The dirty bastard.
I scoffed and shoved his chest with my hands as I pushed away from him. I rolled off him and huddled into the covers on my temporary side of the bed because the entire section of the mattress was freezing.
I winced.
I must have being sleeping on Darcy for a long time.
Damn it.
“Neala.” Darcy laughed. “Don’t hide over there. I don’t mind if you want to spoon me . . . or lie on me. If you’re cold, don’t be afraid to use my body to warm you up.”
Bloody hell.
“Stop it. Stop talking to me; just go back to sleep,” I pleaded, and buried my face into the pillow my head rested on.
“But I can be your heater, baby,” he sang.
I couldn’t even smile. “You just butchered a great song.”
I was absolutely mortified. I didn’t want Darcy to notice, because he would just tease me some more, so I tried to play it cool, and that meant I had to be a bitch.
“Are you embarrassed?” Darcy asked, chuckling.
Cool, play it cool.
“Why would I be embarrassed?” I said, and then cleared my throat. “I can’t help what I do in my sleep. It’s out of my control if my body moves when eighty percent of my brain is dormant.”
Darcy cackled. “Same here, so my hard-on shouldn’t freak you out so much. Men get morning wood all the time and it’s out of our control.”
I hadn’t even mentioned his erection!
“Stop. Talking,” I growled.
Darcy sighed. “You’re freaked that you cuddled with me, but you’re more freaked that you touched my cock . . . I mean penis.”
I could hear the grin in his voice, the fucker.
“It doesn’t freak me out. I’d just rather not touch any part of you. Especially your coc— penis.”
Damn it.
Darcy snorted. “A little feisty, aren’t you?”
I was never going to be able to calm myself down if he kept talking.
“Keep it up, and I’m heading out to the sitting room,” I threatened.
Darcy chuckled. “Okay, Okay. I’ll quit teasing you.”
Thank God.
Darcy stopped talking, and after a few minutes his breathing slowed and I knew the fucker had fallen back asleep, which wasn’t fair. My body was on high alert and I was still mortified.
I couldn’t stay in his bed any longer, so I quietly got out and snuck into the sitting room. Some areas were still damp, so I went into the kitchen and got tea towels to dry everything up. It gave me something to do and focus on . . . for a few minutes.
My mind kept going back to touching Darcy’s boner, and then him laughing because he knew I’d felt it.
I was so embarrassed.
I didn’t want to look at him, or talk to him, ever again. I wanted to bury my face in the mountains of snow outside and cease my existence.
With Darcy, though, things were never that simple.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It was Christmas Eve, and I was still stuck in Darcy’s house.
We had been trapped inside this hell-hole of evil for three and a half days already.
Three and a half days! (I was counting Friday night as half a day because it felt that long.)
It got worse too, because it seemed that there was no end in sight for this . . . ordeal.
I looked to the doorway of the sitting room when a noise got my attention. When I saw it was Darcy leaning against the doorway I flushed with embarrassment and looked away. I was grateful for the dimly lit room, because I could not take Darcy teasing me right now, especially not after what had happened this morning.
I’d avoided him for most of the day, staying in the sitting room while he stayed in his bedroom for the most part. I forced myself to endure a freezing cold bath for a while to clean myself up. I missed warm water terribly, but I needed to give myself a good scrub. It was a perfect excuse to stay away from Darcy for an extra couple of minutes.
I’d interacted with him only when I needed fresh clothes; he’d silently handed me another set, just like the ones I had before. I’d thought I would get away with not speaking to him at all, but now it was late in the evening and he was making me face him.
It was horrible.
I’d woken up this morning spooning Darcy, and I’d touched his . . . boner. That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was that I kind of, sort of, liked it.
It was soul crushing.
I was so confused about my sudden feelings for Darcy. I didn’t know what to do with them or myself. I was freaked by how intense they were for something so new. I didn’t know how to process it.
“Go away, Darcy,” I grumbled, and drew my knees up to my chest.
“I come bearing gifts, though.”
I peeked at him and saw he had a bottle of wine.
A large bottle of wine, which was exactly what I needed.
I held my hand out and he handed me the opened bottle. I took at least five deep gulps and handed it back to him. He took a few sips as well and then put it on the floor next to the couch and walked right over to me, but I still refused to look up at him. I shook my head as the heat flowed through my body, and after a moment I pressed my face back against my knees as Darcy chuckled.
“Why are you being like this?”
I remained still.
“Being like what?” I mumbled.
I tensed when I felt him lean towards me.
“Like this. You’re acting like a little girl who just saw her first coc—”
“Don’t say that word,” I growled, cutting Darcy off before he could finish his sentence.
He laughed as he fell onto the couch next to me. “You don’t like that word?”
I didn’t mind it, but when Darcy said it, it sounded dirty . . . dirty in a good way.
“No, I don’t.”
Darcy chuckled lightly. “Okay, you’re acting like a little girl who has never seen a penis before.”
I elbowed him in the stomach and he coughed and then laughed, hard.
“You’re such a dickhead, Darcy Hart,” I grumbled.
I tried to get up from the couch, but his arms closed around me, making that impossible.
“I’m sorry. I won’t laugh anymore.”
Yeah, like I’d believe that.
I sighed in defeat. “I don’t care; laugh it up.”
Darcy released me from his hold, but left one arm draped around my shoulder. I was very aware of it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“I’m only playing with you, Neala Girl. You know that, right?”
I did, but it was still embarrassing.
“Did you come in here to talk about this morning? Because if you did, you can feck off.”
Darcy shook with silent laughter.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay. You’ve barely looked at
me since this morning, and that is odd, even for you.”
I leaned my head back on Darcy’s arm and looked up to the dark ceiling.
“I know you couldn’t help it; it was just your body and not you. I know all that, but still . . . it touched me, Darcy.”
Darcy lost it and burst out laughing, and then quickly wrapped both his arms around my body as I tried to get up from the couch once more. He howled with laughter and yelped and screeched when I pinched his arm in an attempt to make him let me go, but he didn’t. He held on to me tightly, and I hated that I loved every second of it.
“I’m sorry.” He wheezed with laughter. “I’ll stop . . . Just give me a second.”
He was such a moron – he laughed at everything.
I muttered obscenities to myself until Darcy calmed himself down, which wasn’t for at least three minutes.
“Okay, I’m okay,” he said.
I tilted my head back and looked to my right at him. “Are you sure?”
He smiled wide. “Just don’t say me hard-on touched you again in that horrified tone and I’ll be perfectly fine.”
I rolled my eyes and looked back to the ceiling. “You’re an eejit. You know that, right?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help it; I laughed.
Darcy nudged me lightly until I looked back at him.
“You know what this reminds me of?”
I was intrigued.
“What?” I asked.
“When we were little, before the drama started between us, you would lie against me like you are now and you’d happily stay that way for hours. It was as if you felt safe in my arms, like you knew I would protect you from anything.”
I melted. “You would protect me from anything back then, Darcy. I knew you would.”
He nudged me. “I still would.”
I swallowed and looked forward.
What the hell was I supposed to say to that?
“I’m not sweet-talking you. I’ve just never told you that even though we have hate for one another, I still have a lot of love for you. Even though we are at each other’s throats all the time, you’re a huge part of me life. Now that I really think about it, you take up half of it, to be honest.”
I was half of Darcy’s life?
“Wow,” I whispered.