Darden's Pursuit of Happiness: Darden and Willow (6 page)

              Darden looked at him. He thought about his brother.  He ought to knock the hell out of this dumbass.  Did Sean really think Darden was going to allow him to talk to Willow? Darden heard the door open behind him and Willow slipped out from behind him.

              “Sean? What’s going on? Why is your lip cut? Did something happen?” Willow looked from Sean to Darden. Darden was a little bruised himself but nothing like Sean.

              Darden was the first to speak, “Are you going to tell her about how you attacked me? How you took one look at me and tackled me to the ground?” Just thinking about how it started pissed Darden off.  Darden wanted to beat his ass.  Sean is definitely a loose cannon and can’t be trusted.

              “Willow, I want to talk to you in private.”

              “Uh, how about that’s not going to happen.” This bastard has some nerve, asking to talk to Willow privately. Darden wanted to beat his ass just for making the request.

              “Right now, I don’t think that is wise. You aren’t at all calm.  Frankly, you look like a mad man.” Willow edged closer to Darden but she wasn’t sure if doing that would incite Sean further.

              “I am not leaving until I get some answers.”

              “Then discuss what you have to say with Darden and me.”

              Sean was seething and Willow’s eyes showed fear but Darden’s eyes showed nothing. “Willow, were you using me to get at Darden?”

              “No, of course not, Darden had arrived unexpectedly; I actually left the door unlocked so you could come in without me having to stop chopping vegetables.”

              “Why did you allow him to kiss you like that? Why didn’t you stop it?” Sean practically said the last sentence through gritted teeth.

              Willow bit her lip, and took a deep breath. “Darden has been the only man I have ever kissed.  I was 18 years old before I ever got my first kiss and that was provided to me by Darden. Darden will always be special. And yesterday when you said Darden takes liberties, you are right. He is the only man that I allow to hold my hand or touch me in any way.  It has just always been that way. But, just know I have my reasons for that.”

              “So basically, you never really wanted to explore a relationship with me.” Sean was screaming it through his teeth.

              “That isn’t true either.  I have been thinking about it for a while.  It just was never the right time and I have a lot of personal issues to work through in regards, to allowing an intimate relationship with any man.”

              “But you have no problem fucking him right? You have somehow made him the exception to the rule right?”

              Darden immediately moved forward and grabbed Sean by his shirt.  “She isn’t fucking me. It is none of your business what we do or don’t do. This conversation is over!”

              “Darden please let him go!” Willow pleaded.

              “I want your ass out of here now.  I don’t know who you thinking you are speaking to but you are to never speak to Willow like that ever again.  Do you understand?”

              “Get your hands off me!”

              Darden dragged Sean to the door and threw him out in to the hallway and slammed the door shut. Darden locked the door.  Willows eyes were huge. She immediately sought the shelter of Darden’s arms. She knew she had garnered an enemy in the form of Sean McAllister.

             
“
At this point, I think we need to order in pizza or something.”  Darden had his back against the door and Willow in his arms. Willow was shaking.  Darden tighten his arms and lowered his cheek to the top of her head.  “I am right here and I am not going leave you here by yourself. Maybe it is time to introduce you to the team who has been looking after you for the past three years.” Darden accessed his Palm Treo and his Windows Mobile 2003.  He identified himself and asked that someone come to the apartment. In less than a minute, there was a knock on the door. One female, that seemed to be in many of her classes and 2 males who she was slow to recognize because they too had been in her classes entered her apartment.  None of them had ever spoken to directly to her. Willow looked from Darden to the new entrants to her apartment. She couldn’t believe these people had been assigned to look after her. Willow couldn’t believe Darden had gone to all this trouble for her.

              “Willow, I would like you to formerly meet Marissa Alexander, Logan Cameron and Gabriel Mason.” Willow shook hands with each one. Marissa was about her same height and body frame, she had hazel eyes and a short brunette pixie cut. Logan Cameron had the body of an Olympic diver, he was approximately 6 feet tall with alert eyes and wide muscular shoulders. Gabriel Mason appeared to be more Hispanic in origin, than his name indicated. He had dark piercing eyes, a solid build, with a cleft in his chin.  Each person had taken a variety of classes with her but she seemingly hadn’t notice them other places that she went.

              “Darden are there more people on your team than just the three of them?” 

              “Darden’s mouth quirked, “Why do you ask?”

              “I just want to know.”

              “Yes there are more but they are used on a case by case basis for whatever the need is.”

              “So that is how you know so many finer details about my life.”

              “In part, there is more too it but, I rather not release all my secrets.  These three are the main ones you will see. One of them goes where ever you do. Because of our little altercation with Sean McAllister it is important that you make sure they know your schedule for the next two weeks and any changes that need to be made. Also I would like you to spend your nights with me.  One of them will bring you back to the campus for classes.  I think for your safety at night it is the best idea and until we know for sure what Sean will do next.”

