Page 61 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)

Beth woke up with a gasp, her whole body covered in sweat.

“Beth, are you ok?” Darcy said, jolted awake by her shock.

She’d been having a nightmare.

“Bad dream,” she answered breathlessly, turning to face him, just realizing that she had tears in her eyes.

She couldn’t remember most of the dream, but it ended with Caroline pointing a gun at her and firing. The shock hadn’t come from the bullet heading towards her, it had come from seeing Darcy lunge in front of her to protect her.

“Shh…” He turned her towards him, holding her tightly against his chest, his hands rubbing lightly along the length of her back.

He tipped her head up so that she could meet his gaze. “I swear, I will never let anything happen to you,” he said hoarsely, his eyes locked with hers as his lips lowered to kiss her.

Beth shuddered, letting the pressure from his mouth convince hers to open; the warm slide of his tongue inside erasing the anxiety that had built inside of her.

“ Nothing,” he repeated against her mouth, continuing to kiss her.

His hand reached down to pull her leg up over his hip, placing her center against the erection he’d awoken with. He made no move to enter her, just resting his hardness against the growing wetness between her thighs.

Beth sighed against him, the tension leaving her body, replaced by the growing desire for Darcy and his closeness.

At her sigh, he pulled his mouth back from hers.

“One day – soon,” he rasped, angling her hips further against him, flexing his hips to slide the length of his cock against the moisture slipping from her core.

“We are going to wake up like this. No. Not one day.” Beth felt the head of him positioned at her entrance, beginning to slide easily inside her waiting passage. “ Every day,” he groaned.

Beth bit her lip at the exquisite pleasure that radiated from the pleasurable expansion of her muscles to accommodate him.

“Every day,” he murmured again into her ear as he began to thrust into her.

Beth closed her eyes, feeling the future that was within her grasp just as surely as she felt his movement inside of her, bringing her towards release. His hand came over her hip, his fingers finding her sensitive bud. She moaned against the onslaught of sensations at her core.

“ Every day, gorgeous.” His gruff whisper continued. “ That’s it, just come for me; show me you want this too.”

Her mouth dropped open with a silent gasp as her muscles contracted around him, her orgasm washing over her like the break of dawn, lighting up everything around her, eliminating every corner of darkness.

Behind her, Darcy groaned her name, pressing her hips back hard against him, and she felt him let go. His pleasure claimed him, his release covering her – claiming her – and every cell inside of her relished the feeling.

Darcy held her against him and stayed resting inside of her for several minutes.

He pulled her tightly to him, whispering words of love and comfort in her ear.

She was half-tempted to turn her head to make sure it was the ‘Intolerable’ Mr. Darcy who was still in bed with her, but she couldn’t find the strength – and she didn’t really doubt that it was.

Belt felt her entire body relax. By the time he whispered that it was time to get up, she’d completely forgotten about her nightmare and all of the fear and uncertainty that had come along with it.

He was the first up, slipping out of her and out of the bed. Not bothering with his sweats, he walked naked into the bathroom to wash himself off and brush his teeth.

With a small, resentful moan, Beth pushed herself up out of bed and followed his lead. By the time she was brushing her teeth, her body was fully awake and anxious for what the day had in store.

Carefully maneuvering around each other in the small space, they both dressed in efficient silence, not wanting to break the magical tenderness of the morning with a discussion that would eventually have to be had.

Beth walked out into the kitchen, stopping in her tracks when she heard a phone vibrating.

“Is your phone ringing?” she yelled to him, trying to move towards the noise.

“No.”

Digging underneath her jacket and the pillow at the end of the couch, she finally found her phone, vibrating against the armrest.

“Hello?” she answered breathlessly without even looking to see who had called.

“Hey, Beth,” Colin’s familiar voice sounded from the other end of the line. “Everything ok?”

“Oh, hey. Sorry, yeah. Just couldn’t find my phone there for a minute. What’s up? Everything ok? I’m about to leave in a few minutes, so I should be there on time. Is that ok?” Her concerned questions rolling off of her tongue before she could stop them.

Beth propped her phone against her shoulder, walking back into the kitchen to try to continue to get herself ready to leave while she waited for Colin’s response.

