Sexcapades Page 12

  “Do you have any more olives? These are awesome.”

  Right. Olives. “So I think we should probably talk.”

  “Olives?” She batted her eyelashes.

  Darcy held out the platter, giving her a moment to scoop up a few more. “Talk?”

  “Okay.” It came out sounding more like moky, but he got the idea.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the phone calls?” There, not too pushy but to the point. Petra began to cough and for a moment he thought she was going to choke. “Are you okay?”

  “Yup. Just surprised me.”

  He let her get over her coughing fit before leaning forward. “Pet, this is serious.”

  “I know it is. I called Alice and she said to keep the recording and make note of when it happened. I spoke with the cops and they confirmed that there’s nothing they can do about it. Besides, it was only two calls. That hardly means someone is stalking me.”

  “I didn’t mention anything about stalking.” He’d thought it, of course. He’d worked with many women who’d been stalked by men. Things usually started off innocently enough, but in every case the situation escalated. “I’m glad Alice knew enough to tell you to do that. It’s important to keep records of everything. Even if you don’t think it means much.”

  “Alice works at a law firm. So she knows stuff like that.” Petra began to pick at the hem of her shirt. “It was only two phone calls. And they’re probably just someone who doesn’t appreciate the type of blog I write.”

  “I’m sure it won’t be anything serious.” God, he hoped not. “But you need to take care of yourself. Be around people you can trust.”

  “Like you?” There was something in the way she said it that told him she wasn’t one hundred percent convinced he was worthy of her trust. Fine, then. He’d have to prove he was.

  Darcy clasped his hands and let them dangle between his legs. He couldn’t look at her while he said this, not if he wanted to get through it all.

  “Yes, I’m someone you can trust. I know I’ve only let you see the D. Williams side of me, but that’s because he’s a guy with no problems. D. Williams can say what he wants, do what he wants, and the world simply cheers him on. I don’t have that luxury.”

  Petra had stopped eating and he could feel her gaze on him. He couldn’t stop himself from looking up and meeting her gaze. Her hair was unbound, the locks damp and curly around her face. For the first time since they’d stumbled together, Darcy knew she was looking at him and not D. Williams.

  “You know I’m a psychologist.”

  “Before I met you I wasn’t sure if you really were, or if it was just a thing you were portraying. Something to give you some shred of credibility.”

  “Nope, I’m the real deal. I spend a lot of time working with women and their children who have escaped from bad relationships, or women who are having difficulty in other ways.” He couldn’t tell her any details, but even if he could, he liked Petra too much to dump that kind of shit on her. “Let’s just say that I’ve seen the end result of stalking more than once. It’s not pretty.”

  Her near-silent oh was little comfort to him. He didn’t want to see that look of understanding, of pity on her face. It was weird, but having her think of him as only D. Williams gave him a break, freed him to be something else for a while. Now every time she looked at him, she’d see the man who sat beside traumatized women, helping them through some of their darkest days.

  Petra ran her hands down the tops of her thighs, slowly nodding as she did. “Okay. So what you’re telling me is that you’re not a chauvinistic jerk.”

  He chuckled. “No, I just play one on the internet.”

  Petra sighed and got to her feet. “So you know lots about sex, including how to give a woman multiple orgasms, pressure points that heighten sexual arousal—and what was your post about sensory deprivation?”

  PC had been particularly snarky with that post. Something he now realized meant she was interested in learning more about the topic. “How to enhance foreplay by eliminating your partner’s sense of sight.”

  Petra smiled. “You’re great in bed and you’re noble too.”

  “Noble is also going a bit—”

  “You counsel abused women and children! I’m pretty sure somewhere in the definition of what noble means, that’s listed as a qualifier.”

  “I’m also a workaholic whose track record with women is shit. My last girlfriend lasted all of a month because while I was busy at work, she loved to invite friends over to my place and claim it as her own.”

  Petra’s unladylike snort brought another smile to his lips. “To quote you, then I believe you’re spending time with the wrong women. We’re not all a bunch of gold diggers.”

  There was a term he didn’t think he’d ever be able to associate with her. “I know that. But my life doesn’t leave me a lot of time to find the perfect woman.”

  One moment Petra seemed to be considering his words, the next she was crossing the space between them and straddling his lap. Her breasts were now eye level with him, and oh so tempting to reach out and fondle.

  She pinged him on the forehead. “Eyes up here, lover boy.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You wanted to know why I didn’t tell you about the phone calls. So let me speak.” She lowered herself so they were now eye to eye. She really was beautiful. “I didn’t tell you because I was embarrassed.”

  “About what?” God, he would never have given her a hard time about something as serious as that. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I don’t think you appreciate how you come across to people.” She shrugged and cocked her head to the side. “Well, at least how you come across to me.”

  “I thought I was an ignorant Neanderthal.”

  “A noble ignorant Neanderthal. One who happens to be sexy and smart.”

  She thought he was sexy. He knew he was grinning, but he couldn’t stop himself. “And that made you embarrassed about the call?”

