Chapter Seventeen
Zach
Over the past few days, school had gotten busy and I hadn’t seen much of Poppy, except for running into her on campus a couple of times. I’d texted her to let her know I was around if she needed help prepping for mid-terms. But after helping her get her car repaired, and her texted thank you, it seemed she had retreated for some space—thinking—but about what, I didn’t know.
I had no choice but to give it to her, so I’d spent the last couple of days renovating my bedroom—beginning with sanding and staining the hardwood floor and repainting the walls a stone gray. Standing back to admire my work, I liked the finished affect. The white trim stood in stark contrast and the plain white sheets and down comforter I had seemed more elegant than before in the redesigned space.
It was late afternoon by the time I got all the paint and supplies put away in my garage and I was just stepping out of a warm shower when my doorbell rang. That was weird. I certainly wasn’t expecting anyone on a Saturday to show up unannounced.
Ducking into my bedroom, I grabbed a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt, opting to go commando in my rush to get to the door as the doorbell rang a second time.
“Coming,” I called, buttoning my jeans just before pulling open the door.
It was Poppy.
She was dressed in a pair of black leggings and one of those oversized sweaters she seemed to love. This one was oatmeal colored and the hint of a lacy pink bra beneath was enough to make my cock twitch in my pants.
The way she stood on my front porch, expression open, hands relaxed at her sides, it gave nothing away. But then, she was here, wasn’t she? It had to mean something.
“Come inside.”
I took a step back and Poppy followed me in.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, turning to face me once we were inside my living room, her eyes blazing with that steely determination I loved. The energy crackling between us was something I’d become addicted to.
“Do what?”
“Fix my car.”
I nodded. “I’m well aware of that. I wanted to, Poppy. I know you would have figured it out, but I didn’t want you to have to do that for once.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking over what she wanted to say next. “So … you and Stacey … how’s that whole thing going?”
She looked down at her boots and it took me a second to realize who she was talking about. The girl she saw me with at the bar.
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t talked to her since Halloween. There’s someone else I’m hung up on.”
Poppy’s eyes lifted to mine and her lips parted.
God, she was beautiful. Without any makeup, without all the fluff and frill society said women needed to be glamourous. Poppy just was. Full lips that trembled when she got nervous and eyebrows that would pinch together defiantly if she didn’t like something I had to say.
“Oh?” she asked, that pretty mouth forming the word while her lip-gloss distracted me for what felt like the thousandth time.
Everything about this moment felt serendipitous, like we’d been building to this exact moment ever since we’d met at that party—a party we never should have been at—something so out of character for us both.
“Yeah.” I stalked forward. I had no words. None. Zero. I stopped when I was inches from her, and staring down into those deliciously expressive eyes.
Poppy, of all people, deserved all the pretty words, all the whispered sweet phrases that ran through my brain at all hours, that I’d scrawled on scraps of paper and napkins, that I’d stuck inside of her bag. But the time for words was done. Lifting her chin with two fingers, I rubbed my thumb along those full, tempting lips. “If you tell me to stop, you better fucking mean it this time.”
Poppy sucked in a sharp inhale, her eyes briefly falling closed before they blazed on mine once again. “First, I need to know your intentions.”
I could have laughed. Could have fallen over right there in my living room. But I did neither of those things. My intentions. Was that what this was about? Was that why she stayed away? My intentions certainly weren’t to fuck her and move on, I knew that much.
Apparently I needed to do a much better job at communicating with her, needed to lay out for Poppy exactly how I felt, exactly what I wanted.
But fuck, what did I want?
Did being with Poppy mean New York was off the table?
And how did I feel about that? Was I really okay with staying in this sleepy little town, advising students to live their dreams while I was too scared to live mine myself?
I took a deep, steadying breath. I wasn’t sure I’d figure all of that out in the next few minutes, but I wasn’t about to miss my shot with Poppy.
“I know you’re incredible. I know you inspire me.” I ran my thumb along her lower lip again. “I know I want you.”
Her gaze darkened, and she looked as drunk with lust as I felt. “But what about after that, I’m not a one-night kind of girl, Zach…”
“I know that, Poppy. I’ve always known that. I want a shot with you. I always have.”
She didn’t say anything else. But she didn’t have to. She lifted up on her toes, trying to close the height-difference between us and as adorable as her attempts were, I was done waiting. Placing my hands on her waist, I lifted Poppy from the floor, hauling her up to my chest. Our mouths crashed together as her legs crossed around my hips, and my hands moved to her ass. I held her there, held her against me, cherishing the weight of her, the feel of her soft breasts pressed against my chest, the sensation of her tongue moving with mine, the tiny whimpers she made when I thrust up experimentally to show her what she’d done to me.
