Chapter 23

Darcy stood, unmoving, in the doorframe, watching her as she walked towards him, drawn to him by his trance. His sleeves were rolled up, one arm holding the door open, the other propped against the doorframe, both flexed as he pushed against those objects. His leg muscles, too, were firmly outline in his pants, the front of which growing tauter with every step closer that she took. He'd taken his shoes off, his socked feet one in front of the other as though he were poised to break from the door as soon as the whistle blew.

He was resisting.

Everything about his body language told her that he was restraining himself; the doorway an invisible barrier in his mind separating him from her. His feet anchored to the floor while his hands, instead of ready to push off, were holding him back from going to her and wrapping her in his arms, locking her to him as a comfort to himself that she was his. His jaw flexed, the muscle twitching along the side of his cheek, trying to keep the words he wanted to say at bay – the ones that demanded to know about Col, what had happened, if he had touched her, why he had kissed her.

He was resisting, waiting for her to set him free.

Beth walked boldly up to him, confident in where she stood, in her ability to read his feelings for her, and more importantly, in her feelings for him.

"Hello," she said softly, staring into his deep, brown eyes as she melted into their warmth.

"I missed you," he rasped. Nothing else in his body moving except his lips to utter those words. He furrowed his brow, gathering the strength to release his arms that were blocking her entrance into her own apartment.

Just as he began to step back and let her step inside, both of her hands reached up, grabbing the sides of his face and pulling his mouth down to her.

She missed him, too.

Darcy growled, instantly responding to her kiss. His tongue plunging into her mouth as his arms changed course, wrapping themselves tightly around her. One hand reaching down to grab her ass over her skirt, picking her up and stepping them both back into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind him.

As they slowly stumbled backward into the short entryway, Beth fueled their kiss with every ounce of desire that she felt. It was a potent drug that she'd abstained from all week and now was eagerly craving her Darcy-high.

She bit down forcefully on his tongue as it entered her mouth, causing him to growl again and thrust his hips against hers, his erection digging into her. His hand on her ass began to move, bunching up her skirt as his fingers searched for what was hidden beneath.

Her mouth smiled against his kiss as his hand found her bare ass cheek, squeezing the soft fleshly firmly in his grasp. Those exploring fingers made their way along the crevice, down between the backs of her thighs. His whole body froze when the tips touched the molten heat seeping from her core.

His head jerked back. "No underwear?" he asked. His voice hard and harsh with pent-up desire.

She knew what he was thinking though.

"For you." Not for Col.

"Christ," he swore, his lips engulfing hers again. Darcy angled his hand slightly, pushing two fingers completely inside of her with a groan that vibrated right to her core.

Then he was gone. His mouth. His fingers. Everything disappeared for a split second before she was hoisted over his shoulder.

"Darcy!" she gasped, the position causing her skirt to drop, completely baring her lower half; she knew first because she felt the cold air rush over the dampness, sending a shiver through her body.

Or maybe the shiver was because Darcy didn't waste any time returning that hand to her folds and those fingers inside of her, massaging the muscles of her passage. His name on her lips morphed into a moan as he carried her expediently into her bedroom and released her long enough to toss her onto the bed.

Her gasp was overwhelmed by the bumping and rumbling of the bed as it absorbed her weight.

She'd barely landed on the soft mess of sheets by the time he'd partially undone his pants, freeing himself just enough to be able to climb between her thighs and sink completely home inside of her.

Her mouth opened, but no sound, no oxygen came in or out; the feel of him filling her sending ripples of exquisite pleasure throughout every cell in her body. Beth felt his forceful breathing against her neck as he took a second to adjust to the warm and tightness of her.

His teeth sunk into her soft skin as he began to move his hips, her rising instinctively to meet his and the delicious friction that he generated deep inside of her. Beth closed her eyes, letting her body give over in that delectable rhythm

In and out - a pattern that was more instinctual to her than breathing.

