Imperfect Desires

The flame of the candles was the only source of light in the room. Even the moon hidden behind the clouds couldn't send a sliver of light in through the windows. And in that dim light, Xiu felt like she could not only see the sincerity in his eyes, she could feel it. She could feel it piercing through her heart and rising heat throughout her body.

As much as she loved snuggling close against his wonderfully hard muscles, she itched to touch him even more so. Being an actress, Xiu had heard all kinds of cheesy and romantic words in her previous life. But then why did his word always struck a chord she didn't even know existed within her? Where did he even come up with those words that could touch not just her heart but her very soul as well? Either he had an insanely sweet-mouth or he was insanely in love with her.

Xiu could proudly say that he had insanely sweet-mouth, after all, she tasted it very well. But he was also insanely in love with her as well. And she couldn't overlook that fact either.

Hearing him call Chen Xiu a perfect dream made Xiu realize one very important thing, Chen Xiu was his number one but at the end of the day, she was his one and only. Xiu leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Every word that comes out of these ridiculously beautiful lips leaves me shell-shocked!" Darren chuckled softly as she left another featherlike kiss, this time on his lips.

"Sweets?"

Another kiss, this one a bit slow at first but when her tongue darted out to tease the seam of his lips, Darren's arm around Xiu's waist tightened. As he slowly opened his mouth slightly, she took the opening to plunge her tongue in, tasting him. Daringly, she sucked on his bottom lip making Darren groan and return her action as his fingers sunk deeper in her hair. 

She loved his soft and strong lips that made every single cell in her body flutter in anticipation. She didn't want to pull away, she never wanted to pull away but she reluctantly did to inhale some oxygen. "Yes."

Darren was left staring at her dumbstruck and it took him a while to realize that he had called her earlier and only now she decided to reply. Both of their breaths were labored as they tried to catch their breath. Xiu rested her forehead against his while his thumb lightly massaged the base of her skull.

"You should stop, Sweets," came Darren's breathless voice.

Xiu trailed kisses from the corner of his mouth, over his jaw and down his neck and cuddled under his chin comfortably, "Why?"

"Because you're misbehaving under the influence of alcohol," replied Darren keeping his voice as calm and leveled as he possibly could at that time. No matter how much he was itching to just go with the flow, he had to remind himself that she was drunk. He couldn't possibly take 'advantage' of this situation.

Xiu, however, paid no heed to his words as her lips curled up mischievously. Her fingers fiddled with his shirt's button and she unbuttoned enough to reveal his chest, she gently dropped kisses on his chest. "Like this?"

A rumble rose from his chest, warning retribution. But Xiu was far lost in her endeavors to care about his warnings. Her soft hair fell over her shoulder and tickled ever so softly against his naked chest making Darren take a deep breath to keep his rationality which seemed like it was soon gonna be overtaken by the passion burning in his heart.

 Xiu could feel him hesitating even though she could tell that he was just as much yearning to hold her as she was. But why was he holding back then? 

Xiu's soft lips sucked on his collarbone before she leaned close to his ear and nibbled on it. "Why are you holding yourself back?"

"You're... drunk," was his only reply. As his hot breath hit her cold neck, Xiu felt a tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"So?" questioned Xiu with a dumbstruck expression. Her muddled mind couldn't possibly understand why he was holding himself back or maybe, she didn't want to. Indeed, she didn't want to understand whatever his reason was and no matter how reasonable his reason was. She just didn't give a...!!!

Darren held both sides of her face, "I'm not certain whether it's alcohol talking or you really want this."

Xiu suddenly was mad as she narrowed her eyes at him. "This is the only problem with you." Darren's eyed went wide at her sudden outburst but she certainly wasn't done. Oh, no! She was only starting. "You always treat me like a doll. As if, your touch would break me. You don't share your worries with me because you think I'd end up getting hurt. You always find ways to treat me like the most precious person in your life. But what about me? Do you think I really am that weak? My body might be of twenty-three years old but you of all people know that I'm older than you in age. Then why do you think that I need your protection? I need you, not your protection!"

Darren was left blinking at her in amazement. He had heard of her intimidating persona from Dylan but he never believed him. Tonight, however, he was seeing it first hand. In fact, he was at the receiving end as well. No wonder, Dylan always insisted that she was a devil in disguise. But then why was he finding this devil awfully adorable? More so, why was this intimidating side of her was making him so restless?

"Why do you always go out of your way to fulfill my wishes? Was it necessary to announce to the whole world that you have a girlfriend? Yes, I wanted to do that but I didn't ask you to do it! And you made me cry! It's your fault that I drank in the first place. Who told you to say such words before the whole world?"

It was his fault? Just because he wanted to see her happy?

"Are you trying to be an outsider? Just because I'm not your wife, you don't want to share your burden with me?"

Darren's brows quirked up at her words.

"What? What are you looking at?" retorted Xiu stubbornly as she said, "Don't look so surprised. It's not like I asked about your ideal type of wife."

Darren pursed his lips as his eyes bore into her.

"But now that we are already on this topic... What is your ideal type? What kind of a wife would you like? Wise? Devoted? Career woman? Passionate? Or should I plan to surprise you every day?"

Darren listened to her rambling with a starstruck look. He was fascinated. Especially, when she asked about his ideal type of wife. Haha! He really wanted to laugh because he knew she'd never say these things if she was sober. It was such a random idea and yet he found it a beautiful one. Wife? The idea was quite appealing to him. Actually, more than he thought so.