“Zach.” Poppy’s mouth broke from mine, breathless and damp.
“Yes, beautiful, tell me what you want.”
Her eyes were wild with want, her lips puffy and swollen from my kisses. For a moment, I thought she was going to demand I let her down, put an end to everything. But then she breathed a single word that ignited sparks inside my veins.
“You.”
Rocking her up and down against my hard length, my mouth attacked hers again. Still carrying her, I headed for my bedroom. Not bothering to break our kiss to look where I was going, I bumped us into the wall in the hallway and Poppy giggled against my mouth.
“Slow down, big guy. We’ve got all night.”
I pulled back and met her eyes. “We do? But what about …”
Her smile was immediate. “Well, not all night, but Connor’s at my parents’ house for dinner. So we have a few hours at least.”
Once inside my bedroom I set Poppy down, lowering her feet to the floor. I was happy that the scent of paint had mostly dissipated, and that I’d put everything back the way it was supposed to be. Poppy’s eyes wandered around the room, before coming to rest on me once again. She took a deep breath, and then her fingers went to my belt, tugging, demanding.
Looking down, I watched her slender fingers unlatch my belt and unsnap the button. Then she was pushing her hands inside my jeans.
“Fuck,” I growled, pushing my fingers into my hair, and resting my hands on top of my head.
“Where are your underpants, Mr. Austin?” She made a low sound of disapproval under her breath. But then she drew out my cock, now fully hard, and sucked in a sharp inhale, the noise of surprise dying in her throat. “Shit. Zach.”
A slow smile uncurled on my lips. “Yes, Poppy?”
“Your dick is like really fucking big.”
I ran one finger slowly down her cheek and pride and heat dueled inside my chest. “Hmm. A smart girl like you, an English lit major no less, surely you can think of a better adjective than big?”
I was enjoying this way too much. But my dick hadn’t been touched by anyone other than me in a long time, and this wasn’t just anyone—this was Poppy, who I’d fantasized about nonstop for weeks on end. And now she was here, in my bedroom, curling her delicate fist around my wide shaft and giving it an experimental tug. Pleasure burst through every cell in my body.
“It’s … God. It’s so hot, Zach. I want you.”
Without another word, Poppy dropped to her knees on the wood floors I’d so painstakingly refinished all the while trying not to think about her. In the next breath, she brought those sexy pink-glossed lips to the head of my cock. Her tongue licked languidly across my wide tip and down the side of my shaft. I thought I might explode then and there.
“Is this okay?” She peered up at me through her eyelashes, teasing.
“Yes, yes. Please.” I cupped her cheek and Poppy opened wider, the head of my cock disappearing inside the warm, wet heat of her mouth.
“Fuck that feels good,” I groaned.
While Poppy worked me over, both with her mouth and her hands, I focused on trying not to come down her pretty little throat.
My own personal temptress, the fire of my loins.
“So good, so good, sweetheart.”
Poppy made a noise of want in her throat, swallowing me farther.
Every wicked and depraved fantasy I'd dared not to harbor came bursting to brilliant life.
Knowing that I was only moments away from losing control, I pulled Poppy from my cock, and hauled her to her feet. Kissing her swollen lips, I worked on stripping her of every last article of clothing until she stood naked before me.
Flushed pale skin, shapely hips, full tits with pretty blush-colored nipples. She was beautiful and I told her so.
Blushing, she crawled onto my bed and waited while I pushed down my jeans and stripped off my t-shirt.
When I laid on top of her, I finally understood what those ancient poets had meant about hearing doves cry, and angels sing and all that shit—because fuck. The heat of her silky, naked skin pressed up against mine was enough to send me straight down onto one knee. I never wanted this moment to end, never wanted Poppy to leave my bed, and the few precious hours we had wouldn’t be nearly enough.
I rolled to my side and Poppy did the same, our hands, our mouths refusing to leave each other’s bodies for long.
She stroked my cock with both hands, while I played with her pussy, learning what she liked until I’d made her come twice by rubbing her clit.
“Condoms,” she breathed. “Please tell me you have condoms.”
I wanted to fuck her, wanted to bury myself balls-deep inside her and never leave. But Poppy’s words kept ringing in my ears. She wasn’t a one and done type of girl. And before I claimed her, she was right. I needed to know what my intentions were with this beautiful single mother who’d stormed into my life and staked claim to my heart.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Not tonight. I don't want to rush it.”
A smile blossomed on her lips right before she crawled down my body and pushed me flat on my back. Then her lips closed over me again, and nothing else mattered.
The sweet little Poppy Ellis who’d fought this every step of the way, was sucking me like her very life depended on it and I was lost.