Page 18 of All I Want for Christmas

Darcy hesitated, then did as she was told. He hadn’t messaged her last night or this morning. There had been no‘nice to meet you’. No ‘let’s have a drink sometime’. There’d been no hello and now there’d be no goodbye. All she had was the memory of walking by his side, his arm looped lightly around her – territorial, protective, proprietary. For a few minutes, she had felt like she was his, and it had been...intoxicating.

She closed her eyes, trying to banish the thoughts.

‘Ireallythink you should give Erik another chance,’ Freja said, pumping hair serum into her palms and smoothing it over her split ends.

‘I told you, the spark wasn’t there. At least, not for me.’

‘Yeah, because you didn’t give him a chance. You were distracted by the man-whore.’

‘Can you please not call him that?’

‘I think we definitely should call him that,’ Freja said with a pointed look. ‘Keep you focused.’

Darcy tried to focus now, but she was profoundly distracted. She’d had a restless sleep, falling into confusing dreams and waking with sudden starts. ‘I think perhaps you’re the one who’s strayed from the path. I take it you’re going to be seeing Tristanagaintonight?’ she murmured, trying to change the subject.

Freja met her gaze with a sly look in the mirror. ‘I mean, there’s no overwhelming reason not to.’

Darcy gave a tut as she began applying some foundation. She needed to look distinctly more alive than she felt. It was eight in the morning and Viggo had already been working for an hour. ‘You don’t think a firebreak would give you time to control these flames a little?’

‘Honestly? It would only fan them,’ Freja said, sounding incredulous. ‘I don’t know what the hell’s happened to me but I’m obsessed with him, Darce.’ She shrugged. ‘At thispoint, I reckon it’s just better that I get it out of my system. But don’t worry, I have a plan.’

‘Oh yeah? And what’s that then?’

‘I’m going to overdose on him. Mainline him. I reckon another week, two max, and I’ll start getting bored.’

‘Well, it’s a new tactic, certainly.’ Darcy applied some cream blush to her cheeks and lips and a quick slick of mascara to her lashes. ‘Mm...Better.’

‘What are you up to today?’

‘Iam heading to the Madsen Collection archives,’ Darcy said with a note of satisfaction. ‘It’s a day in the vaults for me with a septuagenarian.’

‘You really are on a roll!’ Freja called after her as Darcy headed for her bedroom to get dressed.

‘Aren’t I just,’ she called back, as her phone buzzed and Erik wished her a good morning.

‘My worst meal has to be the moo ping I bought from a street seller in Krabi. Tasted great – as it went down. Ended up on a drip in hospital with severe dehydration from throwing up so much. Haven’t been able to look at a pork skewer since.’

Darcy smiled. Aksel the Vet was beginning to warm up.

‘Yeah, I had food poisoning once too, although not so glamorous as yours. My culprit was an opened jar of Dolmio pasta sauce when I was at uni. It was no joke. Haven’t eaten ready-made pasta sauce since.’

‘Ah. So a happy ending then.’

He was a food snob? Interesting.

‘Do you like cooking?’

‘Love it. De-stresses me. I love Asian especially. You?’

‘I like Italian best. The cheeses, herbs. I’m obsessed with the smell of fresh basil.’

‘There’s a great Italian on Nørrebrogade called Cicchetti.’

She stared at the comment hopefully. Was it supposed to be the opening line for asking her on a date? She waited a moment for the question to come through, but nothing did.

She groaned. Had anyone checked him for a pulse recently?

‘Okay great, thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out some time.’

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