Page 49 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)

He paused here, looked at her pointedly, waiting for her response. It was a response that she didn’t want to admit to. Beth bit her lip, looking down at the floor. All she had thought of was Jane; she hadn’t even thought of herself and her job.

“I don’t know what I would have done,” she murmured.

“No? Because the other option would be to refuse to work with her and what would Phil have said when you told him that you had to drop another client for personal reasons? Because it would have either been that, or you would have worked with her, helped her succeed, all the while having to pretend that you were ok with her. I know things were rough at work after you fired Cathy, ahh, Mrs. DeBourgh and that Phil was excited to have you take on Caroline’s exhibit.

If I told you who she was, what choice would I have left you with?

Either force you to work miserably with someone whom you hate or risk everything that you’ve worked towards with your job.

How do you think I could do that to you? ” he fired out, angrily.

“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t. I didn’t think about that…” Beth said, bringing her hand to her temple, processing his point .

I hadn’t even thought about work. How could I have continued to work with her knowing… And Phil, after everything that had happened, there was no way that he could allow her to drop another client without a serious reprimand.

All she had thought about was how knowing this information had affected her, but now she was finally starting to see the terrible position that Darcy had been stuck in for weeks - not wanting to hurt her by not telling her, yet knowing that telling her would probably hurt her worse, in so many areas.

His position had been somewhere between a rock and a hard place…

“And more than that, your sister is marrying her brother; how could I further put you in that position? Hating her, never wanting to be in the same room as her, yet being forced to because of her tie to Jane. How would you even explain it to Jane? I thought I could handle it. ”

He paused, catching his breath and his overwhelming emotions that had started to make his voice shake.

“I know,” he began again, “how much your sister means to you. I can’t…

I won’t come between that. At least, I tried not to.

I swore to myself that this wasn’t your problem, this wasn’t your fight, and you shouldn’t have to suffer anymore because of it.

It’s bad enough that you have to suffer the effects it has left on me.

I couldn’t let it strain your relationship with Jane… ”

Her heart broke at the pain in his voice.

He had tried too hard to spare her from it, from the situation they were now in.

Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn’t fault his reasoning; this would put a strain on her relationship with Jane no matter what happened, no matter what they chose to do about Caroline .

“I know. I’m not…” she started, softly, “I’m not mad that you didn’t tell me initially; I shouldn’t have said that.

I can understand why you didn’t when she wasn’t in your life, in our lives, but once she was…

I know that who she is complicates this, complicates how we handle this, but maybe you should have told me when I showed you that she was stalking and harassing me? ”

“ God, Beth, I tried. I just never fucking expected her to take it this far, this fast. Every day, I expected her to approach me, to contact me, to harass me ; I put so many things in place and then after that one day at the office, there was nothing. I should have known she would jump to something more drastic,” Darcy growled.

“I’d hoped she wouldn’t know about you, but I couldn’t ask Charles specifically not to tell her, without raising questions about why.

Maybe I would have done that had I known she was going to so aggressively pursue you to get to me.

I just wanted to keep you out of this for as long as possible, I just wanted to protect you. ”

“I don’t need a protector! I need a partner! ” Beth yelled, exasperated.

His eyes shot to hers, fire raging inside of them, his instinct to dominate freed along with his anger. Locking onto her gaze, he stood and walked over to her, stopping to tower in front of her, his face just inches from hers.

Beth didn’t back down; she kept his gaze, feeling the heat radiating off of his body. She knew he was aroused, angry, but aroused. Her own anger and frustration had flared but been quickly consumed by the blaze of desire that burned through her with his proximity.

“This is crazy,” he whispered harshly before his lips crashed down onto hers.

All of the tension and anger over Caroline strengthened their need for each other, their need for connection; Darcy, afraid that Beth was going to realize that a relationship with him wasn’t worth the trials and Beth, afraid that he would never be able to have complete faith in her after what Caro had put him through.

