“I had this room made up for you,” he said, Darcy pausing at the end of the hall. “Gigi’s is here,” he gestured to the room opposite. “And… this one is mine.” The hall veered to the right and down another little hallway with no rooms on either side that ended with two big double doors leading, apparently, to the master suite.
“Ah,” I said, finally understanding why he was so hesitant when showing me my room.
I glanced behind me at the door to the room he said he made up for me, then back to him. He didn’t made a move to put my overnight bag in there, and I knew I would have to decide where I wanted to stay that weekend. We—surprise surprise—didn’t discuss sleeping arrangements when he invited us, but I just assumed I would be staying with him. Since he was waiting for my reaction and we were, in my opinion, wasting valuable alone time, I turned down the hallway towards his room.
He put my bag on the bed.
“Like Richard said, we’re all going to be by the pool for the afternoon, so dress… you know, accordingly.” He smiled. “Do you remember the way to the back patio?”
“Why?” I wondered reaching out to take a fistful of his shirt. “You plan on leaving me alone here?” I tugged him to me, loving how his hands automatically found my hips and began caressing me. “By myself? In your bedroom?”
“I,” he informed me between hot kisses, “was simply trying to be respectful.”
“I don’t need respectful right now,” I whispered throatily to him, unbuttoning his jeans and kicking the door shut behind me. “If you want to show me how much you missed me before they notice we’re gone, I’m going to need someone who is downright ill-mannered.”
“I can fill that role,” he replied, yanking my shirt off.
He did the same with my jean shorts, not even bothering to unbutton them first. They slid far enough down my legs, pulling my underwear with them, that I was able to kick them off one leg, and that’s all I cared about. He lifted me onto the bed, ducking down to run his stubble on my sensitive neck in a way he knew I loved as his tongue darted out to taste my skin. I knocked my bag onto the floor and then pulled him down to the bed, backing up to give him room to join me; instead, he tugged me back towards him, twisting and sitting so I was in his lap.
He caressed me through my bra, then tugged one side away and latched on with his mouth. I groaned, running my fingers through his thick, wavy hair. I felt his hand slip up my thigh and make a beeline for where I was grinding against him; he had barely touched me when there was a knock on the door.
“Hey Liz, you in there?” Charlotte called uncertainly through the door.
“Are you kidding me,” I groaned softly into his shoulder.
“We’re heading down to the pool, you coming?” she asked.
“You would have been,” he growled, pulling back. I bit my lip, trying to muffle a small, surprised laugh.
“Yeah, I’m just getting changed. I’ll meet you down there,” I called back, doing my absolute best to keep my voice even.
“Okie dokie,” she said cheerfully.
I had to wonder if she knew what she was interrupting, and fleetingly followed that thought up with the possibility that Richard had put her up to it.
I slid off Darcy’s lap and turned towards the bag that had been dropped unceremoniously on the floor next to the bed. As I pulled my bathing suit out, Darcy crept up behind me so when I stood, my head bumped into his chin. I turned, practically already in his arms when I instinctively put my hand against his chest and took a step back.
His eyes, now so expressive to me, belayed the rejection he felt at my distancing behavior.
“I can’t… if you…” I swallowed, then tried again. “I need to… cool off before we go downstairs,” I finally managed to stutter out. I saw the understanding blossom on his face and my face flushed with the dark look in his eye as he weighed his options.
“They’re waiting for us,” I added lamely.
“They can wait,” he said, his voice impossibly low and throaty.
It was hard to argue when he followed that statement up by attaching his lips to my neck. Before I knew it, I was back on his lap in the bed.
“I did miss you, Lizzy,” he spoke into my neck, his voice rough.
He still had his shirt on, and I made an effort to keep my hands and nails on the outside of it, considering we were about to spend a weekend in bathing suits and I was not so bold as to leave evidence of our activities so blatantly down his back.
“Every night alone in bed I thought of you.”