              “Willow, why don’t you get started packing up enough clothes for eight days. Anything that you have forgotten, I will gladly buy, so don’t stress about it.  I will be more than happy to take care of your needs. My place is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath condo off Nixon and Green Rd. So there will be plenty of space for the two us. I converted the smallest bedroom into an office.  So there will be a space for you to study.”

              “It sounds very permanent. It is almost as if, you plan to stay in this area for a while.”

              Darden looked at his security force and told them, “You may go about whatever you were doing at this point.” The trio left and Darden regarded Willow silently for a few moments.  “I have a job that will give me the flexibility to be wherever you need me as well as a trust fund to fund me when I choose not to be employed. My goal is to marry you as soon as you will have me. I already told you I plan to court you so we can develop a relationship that will be long lasting. So I plan to stay here as long as you are here.  Wherever your job choice or schooling choice takes you I can rent the condo and we can move. I want to be with you, now more than ever. Just for the record it wasn’t that I didn’t want to be with you.  I wanted to be with you when we left Plattsburgh. I just wasn’t ready to settle down. I didn’t think I could handle keeping my hands off you so I thought it was best that I keep a physical distance. But you know this already.”

              “Just please get packed and I will help you get any study materials you may need together.  We can order any textbooks that you want to keep at my place. I want to do whatever it takes to make this work and make it convenient for you.  I want you to be comfortable and I want you to feel at home.”

              Willow simply nodded. She couldn’t believe that he was rambling like this.  She couldn’t believe he was seemingly excited about the prospect that they would spend their evenings under the same roof. She had been given a lot to think about.  Was Sean just disappointed or was he angry enough to do her harm?  He had used some pretty harsh words. He attacked Darden and there was no denying that.  Sean didn’t even bother to try to deny it. Does his frustration manifest itself into violence make him that dangerous? His level of anger certainly scared the hell out of her, that’s for sure. How should she proceed?  Should she blindly trust that Darden wants what is best for her?  Or does this play into Darden’s agenda? If she has security people living across the hall why can’t she just stay put? But on the other hand what happens if Sean is lying in wait for her or Darden to be by themselves? After all, Sean now knows where I live and he has been back here once already. I don’t believe for a minute he won’t be back because, of the way Darden threw him out.  Yet, a sane person wouldn’t try Darden. So does that mean? I am once again dealing with someone like Dade?  That thought prompted her to pack more earnestly. 

              Darden sat with his head in his hands.  This wasn’t at all a position of despair.  This was his position when he was making sure he was doing all the right things. I have to make sure she is safe. Right now temporarily putting her up at my place it the best thing to do.  Once there several things need to be set in motion.  Her car needs to be changed out but that isn’t an immediate need.  We just need to make sure she doesn’t have to come back here at least until we have a better handle on Sean and what he is likely to do. Sleeping arrangements need to be discussed but at his place not here. I would prefer her to sleep in my arms. But whatever will make her feel the most comfortable will take precedence. We need to sync her Palm to my computer.  And then that information can be disseminated out to the security team.   Darden took a deep breath. There had to be something else that he was missing but whatever it was he would make sure it was taken care of immediately. All he could think about was that her well-being was of the upmost important to him.  He had come too far to lose her.

              Willow walked out her bedroom with her laptop case, her backpack and her Briggs and Riley rolling duffle. If truth be known she had packed more than enough outfits for many more days than 20 and that included her shoes and her touring outfits for the days she did that. Darden immediately got up to help her with her bags.  Darden didn’t even bat an eye at the size of her suitcase. Darden called for Logan Cameron to pull around the car.  Logan would call when he was in place.  Darden placed all the items near the door.  Gabriel escorted them down the elevator when Logan indicated he was ready.  Willow was placed in the black SUV in the backseat.  Her items were placed in the cargo area of the vehicle and they quickly took off leaving Darden behind.  Gabriel walked with Darden to his car.  Darden called for pizza while Gabriel maneuvered the car into traffic.  Darden looked to the right and glimpsed Sean staring back him.  He had been right Sean had been waiting for them.  But, that doesn’t matter.  Now, he needed someone to be tailing Sean.  He would put Brent Underwood on that.  He was a member of Gamma Pi and he worked for Darden. Brent had many classes with Sean and they were “friends” and had been friends for the same 3 years that Sean had known Willow. So it would not be unusual for Brent to be around Sean. Darden dialed Brent’s cellphone.

              Thank God, Willow was in a separate vehicle. She didn’t need to know exactly how extensive his network really was. Darden finished his conversation with Brent just in time to get a phone call stating that Willow had arrived at the condo.