She cried out his name as her orgasm swept over her. Darcy swallowed her cries with his kiss as he joined her. His hips pressing into her as his body began to relax from all of the tension built up inside of it; his release marking her as his own.

"I missed you, too," she whispered with a naughty, half-smile working its way onto her face. Darcy's eyes pried open to stare down at her flushed cheeks and sated expression.

His breath released with a sigh. "You're mine," he said. His tone wasn't one of hard demand or undeniable fact; no, it was quiet, tender, and almost questioning.

Warmth spread through her, his words caressing, instead of claiming her.

"And here I was going to say that you were mine," she replied coyly, flexing her inner muscles around his softening cock.

Darcy hissed; his head bending down to grab her lower lip between his teeth, gently biting down before sucking the tender flesh into his mouth for a moment.

Beth could feel him hardening again inside of her, her muscles expanding to accommodate him. As he released her lip, she whispered, "I am yours." Extending her neck up, she kissed him briefly.

He briefly touched his lips to her forehead before pushing himself up off of and pulling out of her. She groaned, relaxing back on the bed for a moment, wishing he would have continued to round two, but knowing that she needed to talk to him.

She pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, watching as he finished taking off his pants, walking into the bathroom to wipe himself off before pulling on a pair of sweats that he brought with him over his hard cock. Beth slowly trailed her gaze up from his waist to meet his eyes, raising her eyebrows at him, asking 'are you sure you want to put those on?'

"Let's talk," he said softly.

She nodded, reaching for her long, night-time t-shirt, setting it on the bed next to her. With a decisive slowness, she peeled her shirt from her skirt and lifted it over her head. Biting her lip, she tried not to smile as she caught Darcy frozen, watching her undress. Unzipping her skirt, she let it fall to the ground, leaving her naked except for her bra.

"Can you help me?" she asked innocently, turning to give him her back, and her ass. She held her breath for a second until she heard and felt up walk up behind her.

His fingers traced briefly underneath the strap of her bra before he unhooked the clasp, the last of the material shielding her now gone. She turned quickly to face him, the tips of her erect nipples grazing his bare chest.

The thrill and electricity that ran through her, seeing how much she could tease him because of how much he wanted her – and she, him – was indescribable.

"Don't tempt me," he growled, picking up her shirt off of the bed and pressing it against her chest between them, waiting for her to take it before stepping around her.

Beth smiled to herself.

Being with him made her feel alive again.

"Do you want some tea?" he asked from the kitchen.

Beth walked to the doorway before answering, "I think you'll want to pour us some wine."

His eyebrows raised. "That bad?"

"Yes," she answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "But, not in the way you think. Well, yes in that way too, I guess."

"What did you tell him?" Darcy asked.

She was going to tell him everything anyway, she might as well start there; the subject of Caroline was going to detour their conversation very far downhill if she started with that.

"I told him that I'm sorry, but I just don't feel that way about him. I told him that I tried to." She paused, returning Darcy's glare. "He needed to know that I made the attempt, because I did, I truly wanted to, and I couldn't. It wouldn't have been right or believable to not tell him that."

"And…"

"He was sad…" she trailed off, taking a glass from Darcy's outstretched hand, "and also concerned for me and probably a little bit angry at you. But mostly sad."

"Why was he concerned for you? Did he think I was forcing you or something?" Darcy asked, irritation turning to anger in his voice at the abhorrent thought.

"No, no definitely not. He's concerned because he knows what you did – or what I thought you did – and he doesn't want to see me get hurt like that again."

"Did you tell him—" Beth cut him off with a kiss.

"I did. I told him what I said to you before you left on Monday. I. Am. Yours. And that was enough because he didn't question me or try to put you down or convince me to change my mind. He said he knew at the wedding from the look on my face when I saw you that he never truly stood a chance. I. Am. Yours." Her words punctuated by her free hand coming up to rest on his chest over his heart. "That's all he needs to know and that's all you need to know. There is nothing between him and I except a now-strained friendship; one that I hope will heal with time."

Even though she saw that he didn't particularly like that thought, he just nodded and took a sip of wine before saying, "thank you for telling me. He seems like a nice guy."

