Page 33 of Second Chances
Beth prayed that this wasn’t some sort of distraction to delay answering the questions she knew would be painful for him to visit. She watched as he righted his pants, his cock still semi erect and uncomfortably tucked away. Taking off his coat and tie, he undid the top two buttons on his shirt before holding out his hand to her.
Grasping his hand with a squeeze of reassurance, Beth followed Darcy as he led them back past the dining room and office, into the hallway, past the spare bedroom before coming to stop in front of the locked door at the end of the hall.
There had been so many secrets, so many questions, that Beth had completely forgotten about her curiosity to know what was behind the locked door. She’d almost resigned herself to thinking that it wasn’t part of the apartment, that it belonged to some other room, even though, in retrospect, that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Letting go of her hand, Darcy pulled out a small keyring from his pocket, a single key hanging from the ring. Turning the key in the lock, he opened the door, letting it swing wide, even though his body was blocking most of her view. He didn’t reach for her hand again, but walked into the center of the room and turned to face her.
Chapter Eleven
It was his studio.
Beth’s mouth dropped as she walked hesitantly into the room behind Darcy. There were canvases, drying racks, sketchpads of all sizes lining the walls. The only furniture in the room was a small drafting table in the corner, a stool sitting in front of an easel in the center of the room, and a small love seat that was covered with a dark sheet.
Beth slowly made her way around the room, exploring what was obviously all Darcy’s work as she went. Still life paintings, sketches, portraits, all haphazardly stored around the room. She saw the sketch that he had done of her that first night in the living room.
So, this is where it had gotten to.
Not just that one, she came across many sketches of her, mostly of her face, ones that he must have drawn from memory. Her face flushed at the thought, knowing how much he was thinking of her even when she wasn’t right in front of him, seeing how accurately he could depict her features without her there.
Turning to face him, she said, “This is all yours?”
Smooth. Of course it is dummy!She just didn't know how else to get the conversation started.
His response was a swift nod.
“They are beautiful. I didn’t realize…”that you were so talented, that you had time to do all this, that this was what you’ve been hiding behind this door.So many things.
“Come here, Beth,” Darcy instructed her, his eyes locking with hers, pulling her towards him.
She stopped just in front of him, the couch behind her.
“Do you trust me?”
She nodded meekly. His hands came up and reached behind her back, unzipping her dress and lightly tugging it from her shoulders, allowing it to slip softly to the floor.
“Sit,” he instructed, nodding to the couch behind her. At her questioning gaze, he continued, “Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you what happened, I just want to draw you while I do it.I’ve been dreaming about doing this for too long.” His eyes darkened with desire, locking with hers as she backed up and reclined along the couch.
She flushed learning that he had dreamt of drawing her nude. Tingles of anticipation burned through her, knowing that, of all people, he wanted to capture her on paper.
Moving back, he pulled the stool up to the easel and grabbed a fresh sheet of parchment paper to work with. While he was getting himself situated, Beth awkwardly tried to arrange her pose to look as sexy as possible.
Hard to do when you’ve never even thought about being drawn naked before.
“What do you want to know?”
What?!She was shocked that he was letting her guide their conversation. Pleased, but still shocked. After she was certain that he wasn’t going to try to avoid the conversation, she figured he would sit her down and tell her what he wanted her to know -and only that.But, here he was, sitting and watching her expectantly, trusting her to take the lead just as she was trusting him.
“What happened tonight?” she asked, wishing she could have been a little more precise but there were a thousand things running through her mind, especially now that she heard his pencil moving across the paper.
“I was looking for you at the party and I saw my ex watching me from the corner of the room,” he responded, his eyes focused on the canvas.
“Did she come up to you and confront you?”This was worse than pulling teeth!
“No.” The word came out harshly as his jaw clenched down for a minute before he continued, “I approached her, just like I alwaysfuckingdid.”
“What do you mean?” Confused, she began to move slightly from her pose.
“Stay still,” he reprimanded, his eyes meeting hers for a moment to accentuate the request. When she moved back to her original position, he returned to his drawing and to answering her questions. “I was always supposed to be in control, it’s what she wanted. So, I always had to act first, to call her, to see her, to fuck her.” Beth flinched at the thought. “Even though the reality was that my actions were subconsciously dictated by her. I should have just ignored her last night, but I haven’t seen her in five years; I never expected to see her again and as soon as I did, my first instinct was to approach her and deal with her the only way I’ve ever known - by taking control.”
