Page 35 of Mr. Aster
While dinner with her parents promised to be amusing, the highlight of my and Darcy’s fake relationship would be the special dinner tomorrow night that I’d invited Jim and his wife to. If anything would make Darcy squirm out of her skin, it would be that.
I finished washing up and preparing for dinner. Since dinner would be taken inside this evening, I wore my signature cologne, which Iknewwas irresistible to women, knowing Darcy would be intoxicated by it. I planned to torture her with my enticing cologne andfake charm, rendering her utterly miserable every night as she stared at her bedroom ceiling, unable to sleep and wishing she’d never pulled her cute little stunt.
I had to admit it: this was the most alive I’d felt since my wife died…perhaps even before then.
I’d joined the family later than planned because my meetings with our marketing team had run longer than intended. But after a quick shower and the satisfaction that Darcy would be more than uncomfortable tonight, I forgave my tardiness.
“Hey, baby,” Darcy said, her eyes bright and expression filled with a radiant joy I’d never seen before. “You’re late.”
She scrunched her nose adorably and eyed her parents, who wore similarly vibrant expressions.
“Good evening, cupcake,” I said, using the most ridiculous pet name I could come up with, hoping to irritate her. I bent tokiss her cheek, and just before my lips touched her, she pulled her head away from their reach.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said in a playful tone that I would’ve never guessed she possessed in a million years. “No kissing in public, remember?”
“No,” I said with a smile of my own, sitting next to her and running the back of my fingers over her bare shoulder and up the side of her neck. “If that was a rule, we probably should’ve established that.”
Even though I saw my gesture create tiny goosebumps on her soft flesh, her eyes showed how much she wanted to punch me.
“You two are just as I imagined,” Tina said with a loud laugh and a quick clap of her hands. “So cute. Iknewthere was something more going on. And you, Darcy,” she eyed her daughter with a daring smile as Billy smiled brightly at the exchange, “Iknewyou had feelings for him from the way you’ve been behaving,actinglike you didn’t like Sebastian.” She laughed, took a sip of her wine, and then gazed lovingly at both of us.
“How did you feel when Darcy told you she would only date you if you promised to move to California and live here with us permanently?”
I nearly choked on the wine I’d just taken a sip of before I recovered, then looked at Darcy with the best smile I could muster. “Why would you make up nonsense, cupcake?” I stared at her, knowing she was spewing bullshit just to get under my skin. “You know this whole thing was unexpected, and your fascination with me is even more shocking than this ridiculous story you fabricated about us for your parents?”
“He’s very shy about living here and intruding on you both,” she said, pulling her eyes from mine and standing firm on her nonsense about how wefell for each other.“But I told him it would be the only way I would date him.” I watched her,knowing there was a method behind this, and I waited for the new twist in this little game we were playing. She looked at me and smiled, “It’s interesting because Iknewno one would believe how hard and fast we fell for each other, baby,” she said. “So, I had to prove to everyone that you were as in love with me as I am with you.”
“Well, I do hope this works out because?—”
“Oh, itwillwork out. It absolutelymustwork out. I would hate to think that your mother and father are going to come all the way out here next week only to find you weren’t seriousat allabout dating a woman of my status.”
I miraculously refrained from breaking my wine glass when I realized she might actually have had the audacity to call my parents and tell them about this charade.Iwas planning to do that. If I could feed them my narrative, I could control their reactions, responses, and any otherbullshit that would come my way when they learned of this. I just hadn’t had the chance yet.
Fuck! There’s no way she had the balls,I thought, our eyes locked in a challenging gaze.Goddammit, Seb. She’s not afraid of you, so why would she be afraid of them?
“Wait,” Billy’s voice of excitement burst through my consciousness as I tried desperately to determine whether Darcy was calling my bluff. “You mean to tell me Mr. and Mrs. Aster will be here next week?”
“Yes!” Darcy said as if her dad had just won a million dollars for guessing correctly. “And the best part is that Sebastian willobviouslybe staying with me in my rooms,so…” she hung onto the word and stared at me daringly. “Well, let’s just say it’s a great thing you remodeled that entire wing of rooms you’re staying in.”
I smiled at her, knowing now that she was full of shit. “That’s interesting,” I said, glancing at Tina and Billy’s enamored grins, then looking back at Darcy after casually taking a sip of wine.“The Margot and Sebastian Aster thatIknowwouldneverdare to intrude on your family by staying at the estate. In fact,” I mustered by best warm,fakesmile for everyone at the table, “it would be below my mother’s standard to stay anywhere without a Michelin rating. Sadly, I don’t think we should get our hopes up for?—”
“You know, I thought that, too,” Darcy interrupted me, as she was known to do since the day I’d fucking met her. “But the strange thing was, they truly want to stay here with all of this. Your mother may not be amused, but your father was quite bubbly when he and I spoke on the phone.”
“Bubbly?” I questioned her with an expression of utter shock that I couldn’t hide. What the fuck had she done? “I must say, cupcake,” I plastered on that phony grin again, “many adjectives have been used to describe my father, but bubbly isnotone of them. I assure you that you were not speaking to Sebastian Aster,” I said, feeling relief slide through me with the assurance that there was no way Darcy had spoken to my parents. She was full of it, but I did need to call them tonight to control that aspect of this sham.
“Hmm,” she said, seemingly searching for words. “Maybe he’s just really happy you’ve found happiness again?”
I felt my stomach churn slightly. “My father isn’t concerned about my happiness, trust me,” I stated that fact when I shouldn’t have.
“God forbid!” Billy gasped like I’d blasphemed everything holy. In his happy-go-lucky, easy-breezy world, being unconcerned with your child’s happiness was evidently a mortal sin. His reaction to my words was a staunch reminder that I was out of my element. This mancherishedhis family, and my dad saw his family as a means to an end—that end being the Aster Family legacy. For a split second, I envied Darcy for having a father who showered her with pure, unconditional love.
“Don’t worry, Dad. He’s joking,” she reassured Billy. “But, yes, Mr. Aster was a bit stiff on the phone when he first took my call.”
I watched Billy laugh, “Oh, honey, I’m sure he was, but I’mnot surprisedthat he fell for how adorable you are.”
I am!I thought, watching this exchange play out, wondering if it was true or false.
“Neither am I,” Tina added.