She chuckled. "I know you say that even though you still feel like you want to rip his head off for ever looking at me, but I appreciate your effort. Also, don't thank me yet," she sighed. "There's more I need to tell you, but it doesn't directly have anything to do with Col."

"Ok…" he drawled.

Grabbing his hand, she led him back into the bedroom, climbing onto the bed and sitting with her knees bent to the side.

"Earlier today, Hannah, his assistant, came in to remind me about the dinner. I hadn't seen Col all week until tonight so I asked her what was up. Normally, he stops by with coffee in the morning," she began, ignoring the flash of possessiveness and jealousy that flared in his eyes as he joined her on the mattress. "She said he'd been dealing with issues involving the permits that we had to submit to the city in order to get the roads closed for the race."

He nodded, acknowledging that he was following along before drink more wine from his glass.

"So, when we got to dinner I asked him what was up since Hannah and I had both worked with him personally on submitting all of them. He told me that he got a call Monday afternoon that the permits had been denied – no, that some of the paperwork was missing altogether and other documents had been filled out improperly and had been destroyed. This isn't the first year that the Center has put this on, so it was highly unlikely that any of that was true, but what was even more concerning was that just last week or the week before, we'd gotten the 'O.K.' from the city that everything was good to go."

Beth watched Darcy's eyebrows raise in intrigue.

"Exactly. So, Colin freaked out on the woman – well, not really freaked out, but sort of. Anyway, she didn't know anything so had to put in with her supervisor to give him a call. The supervisor called earlier today and told him that in the computer she could see how the documents were marked as 'Approved' but then switched to 'Denied'. Since the applications were destroyed, she couldn't tell him why. She said that she would have her boss call him on Monday and in the meantime, she gave him the name of who reviewed the documents for him to contact to see if she could clarify why they were marked as 'Denied.'"

"Yeah, that's not right. Somebody fucked up big time. And the race is next weekend?" he clarified.

"Yup," she said, her lips pursing in frustrated concern. "So, he went down there and talked to the girl who changed the status. She said someone called her the other day and offered her twenty thousand dollars to do it, so she did; she apparently broke down and admitted it was a mistake but that she was too afraid to fix it. That's not really my call, Col can handle that however he wants," Beth continued, now chewing on her lower lip as she got to the most important part of the story.

"Who would do that? Over a charity race?" Darcy asked in disgusted confusion.

"Caroline." The name flew from her lips like rancid milk that she needed to spit out. Darcy's eyes shot to hers, darkening with rage

"Caroline Bingley?" he asked, his voice deadly quiet and hard as steel.

"She's coming here." Beth took another sip of her wine trying to dampen the dread of that thought.

"How do you know? Did she contact you? I swear to God, I will kill her for this; I tried to handle this discreetly and politely – hell, even cordially – for Charles' sake and that bitch—" His hand came up over his mouth, cutting off the parade of expletives eager to march from his mouth.

"I talked to Anne," Beth began, her words silencing him even further. "She emailed me and told me to call her. When I did, she told me what has been going on with her mother and Caroline and that when she went to her mom's place yesterday, she overheard Caroline telling her that she was coming up to Boston."

"Christ."

"Not that there was anything to see at the wedding, but she must have thought there might be something more going on, and then whomever she or Mrs. Bingley has watching you must have tipped her off that you'd come to Boston,"

"What the hell." He drained the rest of his wine, his knuckles turning white around the stem of the glass. "We're going to get you a restraining order tomorrow. I'll have my assistant email me all of the documents – everything that you sent me months ago – and we're going to the police station first thing tomorrow. And then we are going to sort out the security for this event – make sure she can't gain access to any of the private functions that I'm assuming are going to go on," he laid out, his brain working overtime through every scenario. The old, fearful and insecure, Darcy would have told her that she couldn't work the event, that he didn't want her to and that was that. This Darcy – her Darcy – knew how important her work was to her, and wasn't about to make her sacrifice that because of Caroline.

