Chapter 18 #3
She stepped into his arms, touched that unshaven cheek she loved, and softly whispered the words again just before she kissed him. They both were trembling and overwhelmed. When the doorbell rang with the weekend’s order of clams and scallops, Darcy sighed and reluctantly walked away.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and swallowed.
So much for overthinking. She shook her head in disbelief that she’d managed to tell him how she felt.
He’d been the loquacious one in this relationship; she was simply happy to have made him so happy.
Blinking back tears, she stepped over to the freezer and pulled out the promised cheesecake and chocolate treats.
She was standing in the doorway and looking outside when Darcy returned with the seafood.
He sighed shakily and put the packages on the counter. Elizabeth turned around, an expression of heartfelt delight on her beautiful face.
“I love it here. I’m so happy.”
Darcy strode toward her and pulled her into an embrace. “You make me happy. You being here makes me speechless with happiness.”
Elizabeth stood on her tiptoes to kiss his brow, his nose, and finally his lips. “Don’t lose your tongue. I love your words too,” she murmured into his mouth.
He kissed her deeply and held her closely until she spoke again.
“Let’s get in the water. Pool or beach?”
“Both?”
“Let’s get our suits on,” she said cheerfully.
Darcy scooped up both bags and led her upstairs. He walked halfway down the hall and stopped, looking uncomfortable. “Your room, the one you stayed in last May, is right here. Um, the views are great, as you know. I didn’t know if you’d like the same room or…”
Elizabeth stopped walking. “Fitzwilliam?”
He looked at her, an expectant expression on his face.
She nearly laughed at his good manners and worry for her feelings.
So sweet, so well-bred. “I’m your girlfriend, and I’m spending the weekend with you.
And if you feel better giving me an official room, that’s okay.
And if you want me to have my own room because you don’t want to share a bathroom, that’s okay too. What do you want?”
He stared at her, working his jaw and swallowing. “I want you to stay with me.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
He grinned, dropping the bags and pulling her toward him for a long, lust-fueled kiss. His hands glided down her waist to her hips, and he drew her closer. After a few minutes, they broke apart, both breathing heavily.
“But maybe,” she said, her voice betraying a glimmer of nerves, “since your room is quirky and all, could I have my own room to change in for the beach?”
In the bright sun, everything was on display—flaws, freckles, follicles, and scars.
There were no shadows or firelight to hide behind.
Elizabeth saw the full effect of what Darcy’s T-shirt had concealed from her family.
His left side bore scars, and a few thin lines trailed down his chest, but the worst, deepest marks wrapped over the shoulder and down his back.
Elizabeth blinked, but she didn’t look away.
She’d touched those terrible wounds last November without understanding what they meant, but she’d make sure that, today, she would touch them with the full force of her love.
When they’d been at Pemberley in May, Darcy had kept his shirt on to keep questions at bay, but today, he’d paused for just a moment before deciding to head to the pool shirtless.
Elizabeth might not fully remember, but she knew about them.
She’d touched them. It was no time to be self-conscious, not about anything.
In May, he’d been thankful he could hide his stares behind his Ray-Bans.
Now he had the right to look without restraint at the woman in the tiny black bikini.
Fortunately for him, Elizabeth felt the same, and after a few minutes in the pool ogling her man in his black trunks, she climbed out and joined him on a chaise built for two.
While the sun quickly dried their skin, her thick hair remained sodden.
It took but one drop of water dripping slowly down her neck for Darcy to finally lose control.
He leaned over and began tracing it with his finger.
Down over her collarbone and forging a path to the tiny gold clasp between her breasts.
“Elizabeth,” he breathed as his face neared hers.
Whatever he planned to say next was swallowed by her kiss. When she drew back, breathing hard, she gasped, “I can’t wait anymore either.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“Elizabeth, you do know how much I love you, don’t you?”
“Bunches and bunches,” she whispered. “As much as I love you.”
She leaned up and kissed him. “Now let’s go to your room, and we can show each other.”