“Yes. No. Well, I’m not sure,” he began disjointedly. “Everything is fine with the Contest. I just got down here to the starting line – people are already here and lining up. But don’t rush, it’s fine. We are handling it.”

“Oh, ok.”

“That’s not what I’m calling about though.

Hannah just called me.” He paused to talk to one of the volunteers for a moment.

“Sorry. Hannah just called; she was going over the guest list for tonight again. I don’t know if it’s anything, but I just wanted to call you and let you know because it stuck out to her.

She told me that a ‘Mrs. C. DeBourgh’ is on the guest list.”

Beth felt her heart drop into her stomach.

“Beth?” Colin asked into the silence from her end of the line.

“Yeah. Sorry. Yes, that name does mean something to me.”

“Is it her?”

“I don’t know.” Beth answered honestly. “It could be. It probably is.”

It was unlikely that Mrs. DeBourgh was in Boston for this. Knowing that Caroline was coming up here for Darcy, and was after Beth, the most likely explanation was that Caroline was here using the DeBourgh name.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked her, his voice deadly serious. “I can have them not let her in, if you think that it’s Caroline.”

Beth stayed silent for a minute, staring into the bedroom, as if getting a glance of Darcy would give her an answer.

What if it was Mrs. DeBourgh?

What if it was Caroline?

What if this would be their best opportunity to get her out of their lives for good?

She cleared her throat, making an executive decision that she hoped Darcy would be ok with.

“No. Just leave it. Let her in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We will deal with it. Thank you for letting me know,” she said sincerely. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Ok…” Colin replied, unconvinced, but he didn’t argue. “See you soon.”

Beth hung up the phone, staring at the blank screen for a second before Darcy stepped into the kitchen and grabbed her attention.

“Who was it?” His deep brown eyes pinned her where she stood.

“Colin.” She bit her lip.

“Everything ok?” Darcy asked, walking into the kitchen to stand in front of her.

“Hannah realized that ‘Mrs. DeBourgh’ is registered on the guest list for tonight,” she explained, her eyes meeting his.

“Caroline.” He didn’t miss a beat, knowing exactly what Beth had thought when she heard the news. “I don’t… want you to go tonight.”

“I know…” she began, taking a deep breath before bravely continuing. “But, I have to. And not just for the Center – but, for us.”

“I don’t understand,” Darcy said, a hard edge entering his voice.

“Darcy, she’s here because of me – for me. She won’t stop until she gets that. We already have extra security; I already have you. And, there are going to be close to a hundred other people. I can’t think of a safer place for Caroline to think she is getting what she wants…”

“What are you saying?” he asked tightly.

“I’m saying that you need to let me do this.

I need to be the bait; I’m what she wants.

I need to go and pretend like nothing is wrong, like I don’t know that she’s going to be there.

I need her to believe she’s in the clear to do whatever the next step in her plan is, and then when she is there, the police can arrest her for violating the restraining order. ”

“ Christ,” Darcy cursed.

“Darcy…”

“No.” He cut her off. “I know.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth, his entire body tense. “I don’t like this, Beth. I don’t fucking like this one fucking bit.”

“I know – I don’t either – but you know that I’m right. You know that unless we catch her in the midst of her plan, this game – this torture will continue.”

“Beth, she is deranged and dangerous.” His eyes were dark with concern and displeasure.

“Darcy,” she said, putting her hand flat on his chest. “I know you won’t let anything happen to me.

I know that whatever she is planning, she won’t get away with it.

But, I also know that if we don’t let her feel like she is safe to continue that plan, she will continue to haunt us and shadow our relationship. ”

“ Fuck.” He cursed again. His hand came up to roughly grab the sides of her face, barely angling it up towards him before his lips crashed down on hers, demanding her kiss.

She opened beneath him, letting him ravage her mouth as he searched for comfort in her presence. She knew that he was going to acquiesce to her request by the way he kissed her – needing her love, her assurance in that embrace that she was going to be ok.

“It’s going to be fine,” she whispered, pushing herself back slightly from where he’d pulled her against his chest. “Nothing is going to happen to me. It’s too public…” She tried to reassure him but his eyes still remained clouded with doubt.

“I’m fucking scared, Beth,” he said hoarsely, kissing her lips quickly again. “I swear, if she touches one fucking hair on your head…”

“I know.” Her hand reached up behind his neck, pulling his lips to hers again.