"Ok," she agreed. Her eager acquiescence startling him. "You were right about her all along. I trust you and your judgment. You know her better than I do and I will do whatever you think if it means getting her out of our life."

He reached over, taking her now-empty glass from her hand, and setting both of them down on the nightstand.

Cupping her face in his hands, his eyes seared into her soul. "You know I will never let anything happen to you," he promised her.

"I know. And I will never let anything happen to you," she returned, rising up on her knees, her torso pressing against his; she kissed him softly.

"We're going to figure this out, ok?" His thumbs traced over her lips. "I'm not going to let her hurt you."

Beth smiled, her eyes dropping from his. She changed the subject before her thoughts could detour onto some of those very unpleasant thoughts.

"You know, this is now the second damsel-in-distress whom you've saved that I've had to learn about after the fact – and not from you. I don't care if you're trying to be humble or whatever your silly reasoning is, the next time I want to hear the story come from your lips."

His eyes left hers, lazily trailing down to her parted and moist lips. Looking down further at her t-shirt clad body, the swells of her breasts visible along the edge of her shirt, her nipples pressed eagerly against the fabric that did nothing to conceal their excitement.

"Ok," he agreed huskily, his gaze returning to her, red-hot with lust. "But for now, the only thing that's going to come from my lips is you."

Her mouth parted even further as a devious smile spread over his face. His hands reached for the back of her thighs, pulling up hard and swiftly. With a yelp, Beth found herself on her back with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. Before she even had a chance to tilt her head to admonish – or encourage - him, Beth felt his mouth close over her core.

Her back arched off the bed as the pleasure rocketed through her; her hands reaching out to grab fistfuls of the sheets, trying to anchor some part of her to the bed because what he was doing with his tongue was about to have her shooting right off of it.

Beth gasped, her hips undulating uncontrollably under his mouth as he expertly led every cell in her body to the edge of release. One last flick of his tongue over her clit had her screaming his name into the sex-laden silence. She heard him groan as he greedily lapped up the result of her orgasm.

Her hands slowly relaxed and released the sheets from her grasp even though her heart was still pounding, her lungs still panting.

That was round two.

"I told you," he rasped. Her head tilted to the side so that she could look down to him. A smile widened over his lips that glistened with her arousal. "The only thing I want coming from my mouth tonight is you."

Her muscles clenched as the words vibrated deliciously through her again. Pushing herself up to sit on bed, Darcy still kneeling between her legs, she bent down and kissed him on the mouth, moaning as she tasted herself on his tongue, but more than her desire, she tasted his – felt his – with every tease of her tongue.

His hands slid up from the sides of her thighs to grab the edge of her t-shirt, lifting it up, her arms stretching to help him free her from the material. As soon as the last remaining barrier was gone, his hands reached for the swells of her breasts. Kneading the globes until she moaned into his mouth.

Pulling back from their kiss, Darcy's eyes dropped to her chest where his hands held her breasts, their erect peaks straining towards him, begging for some of the attention from that tongue of his. His mouth dropped hungrily onto her nipple.

Beth gasped, letting her head fall back and her hands slide into his hair, pulling him tighter against her as his tongue rolled over the firm bud sending jolts of white heat through her body. Moving to the other, begging swell, he sucked her nipple hard into his mouth; she let out a small yell as the painful pull blossomed into a potent pleasure. He laved the same attention on the other peak, kissing the tip of her breast softly as he moved his mouth from her.

He blew a steady stream of air from his mouth over her erect and moist nipple, the sudden cold blowing over her body sending delicious shivers straight to her core. Her head angled to meet his dark, desirous gaze.

Beth stared at the man kneeling between her legs; his gorgeous face framed by his tousled hair, his sculpted chest that tapered to a slender waist which disappeared into his sweats. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the giant tent in the front of his pants from his erection, straining to be a part of the action. She stared at the man who was continually putting her before himself and his needs lately, and boy did she now want to torment him in return.

