Page 38 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)

Beth had half-expected to run into Darcy at the airport, or on her flight, or to find him waiting for her at her tiny apartment when she arrived back in Boston. But he hadn’t been at any of those places, no matter how much she looked for him.

Unlocking the deadbolt and doorknob, she flipped on the light in her tiny space and dumped her bag onto the floor as soon as she crossed the threshold, locking the door behind her. Sagging against it for support, she sighed deeply.

Finally, a moment completely to herself. Alone.

Her back pocket buzzed. Groaning, she pulled out her phone to see a message from Col saying that he hoped she’d had a good flight and he couldn’t wait to see her tomorrow.

She was too tired for this – and that’s what her excuse would be tomorrow for why she didn’t respond to him.

Pushing off against the frame, she grabbed her bag again and traipsed the few steps it took to make it into her bedroom; the one nice thing about a tiny apartment – she was never too far from being able to collapse into bed.

She brushed her teeth and barely shed her clothes before climbing underneath the welcoming sheets, sighing as her head hit the pillow.

As soon as her body relaxed into the mattress, she felt the steady ache in her muscles intensify now that she had time to think about it.

Her legs and lower back hurt from dancing in heels last night and then sitting on the plane, even though it had only been for an hour or so.

Other parts of her ached from more delicious activities.

Beth moaned into her pillow as sleep began to drift over her, her memory from later last night overwhelming all other thoughts and the weariness in her body transforming into a different kind of ache; an ache that only one man seemed to be able to soothe, then again, he was the one who created it in the first place.

His looks, his kiss, his touch…

She groaned as sleep tortuously evaded her, leaving her to her tempting and tormenting fantasies.

Even the thought of him had her body coming alive as her mind drifted on the brink of exhaustion.

Her skin quivered as she remembered how he had touched her, how his mouth had teased her – tasting her being the first thing on his mind after five months apart.

With a mind of its own – one that was listening to her body – her hand slid down underneath the edge of her underwear towards her sore and swollen center.

Her folds were wet underneath the gentle touch of her fingertips; the thoughts of Darcy’s mouth on her, of his cock inside of her, had her core begging for more of him.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending which half of her you asked, he wasn’t here, which mean that her fingers would have to do.

Her fingers deftly swirled over her clit, knowing that her body needed this release to finally relax into sleep.

Beth moaned again as her climax built, her fingers moving faster as her mind pictured Darcy’s head between her thighs, imagining it was his devilish tongue that was pleasuring her right now.

Her mouth fell open and her breath caught as the tension built inside of her.

She felt her inner muscles clenching, begging to be filled with him, remembering what it was like to be filled with him; her body exploded as her orgasm spread over her. She quaked against her hand as the tension began to subside and her body finally relaxed.

As sleep finally overtook her, Darcy stepped out of her thoughts and into her dreams, refusing to let her go.

And she didn’t want him to.

Thank God her alarm was automatically set to go off during the week otherwise she probably would have slept until noon. As it was, she’d already snoozed it twice, but she would be late if she hit snooze again.

She sat up groggily, her legs dropping off the side of the bed.

The covers pulled off of her and she remembered that she went to bed naked, too tired to find the t-shirt she normally wore.

Then, she remembered what she hadn’t been too tired to do; her eyes shutting briefly as she groaned, her body already awakening at the memory.

She pushed herself out of bed determined not to dwell on that thought any longer.

She quickly got ready for work, the rush to not be late helping keep her mind off of certain things.

Grabbing her phone off the nightstand, she almost made it out the door before she made the mistake of glancing at the screen, the unopened message from Darcy stopping her in her tracks.

Her heart picked up its beat as she slid open the message.

- Good morning, gorgeous. I hope you slept better than I did last night. Have a good day; Can’t wait to see you.

Her heart stopped. Why? Because it was stupid.

She knew he was going to follow her; he’d practically said so.

Maybe because she’d made it back to her apartment without being intercepted or running into him, she’d been lulled into the belief that she was safe for a time, but that was foolish.