“Will,” I groaned, pulling him away from my neck to reclaim his lips.
“Did you think of me?” he wanted to know, his hands griping my waist and controlling every movement.
“Yes,” I replied immediately. “Every day, and anytime I saw a desk my mind would go to very dark, dirty places.” He groaned loudly, frantically kissing, nipping and tasting any patch of skin he could reach. “You can’t leave me for so long again, Will.”
“No,” he agreed readily, breathlessly. “I can’t,” he reached between us, stroking me until I saw stars and called out his name so loudly that I had a fleeting hope the walls were very well-insulated before my mind couldn’t hold onto such complicated thoughts.
“Are you sure we don’t have time for a proper reunion?” Darcy asked minutes later, his hand seeming to map my skin and his eyes following the slow trek up my side and back down towards my thighs.
“You know we don’t,” I murmured with amusement.
I reached up to run my fingers over his rough cheek. He caught my eye, conveying without words that he wanted me to notice this little addition to his appearance. I smiled, tugging him to me for a kiss to affirm I was well aware he had forgone shaving for a few days simply for my sake.
∞∞∞
When we finally made it downstairs, we were both surprised to see Charlie had arrived. The last I heard he wouldn’t be in until much later on tonight. What was even more surprising, however, was seeing Caroline already sipping a cocktail by the pool, clad in a very skimpy bikini.
Charlie, apparently anticipating our curiosity, quickly intercepted us as we stepped out onto the deck.
“She just had a really bad breakup,” he said with sympathetic eyes. “She knew I was coming here for the weekend and said it would be the only thing that could take her mind off of it. You don’t mind, do you Will?”
“Of course not,” Darcy replied stoically.
I got the impression the politeness might have been bred into him. She was his best friend’s sister, and from what I understood, he was used to her tagging along with Charlie.
“I knew you’d understand.” Charlie beamed at Will, gave his arm a friendly pat, and made his way back to Jane.
“You don’t mind, do you?” Darcy repeated his friend’s words to me quietly as we made our way slowly towards where Richard was trying to impress the crowd with his fancy bartending skills.
“Yes.” I couldn’t help but be honest. At his sharp look, I smiled. “But I’ll live.”
Caroline was behaving herself, which meant she was outright ignoring me rather than sticking with the thinly veiled insults she usually aimed at me. Charles and Richard were carrying most of the conversation, with the rest of us peppering in our comments here and there. Darcy was being more talkative than usual, but that in itself was normal. Around friends, in his own home, he was at ease in a way I rarely saw him otherwise - even at work.
After we all had a few drinks in us, Charlie stood up, pulling Jane with him.
“I can’t think of a better time or place, or better people to be the first to share this with.” He grinned wildly, Jane smiled sweetly up at him, and my heart stopped in my chest.
“Last night, I asked Jane to marry me, and she said yes,” he continued. There was a shocked pause before we all jumped up and offered our congratulations.
“I’m so happy for you!” I grabbed my sister first, and hugged her tightly.
“I have b
een wanting to tell you since it happened,” Jane said breathlessly. “Charlie thought it would be fun to announce it to everyone.”
“I understand,” I laughed.
How could I begrudge her a few hours of peace, where they were the only ones who knew? If it were me… I glanced at Darcy, realized where my mind was going and sharply brought my attention back to the happy couple.
Next, I hugged Charlie. “Since we don’t have any brothers, I feel this falls upon me,” I told him, pulling back from my friendly hug with a serious, stern face. “If you ever do anything to hurt her,” my voice dropped and I was pleased to see the smile slip off his face, “they will never, ever find your body. Trust me.”
“Of course,” he said easily, though I did see him swallow reflexively. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Good.” I smiled once more. “Then welcome to the family, bro.”
The drinks flowed all day and night. Darcy managed to get some burgers into us, but mostly we ate chips and dip, crackers, and veggie plates. We were in and out of the pool and Dr. Charles reminded us to lather on the sunscreen enough that no one managed to get burnt from being under the bright sun all day.