Biting her lip, her hands still in hair, tilted his head back as hers bent down to stop a breath away from his mouth. She dropped a quick kiss on his lips before her mouth meandered over to his ear.

"My turn," she whispered, taking a quick nip at his earlobe before her hands moved to his shoulders pushing him backward so that he was now resting back on his heels. He raised an eyebrow at her, anticipation flaring in his eyes, his cock twitching underneath the fabrics of his pants.

Lifting her leg, she put her foot against his chest, letting him take one good, long look at the glistening view between her thighs before she extended her leg, causing him to tip back. His arms quickly moved behind him to steady himself, his legs swinging out in front to relieve the pressure from his ankles.

Beth stood up off the bed with a smile, enjoying the surprise and expectation that emanated from his body. Bending over, she grabbed ahold of the elastic waist of his pants and tugged them down and off of his legs.

She eyed his engorged erection for a moment, jutting out from between his thighs. "My turn for a taste," she murmured, glancing at him from underneath heavy eyelids.

Dropping to her knees on the floor, she bent over to run her tongue up the length of his swollen cock, which bobbed against her mouth, begging to be taken inside. Darcy groaned loudly at the tease, the deeply hoarse vibration turning into a curse when she finally made it to the tip and pulled him inside of her mouth, sucking him in firmly and deeply to the back of her throat.

"Oh my God, Beth," he panted as she began to move her hot torture chamber up and down along his length.

His fingers speared through her hair, encouraging her as his hips lifted to match the movements of her head. Beth tasted the saltiness leaking from the tip of his cock, a sample of what was to come. A few seconds later, he pulled up on her head, groaning.

"Beth… stop… please," he begged. Slowly, she released him from her mouth, looking up at him in concern. "I want to be inside of you," came his hoarse explanation.

"You will be," she replied coyly, looking down at the heavy weight of him resting in her hand.

Her mouth engulfed him again, taking him all the way inside its hot depth. She felt his hands on her head again, exerting slight pull before he gave up fighting against her plans to pleasure him and began to thrust himself deeper inside her mouth. Her hand reached down to cup the soft weight of his balls, as her mouth worked frantically to bring him the pleasure that he had brought her.

Darcy roared as his orgasm rocketed through him. Beth moaned feeling the hot jets of his release against the back of her throat, swallowing deeply as he continued to pulse into her.

Only when his hands dropped away from her did she slowly release his erection from the sweet suction of her mouth. She caught his sated stare and licked her lips suggestively.

"You are in trouble," he groaned, too relaxed for the words to come out as discouraging as he'd wanted.

"Mmm," she murmured victoriously. "And here I thought I was intolerable…"

"Come here," he rasped demandingly, his gaze that had flared with her taunt leaving no room for her to disobey.

Beth shivered at the husky promise in his tone. Sometimes, she liked when he was demanding – and he knew it.

"Where?" she asked, feigning confusion. "I'm right here."

"Yes, but I'm too exhausted from what you just put me through to be able to move my mouth back onto that sweet pussy of yours," he groaned in impatience. "Now, come here."

Her mouth went dry as she crawled up the length of his torso.

"I'm going to come inside of you tonight – and I don't mean inside of your mouth," he said, his voice deadly soft.

His arm reached out to grab his sweats, rolling them and shoving them underneath his neck to prop his head up.

"Put your legs on either side of my head and lay back along my chest," he instructed. His eyes darkened seeing her core open in front of him as her legs lifted to part, placing one foot on either side of him.

His fingers sunk into the fleshy part of her hips, pulling her lower half those last few inches to bring her slick folds to his mouth. Her mouth parted soundlessly as he began to devour her. His tongue flicked rapidly over her, bringing her right to the edge of release and then stopping.

She gasped. "Darcy… please…" Her legs quivered with her pent-up desire that was on the precipice of erupting.

"Turnabout is fair play," he answered hoarsely, his smile glistening with her juices. His tongue slowly licked her one time, taunting her even more.

