Chapter Fifteen – Poppy

She’s made a mistake. She had thought he was being romantic when he gave her this dress to wear, but really she was bait. He hoped that the person behind the theft of the Heartsfire Dagger would be here, see her, and it would make them break cover.

Poppy splashed water on her face, and tried to clear her thoughts. She was mad, but why? It was imperative they flushed out the person responsible, and if she had to be bait, that was fine. What had upset her was that he had not included her in his plans. Didn’t he trust her?

Drying her face on a towel, she left the bathroom, intending to go and confront George. Instead, she got a confrontation of her own.

“You must be George Lancaster’s woman.” A man, blond, rakish mixed with surfer dude, stood before her, his blue-gray eyes glittering with amusement.

Poppy decided to see where he wanted to go with this. She smiled, her eyes glittering back at him. “I am.”

“And how is that going for you? Since you stole the Heartsfire Blade from him all those years ago?” He held out his hand. “I’m Kyle, by the way, and anything you say will be in complete confidence.”

Poppy took his hand, and said, “He’s a very strong character.” Her gaze did the rest, making a smile cross Kyle’s lips, before he put on his best sympathetic face.

“Why don’t we go somewhere quieter?” Kyle asked.

She smiled and dipped her head, giving him all the encouragement he needed to put his arm around her waist and guide her toward the stairs. “Where are we going?” she asked. She didn’t mind a private talk with him, but upstairs… She was not going down that road again.

“Yes. We can have a very intimate chat.” He grinned, his teeth startlingly white.

“I’m not sure that’s such…” Poppy began, but his phone rang and he put his hand up to shush her. Charming. But as the picture of the caller flashed up on Kyle’s screen, she suddenly became very interested.

Poppy made her move. She reached out for Kyle’s phone and pressed ignore. For a second he stared at her, then he said, “What did you do that for?”

“I didn’t want it to interrupt our…” She sighed audibly. “Do you ever want to do something just for you? Not because another person wants you to? You know, not because it’s your duty, or because someone says they are your mate?”

She sidled up next to Kyle and took his hand, breathing over his neck, and watching him squirm. “I do.”

“So take me upstairs, Kyle,” she said coyly. “Let’s do something for us.”

He grinned, put his phone in the pocket of his pants, and took her hand, pulling her up the stairs. “In here.” He pushed a door open.

“No.” She pulled him on further down the hallway, mentally recreating an image of the house as she moved. One of the curses of her job was that she was always analyzing security risks. But that was about to be a blessing, as she pushed the door of a bedroom open, and poked her head in. Empty. Her gaze swept the room, taking in the big windows and the balcony outside. She only hoped her rusty skills were not going to let her down tonight.

Poppy pulled Kyle into the room, and used her strength to push him back against the door, closing it and barring the way for anyone who might enter. Then she stroked his chest, giggling, while she moved lower, much lower. Her hands tugged at his belt and Kyle closed his eyes in anticipation.

“You are wild, I can see why George Lancaster fell so hard for you.” A twinge of guilt was not enough to still her hands; she had to do this. She had to follow the plan. “And why you distracted him enough to steal the Heartsfire Blade.”

Her hands brushed his groin area, brushing against his hardness, but at last she had his belt undone, and then his button. His pants fell to the floor, and she slid down his body, averting her eyes from his swollen length, her hands only interested in one thing.

Closing her fingers around his phone, she slipped it from his pocket, as she said, “Why don’t you step out of these?”

Kyle obediently lifted one foot and then the other, looking down at the top of her head as she slipped his pants out from around his feet. “I like it hard.” He swallowed. “And when I come, I want you to swallow it all.”

“I bet you do,” she said silkily, her hand reaching behind him and locking the door. “So no one interrupts us.”

“Good thinking, although George will break the door down if he knew what we were doing.”

She laughed, light and breathy. “George will break more than a door if he knew what you were telling his mate to do.” She pressed her body against his. “This can be our little secret.”

He nodded, teeth flashing. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is. And I’m sure by the time this is over, you will want it to be our little secret too.” She giggled. “Why don’t you lie on the bed? Make yourself comfortable.”

Poppy still had his pants in her hand as she backed away toward the window. She kept her eyes fixed on Kyle, watching him move, his cock hard, needing attention. Well, it was going to have to get attention from elsewhere.

As he climbed on the bed, and lay down, adjusting the pillows to get comfortable, she slipped out onto the balcony, relieved that the one next to it was where she pictured it to be. She slipped the key and his phone down the front of her dress, and his pants over the side of the railing, where they landed in the ornate fountain in front of the house. With Kyle’s shouts in her ears, she split the blue dress up to the thigh, climbed onto the railing, and jumped to the next balcony.

Thankfully the room was empty, so she slipped out of the door, and along the hallway, the sound of Kyle’s curses following her. She was down the stairs before he began banging on the door, where she stood looking for George.

He found her first, and he was not happy.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked, looping his arm through hers as a murmur went through the room. He looked towards the staircase. “What have you done?”

“You wanted bait, I was bait. You want answers, let’s leave right now.” She placed her hand on his chest, facing him, needing him to trust her. “Please.”

He held her upper arm with his hand, and guided her out of the house. Once outside, she reached down her dress, and pulled out the phone. Luckily it was unlocked, and she swiped through Kyle’s contacts until she found the picture she wanted.

“What the hell did you do to your dress?” George asked, noticing the split.

“I had to redesign to make it more practical.” She held the phone out to George. “Do you know this man?”

“Yes. Zavier Lachlan.” He frowned. “Why?”

“He’s the person who made me steal the Heartsfire Blade. Brax called him Bernard, but when I tried to trace him afterward, I knew it was an alias. I’ve never been able to identify him.” Poppy began to go through Kyle’s messages, but they were all deleted; the man must have secrets if he covered his tracks so well.

“You are sure?” George asked.

“Do you really need to ask?” Poppy replied.

“No.” He began to walk to the car. “I’ll take you home.”

“Oh no,” she said quickly. “We have the element of surprise and we are in this together. We go together, or I will follow alone.”

“Poppy, you belong with our son,” George insisted.

“Together,” was her only reply.

“All right. But if I think it’s too dangerous, you are not going in.”

“And what if I think it’s too dangerous for you to go in?” she said in retort.

“You are impossible,” George said.

“You have no idea.” She grinned at him; he was beginning to understand they were equals. “There is one more thing I have to do, before we leave.”

“Which is?”

She ran across to the fountain and threw the phone into the water, to sink to the bottom of the fountain along with Kyle’s pants. “So he doesn’t know why I took his pants off.”

“His pants off?” George asked.

“Close your mouth, George. Or you might catch a fly.” She took his hand and pulled him toward the car.

“I have no idea what I’ve let myself in for, do I?” he asked.

“No, you don’t,” she said. “But the whole dragon thing… that trumps whatever I might throw at you, believe me.”