“I’ll have you know that I intend on marrying Thane. We are meant for each other. In fact, I just slept with him, so we’re already talking about me moving in with him,” she informed me.
I laughed. Not just a small laugh; a big gut-wrenching, belly-roar of a laugh. “I’m sorry, Candiss, but Thane won’t marry you any more than I would. You need to get your head out of the clouds and come back down to reality.”
I caught up to her and shook my head, walking past her. She fell into step beside me. “You need to leave the poor guy alone. He doesn’t want you visiting him anymore,” Candiss said, trying again.
“Really? How about we both go to his house and ask him that question together,” I challenged.
“Well, I’m late for an appointment, so I can’t do that right now,” she said and walked to her car.
“That’s what I thought. You need therapy, Candiss. Your brain needs some tending to,” I told her. It wasn’t nice, but it was justified.
As soon as Candiss drove off, I ventured over to Thane’s. I needed to clarify some things with him.
He was in the backyard, throwing around a ball with his dogs. Three dogs, to be exact.
“Three now?” I said.
He looked over at me and smiled. “The shelter called and asked if I would take in Buster for a little while until they find a suitable home.”
Buster was big. “Is that a Great Dane?”
“I thought you didn’t like dogs. How do you know the breed?” He strolled over to me, and my breath caught in my chest, and my knees were losing their strength.
“My friend used to have one when we were little. We used to ride on its back like it was a horse. We had so much fun,” I told him.
“I wish I could have seen that,” Thane said.
He smelled spicy and like soap. It was intoxicating. He was too close for my comfort, so I backed up a few steps. “Candiss came to visit me just now.”
Thane eyed me curiously. “Oh, really? What did she want?”
“She wanted to let me know you two are getting married. I guess congratulations are in order. I hope you will be happy with each other. You’re a perfect match,” I told him.
“Darcy, for the millionth time, there is nothing going on between Candiss and I. She’s lying, through and through, and you should remember that every time she opens her mouth,” Thane said.
I took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure I believed him. “I don’t trust anything you say either.”
Five seconds later, I was being lifted into Thane’s arms, and he was walking in the direction of his pool.
“Put me down, Thane,” I said, struggling to get out of his grasp. Before I could, he threw me into the pool.
When I resurfaced, he was standing over me. “That ought to cool you down.” He jumped in with me and caught my hands, winding them behind my back so that I had to hold on to him with my legs.
He bent down and kissed me with a fiery passion.
No! I am not going to let him do this to me.I pushed him away and scrambled to get out of the pool. “You can’t just take me anytime you damn well please. I’m not your toy. Figure your shit out with Candiss, and don’t call me until you’re free of her for good.”
I stormed off to our house and went into our backyard, jumping in the pool. I was already wet, so I might as well do some laps to work off my anger.
Fucking prick!
Unfortunately, thatprickfound his way into my dreams again that night, only it was more like an erotica movie.
THANE & DARCY
Thane
To say I was confused is an understatement. I was in a state of emotional turmoil. Darcy was giving me such mixed signals that I wasn’t sure how to process it all. I generally shied away from any kind of emotional ties, except with my sister. Lila and I didn’t always see eye to eye, so we’d gotten into some pretty crazy fights in our life together. It usually involved me apologizing at some point, but she wasn’t an angel either. I’d always fought with Lila, especially when we were kids, but now that she was a grown woman, I respected the hell out of her. I’m saying this because I really wanted to reach out to her to talk about Darcy, but I wasn’t sure how Lila would take the news. Her best friend and brother together? And were Darcy and I really an item? I wasn’t sure of that either. The Ice Queen forgot to give me that memo.