Chapter 39

Friday November 10

The first thing Darcy noticed as he woke up was the scent of Lizzie engulfing him. Her head rested just underneath his. His body was curved around hers. She was nestled into him. He raised himself up on one arm. He began trailing kisses down her neck towards her shoulder. She murmured and rolled towards him. He adjusted positions and soon she was beneath him. He braced his weight so he wouldn't crush her. He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her nose. Finally his lips came to rest against hers. He kissed her gently, deepening the kiss slowly. She started to kiss him hungrily back. He rocked his hips towards her gently. She arched up towards him. His hand traveled downwards. Slipping under the waist band of her panties and the boxers she wore. He had dreamed of waking her up like this for so long. His fingers gently stroked her. He slowly slid one in. She bucked against him her small hands grabbing at his back. He continued to kiss her sliding another finger in. He used his thumb to caress and rub her. Sliding his fingers out a little and then back in. She moaned and thrust upwards. He could tell she was close to orgasming. She was so responsive, it thrilled him.

He slide his mouth from hers, kissing her neck as his fingers manipulated her skillfully. He felt a rush of warm on his fingers as she gasped his name during her orgasm. He felt pleased as he slowly began to withdraw, kissing her and caressing her gently.

Her little hands moved forward from his back. She caressed his stomach. He lazily stroked her. Then one of her soft hands dipped into his pants. His breath hitched when he felt her hand on him. She shyly touched him. He instinctively thrust into her hand as she stroked him. His fingers delved back into her eagerly. He knew he couldn't last long with the feel of her touch but was determined to bring her to another orgasm before he gave into his own.

Afterwards he gathered her to him. As he came against her he had cried out her name. Telling her of his love. He rained kiss down onto her hair. This was how he had wanted to wake her up last Saturday.

...

In the parking lot at Collins and Collins Darcy pulled Lizzie to him for one last kiss. Finally he released her, and she smoothed her skirt.

"You can't do that in the office," she informed him.

He silently looked at her.

"Seriously," she said frowning.

He sighed and said, "I shall endeavor to keep my hands to myself today."

Then leaning down he whispered huskily in her ear, "I make no promises for tonight though."

To his satisfaction she blushed.

"You assume, I'll spend the night with you again?"

"I didn't mean to be presumptuous," he said his chin retreating to his neck.

"Relax Will. I was teasing."

"So does that mean you are spending tonight with me?"

"It means I might."

"Is there anything I can do to convince you to do so?" Darcy ask, his fingers trailing along her collar bone.

She leaned towards him, closing her eyes. She presented such a tempting picture. He quickly removed his fingers from her satiny skin. "If I kiss you now Lizzie, I won't be in any state to walk into that building," he told her, his voice thick.

Lizzie opened her eyes, smiled up at him mischievously and said, "Perhaps today at work you can think of what you can do to persuade me to stay with you tonight ."

In the blink of an eye, Darcy's mouth crashed down on hers. He slid his arms around her, she fit so perfectly he distantly thought as she melted into him. A minute later he pulled away gulping for breath. Lizzie moaned in distress as his mouth left hers.

"Lizzie- work- God I want you-" he gasp out.

Lizzie pulled out of his arms blushing and embarrassed, moving away from him. Putting distance between them. He grabbed her hand before she could get away and held on gently but tightly.

"I love you Lizzie Bennet," he told her firmly.

Then holding her hand in his he started walking slowly towards Collins and Collins.

He guiltily glanced at Lizzie. He remembered Charlotte referring to him being in a position of authority. He remembered Lizzie saying she didn't want to be perceived as the CEO's date, wanting to prove herself on her own merits. He'd given into his own desires and kissed her in a parking lot where anyone she worked with could see. It was disrespectful of him. It undermined her. He knew she was creative and smart but others would leap to the wrong conclusions. He vowed to protect her, to never undermine her, to do everything in his power to show off her considerable value, wit and intellect to the world. His Lizzie was special and he would always strive to put her first, which meant no kissing her in open parking lots.

...

