Page 8 of It’s You

Darcy stood up before him. He was taller than she was, and she stared straight ahead at his throat for a moment, adjusting to his nearness, almost undone by the warmth of his body on the skin of her cheeks.

She waited a moment before looking up at his face, seizing his eyes as mercilessly as he once had hers.

“Why did it take you twenty years to come back?” she breathed.

His eyes burned for her. She could see the copper joined by molten gold, churning and fierce. Darcy, Darcy, Darcy. She heard her name over and over again in his head like a litany. Was he blocking her from hearing his thoughts by repeating her name?

She looked away.

“You don’t have an answer,” she whispered, wincing at the disappointment she heard in her own voice.

“I do.”

She captured his eyes again.

Then why?

He looked down.

“Do you remember what I said? When you told me not to touch you?”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me. That it was a sacred pledge.”

He nodded.

“But I had to learn some things. Before I could come back.”

He hadn’t stepped away from her, and she stepped forward.

One step. Close enough to him that the front of her sweater grazed his shirt.

She felt her nipples harden into pebbles under her sweater and heard his breathing change, almost imperceptibly, like she shouldn’t have been able to hear it, but she could.

It caught for just a second, then picked up cadence again. Faster. Louder.

“What things?” she asked.

“Control.” He growled the word deliberately, his voice thick and low.

Her eyes fluttered closed, listening to the sound of his breathing.

In…and out…In…and out. She realized that as she stood before him, her breathing had changed to mirror his, so that every time they took a breath, the tips of her sensitive nipples grazed his chest through taffeta and cotton.

In…and out…In…and out. They touched like magnets, and she could feel the force field between them, pulling her toward him with every breath, making it almost impossible to retreat.

She felt languorous and dizzy, almost hypnotized, until she thought she might faint. In…and out…In…and out…

“Darcy…” he whispered.

“No!”

Her eyes flew open, and she stepped back from him, taking a deep breath that filled her diaphragm. She held it to break the rhythm between them. She turned her back to him, pressing her palms against her flaming cheeks.

He reached for her. “But you said?—”

“No.” She took another step away. “You didn’t really answer me. More half-truths, I think, Jack.”

“Walk with me a little more.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to get to know you.”

She turned to look at him again, biting the skin inside her lower lip and blinking back tears.

This is too intense for me. All of it.

Just walk with me.

“Fine,” she conceded, taking off at a brisk pace. “We can take a walk over to the Powhatan Falls and then loop back.”

She didn’t check to see if he was following behind her. She knew he was.

“Powhatan.”

“It’s an old Algonquin word,” she explained. “It means waterfalls.”

“It actually means at the waterfalls.”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “That’s right. How do you know that? You lived here for what? Half an hour?”

“Senior class had to map out Proctor Woods.”

Darcy chuckled suddenly, nodding in remembrance. “Yes. That’s right. The cartography class. I wonder if they do that anymore.”

“It was a smart exercise. I know everyone uses GPS now, but no kid from Carlisle ever got lost in these woods. Plus, mapping’s a good skill. I’ve certainly used it since.”

She slowed down and turned to him as they entered Dooley Meadow, which was bathed in sunshine. She ran the palms of her hands over the tips of the tall spring grasses that came up to her thighs and tickled her pantyhose-clad legs.

“How much do you remember?” she asked, facing him until he caught up and walked beside her.

“Of what?” he asked.

“That night.”

“Everything.”

“That summer.”

“Everything.”

“Why did you act like it hurt you to look at me?”

“Because it did.”

“ Why ?”

“Darcy, if I promise I will tell you?—”

He stopped moving beside her, so Darcy pivoted to face him. She could still see Beaver Pond in the distance behind them, but she had no more answers than she had sitting on the bench playing quid pro quo.

Damn it, she was getting sick of this. She wasn’t playing any more games with him. She wanted answers. She ? —

She furrowed her brows, focusing on his face.

His eyes were wide, and his chin was raised, looking over her shoulder, focused on the dark woods that led to Powhatan Falls.

He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly and deliberately through his nose, then tilted his head, listening to something, for something.

His body was still, on high alert, taut and flexed as they stood at the edge of the meadow. He looked down suddenly, catching her eyes. Don’t move.

“Why? What?—”

Shhh!

What? What’s going on?

He put out his hand to her, palm up. She looked at it and then back up at his eyes.

We had a deal, and you didn’t answer my question, so you can’t just ? —

She heard the crack of a branch behind her before she heard the low, guttural roar, and watched as Jack’s eyes changed color, from brown to gold, widening in fear at what he saw directly behind her.

She swallowed as panic set in. She heard a snort and felt a bit of wet spray on her legs. Six feet away? Maybe less.

Darcy knew what it was. It was springtime in the northern New Hampshire woods. Hibernating bears were stirring. She was fairly sure that right now, there was nothing between her and a riled black bear.