  “Darcy, you’re fun, and for the first time in my life I had somehow caught the attention of the fun hottie. Do you know how many years I’ve spent wishing I was one of those women? The ones who can walk into a room, bat their eyes and be instantly tripping over men?”

  “I think you’re selling yourself short. You didn’t see the looks the men gave you the night of the nomination reading. I knew if I didn’t get over to you fast I’d have more competition than I’d be able to handle.”

  Petra blushed, but for once she didn’t look away. “I only know you as the confident, sexy, arrogant D. Williams. And you really only know me as PC. She would be able to handle a little faceless harassment because someone was jealous of her success.”

  Darcy cupped her cheek, loving the feel of her skin beneath his touch. “But it was a bit harder for Petra to handle?”

  “Yeah. Emotionally, I’m a big squishy marshmallow. I dress in tank tops and shorts year round and half the time I forget to style my hair. I’ve also been known to go out in mismatched socks. It freaked me out. And I liked you so much...” She bit her lip and let out a sad chuckle. “I didn’t want you to know who I really am. You seemed to like PC so much. I didn’t want to shatter that.”

  Too many layers and illusions. The freedom his online persona offered him, offered them both, was coming back to haunt them in a way he could never have foreseen. “I like you, Pet. You, not the wild PC who doles out sex advice at the drop of a hat. You.”

  This was it, everything laid bare for her to see. It wasn’t fair to either of them that they were standing on the precipice of something big, beautiful, and they couldn’t take that final leap over the edge.

  “I want to kiss you.” His voice was rough, squeezed tight by emotions he didn’t want to examine too closely. “But if I do that I think it’s going to be a lot harder to leave you alone until after this competition is over.”

  “It’s not like it’s forever.” Though her frown told him she didn’t like t
he idea any more than he did. “And if it means we both get to keep our sites in the competition, then it would be worth it. Your brother can still use the reference, and I won’t have to worry about any of my sponsors pulling their ads.”

  “I’m more concerned about your stalker. If he managed to get your cell number, what other information has he snagged?” That had been the biggest part of all this. He didn’t want her going back to her place, staying alone when someone might have access. “Can you stay with Alice?”

  “Let me try calling her again.” She didn’t get off his lap, instead reaching across him to grab her cell. The moment she turned the power on, the indicator flashed that she had a message. “Maybe that’s her.”

  Darcy could hear the muffled murmur of the voice mail’s robotic tone telling her that she had one message. The second the man’s voice came through, Petra jerked in his arms.

  It took every bit of his self-control to keep from snatching the phone from her hand. “Put it on speaker.”

  Petra’s hand shook as she pressed the buttons, replaying the message through the speaker phone.

  “Hello, PC. I wonder if you got my message this morning? Of course you did. I saw how you kept looking over your shoulder all the way to meet your boyfriend. Did you get spanked by the organizing committee for being a naughty girl? Or did you leave that to him? I saw you leave together. I bet you’ve gone back to his place to fuck. You like to fuck, don’t you, baby? Maybe I’ll show you what it means to be fucked by a real man.”

  Darcy did take the phone then and pressed End. “That’s enough of that shit.”

  “Oh my God.” All the color had drained from her face, and her eyes had grown wide. “Who the hell is that?”

  “Someone who’s trying to scare you.” It was working too. He was terrified for her. “Don’t delete that.”

  “I won’t—” Her bottom lip quivered as she pushed herself free of him. “What the hell did I do to deserve this?”

  “Nothing.” He jumped to his feet and wrapped her in his arms. “Don’t think for even a second that this is in any way your fault. It’s not. He’s a sick fuck and we’re going to do everything we can to stop him.”

  “We?”

  He pushed her hair from her face. This time there was no hesitation as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “We. Did you honestly think I’d leave you to handle this on your own?”

  “We’ve only known each other for a little while.”

  “Hey. You’re PC and I’m D. Williams. The only one who is allowed to give you a hard time is me. We’ll stick together until we can stop this bastard.”

  “What about the competition? If they think there’s more to our relationship, or if that reporter starts digging too much, we’ll both be screwed.”

  “I’ll handle things.”

  “But—”

  “Pet. I’ll handle it. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. And I’ll be damned if I let them sabotage our moment in the spotlight.” He kissed her again, this time letting his lips linger on hers for a heartbeat longer than he should. “Now, I think it’s time you call Alice and tell her that you’re fine and that you’re going to stay with me for a bit.”

  “Here?”

  “I meant what I said. I won’t let anything happen to you. Even if that means keeping watch over you for every minute between now and when this thing is over.”

  God help him if this jerk actually did something to her. The longer Darcy held Petra in his arms, the more he realized he wouldn’t be able to let go. Ever.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Listen men, I get the whole need to take care of your woman feeling. But come on! We’re smart, sexy and more than capable of looking after ourselves. The caveman routine doesn’t do it for all of us.

  —PC, Sexcapades — sex advice for women

  Listen women, I get the whole need to be the strong capable woman thing. But come on! There’s nothing wrong with getting a little help from your man. And I call bullshit! I saw you getting all turned on there. Now, come here woman!

