin reminded us that that was how they had ended up married. How he had pretended to be Maggie’s fiancé to save her from embarrassment when she bumped into her cheating ex who had gotten engaged to her stepsister.
“Be careful, because you never know where such a seemingly innocent lie can take you in real life,” Gavin said, with a wink.
“Oh, I think we have some idea,” I said, and winked myself, but at Darcy.
Chapter Twenty - Sean
“That was amazing,” Darcy said, putting the take-out box in the shape of a pizza slice into the fridge. “I had so much fun.”
“They don’t call it an extra large for nothing,” I said.
She hadn’t actually invited me up to her apartment this time, not verbally, but she didn’t need to. She’d driven us right back to her building without even hinting at taking me over to Gavin and Maggie’s.
She vanished for a second, and when she came back into the sitting room, she was totally naked.
“Strip,” she ordered.
I did as I was told, though not as fast as she would like, at least, or so I assumed by the way she started to help take my clothes off and by the way she had my hard cock in her mouth in record time.
Locking her eyes with mine, she sucked away happily. She’d learned a lot about what I liked in our short time together, having me close to climax within minutes.
Ordinarily, I tried to last as long as I could so that we had the opportunity to cum at the same time, which always felt better. But now it felt so good that I just wanted to roll with it.
“Fuck, Darcy, you’re making me cum,” I told her, not even trying to hold back.
She wasn’t finished, not yet. Taking in my load, her eyes closed as she swallowed with relish. Darcy then took my cock back into her mouth, first sucking me clean and then going on to a second, more sensual blowjob.
The first had been for release, while the second seemed to be for love and connection. Whatever it was that was pulling us together seemed even stronger when we were together in the carnal sense.
Slowly rising after that, I took her by the hips and laid her down on the couch, intent on returning the favor. Following her lead, I skipped the usual preliminaries and went straight for her pussy, running my tongue along the outside to get her excited before I tried to do anything too drastic.
She welcomed me unequivocally, and I began to lick in earnest, adding both pressure and complexity to what I was doing, bringing her to an explosive orgasm. Darcy’s hips lifting from the soft leather of the couch, both of her hands curled in my hair.
She was on me in a flash. Before I even saw her move, Darcy had me in a sitting position, already lowering herself onto my cock, throwing her head back in ecstatic abandon as she eased her pussy down, grinding the shaft right up against her clit.
Sinking to a good depth, she put her hands on my shoulders and started to bounce. I did what I could, putting my hands on her hips to provide support. It was very much her show.
She came like an earthquake, screaming my name as she clawed at my shoulders. I came straight after her.
My cum filled her pussy, with neither of us bothering to worry about that now that she was on the Pill and we had both passed STD tests, and I could almost count the beat. There was a brief pause when she shifted from passionate, almost animalistic intensity back to sweetness and light.
Darcy nearly fell against me, wrapping her hands around my neck, her face buried in the crook of my neck. This was something she’d done before and that she seemed to find comforting.
I returned her embrace, stroking her back, and tenderly kissed her cheek, which was still glistening from the exertion. When she was ready, I scooped her into my arms, my cock still deep inside her, and went to the bed, where I slowly pulled my dick from her pussy.
After I got us both under the covers, which was a bit of a novelty for us after sex, she rolled into me, wrapping her body around mine.
I held her back, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, wishing we could be this happy and contented forever but knowing that before long I had to cross an ocean that would separate us.
Chapter Twenty-One - Darcy
Thoughts about the night before came back with a pleasant flash as soon as I woke up the next morning. I couldn’t wait to get Sean home so we could have hot sex. Truth be told, it had been a struggle not to jump him in the car after I’d parked.
If we really did only have a limited time together, I wanted to make the most of it. I knew sex wasn’t all there was to our relationship, far from it. Even though there was clearly more going on, though, sex was the most direct and potent expression of our profound connection and one we liked to indulge in a lot.
It was also the aspect of our relationship that would cease as soon as he left, since being in the same physical space was obviously a requirement for physical intimacy. We didn’t need to live in the same apartment, but the same state, let alone the same country, would be helpful.
I knew I didn’t need sex for a fulfilling relationship, at least in theory, but I had a hard time imagining how I would get by without it once he was gone. I kept wondering how I could find a realistic way to move to Ireland with him. I would miss my mom and my friends, but we could email and skype, and I was sure there had to be some kind of job I could get over there, especially with a good recommendation from Nicole.
