Page 56 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)

“I believe you,” she replied, heavy sincerity lacing every word.

Her eyelids dropped, as he bent his head down to kiss her again.

Gently his tongue explored her, sealing in every last ounce of love and desire that he felt into that kiss before he pulled away, his head falling back onto the couch with a deep sigh.

“It’s not even lunch time yet and already you’re exhausted.” She teased him with a small laugh.

“Mmm… Are you complaining?” he murmured with a smile. His eyes still closed as he relaxed, comfortably keeping her trapped on top of him.

“No, not yet,” she replied, lightly biting his nipple.

Darcy groaned. “You’re an intolerable and insatiable minx, Miss Bennet. How about you make us some coffee before you start to tempt me again?”

She smiled, kissing his chest before she pushed herself up, moving so that he gently slipped out of her. His eyes opened to look up at her when he felt the loss of her heat from around him; his cock was still hard enough to want to remain inside of her.

“As you wish, Mr. Darcy,” she answered sweetly.

Walking towards the kitchen Beth felt his eyes on her naked, retreating form. She bent over to pick up her shirt and panties, hearing him groan at the view she’d given him. She bit her lip on a smile, pulling the fabric over her head.

“Don’t,” he rasped as she began to step into her underwear. “You won’t be needing those for the rest of the day.”

A shiver of anticipation ran down her spine at his words, so many delicious thoughts running through her head. Still, she couldn’t help herself from pushing him, so she stepped one leg into the delicate lace.

“Beth,” he growled. “I swear to God, if I have to remove those panties one more time today I will make sure they will be unable to be worn ever again.”

Her hands dropped the fabric at his words, her breath catching.

She wanted to make him prove his words, but she also didn’t want this pair of underwear destroyed.

She looked over her shoulder to catch his burning gaze before walking into the kitchen, leaving the offending garment lying on the floor where it would stay for the rest of the day.

When she walked back into the living room with their coffee, Darcy was dozing lightly on the couch. He’d pulled his sweats back on, his naked chest rising and falling subtly with his breath. As she stepped by him, his eyes opened.

Beth sat back down on the couch next to him. He moved to sit, giving her more room to pull one leg up onto the couch. Taking his coffee from her hand, he took a long sip of the darkly potent liquid.

“You’re so much better at making coffee than I am,” he said.

“Well, it does help when you don’t spill half of it all over the kitchen.” She laughed.

“True. Very true, minx.”

She sipped coffee through her smile, keeping her eyes locked on his.

“So, how did you find this place?” he asked, eyeing her apartment.

“Why?” Her eyes narrowed. “When I first came up here, I was staying at an AirBnB not too far from here and one day I was walking by and there was a sign out that said, ‘Apartment For Rent.’ So, I called and inquired and yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Why do you ask? What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing is wrong with it. I just didn’t know if there was a specific reason that you wanted to live here or if you would be amenable to a bigger place.”

Beth rolled her eyes at him. “I thought we were going to wait to discuss moving in?”

“Who said anything about moving in?” he asked innocently. “I was just speaking hypothetically.” The impossible man then had the audacity to wink at her.

“And what if I said that I am very attached to this specific apartment?”

“Well, there are definitely certain parts of it that I thoroughly enjoy – the bed, the kitchen counter, this couch…” His eyes flared suggestively as he mentioned all of the places that they’d had sex.

“Oh, that’s it?”

“For now.” He set his mug on the coffee table and laid back against the couch, his arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her with him.

She barely set her cup safely on the table before he pulled her down to lay on the couch with him, her back to his chest.

“So, what have you talked to your therapist about?” she asked, no longer afraid to dive into that conversation with him.

“Everything,” he grumbled. His disgruntled response caused her to chuckle. “Those shrinks are so nosey.”

“It’s their job,” Beth retorted with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah. I talked to her about everything. It started with you – everything started with you. We talked about my need for control, especially when it came to you. We talked about my inability to express my feelings verbally, which prompted the discussion about why that was and who conditioned me to be that way…” He trailed off, not wanting to talk about Caroline.

“And how does she think you are doing?” Beth wondered.

“She says I’m doing better; the real test though was seeing you again.

That first time, in the hall. Christ, I wanted you so badly – you have no idea.