They fell into the cool linen sheets, their naked skin heated by the sun and their hearts enflamed by those first shy glimpses. Elizabeth watched him, saw the whole of him, and blushed. Darcy beheld her, his eyes caressing all of her, and gave her a wistful, expectant smile.
He held her close and whispered of his love. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Lying together, they kissed softly, gentle hands exploring tender places not yet familiar.
His thumb brushed the side of her breast, and he palmed it gently before lowering his mouth and kissing its center.
He smiled as the peak hardened. Elizabeth writhed underneath him; her fingers raked through his damp hair as he pulled the nipple into his mouth.
After a few minutes, she urged his lips up to hers.
Their moans mingled in the summer breeze drifting through the windows, and their kisses grew more urgent.
He groaned, pulling away and freeing himself from her seductive, overwhelming touch.
He kissed his way down her flat tummy until he arrived at the hipbone that had so transfixed him earlier this summer.
He nibbled on that soft, protruding ridge before resting his cheek there to gaze over the beauty that lay before him. “You are so lovely,” he murmured.
She met his eyes and smiled. “My sweet man.”
They’d teased and kissed and touched and tickled until passion flared so brightly that mouths and hands were no longer enough.
Now, afterward, she leaned toward him, her lips kissing his jaw and trailing down his neck to his shoulder.
Gently, she pushed him onto his stomach.
Her lips followed fingertips as they lightly danced over the scars there.
The scars trailed over his left shoulder and down over his upper back.
He had one on his hip as well. The marks were faded, not angry as they must have been when he was just a teenager.
Faded with the memories and the story he can barely tell.
She ran a fingertip between two of the six-inch long scars, and he moaned.
Ah, there’s the feeling. The in-between spaces.
She moved closer and let her lips touch the spots. Darcy gasped her name as she wrapped herself around him, hands and lips busily absorbed in the marks of his past.
He buried his face in the pillow and winced. “Elizabeth. Please, stop.” He rolled over and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his rapidly beating heart.
“Did I hurt you? Are they sensitive?” She couldn’t see his face, and his reaction concerned her. Tell me. Tell me everything, again. But she didn’t want to ruin this moment.
“No, not at all. I just…” He sighed. “You are so wonderful, Elizabeth.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, marveling at the rich chocolate tresses.
She lifted her head and leaned up to kiss him. “I love you too.”
He didn’t say anything, but a dreamy smile lit his face.
She ran her finger down his cheek and watched him blush. “You’re sweet and handsome and kind and chivalrous. You’re overly educated and incredibly rich and highly desired.” He grimaced and began to protest. “But you’re with me. You wanted me. Why? When?”
Darcy sighed. He gazed into Elizabeth’s sparkling eyes and tried to find the words to explain the attraction he’d felt so long ago.
“I can’t remember not wanting you. I found you interesting at that football game.
You intrigued me when we drove to Netherfield.
You fascinated and amused me talking about cartoons and sofa cushions.
I can’t begin to understand it, let alone explain it. ”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Elizabeth murmured. “You were like some incredibly catchy pop song that got stuck in my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, but I didn’t want to think about you.”
Darcy laughed. “I was an earworm? Seriously?”
“You wormed your way inside me,” she said sweetly. “It was annoying and obsessive.”
His fingers lazily forged a path from freckle to freckle on her shoulder. “You have the most marvelous way of putting things.”
“When did you know that you loved me?” Suddenly shy, she could not meet his eyes. “That you were in love with me?”
He smiled a slow, earnest smile. “I can’t fix on the exact moment. I was fascinated and wary. Then the fascination, the attraction, deepened, and it was fueled by lust. And then,” he said simply, “and then it was love.”
She looked at him. “Can you be more specific?”
“You’re such a writer, looking to sketch my character.
” Glancing up at the ceiling, he laughed quietly.
“I…it was rather like a murmuration of swallows. You know, how they swoop in the air, and you can’t tell which bird made the first movement; it just takes shape.
This beautiful thing grew and took shape in the great, vast, blank expanse of my soul. ”
Tears blurred her eyes. Elizabeth trembled. Oh, she was in deep. He’d mapped her heart and staked his claim. And she was lost to any but him.
“Oh, sweetheart.”