Darcy stared at Lizzie. She was so vibrant. So beautiful. Supposedly he was at this production meeting gathering more information for his report. In reality the report was done and had been for awhile. He didn't need to dig deeper into Collins and Collins, but he did need to be close to Lizzie. The way she shoved her pencil into her hair behind her ear fascinated him. He liked kissing that ear, last night he had discovered a sensitive spot just behind the shell of her ear. Thinking about the noise she had made, he shifted in his seat. He redirected his thoughts to something safer.

Lizzie's laugh broke out over something Mark said. Darcy frowned. He wanted to remove Lizzie from Mark's presence, he still didn't like the way the other man looked at her. Ricky Collins seeing his frown called for his attention assuring him they could make whatever adjustments he thought necessary. As Ricky and the rest of those present at the meeting looked towards him, his mind raced. He had no idea what had been being discussed, so caught up in looking at Lizzie. He was hit by a sudden inspiration.

"Mr. Collins, I think that could be adequate but might I borrow Ms. Bennet to discuss the topic privately. I'm sure it would help with her graduate research," he said.

"Of course Mr. Darcy! I'm sure any insight you could give Ms. Bennet would be most beneficial. It isn't everyday she gets the opportunity to bask in such greatness as yours and learn from it. A small crumb of your time would be like a feast fit for a king for her."

"Ah, yes," Darcy replied glancing at Lizzie. He was surprised to see her glaring at him.

"If you'll come with me Ms. Bennet," he said to her his chin retreating into his neck. Perhaps he thought, his brilliant idea hadn't been so brilliant after all if Lizzie was mad.

As she gathered her notebook and stonily proceeded him out of the room he hoped that maybe she was just acting mad for the benefit of the others who all looked on in stunned silence. Charlotte looked ready to protest, Fitz looked shocked, maybe she wasn't acting then.

In the hallway she narrowed her eyes at him. "Where to Mr. Darcy?" Lizzie ask, emphasizing his last name.

"Uhhhh," he said gulping. "My office?" Darcy said, but it came out as more of a question.

"Of course sir," she said starting down the hallway quickly.

He didn't like the way she called him sir. Like she would rather be anywhere other then within a hundred feet of him. With long strides he quickly caught up to her.

"Lizzie," he said reaching for her elbow. She shrugged his hand off. And stopped outside his office door. He quickly reached for the knob and opened the door. As soon as the door closed behind them she rounded on him.

"You smug, arrogant asshole. I believed you. I trusted you, but I guess the jokes on me. What was this to you? Your chance for revenge? Suing me wouldn't have been good enough? You wanted to make sure you hurt me. That way I'd never make the mistake of crossing someone above me again?" Lizzie spat at him.

"Lizzie, why would you think that? You know that's not, that's-"

"Because you just told a roomful of people that ensuring legal coverage and compliance such as getting permissions from any web videos subject was an adequate part of any prospective policy. That it was adequate to legally go after anyone that used videos without those permissions. That Collins and Collins ethics strategy was adequate as suggested by your aunt rather than the current one. That changing the policy to incorporate her ideas was adequate, which includes a gag agreement for employees in regards to the internet. Then you made it clear that you believed I, the lowly grad student, didn't understand or know what ethics were. That I wasn't bright enough to grasp the concept unless you took your time to explain it to me. So is this the part where you gloat?" Lizzie hissed angry tears starting to fall.

"God no Lizzie. I'm such an ass. I hadn't been paying any attention to the meeting. All I saw was Mark hovering near you and when Ricky called attention to me I saw an opportunity to whisk you away from him. I never, Lizzie," Darcy said reaching for her.

She flinched away. Her eyes stormy.

"Lizzie please," he begged starting to panic. He'd been so stupidly jealous of Mark and now Lizzie was quite rightfully mad. He hadn't realized the meeting had been about the company's ethics policies and internet content posted by employees. That Ricky was thinking of changing the policies Charlotte helped implement in favor of ones his aunt advocated. "I would never have, I didn't mean to imply-"

"Yet you did," she said angrily. He could hear the hurt in her tone beneath the anger. It cut him like a knife.

"God Lizzie I'm so sorry. I just-" he turned and grabbed the door knob, opening the door. "I'll make it right ," he vowed to her."