I was so close to pinning you against my door and having you in the hallway, not caring who saw.

You were mine – that was all I could think.

” She felt him breathing heavily against her.

His hand slid up from her hip to cup her breast possessively.

“That’s why you said you needed to see her…” She trailed off as his fingers began to toy with her nipple through her shirt.

“How did you know?”

Beth felt her face flush even though he couldn’t really see her; she hadn’t meant to admit that out loud, but it was better to get it out in the open anyway.

“When I left my room afterward, I heard you on the phone in yours… I may have listened for a little. But, I thought you were talking to… well… I thought you were talking to your girlfriend – maybe even Caroline; I didn’t know. ”

Darcy groaned, his hand squeezing her tender flesh firmly. “God, no. It was always you…”

Beth swallowed thickly, thinking how foolish she had been. “What did she say?”

“She pointed out that I didn’t in fact act on that possessiveness – which I guess was progress in her book.”

“Well, yeah.” Beth laughed. “You didn’t act on it, even though you wanted to.

The old Darcy would have had me up against that door, and I will tell you honestly, that I probably wouldn’t have had the right mind to stop you.

So, thank you for being strong for the both of us, but you’re far too hard on yourself. ”

“Mmm…” came his response. Thinking about what she had said, his hand left her chest and ran down along her side absentmindedly, dropping from her hip to the juncture between her thighs where the material from her shirt had bunched, barely covering what was beneath.

“And then, to see you at the wedding – you were so damn beautiful – to touch you, to walk you down the aisle, and then to see you looking at him.” His hand stopped abruptly at the flash of anger that ran through him.

Beth sucked in her breath because his fingers were achingly close to her center and because of the sudden tenseness in his body.

“I felt like I wanted to rip his head off because you were mine. Just like I felt last night when he dropped you off,” Darcy growled.

A shiver ran through her at his words. She didn’t want to encourage the destructive level of possessiveness that he’d had before, but she wouldn’t lie – she loved how fiercely possessive he was of her, especially when he was telling her like this.

“Just like last night?” she questioned, breathlessly. “I’m pretty sure that I assured you before – and after dinner – that he would know exactly who my heart belongs to.”

“Alright, fine,” he replied begrudgingly.

“Not exactly like the first time. Especially because the first time I had to wait fucking hours before I could touch you… hours during which I thought I’d never see you again, especially after what happened with Caroline at the reception.

But this time…” He trailed off as his fingers flicked the inch of fabric off of her, two fingers delving into her moist folds.

Beth gasped, jerking slightly against his hand.

“Tell me what else you felt,” she whispered, unsure what she was enjoying more – the insight into Darcy’s emotions or the light tease of his fingers over her clit.

“At the reception?” he asked.

“Yes—” Beth bit her lip to stop a moan from escaping as fire shot straight to her core from his touch.

“Anger – at Caroline. Helpless, jealous, watching you dance with Dempsey all night,” he answered gruffly, annoyed to have to admit to those less-than-admirable feelings.

“Please,” she scoffed lightly. “I’m sure you were not jealous about being spared from dancing.”

“Beth, I would spend the rest of my life dancing with you, if it meant that I got to hold you again,” he returned, his voice painfully hard, yet tender.

She moaned at the sweetness of his words, but before she could respond further, he continued his confession.

“After the reception, I was lost. It was like midnight and I was calling Megan. I felt like I was losing my mind after dealing with Caroline and then feeling like I’d lost you to Colin.

I don’t think I’d ever felt so helpless in my entire life, not even when I realized that you’d left and how much work I had to do to change.

I felt like I’d worked so hard and none of it mattered because you were already his.

” He spun her to face him so that she could read every emotion in his eyes that he had experienced that night.

“And then you showed up at my door in the middle of the night . And all of a sudden, I had hope again – I had a chance – that I could prove to you that you were meant to be with me.”

“Darcy,” she whispered in awe. “I love you.”

“I love you, Beth” he whispered back, his lips falling to hers; their love burning brightly amidst the darkness that still tried to surround them.

His hands found her center again, wet and waiting. Sliding his sweatpants down, he lifted her leg to rest on his thigh and slipped into her. And that effectively ended their conversation until lunchtime.