Frozen - Page 43

“Bring me where?” I asked, then narrowed my eyes. “You’d better not have arranged for me to come here, Sean.”

Sean didn’t say a word.

Oh, my God.

I couldn’t believe it.

“You said you’d never trick me again. You bloody promised, Sean!” I shouted and stepped away from my brother.

Sean sighed. “I’m not tricking you. I was going to try to persuade you to come here tonight to clear the air between you and Darcy, but you came here of your own accord. The only place I’m bringing you is outside for some fresh air. Having you here is no evil scheme. This time, I’m letting everything pan out on its own.”

I looked around once more for Darcy. “Did he know I’d be here?”

He nodded. “Yes, he did . . . He misses you, Neala. He just wants to talk, but if you really don’t want to, I’ll take you home. No questions asked.”

I looked at my brother and swallowed. “Do you really believe him?” I asked.

“Do I believe that he misses you?” Sean asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah.”

“Without a fucking doubt,” Sean stated. “The lad is a wreck after what happened between you two. He was in here trying to drink himself silly earlier just to escape from his own head for a little while. He ended things with Laura Stoke, too. I witnessed it with me own eyes. He doesn’t want anyone but you.”

I blinked my eyes at my brother, unsure what to feel or believe.

“I can see you’re hesitant, so let’s go outside and get some air. We can come back in or go home when you sort your head out.”

I looked around the room once more and nodded. “You’re right, I need some air, but I wanna go on me own. It’s already ten to twelve – go find Jess and be with her for the countdown.”

Sean shook his head. “What about you?”

I smiled. “I’ll be fine. I just need a few minutes to meself. Okay?”

“Okay,” Sean said slowly, “but if you decide to go home, come back in here and I’ll drive you – I’m not drinking tonight. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He opened his arms and I stepped into them. “I love you, Neala.”

“I love you, too,” I said and gave my brother a tight squeeze before I turned and walked through the crowd of drunken locals.

I took a deep breath as I stepped outside.

I folded my arms across my chest and rubbed my hands over my upper arms to generate some heat. It hadn’t snowed since this morning; there was a slight breeze, though, and it was a bloody cold one.

I snorted to myself.

Why had I come out here?

Why hadn’t I just gone to the ladies’ bathroom like every other female did when they wanted some alone time?

“Neala?”

I froze when his voice sounded from behind me.

“How did you know I was out here?” I asked.

Please don’t say Sean told you.

“I saw you walk outside after your talk with your brother . . . I wasn’t sure if you were going to attempt to hike home or not. You haven’t got a very good record of trekking through the snow in high heels, so I came out here to see if you needed any assistance,” Darcy said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I found myself smiling too.

“I’m not leaving . . . I just came out here to think about a few things.”

Darcy walked up beside me. “Do I happen to be one of those things?”

I kept my gaze straight ahead.

“Yeah,” I replied.

We were silent for a few moments before Darcy sighed and turned to me.

“I’m sorry for hurting you. I have no excuse for the hurtful things I said. I’ve been sick with myself for days knowing that I’ve upset you so much.”

I swallowed as I turned to face Darcy. I frowned when I took in his appearance. He was dressed in his trademark black jeans, black boots and a blue button shirt, and his hair was messy in that sexy way I loved . . . but he didn’t look like Darcy. He looked like a shell of his former self.

“Have you been eating?” I asked.

He looked like he’d lost some weight.

“Well . . . no,” Darcy admitted. “I wasn’t joking when I said I feel sick about what I said about the night we shared.”

I frowned. “Darcy, I don’t want you to get sick over me.”

He shook his head. “None of this is because of you; it’s because of me, because of the stupid things I said.”

I was taken aback by how hard he was on himself. He was definitely taking our falling-out seriously.

“I know you said you didn’t mean what you said, but if that’s true then why did you say it in the first place?” I asked, and continued to rub my arms.

Darcy swallowed. “I truly thought you would wake up and freak out. I woke up before you, and when I realised how much I liked having you in my arms and how much I liked you, I got scared.” He stepped closer to me. “I was so sure you would blame me for us sleeping together and that you would hate me again. When we made up and just had a laugh together thinking of all the silly things we did in the past it made me happy, and I was afraid it wasn’t the same for you.”

Holy. God.

“I had no idea you felt that way,” I whispered.

“How could you? I never mentioned it to you out of fear you didn’t like me back, so I decided to lie about our night together to our brothers so I wouldn’t look affected . . . That plan failed horribly because both of them saw me at my lowest point earlier today. They’re sporting the bruises to prove it.”

I gasped. “You fought Justin and Sean?”

Darcy shrugged one shoulder. “Just for a minute. I needed to hit something and they were willing targets.”

Wow.

I didn’t know what to think.

On one hand I was worried – I didn’t want to set myself up for more hurt – but on the other hand I was so incredibly happy Darcy felt the way he did.

He

said he liked me out loud.

“If I said okay, that I believe you and I’m willing to forgive you . . . what would you do?” I asked.

Darcy reached out and took my hand in his.

“I’d ask you out on a date.”

My stomach burst into butterflies.

“A real date?” I asked, smiling.

Darcy nodded, his eyes hopeful. “Yeah, a real date. I’d then ask you out on another date when that date was over, then another when that date was over, and then another when that date was—”

I cut Darcy off with my laughter, and it lit up his whole face with a beaming smile.

“It sounds like you want to get to know me,” I teased.

Darcy reached up and brushed my hair out of my eyes. “I already know you. I just want to get to know you all over again.”

I blinked as my heart thudded against my chest.

“I believe you,” I whispered, “and I forgive you.”

Darcy gazed down at me with smiling eyes.

“Neala,” he murmured, “will you go out on a date with me?”

I pretended to think about it and Darcy growled, making my insides jump.

“I’d love to go on a date with you,” I said, biting on my lower lip.

Darcy smiled and lowered his face to mine as people began to shout inside the pub.

“Do I have to wait until after our first date before I can kiss you?” he whispered, his eyes locked on my lips.

I began to tremble.

“Hmmm,” I mused. “I’m not a kiss-on-the-first-date kind of girl.”

The cheers of people counting down from ten inside the pub was deafening.

Darcy grinned at me. “Will you make an exception?” he asked.

“Six!”

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“Just this once,” I whispered.

Darcy brought his mouth to mine as fireworks and bangers went off all around the village. Everyone was screaming and laughing inside the pub as they rang in the New Year.

Darcy broke our short kiss and rubbed his nose against mine. “Happy New Year, my Neala Girl.”

A warm feeling of joy spread throughout my body as I hugged Darcy’s body to mine.

“Happy New Year,” I replied, and smiled up at him.

He gazed down at me with so much emotion that it made me chuckle.

Tags: L.A. Casey Romance
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