That in itself was its own fun activity, especially for the couples who helped each other reach those hard-to-reach places. It was well past midnight when we all reluctantly broke up the celebration and headed to our respective rooms.
“Lizzy.” Gigi stopped me just inside the house.
Darcy turned to see what the problem was. I saw her glance at him and bite her lip and knew instantly that she didn’t know how to tell him to get lost.
“I’ll meet you upstairs,” I told him, shooing him a bit with my hand. He furrowed his brow but eventually turned and walked away.
“Do you think you can talk to Will for me?” she asked in a quiet voice, clearly not wanting to be overheard.
“About what?” I wondered.
“I want to invite James here-–just to hang out and meet the family,” she was quick to assure me, as if I were about to come down on her for wanting her boyfriend to spend the night. She came to the wrong sister if that was what she expected. “Will flat out refused me last week, but I know if you talked to him…”
“You want me to convince your brother to have your boyfriend stay over?” I laughed lightly. I wasn’t exactly afraid to bring it up to him but I did not anticipate a better response than what she got.
“I love hanging out with you guys,” she said diplomatically, “but I do feel a little bit like a third wheel… or….seventh, I guess.”
She had a point. Besides her and Caroline, we were all coupled up and that couldn’t be much fun for anyone, let alone someone whose boyfriend had been denied access.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll try and talk to him, but don’t be surprised if he tells me to mind my own business and doesn’t change his mind.”
“Thanks, Lizzy!” She grinned, hugging me.
We headed upstairs together, Gigi giving me pointers on how best to approach him. For her sake, I didn’t tell her the best way would probably be to wait until her brother was distracted by other activities and then ask, but I appreciated the insight.
“What did Gigi want?” Darcy asked before I had one foot in the door.
“Girl stuff,” I told him, and from his grimace I knew there would be no more questions.
“Are you happy about Charlie and Jane?” he asked softly, stepping close.
I bit back my automatic response of glee to really think about the question.
They were already living together, so we had already grown a bit apart. We would probably grow a little more apart, but Jane and I were best friends and we needed each other in our lives. She was so sweet and trusting that I had a real fear of her falling for the wrong guy. I genuinely like Charlie, and knew he would take care of her, that he cared about her personally and not just how she looked on his arm.
“Yeah,” I finally smiled. “I am.”
“Good.” His smile matched mine. “Me too.”
“You’ve been very patient today,” I told him softly, stepping close and lightly running my hands through his open shirt to caress his chest lightly. I felt him shiver and smiled.
“I have,” he agreed, his eyes already darkening as they locked onto my face.
I already recognized that his brain had switched to ultra-focus mode. Mostly I saw it here in the bedroom and at the office when he was working on something new or challenging. I took a gamble that this was the best time to bring up Gigi’s weekend guest, and knew I had little time before I, too, would be too distracted.
“Gigi looked a little left out today,” I hedged. His blinked, looking totally thrown by my comment.
“Do you think so?” he asked sincerely, clearly trying to switch gears in his head.
“I’m surprised she didn’t invite anyone,” I said lightly.
“Well,” he hesitated. “She did want to bring a friend but… I thought it would be better if it was just close friends and family.”
“And the fact that it was a boy she wanted to invite played no part in that decision?” I raised an eyebrow. His face was blank for a second, and then his eyes narrowed.
“She told you to ask me to let some random guy come stay the night?” he asked with a bit of a huff. I stepped even closer, so our chests were just grazing each other. I put my arms around his neck and smiled sweetly up at him.
“Will,” I chided lightly. “Your sister is an adult now, you do know that means boys are going to be involved in her life, don’t you?” His scowl deepened. “This is your house and your sister,” I assured him, smoothing the crease between his brows, “But take it from someone who’s been there-–if you forbid her to date or be around guys, she will only do it behind your back.” He looked concerned, but not convinced. “And if she does happen to meet someone who’s not right for her, she will not listen to you; she will think you just don’t like him because he’s male.”
