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‘Confident, capable Darcie,’ he muttered with a strained half smile as he took it from her. ‘Prepared.’
Yes, she was ready for him. She wanted him. Always. She kissed him deeply and felt the quake in his body as she poured everything into the caress. She needed to show him. To make him feel the way he made her feel—so content. And so complete.
‘Let me help.’ She pushed his hands to the side but hers were shaking almost as badly as his had. So she paused and let her mouth work him instead. The scent of him, the taste, the straining arousal made her own need surge. Having him like this—all steel, yet velvety and vulnerable—he was hers for the claiming. He was just hers. And she was his. For once she truly felt as if she had her person—the one to whom she truly belonged.
‘Darcie!’ A growl of warning, and of submission.
He put his hands on her hips and lifted her away only to reposition her so she was fully astride him before quickly finishing the job of protecting them both. And then, with her right there in place astride him, he let his fingers tease her until she was the one to growl again.
‘My turn,’ she snapped. Gazing down into his eyes, she swiftly sank and took him deep. ‘Mine.’ Moaning in pleasured relief, she smoothed her hands over his strong, broad chest and pinned him in place. ‘Elias.’
‘Darcie...’ He released a shocked gasp as he shuddered. ‘I can’t hold back.’
‘Good.’ Because she didn’t want him to. Besides, nor could she. She rocked, riding him harder and faster, feeling the power as he rippled beneath her. He was hers. To feast on. To pleasure. To take. The man she understood. The man she wanted.
The man sheloved.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THENEXTMORNINGDarcie woke later than usual. She took longer in the shower—distracted by the intensity and direction of her own thoughts. They were all on Elias, of course. On that profound moment they’d had last night. The moment that had extended when he’d carried her up to the bedroom and they’d silently, frantically, come together again. Then again. It was different than before—more physical, raw and uncontrolled. And it had been incredible. But on waking this morning, it was the first thing that entered her mind. The truth. She’d fallen utterly, irrevocably in love with him and now she longed foreverything.
She pressed her hands to her chest, as if she could hold her poor heart together, as she considered all that had happened. All so quickly. He’d accompanied her on several visits with Lily now. They usually walked to the park not far from her current foster home. They played together on the swings and slide; ate an ice cream if the truck was there. It was the simplest of pleasures for both Darcie and Lily and she liked to hope Elias, too. His blossoming ease had taken her by surprise. He was gentle with Lily, interested, and he could make her giggle. Darcie, too. And he was just present—strong, supportive, with that half smile that always made her spirits lift. Unsurprisingly Lily was as bowled over by him as everyone else always was. Darcie recognised that eagerness to please him, to attract his attention. Elias was an impressive figure, but he was not intimidating to Lily. Not when he crouched down and greeted her each time with that charm and that increasing softening in his demeanour that she’d never seen in the office. He was a natural and he would be such a wonderful caregiver for Lily. For any other children, too. He was strong and successful, yes, but he was also deeply sensitive. He just hid it mostly and so very well. Because he, too, had been wounded. He, too, was wary of emotion.
As Darcie absently let the shower rain down, she ached for everythingimpossible. Because she knew that while he, like she, had never wanted to marry, his reasoning was different. Where she’d been afraid of being abandoned, he was afraid of being awful. Yet he couldn’t be further from that. But he constrained his emotions and was clearly determined to keep distance from others.Allothers. Even lovers. And hewouldtire of her eventually. Because he was quick in mind and always hungry. To him this was just another project and once it was complete, he would grow restless. He would move on to the next. But after last nightherstance had shifted. She wanted more. Sure, she’d felt him shaking in her arms. He’d swooped upon her and all but devoured her. He’d wanted her intensely and she suspected hestillwanted her. Just not enough.
Darcie had never had anyone stay for her. Nor had she ever had a place where she’d been invited to stay for good. She’d never had her parents. She’d never had a permanent home. She’d found Zara, but lost her too soon. She’d lost Lily, too. Even Shaun and the others in that last home. She’d always had to move—nothinghad ever lasted. She’d been rejected or abandoned repeatedly and all she knew for sure was that she was not having any of that happen to Lily. It would stop with her. So she had to be so very careful now. She couldn’t ruin this. Not by asking for too much from Elias—for pushing too hard and expecting too much. Because it wasn’t for her. It wouldn’t be. But she could ensure Lily had it all.
‘You’re not going in to the office today?’ she asked him as lightly as she could when she finally made it downstairs.
He’d not gone into the office much at all this week. He’d taken one of the rooms on the second floor and set up his computers, but even so he hadn’t been in there often. Now he was seated at that large dining table—the one she couldn’t look at without feeling a sensual quiver—taking his time over his coffee and toast.
‘Apparently marriage is making me lazy, too,’ he answered wryly.
‘Don’t forget this isn’t a real marriage,’ she muttered beneath her breath.
‘But Darcie...’ He shot her a look from the top of his mug. ‘We have the certificate. We’ve consummated it. We live together...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then I think we can safely call it a duck.’
‘Yes, but it’s arubberduck,’ she said stoutly. ‘As in not real. It only exists for Lily.’
‘Right. It’s vital for Lily that you and I share a bed and sleep very little while in there...’
This was one tease she couldn’t quite handle. ‘That’s also a temporary thing. It’s an education for me.’
‘An education?’ He half laughed, half choked on the coffee. ‘And what do you think it is for me?’
She truly didn’t know and she didn’t really want to ask. She felt too unstable, so instead she tried to deflect with a joke of her own. ‘An added extra? Bonus?’
‘A perk of the job?’ His smile faded.
Darcie awkwardly poured herself a mug of coffee. Not that she needed it. She already felt wired—wary. As if everything was going too well. Their set-up was now too lovely and too fragile to be true. And it wasn’t true, of course. Which is why she’d just reminded herself. And she did again mentally—it’s not a real marriage.
But that didn’t stop her from wanting to keep it—not just to stay in his bed but to stay withhimfor good. Yes, she wanted this delight of a marriage to become real. But life didn’t work like way. Things changed. Always. People left. She knew that and yet somehow still she’d fallen deeply, deeply in love with him. Desperately she took a large sip of the too-hot coffee. Because of course she loved him. How could she not? He was smart and challenging and considerate and bold and—
‘I thought I’d go sort out some things from my flat this morning,’ she mumbled. It was a weak excuse, but the only one she could think of.
‘Need some help?’
She shook her head and left the room. She needed space to get her head back together and her careering emotions under control.
