CHAPTER EIGHT
“You have got to be kidding me,” Poppy gaped when she saw the huge wrought iron gates that blocked the path of Stetson’s truck. “So, not only do you have a truck that costs more than my entire apartment, but you have a house that is hidden by wrought iron gates. Who the hell are you?”
Stetson simply leaned out of the driver’s side window and pressed his thumb into the print scanner that seemed to be linked to the gates ahead of them. Then he turned and gave Poppy an amused smile.
“You should never judge a book by its cover, my dear,” he told her as he began to drive the truck through the gates. “You can’t tell everything about a man from the suit that he wears.”
Poppy had to admit that was becoming even more evident with every passing day. Stetson wasn’t at all what she had expected when she had first met him at the restaurant that night. She almost felt guilty for assuming the worst of him just because he was built like a brick wall and had a gruffer way than she was used to.
“So, are you telling me that you didn’t make assumptions about me when you first met me?” Poppy questioned with a raised eyebrow. She watched Stetson’s profile very carefully as she waited for him to answer. She was almost sure she saw the corner of his mouth crook up in a half smile.
“I’m not sure you want to know the answer to that.” He shrugged his massive shoulders as he continued to drive down the driveway that seemed to last forever.
“Let me guess,” Poppy continued, watching his face for his reaction. “You thought that I was the kind of girl who just wants to party and have a good time and doesn’t really care about who she hurts?”
From the way Stetson’s shoulders stiffened, she knew she had hit the nail right on the head. She knew that was what most men believed of her and, right up until she had met Stetson, they would have been right. Of course, she cared about hurting people, but she hadn’t been willing to let their pain get in the way of what she wanted to do. Now she couldn’t think of anything worse than hurting the man she was sitting beside. She couldn’t even imagine turning him down for another date and, for her, that was simply mind-blowing.
“I’m only human.” Stetson shrugged his shoulders again and something about the way he said the word human made Poppy quiver.
“Is that still what you think?” Poppy was anxious to know that he didn’t still view her that way. She couldn’t think of anything worse than him viewing her as a vain party princess who only cared about the next social high. She’d met plenty of women like that, though she had never viewed herself as one of them. Those were the kinds of women she worked for. She had never considered becoming one of them.
“I admit that I must have gotten my wires crossed somewhere along the way when I made a quick judgement about you,” Stetson explained as he finally pulled the truck to a halt. He turned in his seat to look at her and his eyes darkened as they fell on her. “I am normally never wrong about anybody, but you, Poppy Wade, are very difficult to read.”
Something in the look he gave her told her that he actually liked the fact that she was hard to read. She had to admit that the mysterious side of him was what seemed to draw her in. “The feeling is mutual.”
“Then perhaps we should take this time of confinement to get to know each other a little better?” Stetson said and the suggestion in his voice made Poppy’s entire body tingle. She suddenly found herself thinking of the dream she’d had of him in the shower and how she’d felt when his hands had been on her. There was nothing she could do but bite her lip and squeeze her thighs together in an attempt to stop herself from pouncing on him right then and there.
“Here we were, Chateau Hardy.” Stetson suddenly broke the spell his gaze had on her as he turned his attention back to the window and gestured out at the building ahead of them.
Poppy turned her attention in the direction he gestured, and her mouth practically fell open. Though it was lit up with bright, white security lights the building couldn’t have been further from a prison. In fact, had it been slightly smaller it could have been considered a small castle. The walls looked as though they were made of granite and the climbing ivy made the entire building to look as though it had dropped right out of a fairy tale.
“This is where you live?” Poppy gaped. She couldn’t even begin to imagine that a place like this would exist just outside the city. Stetson smirked again as though he was amused by her amazement.
“I don’t really live here but it’s the closest thing I have to a home. My brothers and I bought this place together so that we’d always have a place to come where we could be safe away from the public eye. Other than myself, Darian, Brett, Bronte, the maid, and now you, nobody else even knows this place exists. At least, not where we are involved anyway.”
“Next, you’ll be telling me you own your own private jet and a soccer team.” Poppy rolled her eyes.
“Not the soccer team,” Stetson said simply, and Poppy’s mouth fell open all over again.
“You have a private jet?” she gasped.
“I have a jet and a yacht, and this place even has a swimming pool and a tennis court but that’s beside the point.” Stetson shook his head. “I worked hard for what I have and, up until my brothers and I brought this place, none of us had very much we could call our own, save for our businesses.”
“I knew the Hardy brothers had done well for themselves, but I never expected any of this,” Poppy said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“It’s just money,” Stetson sighed and there was something so sad in his eyes that it pulled at Poppy’s heart strings. “It doesn’t really mean much if you have nobody to share it with.”