She followed him back down the hall to the conference room, unsure, angry and hurt. He entered it without knocking.

"Apologies," he said curtly addressing the room. "I hadn't been paying attention to the focus of the meeting. Ms. Bennet was kind enough to fill me in on it just now. The companies policy as it stands is more than adequate and shouldn't be changed to incorporate any of my aunt's suggestions. Employees should be free to post what they see fit onto the internet. The internet is a free space. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and to have the freedom to speak them. I would never condone legally going after someone that had. Thank you," he said. "I believe Mr. Collins that a short break may be in order."

"Of course, of course. Wonderful suggestion. A break and then let's reconvene in 15 minutes, Ms. Lu?"

"Yes. That sounds good Mr. Collins," Charlotte said already moving to where Lizzie stood in the doorway, blocked by Darcy's body. She reached for Lizzie's hand subtly giving it a squeeze unseen due to Darcy's bulk as Ricky continued to speak about new policies that could be implemented that Darcy might like to hear about after the break. Darcy assured him he would be most attentive indicating firmly, after the break though.

Darcy slowly turned around to face Lizzie. He looked at her with trepidation.

"Lizzie?" Darcy ask quietly.

She took a shaky breath. "Thank you," she said her tone unreadable.

Charlotte, Lizzie and Darcy stood quietly by the doorway as Ricky and the others in the meeting filed out. Fitz quickly joined them, eyeing Lizzie.

Mark paused in the doorway. He addressed Lizzie saying, "Do you want to grab some afternoon coffee from the break room with me?"

Darcy tensed up and did his best to repress the growl in his throat. Lizzie shook her head no and thanked him, allowing Darcy to relax a little. Finally Lizzie, Charlotte, Fitz and Darcy stood alone in the conference room.

"What the hell Darcy?" Charlotte burst out standing protectively in front of Lizzie.

"I hadn't realized what the meeting was about," Darcy responded quietly.

Fitz looked at him shrewdly and said, "The entire last 25 minutes has been a back and forth between the room and Ricky Collins on the pros and cons of sticking with the current policies or adapting them to meet his VC's newest opinions. Until you opened your big mouth he had been convinced it was best to leave current policies in place."

"I'm sorry," Darcy said. "I should have been attending to the topic."

"It has Caroline written all over it," Lizzie said speaking up.

"It does," Fitz agreed. "It's a bid to control Charlotte and indirectly you." Turning to Darcy he added, "I had assumed you presumed as much and that was why you chose to sit in on the meeting."

Darcy flushed and admitted, "I had not been aware of the meeting's content. I, er, decided to join when I found out Lizzie was."

Lizzie looked startled. Fitz burst out laughing. Darcy a CEO of a multi-million dollar company was following Lizzie around like a puppy.

"Is it safe to assume your scowl in there was not directed at the meeting's contents since you were unaware of them? Nor as everyone was assuming, Lizzie and her arguments?" Fitz ask him with a grin.

"No," Darcy said ducking his head.

"Then I suggest the next time you join a meeting you be aware of what it's about rather than use it as an excuse to stare at Lizzie," Fitz teased him. "Poor Mark, I'm sure thought he would need to rescue Lizzie you."

Darcy, to his mortification let out a low growl. Charlotte chuckled and finally moved out of her protective stance in front of Lizzie.

Lizzie raised her eyes to stare at him defiantly, residual hurt still reflecting back at him.

"Lizzie," Darcy said locking eyes with her his voice thick. "I love you. I was being a stupid jealous idiot. I'm sorry."

Her eyes softened a little. William Darcy CEO of a large company had marched determinedly back into a conference room, announced he hadn't been paying attention, something she was sure no CEO would normally admit too and recanted his previous words, all for her. And then to top it all off, he apologized. She nodded her head abruptly, then stepped up to him.

"You're forgiven this time. I'm sorry I leaped to false conclusions about what was going on in your head," she told him softly.

"Lizzie," he simply said wrapping his arms around her and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"We have less than ten minutes until the meeting resumes. I suggest Darce, you bring your A game and push to keep the current policies in place," Fitz told him.