Chapter 7 #2
The vegan and the artist were two prime examples of that, and I didn’t want to repeat that pattern.
With Emerald’s encouragement, I wrote down my goals for the next year, and even though I didn’t specifically list staying single, it was certainly at the forefront of my mind.
I needed to find my inner happiness before I could worry about someone else’s, and I wouldn’t be able to do that by going out and drinking too much, then hooking up with men who couldn’t see my worth.
So, as delectable as the man was, I was not going to give in to my base desires. I, Delphine Middleton, was going to remain single for the next year even if it killed me.
Considering how the man standing behind me made me feel, it might.
“What a good girl! She’s a natural at sucking.” When I sputtered out a laugh, Crow groaned and said, “That came out . . . I didn’t . . . Well, fuck!”
When he took a step back, I instantly felt the loss of his warmth at my back and wondered what it would be like to sleep in bed with him curled up behind me, holding me tightly throughout the night.
Damn. Where the hell did that come from?
◆◆◆
CROW
The sun peeking through the blinds woke me up, but just barely. After working late nights in a bar for most of my adult life, early morning wasn’t my favorite time of day. However, I may learn to love it if it always included a gorgeous woman sprawled over me, even if she was drooling on my chest.
We didn’t go to sleep this way, and I wasn’t sure when this happened, but I liked it.
My eyes fluttered closed, and I was almost asleep again when I realized what I’d just seen above me. I stared at the ceiling, trying to focus in the dim light, and sighed when I saw that it wasn’t my imagination.
There was a spider directly above us, and from the looks of its web, it had been here for some time.
I looked around the room, wondering how long it had been since I’d dusted. It had obviously been quite some time, so instead of fishing like I had planned to do today, I was going to play nursemaid to puppies while I cleaned my fucking house. “Son of a bitch.”
I closed my eyes, tempted to go back to sleep and ignore my responsibilities until later when we woke up together, but then I remembered that she had responsibilities - namely the bustling business where I’d run into her yesterday.
I wasn’t sure when the store opened, but I felt like I should wake her up just in case.
Since she was lying on my right arm and I couldn’t currently feel my own fingers, I ran my left hand up and down her back over and over until she squirmed and made an adorable growling noise deep in her throat.
Since that didn’t seem to be working, I started gently patting her back and finally whispered her name.
Darcy lifted her head from my chest and ran the back of her hand across her mouth. A few seconds later, she tensed as her eyes flew open, just a few inches from mine.
I was expecting some embarrassment because of the drool or maybe because of how she was draped over me. I even thought she might be uncomfortable when she felt just how much my body liked having her so close, considering that my cock was right beneath her hip.
What I wasn’t expecting was for her entire body to levitate off of the couch as she let out a scream that could shatter eardrums and was worthy of any horror film.
Luckily, she hadn’t put her knee anywhere uncomfortable when she landed, but her position had changed for the better. Now, she was straddling my hips with my cock nestled between her legs and her breasts dangerously close to my mouth.
I swallowed hard before I said, “Good morning.”
“I am so sorry!” Darcy used my chest to push herself up, which only made the position of my cock even more precarious.
That seemed to register with her, too, as we looked down and saw my shorts had slipped down while we slept and the head of my cock was waving at us.
Before I had a chance to apologize or even try to move, Darcy threw her head back and let out an angry roar before she asked, “What did I do to make you hate me?”
“Um, are you talking to me or that spider up there in the corner?”
Her next scream was a garbled litany of curse words and prayers, followed by a loud thud when she launched herself off the couch onto the floor. She sprang to her feet, hands clutched to her heaving chest as she looked at my uninvited houseguest in wide-eyed horror.
“Not a fan of spiders?” I asked sarcastically as I sat up and put my feet on the floor.
“That thing is huge!”
“Thank you! Thank you very much!”
Darcy looked away from the spider just long enough to frown at me, but she did it while she was walking backwards toward the kitchen. “I . . . um . . . I’m gonna go home now and . . . er . . . maybe you can . . . I’ll help this evening if you bring the puppies to my house.”
Her stammering was adorable, even if she looked terrified. I couldn’t resist teasing her.
“Let me get coffee going, and then I’ll make the three of us a nice breakfast.”
“The three of us?” Darcy squawked.
“Me, you, and Charlotte,” I explained as I pointed my finger at the ceiling while trying my best to keep a straight face.
“I’ve gotta go!” Darcy’s eyes darted toward the front door and then at the spider again before she backed up another step or two. She gulped loudly before she asked, “Can I use the back door?”
“Go out through the garage, babe. I’ll shut it in a minute.”
“See ya!” Darcy yelled as she spun around and ran through the kitchen toward the door that led to the garage.
I twisted around on the couch and pulled the cord to lift the blinds before I watched Darcy sprint across the grass toward her house. Her hair was all over the place, and her clothes were rumpled from sleep. I hoped that none of the neighbors saw what I knew they would think was a walk of shame.
Especially since nothing like that had happened. Yet.
Even though I was exhausted from waking up every two hours throughout the night and the goodbye had been way too abrupt, I hadn’t ever had that much fun getting to know a woman before.
Late-night snacks, an Animaniacs marathon, lots of laughter, and even an in-depth conversation about dreams, family, and our plans for the future had turned what could have been a mind-numbingly exhausting night into something I couldn’t wait to do again.
But before I could begin to make plans for that, I would have to evict my new houseguest. The timer on my phone started sounding, and in the quiet house, it seemed loud enough to wake the dead.
Change of plans. First, I would feed the puppies again, and then I would de-spider my house in the hopes of having Darcy over again very soon.
Fishing didn’t sound nearly as exciting anymore.