Before Poppy could say anything to that, Stetson pushed open his door and climbed out of the truck. Within seconds, he had pulled open her door and offered her his hand. Poppy had wanted to question him about why he didn’t already have someone to share everything with, but the moment was gone, and she was too tired to try and get information out of him. She was still in her dress from the preserve party and she felt as though she desperately needed a bath.
“Let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” Stetson said as though he had read her mind.
“How did you know I wanted to get cleaned up?” she asked him.
“It’s not hard to guess when you still have your attacker’s blood all over you,” Stetson pointed at her neck and Poppy suddenly remembered how she had burst the guy’s nose with her head. “You sure gave as good as you got.”
“He deserved it,” Poppy shrugged.
“That he did,” Stetson agreed. “Let’s get you inside.”
***
Poppy slipped into the silky bubbles of the bathtub and leaned her head back as she closed her eyes with a delighted sigh. A warm bath had never felt so good as it did in that moment with the Jacuzzi jets massaging her aching limbs and the scent of vanilla and honey filling her nostrils. The sounds of the water bubbling up in her ears soothed her nerves and she found she was smiling to herself as she ran her hands up and down in the water.
“You are so beautiful.” The words whispered in her ear startled her, but she did not budge an inch as she felt the hand slip beneath the water and cup her breast. The freestanding bathtub made it easy for Stetson to crouch behind her. He reached his other hand in the water and took her other breast into his palm. A gasp caught in Poppy’s throat as he began to squeeze the pink buds gently and a fire lit between her thighs, the likes of which she’d never felt before.
“Stetson,” she whispered and then gasped as she felt his hand slip lower, down her ribs and over her stomach, reaching down to her….
“Poppy?” The loud hammering on the bathroom door caused her to jump up into a sitting position so quickly that she sent water splashing everywhere. “You alright in there? I thought I heard something.”
Poppy felt her cheeks grow red hot with embarrassment. I didn’t moan out loud, did I? She asked herself the question as she tried to recall whether she had in fact called his name aloud. She wasn’t sure what was more embarrassing, the fact that she had said his name or the fact that she had been fantasizing about him while he was literally a few feet away.
“I…I’m fine,” she called, and her voice was more than a little weak and breathless. “It wasn’t me.” Even as she said the words, she was almost sure that he wouldn’t believe her. Something about the way he had spoken told her he had heard exactly what she hoped he hadn’t.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come in there?” Stetson’s voice was filled with concern and Poppy could tell that it was genuine concern for her safety. It warmed her heart to hear it. She had never heard anyone sound so sincere.
“I’m naked, Stetson,” she said matter-of-factly. Part of her hoped it would put him off coming in and seeing her blushing face, but the other part of her made her wish that he would bust in and do exactly what she had just been imagining him doing.
“I can close my eyes,” Stetson suggested through the door and Poppy found herself rolling her own.
“What good would having your eyes closed do if you were coming in to check on me?” She raised her voice a little, fearful that he might not be able to hear her because she was having a hard time of hearing him.
“That’s a very good point,” Stetson sighed. “Well, the next time I hear something concerning, I won’t be asking. I will be coming in there.”
“Got it,” Poppy replied and a small part of her wanted to make some kind of noise just to see whether he was true to his word. She wasn’t sure she could control herself if she found herself naked in front of him. It was bad enough with the door between them. She couldn’t keep him out of her thoughts, especially her dirty thoughts. The thoughts that always seemed to arise when he had been near.
“I will be right down the hall,” Stetson assured her. “If you need anything, just shout and I will be sure to hear you.”
Poppy wasn’t sure how he would hear her at the other end of the hall since the house was so big, but she believed him. Something about the way he spoke told her that he meant every word he said. He was always so serious. It was a refreshing change from the sarcastic and over exaggerated banter she was used to from the men she was used to dating.
What the hell are you doing to me, Stetson Hardy? Poppy asked herself as she slipped back into the water and rested her head back against the side of the bath. She let out another easy sigh as she allowed the water to flow over her again and wash away all the negativity of the evening. She found herself thinking again of the gray wolf who had appeared at the preserve and couldn’t help but wish that she’d been able to share the experience with Stetson. She had never felt the need to share an experience with anyone before, never felt the need to relay such an experience to someone as she had with him. There was something different about him, something that made her want to do things that she’d never wanted to do before. And the truth was, that scared her.
Her mind was still lingering on that thought when she finally climbed out of the bath and rinsed herself off in the shower cubicle on the other side of the pristine tiled room. The jet tingled against her skin and its warm temperature was luxurious as she ran it all over her body.
Don’t go getting used to any of this, she told herself as she placed the shower head back in its holder and wrapped herself in a fluffy, soft towel that only covered from breast to mid-thigh.