Page 96 of Mr. Aster
“I’ll be damned,” Darcy said with a laugh. “You really seem like you don’t want to go back.”
“I don’t,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “I received a text from my brother John, who lives in LA.”
“I know who he is,” Darcy said with an amused chuckle. “We met on Jake’s yacht, remember? I also know he’s the brother who managed to get away with marrying a womanbeneath his station. You, however, will be a completely different problem for the Aster family.”
“That is the truth,” Jim said with a laugh. “Have you talked with your father about all of this yet? In person, that is. Not on the phone?”
“I feel so sorry for you and your brothers,” Avery said after I exhaled in frustration in response to Jim asking that question.
“What do you think?” I said dryly.
“I think you’ve got a world of shit to face when you return,” Jim answered.
“Well, I’m pretty sure they flew home this morning. So, that leads me to believe that Darcy’s parents ran them out of there,” I looked at Darcy. “No offense, but my parents are unreasonable people, and your parents share a way of living that is worlds away from their comfort zone.”
“I know how your parents and my parents are,” Darcy said, more serious compared to the lighthearted conversation we’d been having. “I’d be shocked to learn that your parents were still at the estate with mine after one night there. What did John text you, anyway? There seems to be a reason you’re afraid to return to the States.”
“John told me that he could tell just through texting that I was finally living my life and happy. He said not to let anything fuck that up because I deserve it,” I shrugged, remembering the text coming through, knowing that John was the only person besides Natalia who knew I was faking the relationship with Darcy.
I think John was picking up that my textswere not like me at alland that I was falling for Darcy. I’d texted him that I was aware I’d done all this to avoid our parents bullshit, but I ended up seeing what a fantastic person Darcy was turning out to be. I also told him I was proud of him for choosing himself over the family, and that alone must’ve given away the changes I’d felt.
“He got that from texting you about how Mexico was with your fiancée?” Jim questioned with an edge of humor in his voice.
“Well, I can’t stop telling him how happy I am. Trust me, no one knows better than my baby brother that I don’t talk like that.” I looked over at Darcy, “I couldn’t fakethatwith John and get away with it if I tried.”
She smiled as Jake and Spencer walked out of the water with their boards.
“Well, Jake is correct. Hang onto your love and your happiness while you have it because youwillneed it when you return,” Jim said as he stood. Avery and Darcy began gathering their things to leave the beach, knowing we needed to be packed up and out of here soon. “And I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but the business I was handling moments ago was your father. He’s arranged a meeting with me in two days atthe winery.”
As Darcy and Avery agreed that Ashley was right to stay in the room and pack while we all lounged, surfed, and soaked up the last of Mexico’s beautiful beaches, I felt my stomach tighten into a knot.
Fuck!I should’ve known my parents wouldn’t leave until after I returned. I was a crucial part of my family’s business, and they needed to protect their investment. They didn’t spend my whole life grooming me to be the perfect heir just to let me run off. My father needed to see if my relationship with Darcy was an excuse for me to get out of that auction like the rest of these men believed until they saw that I’d genuinely fallen for the woman.
Which I had, and that was something my father was about to see.
How the fuck did I manage to back myself intothiscorner? It didn’t matter whether my father was pissed and believed the fake relationship liebeforeI fell for Darcy because I didn’t care who it affected when we started this thing. Now, I wouldn’t allow her to fall victim to their prejudice and bigotry.
What I needed to do now was to screw my head on straight and prepare to match my parents’ anger when they saw through me and realized I’d found happiness with this woman. I would protect her and my happiness at any cost.
I had to keep focused on that because when we drove up to the winery where they’d waited all week for me to return, hellwould be waiting for me in the form of Sebastian III and Margot Aster.
Chapter Forty
Darcy
Our flight home on the private jet was uneventful. Everyone was bummed to leave Mexico, but unlike the others, Sebastian and I pretty much had Mexico waiting for us with Ines and Antonio in my parents’ home.
Everything was eerily quiet once we returned to the winery because our parents weren’t there when we arrived. We were surprised to learn they’d all gone to San Francisco, which I almost couldn’t wrap my head around, but I’d get to the bottom of that later.
I wanted to use whatever alone time we had left to our advantage because I had no idea when it could come again, but regardless of my intention to be open and free, I couldn’t help but be on guard with my feelings. In all honesty, I expected that it would merely take reuniting with his parents for Sebastian to remember that we could never be more than just fuck-buddies, something Ineversaw myself becoming with anyone. Once his parents reinforced their expectations, and he remembered hisduties to his family, it would break the spell he was under, and that would be the end of us.
Nevertheless, I was still enjoying the last delicious moments of having this man ravish my body. I just wasn’t going to get caught up in this whirlwind of a doomed affair brought on because Sebastian wasn’t thinking straight. If he had been in his right mind, and I was wrong about all of this, then there would be no problem, but I needed to prepare myself for both outcomes.
He wasn’t the only one who needed to face reality, though. Mexico was all fun in the sun, so naturally, I wasn’t exactly in my most logical brain there, either. Being back home with him and back to the grind would show me in the cold light of day if I even wanted more with the man. I just needed to keep perspective and not get swept away.
“Fuck,” Sebastian said, having just finished round two of earth-shattering sex. “I’m not sure I want to meet any of them for dinner.” He kissed my chin and eased himself deeper inside of me. “I just want you,” he chuckled, slowly pushing himself in and out of me.
“Well,” I ran the tip of my finger over the top of his nose, “as much as I’d love to stay just like this and never leave my room, you need to get your ass up and across the place to your newly remodeled bedrooms.”