  —D. Williams, Mantastic — advice for REAL men

  It was the strangest feeling, the sensation of being watched. Petra would have chalked it up to paranoia after receiving the phone calls, her mind playing tricks on her when there really was no one around.

  Except she really was being watched. By Darcy.

  The reporter who’d been interviewing her had to repeat her questions more than once while Petra did her best to ignore the brooding force Darcy had transformed into overnight. He’d insisted that she take his bed, while he got to work solving their problem. She tried suggesting that he stay with her, but he hadn’t even given her the opportunity. He’d started making phone calls to both the award committee members and several friends he had on the police force. Sometime around eleven o’clock she’d given up waiting and went to bed.

  It would have been better for her if she’d curled up on the chair in the living room, for all the sleep she got. The moment her head hit the pillow, she was surrounded by the scent of Darcy. His shampoo on the pillow. Remnants of his cologne on his sheets. The divot in the mattress where his body naturally lay every night. Her body responded without thinking, inflicting on her the most erotic dreams she’d ever had.

  It was the best worst night’s sleep she’d ever had.

  By morning, she was hoping Darcy had worked out whatever plan he had in mind and they’d be able to move beyond this. While there was something amazing about staying with him in his place, she wanted to get back to her own life too. Yeah, those thoughts quickly faded when she realized he wasn’t going to leave her on her own, even if that meant following her to interviews and distracting the crap out of her.

  “PC, I have one last question for you.” The reporter, Sandy something-or-other, was a charming woman in her mid-forties, who’d been far more patient with Petra than she would have been if their roles were reversed. “There have been some rumblings in the past few days about the idea of the Toronto Web Awards being rigged. That you and D. Williams are actually working together and purposely misled the selection committee.”

  Petra’s stomach turned and she snapped her attention back to Sandy. “I didn’t hear a question there.”

  “Sorry. What exactly is the nature of your relationship with Mr. Williams?” Sandy nodded her head in the direction of where Darcy stood. “I couldn’t help but notice.”

  “Sandy, I’ve called him an ignorant Neanderthal on my blog on more than one occasion.” No, he didn’t deserve that. She was frustrated and scared, but Darcy wasn’t responsible for that. “But to be honest, he’s not like that at all. I only met him face-to-face at the nomination ceremony this week. All of our interactions have been exactly what they appeared to be online. That’s our whole relationship.” Liar.

  “Forgive me, but you can’t actually expect me to believe that? Anyone looking at you for even a few minutes could see the sparks between you.”

  Petra really didn’t understand this near instant connection between them either. It was all-consuming, did things to her body and mind that she’d never experienced with any other man. Chancing a glance at Darcy, Petra leaned in a bit closer. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “Darling, I’m a reporter.” Sandy grinned. “Please tell me anything you’d like.”

  Petra chuckled, but figured she had nothing to lose at this point. “When you interact with people online, the veneer of anonymity can do strange things to you. While we think we’re projecting a fake front, a lot of the time people actually feel freer to be themselves than they do in real life.”

  As much as she wasn’t PC the sex vixen, it was certainly something she could be. PC was her inner self and she was slowly coming to terms with that.

  “So D. Williams is exactly who he portrays himself to be online? That doesn’t sound flattering.”

  “Oh but it is. Because if you look at his posts, while he loves to be a pain in my ass, he’s never once said anything derogatory
about women. He’s trying to show men that you can be yourself, but that doesn’t give you permission to be an ass. Meeting him in person opened up my eyes to that. Plus, I mean—” she waved her hand toward him, “—look at him. Dude’s hot and I’m not blind.”

  Sandy’s smirk was only slightly more predatory than a shark’s. “I’ll give you that. So you’re claiming that the accusations that you knew each other before the event are false? There isn’t anything going on between you?”

  “That’s right.” Not officially for two more weeks, at any rate.

  “Well, thank you, PC. I’ll have my story in tomorrow’s paper, so you can check it out along with the other interviews.”

  They chatted for a few seconds longer before Sandy shook her hand, turned and made her way directly for Darcy. Petra watched as the reporter rubbed her body against Darcy’s side and held up a business card. Darcy—the bastard—smiled at her, leaned in and whispered something in her ear as he took it from her. Sandy laughed, low and throaty, and ran her hand down his arm. Darcy gave her a wink before the woman slinked away.

  That...did not just happen.

  He closed the distance between them, that damn smile still on his face.”Is that your last interview for the day? If so I know this great little place—”

  Petra had always envisioned what it would be like to slap a man. The reality of the act hurt her fingers and left her skin stinging.

  “What the hell was that for?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Time to reevaluate him again. “She was all over you, you flirted with her, and you took her card.”

  “Of course I took her card.” Holding up the offending piece of card stock between his thumb and forefinger, he flicked it to the ground. “I’m the sexy, single advice man. If I didn’t take her card, what do you think the odds are she would have believed your story that there was nothing going on between us?”

  Oh.

  Right.

  Darcy rubbed his cheek, stretching his jaw out as he did. “Man, you pack a punch.”