Page 40 of Saved By Mr. Darcy
“I am safe,” she murmured into his shirt. “You will keep me safe.”
“Yes, Miss Elizabeth. I will always keep you safe.”
She pulled away from him, looking up at him curiously.
“You say my name so often, and yet you will not call me Lizzy.”
“It is a familiarity I am not permitted.”
“And this, Mr Darcy? Holding me in our night clothes, that is not a familiarity?”
He released her at once.
“Forgive me, I only wished to ease your fears. It seems I have only made things worse. If someone were to come in, you would be ruined. I would have ruined you.”
“Stop! I…want you to stay here. I want you to hold me like this. What you will think of me, I cannot say, but I cannot deny that my anxieties are soothed by your presence. Please! Stay with me! Lock the door, and stay with me.”
There was another flash of lightning. He saw her illuminated before her for the briefest of moments, her face earnest and sincere. She was so beautiful that it stole his breath from him, and he could not move. The darkness returned, the thunder following.
He walked to the door, turning the key in the lock. There was another flash of lightning, and without hesitation he walked back to the bed and took Elizabeth into his arms once again. She sighed contentedly, barely making a sound as the thunder soon followed.
“I have dreamed of holding you like this. I should not confess it. I have dreamed of you many times in the months I have known it.”
“I hope I was kinder to you in your imagination.”
“I could not say.”
“It would be a feat to be colder to you, I think.”
He said nothing, silence settling between them. He ran his thumb against the soft skin of her forearm, feeling a trail of goosebumps rising in his wake. His heart quickened at the physical reaction to his touch.
“Are you cold, Miss Bennet?”
“Won’t you call me Lizzy?”
“I have not even dared to think of you as Lizzy. I did not wish to take such a liberty, to think of you as my own dear Lizzy except in my dreams.”
“I am your Lizzy. I shall always be your Lizzy.”
She shifted away from him, rearranging herself so that they were face to face. In the soft candle light, he saw those fine eyes he loved so much sparkle as she gazed at him. He had never been looked at so adoringly, and he was sure that she would see the same expression reflected back at her. He felt as though he would burst with love for her, the proximity between them making him dizzy with wanting.
Before he could stop himself, he pressed his lips to her temple before tracing a path to her cheek. She caressed his cheek, drawing him to her as their lips touched and the world around them melted away at once. All anxieties, all fears vanished with each sweet embrace. The kiss deepened, his body over hers. She sighed against his mouth, her fingers tracing up his spine as she tugged him closer. He heard a deep, guttural groan that he assumed was his own; the sound torn from him against his will. Each touch that she bestowed upon him set him alight, every nerve alive and every thought in his head consumed by Elizabeth Bennet.
Her kisses strayed from his lips. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, trailing down to his neck. His eyes fluttered closed as he felt that sweet kiss whisper against his jaw. She hesitated, her breath fluttering against his sensitive skin. His fingers tightened against her back as he felt a sharp sting of arousal.
“Please,” he begged, “Kiss me there. Please!”
She was kind enough to not tease him for his desperate pleading - instead, he was rewarded with the press of her lips to his pulse. She kissed him again, and again, until his fingers tightened against her.
“You like it when I kiss you there. I could feel your pulse beneath my lips. It beats a wild rhythm. Where else could I kiss you?” she teased in a husky whisper. “I should enjoy making your heart race as often as possible.”
“You do not know what you do to me,” he muttered into her hair. “You do not know how much I want you.”
The storm raged outside, though the thunder and lightning seemed to have faded away as they lay entwined in that forbidden embrace. Rain hammered at the window, the wind howling through the trees. He had never felt so contented in all of his life as he did in this moment, for holding Elizabeth silenced his mind and soothed his soul.
They made their way back to one another with hungry, searching kisses that neither could resist. He needed her as sorely as he needed air, every kiss somehow too much and never enough. Their restraint broken, their hands roamed one another’s bodies desperately, eager fingers grabbing at clothing until, somehow, they were both bare against one another. He roamed her body with abandon as they kissed, greedy for her. She was as perfect as she had always looked, the curves of her body fitting perfectly against him as their bodies searched for friction.
“Oh, my…” she whispered as he palmed her breast. “I…”