Their frustration fueled their passion .

Her response was immediate, kissing him back, showing him physically just how she felt.

Their tongues sparred back and forth, each trying to take control.

Her arms looped around his neck, his hands threading themselves through her hair, clasping her head and angling her mouth under his so he could delve even further into its warm, moist depths.

This was all she wanted, to be with him and to forget about the world.

Beth groaned as she felt Darcy pull back from the kiss, her face still clasped between his hands, his forehead coming to rest gently on hers.

“What do you want me to do, Beth?” he asked hoarsely, his eyes shut as he tried to reign in his desire and frustration.

A quick intake of breath accompanied her shock at his question.

He was asking her what to do? He wanted her to give him direction?

As much as she warmed at the full control he was giving her over the situation and how he handled it, she didn't know what to do.

“I want… No, I need you to make this decision with me,” she replied softly, her hands moving down to cup his face. “I don’t know what to do but whatever it is, I want us to decide and move forward together - no more holding things back, no more one-sided decisions.”

His eyes opened, their molten chocolate boring into hers, his need for her written all over his face. He didn’t respond - verbally, that is. Ever so slowly, his lips descended onto hers, kissing her softly in agreement, in a silent promise to move forward together .

Beth sighed into the kiss for a moment, relishing the gentle caress of his lips on hers, the soft, unspoken acquiescence of the embrace.

It was just for a moment though; she’d been on edge all afternoon, forcibly constraining her emotions so that she didn’t confront Caroline.

Then, after leaving, her thoughts and feelings had run rampant - anger, confusion, and frustration overwhelming her senses; the tidal wave of sensations only exacerbated by Darcy’s arrival.

The only thing that had brought her peace was his kiss and her desire for him; it was the only constant, the only thing that she knew for sure that was real; the only thing she knew for sure how to handle.

And the only way to handle that kind of desire was to let it engulf her.

Her tongue pushed against the crease of his lips, demanding entrance - demanding more.

Beth wanted to be consumed by him; it was the only thing that felt safe, and she knew that he felt the same.

At the first press of her tongue, everything about his embrace changed.

His hold on her tightened and tensed, his kiss intensified, her lips opening to his tongue as it began the familiar dance with hers.

She was on edge, needing more, faster. Her hand left his face, roaming impatiently down to his chest, trying frantically to unbutton his shirt. In her haste, one of the buttons popped off, causing her to gasp against his mouth.

“Just rip it,” Darcy murmured into their kiss.

Beth didn’t need any further encouragement, pulling forcefully on his shirt, letting the last three buttons fly from their perch.

She didn't even bother to try and pull the shirt off of him, her hands immediately reaching for the hard planes of his chest. Beth moaned at the feel of his hot skin underneath her fingers.

Her fingers played across his chest, rubbing over his flat nipples, then down across his sculpted abdomen to the edge of his pants.

She heard his breath catch, feeling his pants move underneath her fingers as his erection swelled larger, achingly close to where she was touching him .

Not to get ahead of himself, Beth felt his hand slide down the length of her back, coming to rest briefly on her ass.

Grasping the soft flesh, he pulled her firmly against his hips, letting her feel the hard ridge of his erection, trapping her hands between them, preventing her from exploring any further.

“I need you,” Beth panted into his kiss.

“ I am yours,” was his response.

His words brought another rush of heat from between her thighs, forcing her to shift her stance, trying to press her legs closer together to ease the ache between them.

Knowing, his hand moved farther down to grasp her thigh underneath the edge of her sweater dress, pushing the material up and over her hip.

Shifting slightly, he moved his hand between them, right to the center of her need.

She gasped loudly as she felt his fingers delving between her slick folds, her legs almost collapsing out from underneath her as he began to ease the burning ache inside.

Waves of stinging heat made her head spin and she felt as if she were going to pass out.

Her arms came up to clasp around his neck, anchoring her to the only thing that seemed stable in the room right now.