Page 53 of Second Chances
“How will I know what to bring if you don’t tell me where we are going?” She couldn’t help herself from asking, always trying to know everything.
He wasn’t going to be fooled that easily though. “I’ll let you know in advance what to bring, don’t you worry.”
“Fine,” she huffed, playfully, picking up her plate to take it into the kitchen.
As she rinsed it off in the sink, she felt Darcy come up behind her, his arm snaking around her stomach to pull her back against him.
“Sometimes, being surprised can be fun, you know,” he whispered in her ear, biting the soft skin of her earlobe.
“Mmm, we’ll see about that. I’m going to get ready for bed.” Setting her plate in the sink, she turned to kiss him before sliding out of his embrace and sauntering into the bedroom.
Beth sighed as she finally, climbed under the sheets, relaxing into the unbelievable softness of the mattress. Unlocking her phone, she decided to text Jane while waiting for Darcy to join her in bed.
-Hey, thanks again for everything earlier. I think everything is going to be ok. :)
She waited for Jane’s response, fighting against her exhaustion to keep her eyes open. After a few minutes with no word from Jane, she gave up, plugging her phone in and laying it on the nightstand, not wanting to take the risk of dropping it on her face if she dozed off. Turning to Darcy’s side, she waited, but her consciousness only lasted another minute before sleep overcame her. Vaguely she felt the bed dip and Darcy kiss her forehead later when he finally came to bed for the night.
Chapter Seventeen
There wasa bounce in her step and a smile on her face as Beth walked into her office Monday morning. Last weekend had been wonderful, hell, the week before had been wonderful. The weekend of Renée’s party, which had gone from questionable to worse, had somehow managed to end on a warm note. It seemed like it had happened months ago, even though it had only been a little over a week since. After she and Darcy had talked that day, everything between them started to click. Even though his ex-girlfriend was still out there, lurking in the background, they’d been so wrapped up and focused on each other that the woman hadn’t even crossed Beth’s mind.
Ok, not quite true.
He’d admitted last Monday that his ex-girlfriend had shown up at his office building requesting to see him, but the security staff in the lobby had told her that he wasn’t in the office right now; it was a lie, but he didn’t want there to be a scene. Better to just insist that he wasn’t there than to have an employee tell her she wasn’t allowed to see him. After that, he’d been on edge, assuming she would try again to accost him in private.
He’d begun using a different exit to the building and entrance to the hotel, more security personnel. When he came home from work each day Beth could see his stress dissolve the moment he closed the apartment door behind him, knowing that another day had passed where this woman hadn’t tried to contact him.
She couldn’t speak for his time at work, but once he got home, they’d decided not to let this woman steal any more time from them, refusing to conjecture about her, to worry about her, unless there was something concrete that happened to be worried about. The decision had worked out wonderfully. Instead, they spent time talking about themselves and their favorite things, their childhood, their dreams, their relationship - about anything to bring them closer.
All the sex certainly brought them closer, too…in several ways.
Beth blushed when the thought came unbidden to her mind, stirring up vivid memories ofthosemoments over the past week. This Monday morning though, she was in the office a half an hour earlier than usual - a half an hour earlier than everyone else, which meant she had the place to herself to get some serious work done. The place was peaceful, like the calm before the storm of the workday. She enjoyed the silence, letting her mind linger on those happy,and arousing,moments of the past week, just for a moment while she settled into her desk.
She hadn’t planned on coming into the office early, but Darcy had to be into work at eight, so he had woken up and made them breakfast. He tried to insist that she stay in bed for another forty-five minutes, but the deep, sated sleep that had engulfed her the night before, had her alert and energized for the day. Beth smiled, thinking about how natural their morning had felt - waking up together, getting ready for work as Darcy made breakfast, cleaning up while he got dressed for work… It was a stupid little thing, but when so many things in their relationship were a struggle, when there were so many situations where their instincts and desires were either misinterpreted or miscommunicated,or both,the natural cohesiveness in their morning routine was a small, welcome reassurance that everything was going to be ok.
It’s the little things…
Opening up her computer, she eagerly clicked on her email to get a jump start on the day. Twenty-five new messages rolled in from over the weekend - some of them junk, others forwarded on to her assistants from clients that they were working with. One message was the guest list from Caro; Beth opened up her spreadsheet for the exhibition and copied over the names and addresses, saving the file and updating the recipient list in her mass email software. She shot Caroline back a quick response letting her know that the email invites would go out at eight AM tomorrow morning to let her know if there were any changes.
Shit.
She forgot to email her about Jane’s shower. Opening another, blank message, she quickly apologized for the multiple contacts and let her know that she had talked to her mom, confirming everything for this coming Saturday for Jane’s party. Beth let her know that the food and decorations were going to be delivered 2 hours before the party. Jane was expecting Caro to pick her up around that time to go look at wedding bands for Charles. While Caro took her to do that, Beth and her mom would set up and make sure all the guests had arrived, at which point, Caro would ‘need to stop at her house really quickly’ on their way back from the jeweler, and ‘SURPRISE!’ Beth thanked her again for letting them use her house to maintain the element of surprise.
Done.
With a smile, Beth took a deep, satisfied breath for having sorted through all her email still before anyone had arrived. Just as the air had started to release from her lips, her computer dinged with another incoming email. She assumed it was a response from Caroline, but her breath caught in her throat when she saw the email address of the sender: [email protected].
There was no subject and her hand trembled as she maneuvered the mouse to click on the message, hoping, praying that this was some sort of silly joke.
Hello, Beth.
I’m so glad we can speak openly. I tried to catch you on your way into work today, but I didn’t feel like dealing with your little bodyguards. Nice sweater, by the way; royal blue was always Darcy’s favorite color on me.
Beth felt the wind go completely out of her.This woman had found her and stalked her to her workplace.
I’m sure you’re very busy so, I will make this quick. Darcy is mine; he has always been mine. Whatever cute little thing you have going on is nothing compared to the love that he has for me. You’ll never be able to make him happy, I’m sure you can see that. I’d hate for something bad to happen to you or your family. Leave him or you’ll see that Catherine DeBourgh is a saint compared to me.
The Future Mrs. Darcy