              When Darden arrived Willow’s items were unloaded and in the foyer.  Willow was also in the foyer. He told Logan and Gabriel that they could leave and he would be in touch this evening about any additions to the schedule via email. Darden shook hands with Logan and Gabriel whereupon, Gabriel and Logan left in the black SUV. Darden walked over to Willow and offered his hand. “I know this has been a whirlwind of less than 48 hours.  But
I would like to talk so, one immediate decision ca be made. I want to know what you would like the sleeping arrangements to be.”  Willow’s eyes grew big. When she agreed to this she hadn’t given it any thought. “Willow, I want you to be comfortable. So I am letting the decision be yours.” 

              The pizza had arrived.  Willow and Darden made small talk as they ate. Willow looked stunning in her pink oxford.  How would he ever be able to maintain decorum when, all the while he wanted to make love to her all over the damn condo starting with the chair in which she was sitting.

              “I would like to start out in my own room.  And if for any reason I can’t handle it then I would like to be able to go to you without being seen as a disturbance or a nuisance.”

              “I would never see you that way.” Darden was a little disappointed.  But at least she was under his roof. He grabbed her rolling duffle and her backpack and moved the items upstairs. He took her rolling duffel into the guest room.  Then he took her backpack to the converted office.  Willow loved how the rooms were decorated.  There rooms were very outdoorsy in some respects.  There was deer theme in the office.  Framed pictures of deer near a stream or deer in a clearing there was even a border of deer in the forest. It was beautiful... The guest room was decorated in a mallard duck theme.  Framed pictures and a border were just like the office but with ducks either in the water or nesting.  Darden offered his hand and led her to his master suite. The room was expansive.  He had created a small sitting area of wing back chairs and a small table that was positioned between the two chairs. She immediately turned away from the two chairs imagining how many women sat in those chairs with Darden. As if reading her mind, “All the furniture in the house is brand new, including the bedding.  I would never ask you to share my house or my bed with me that I shared with someone else. I love you too much for that to happen.”

              Darden looked steadily into her eyes.  He wanted to make sure she understood his full meaning to that.  He wanted her to know he wanted to start new.  No other woman had been here. He had parts of the condo decorated with her in mind.  He had remembered the breakfasts in Plattsburgh. He had taught her how to cook. At first it was simple fare but she learned quickly and could apply what she had learned to other things. Then she learned how to cook noon meals and more elaborate dinners.  He knew even then she was the right women to become his wife. She had become proficient at cheesecake baking and pie crust making.  Making the pie crust helped her make savory quiches.  She learned about consistency and was able to fix recipes with improper measurements. Although she enjoyed cooking she never intended to go to culinary school. He had the kitchen set-up just as it was in Plattsburgh with all the gadgets she loved. . . Those hands that would knead the dough did a wonderful job in massaging his back when it was sore from a workout. He could just imagine her fingers wrapped around something else and massaging . . . He needed to snap out of it.

              “What were you just thinking?”

              “I was just thinking about how glad I am you are here with me.”

              “No you weren’t, you had a devilish grin on your face.”

              “Okay, you got me, I was thinking if I could convince you to make one of your delicious quiches.  They were always so good.  Your pie crust was always just the right consistency, was light but crunchy.  I have always loved it.” Just like, I have always loved your soft curves.  Those slightly pouty lips that, I could kiss from sun up to sundown. We have to get out of the room. The way she is looking at me is making me hard. Darden reached for her hand and the next thing he knew he was taking her mouth like a man who hasn’t eaten in four days. His hands were roaming all over her.  Up and down her sides on to her back and over the delicious curve of her ass.  He gently cupped her bottom and brought her to a tighter fit against him. He wanted every part of her that could touch every part of him.  Darden wanted Willow to know just what she was doing to him.

              Willow practically melted into him. She loved being kissed by him.  She felt so comfortable with him.  She wanted to be able to give more to him than just kisses. Willow broke the kiss and whispered against his lips, “I want more.” Darden resumed hissing her giving her what he thought she meant. Sweeping her mouth with his tongue and tracing that sensitive area just behind her front teeth.  Her legs almost gave way and instinctively he scooped her up into his arms and placed her on the bed. Darden backed away a few steps. He was breathing hard just as if he had run a half marathon over uneven and treacherous terrain. “Darden I want you to make love to me.”  Darden shook his head.  He couldn’t process what she wanted from him.  She opened her arms to him and he was drawn like a magnet. He placed one knee on the bed but still all he could do was stare at her.

              “Are you sure that is what you want?” God, I hope to hell so, I am about to embarrass myself by coming in my pants. “I am willing to wait.” I want to do the right thing.  Right now, dammit, what will feel the most right is making love to her,   “Please make sure this is your decision, I don’t want you to feel like I am rushing you with the kisses? I can assure you these kisses we share will sustain me.” I could use more kisses.  A cold shower has never worked for me. I am about to explode just looking at her.