“You’re thinking again,” Sean said.
He almost made it sound like an accusation. To be fair, I only got my ‘thinking face’ on when pondering something serious. I was just a bit surprised he was able to recognize it so soon. It usually took my friends longer to notice.
“It’s just indigestion,” I lied.
“Want some Tums?”
“I’ll be okay.”
“How about a stomach rub?”
I was about to say no thanks, but the touch of his hand on my belly, inches from my pussy, pushed all other thoughts out of my head. All I could do was hum along to the rhythm of the pleasure he was giving me, both on my belly and then with his other hand considerably further down, the combined sensation bringing me gently to orgasm.
“I love you,” I said, not feeling the least bit self-conscious. “I need you to know that.”
“I love you more,” he said. “And I need you to know it, too.”
My heart filled to bursting at his response.
Although we’d shown one another our love, this was the first time we’d said the actual words. Now that they were out in the open, we could never take them back. Not that I would want to.
It was all business in the shower, all scrubbing and shampooing. At least until all the essentials were done and Sean got me to bend over. He took me from behind, his hands on my hips as the water rained down on us, the tiles smooth and cool under my hands.
After that, we ventured back out into the sitting room.
“What shall we do now?” I asked, glancing toward the bed.
“Get you ready for work.”
“I suppose,” I said, heaving out a sigh.
I had wanted to spend the day in bed totally naked, that first taste in the shower leaving me hungry for more, but he was right, I had to go to work.
It was a weird feeling, getting dressed for work and being watched. The sensation was an oddly erotic one. Before I left for the office, I showed him what I really wanted to do by pulling him hard against me and driving my tongue into his mouth.
“Wow,” he breathed when we broke apart.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I’m not usually like this. You just have this effect on me.”
“Ditto.”
My heels lifted off the floor like I was levitating. Sean’s slipped his hand inside the waistband of my skirt and slid two fingers straight into my pussy. He pinned me up against the wall and finger fucked me until I screamed, the sound muffled by his soft lips on mine.
With a silent efficiency, Sean whipped off my panties and replaced them with fresh ones, kissing me as he pulled them up into place.
“You should go,” he said. “You don’t want to be late.”
My legs were jelly and barely held me up as I eased into the driver’s seat, exhilarated and happy. No one knew what their day would bring, but mine was already looking up.
* * *
When I reached my desk, I saw that a yellow sticky note had been placed on my monitor. The piece of paper looked harmless. Just a small square of yellow paper with a gentle adhesive on the back.
A set of symbols that had been scribbled on the front that, while clearly in English, took a while to decipher. Not because I couldn’t read it, but because of what it actually said.
Darcy,
Please see me in my office when you come in.
-Emil Calvin
The weakness in my legs returned, though in a vastly different form. My morning elation turning quite swiftly to nerves.
Steadying myself by breathing, I rolled back my shoulders and ordered my heart to stop beating like a drum. On unsteady legs, I made my way to the top floor and knocked against Mr. Calvin’s door.
“Come in,” he called.
Taking one more deep breath, I opened the door.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes. Please sit down,” he said, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of his desk.
I dropped like a well-trained Labrador, the soft leather of the chair creaking slightly under my weight. Goosebumps raced along my skin, and not the good kind.
Part of me wanted to run from his office screaming. My intuition didn’t like Emil Calvin, not one little bit.
“I’ve heard some very good things about you. Nicole Sharp speaks very highly.”
I crossed my legs at the ankles and placed my hands in my lap.
“Thank you, sir.”
“My personal legal assistant has given her notice, and I need a replacement. You start tomorrow. You have today to finish up any work you were doing for Nicole.”
“Great,” I said, not meaning it.
Bile rose in my throat, and I forced myself not to throw up. Working as Mr. Calvin’s assistant was a huge step on the career ladder, and I tried to convince myself I should be grateful. It was an opportunity for more money and more responsibility. All good things, in my estimation.
Still, I was of two minds. The impression I had of the senior partners was that they were a cabal of egocentric opportunists who would win at any cost. It felt a bit like glasshouses, but even I had limits.
I was ambitious, yes, but not mercenary. According to the chat in the copy room, Emil Calvin was one of the worst. It was mostly just rumored, but I had had to wonder why his last assistant had given notice.