“I know she will date soon, but her studies need to come first.” Will said with a bit of a petulance. I didn’t force the issue, I knew he would mull it over in his own time.
“Of course.” I agreed, sliding my leg up his and wrapping it around his calf. “Just think about it.”
His hand came up to caress my leg. “Later,” he said, that dark look coming back into his eyes. This time, I was the one to shiver.
“Yeah,” I agreed, slipping his shirt the rest of the way off, “Later.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Weekend: Day Two
It was difficult getting out of bed the next morning. It had been a while since I slept so well, and even longer since I had the opportunity to simply lounge in bed. Darcy seemed just as averse to starting the day as I was, so we indulged ourselves and spent part of the morning talking and fooling around. I had missed him so much this past month.
When we were simply laying together –-my head on his chest, a leg entangled with his as he softly, slowly ran a hand up and down my back –-I couldn’t help but think, one more, how different Darcy was compared to past relationships.
I hadn’t had a ton of boyfriends –-my heart contracted at the word, reminding me of how I had told Darcy that he was, in fact, my boyfriend-–but remembering the ones I did, I couldn’t imagine being so okay with just lying in bed together all morning. I hadn’t even really liked to cuddle for long; at a certain point I had always needed to pull away and regain my personal space. With Darcy, there were times I felt like I couldn’t be close enough to him. He never made me feel smothered.
Also, we could always find something to talk about. Darcy was never a fan of small talk, so although he asked after my family from time to time, we rarely discussed mundane things like the weather to fill the silence. Silence with us was okay, comfortable. We communicated so much by look that words were often unnecessary.
He would always be quieter than I was, more introverted, but we fit together so well that I enjoyed the silent times
with him and he enjoyed the social times with me– at least, I assumed he did. In any case, he was never reluctant to go out with our friends when I suggested it.
“I thought about what you said,” he broke the silence with a sigh. “I’m going to tell Gigi to invite that friend of hers.”
“Her boyfriend?” I couldn’t help but correct him. He grimaced.
“He will be staying in the guest wing.” Darcy said firmly.
“Of course,” I agreed. “He’s not so bad, you know, I think you’ll like him.” I was feeling particularly proud that I was being so supportive by keeping my snarky comments to myself, despite the boyfriend remark. Darcy’s hand stilled.
“You’ve met him?” he questioned, his tone of voice alerting me to the fact that I had just messed up.
“Um,” I hesitated, hoping to think of something to say that was both the truth and that would pull me out of the hole I had just dug. “Want to take a shower?”
“Elizabeth,” his voice was low and sharp.
“Gigi and I hang out,” I blurted out defensively. “You know this. She needed someone neutral to meet him,” I didn’t say that James had been questioning her on why he never met any of her family and I was brought along to prove she wasn’t necessarily hiding him from them, but that her brother was generally and honestly a very busy man. Neither of us mentioned Richard.
“And?” He finally spoke after a few tense moments of silence.
“And he’s nice,” I shrugged. “Sweet. Treats her right, from what I see.” Darcy frowned.
He had more questions about his sister’s boyfriend, but I chickened out under the infamous Darcy scowl and told him to ask her, or see for himself when James showed up. Meanwhile, I did my best to take his mind off of it and back on to our relaxing weekend. He did agree the second time I brought up the idea of a shared shower and he seemed in a much better mood at the end of it.
By the time we got downstairs there was an impressive breakfast spread. Jane and Charlie were filling their plates, Charlotte and Richard seemed to be just finishing, and Gigi and Caroline were just sipping coffee. After all the good morning’s and questions on how everyone slept were out of the way, we discovered we weren’t the only ones who had stayed in bed for the better part of the morning. I was relieved our absence wasn’t that noticeable; besides Caroline’s snide remarks about ‘‘those type of women’’ who spend all morning sleeping in bed, no one really made a fuss about it.
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