Beth felt her elbows shaking, her arms feeling like they were about to give out from supporting her. Another second or two passed – another lick. A shiver unraveled through her body. Another lick. She gasped loudly, feeling her eyes tearing with the strain he was putting on her body. The torturous and intermittent stimulation was just enough to keep her on that uncomfortably exquisite edge.

"Do you know why I want to come inside of you?" She vaguely heard him ask as he stared at her exposed entrance, watching as her desire seeped out of her, begging for his tongue to taste it.

Beth groaned. "Because I am yours."

She felt the intensity of his stare on her; he hadn't been expecting that answer. For it, his tongue swept over her one more time, swirling around her clit, bringing stars to her eyes.

"No, because I am yours," he replied. His breath caressing her softly. His hands released her hips, reaching for her arms that were supporting her and pulling her shuddering body to sit again. "Put me inside of you." His eyes seared into her.

Without looking she knew he was ready. Carefully sliding her legs back underneath her, she rose unsteadily up onto her knees. Moving backwards, the tip of his erection brushed her molten core; Darcy's eyes shut as he groaned with pleasure. She positioned herself over him, her hand reaching down to wrap firmly around the thick length of him, placing the tip of his cock at her entrance.

Her gaze moved to lock with his just before she sunk down onto him, taking him completely inside of her passage. Beth gasped at the welcome invasion. The friction of him sliding into her causing her body to tremble with need and her mind to go blank.

His hands back on her hips reminded her that she was in control. Steadying her hands on his chest, she rose up and down along his length.

"That's it, gorgeous," he groaned, watching his cock slide in and out of her as his hands moved to cup her breasts that bounced enticingly in front of his gaze.

Beth closed her eyes, unable to even feel herself moving anymore as she chased after the release he'd been taunting her with. She frenzied movements took her in search of her pleasure, his words encouraging her to take it. He'd wired her to be on edge and it only took a few moments before she found herself exploding around him – and collapsing forward onto him as her arms slowly gave out beneath her.

Taking a firm hold around her body, Darcy quickly rolled them over making sure to stay firmly seated inside of her. Beth gasped as he seemingly found his strength again, his hips pounding into her as he demanded his own release while hers still quaked around him. He thrust again and again inside her soaking passage, finally shouting her name with his release.

Burying his head in her neck, they both lay there for minutes, letting their hearts and their breaths come back to a normal, steady pace.

"I don't think I can move," Beth finally whispered.

"Sorry," Darcy groaned, rolling off of her.

"That's not what I meant," she whimpered, now empty and bare at the loss of him. "I meant from what just happened." Rolling carefully onto her side, she extended on arm over his chest needing to maintain that constant contact with him.

"Well, I don't want to move but we can't stay on the floor," he said, grunting as he propped himself up on his elbow.

"Mmm," she moaned. "I think we can. I'll be fine sleeping on the floor, I've slept on worse."

He glared at her. "We aren't sleeping on the floor."

"It could be fun." Her small smile teased him.

"Beth," he hoarsely began to scold her, "I fucked you once and ate my fill of you twice – half of those fucking mind-blowing experiences were on the hard surface of this floor. You are going to be sore enough tomorrow, I'm not going to willing let you make it worse by agreeing to sleeping on the floor."

"Fine," she grumbled, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

She watched as he stood, extending his hands to help her stand, her legs still wobbly from her orgasm and the work they'd put in to achieve it. Moving behind her, he steered her into the bathroom, pressing himself firmly against her back to give her some support.

They both quickly got ready for bed, too exhausted from their ravenous reunion to continue their earlier discussion and too sated to even want to think about letting that stress back into their night.

Crawling into bed, Darcy tucked his arm underneath her neck as she curled against him, snuggling up to the source of her happiness. She sighed against him, relishing in the comfort and safety that she felt in his arms.

"Goodnight, Beth," he whispered, kissing her softly on her forehead as his fingers traced lightly down her back, soothing her into slumber.

I love you. She didn't know if she said it or not – or even if she said goodnight; she fell weightlessly into the deep sleep that was calling her name.