He was coming for her and she needed to figure out her feelings before he got here.

What the heck?

She had two men in the past twelve hours tell her that they can’t wait to see her and she wished her body would respond to the first like it did to the second.

That was one more thing to add onto her plate today – telling Col that there was no hope for them.

It would be irrational and careless to try to pretend otherwise and it would only further hurt him.

Picking up her laptop bag, she rushed out her door and right into Darcy. He grunted as she knocked the breath out of him.

“Oomph,” she groaned, her hands instinctively coming up to rest on his chest. Beth sighed, raising her gaze to the man she’d expected to see, just not so soon.

“What are you doing here?” Dumb question.

“I mean, I just got your text; I didn’t realize when you said you couldn’t wait to see me, that it meant you weren’t going to wait to see me… ”

“What can I say? I’m impatient when it comes to you.

Whether it’s now or later, I’m here because I’m not letting you run away from me,” he said firmly, his hands coming to clasp her waist possessively in his strong vise-like grip.

“Again.” An electric current ran through her body at his touch.

“I mean, I was hoping you’d coming running back into my arms, but I wasn’t expecting it so literally. ”

Beth rolled her eyes at his light-hearted assumption.

“I have to go to work,” she said, placing steady, firm pressure against his chest. His hands tightened on her waist, telling her that he wasn’t about to let her go.

The pressure that she was putting on his chest, while separating their torsos, only served to press her hips harder against his, leaving her with no doubt at just how aroused he was to see her, his erection pushing powerfully against her.

“Please, Darcy, I’m going to be late for work,” she repeated, the sense of deja-vu coming over her from the last time she’d been in this similar situation.

Instantly, the hot hardness of him was gone; she stood alone as he stepped a foot away from her.

“We have to talk,” he rasped, the plea unmistakable in his voice.

“Fine,” Beth replied exasperated, willing to agree to anything to get on with her morning. Or, willing to agree to anything to see him again. “But, not right now because I’m going to be late for work.”

“Tonight?” Was he really asking?

“Ok,” she agreed, flustered by, well, so many things – that he’d let her go, that he wanted to talk, that he was asking instead of demanding.

She also agreed because she didn’t have time for whatever came after a refusal.

Stepping around him, she rushed for the door to the stairwell, hearing him call her name one last time. She turned just as she began to open the door.

“I can’t wait to see you later,” he said again huskily.

Beth rolled her eyes and huffed, walking through the door and away from the infuriating and intoxicating man for whom her stomach clenched and her heart sped knowing that he was here – that he was here for her.

When she got to her office, Col was already standing outside the door, waiting for her.

Great.

She forced a weak, apologetic smile to her face for being a few minutes late. “Sorry,” she murmured, opening her office door and holding it for Col to enter since his hands were full with coffee.

“No worries,” he said with a smile. “I know it’s been a long weekend for you.

You know, you could have asked your boss for the morning off and he probably would have given it to you.

He’s a pretty nice guy – pretty handsome, too.

” He winked at her as she smirked, taking her coffee from his hand, not realizing that she’d just freed it up to do something else.

For the second time that morning Beth felt a hand on her waist, only Col took it a step further and before she could stop him, his lips dropped to hers, kissing her softly.

Beth sucked in a breath and jerked her head back sharply; she couldn’t let him continue to think there could be something between them.

“Sorry,” he grinned. “I couldn’t help myself, I missed you. Don’t worry, no one else is in yet, trust me, I’ve been standing in the hall for the past fifteen minutes.”

Beth grimaced for both making him wait and for letting him believe that it was because she was afraid of someone seeing them that she’d pulled back.

She couldn’t keep doing this.

She turned and walked towards her desk, intending to set her bag and coffee down and then talk to Colin from the superficial safety net behind her desk.

She’d just placed her coffee cup on the wooden surface, opening her mouth to blurt out the uncomfortable, but necessary truth, when Col began to talk, not realizing that she was about to say something.