CHAPTER NINE
Stetson could still hear his name ringing off Poppy’s lips as he wandered into his study down the hall. Something about the way she had gasped it caused his entire body to tense and shake with desire. His animal instincts had told him to run into the bathroom and take her right then and there, but he knew well that if he allowed those instincts to take control, he would more than certainly regret it.
This was a really bad idea, he thought to himself as he was reminded how he had invited Poppy not only into his home, but into the safe place that he and his brothers had. He was risking everything he loved by having her there but, in the moment, he’d thought of protecting her there and he had known it was right. It had felt like the right thing and his gut had never been wrong before. His gut told him that he could trust Poppy, though his mind wasn’t at all sure it went along with it.
Even as he sat down in his desk chair, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of thoughts Poppy must have been having for her to call his name in such a way. Her voice hadn’t sounded fearful or questioning. In fact, she hadn’t sounded like she was calling someone far away. She sounded as though she was calling someone close, someone that was close enough to have been touching her. That thought and the thought of doing something like that to Poppy caused Stetson to growl low in his throat.
“What are you thinking about?” Poppy’s voice caused him to jump and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel. Her long hair cascaded over one shoulder in a thick wave of wet curls and her legs were still glistening with water droplets. She looked like a water nymph, all glistening and glossy, her eyes shining with curiosity.
“I…uh…don’t you want to get dressed?” Stetson asked quickly, attempting to change the subject. He couldn’t very well answer her question. What would she think if he told her that he had been thinking about bending her over his study desk and pounding her from behind?
“I would but I don’t have a clue where you put my bag,” Poppy shrugged. “And even if I did, I’m not sure I could find my way back there because this place is humungous.”
Stetson couldn’t help but laugh at her use of the word humungous. It sounded like the kind of word a child would use to describe something that was exaggerated. Though, he had to admit that it fit his large home perfectly when it came from her lips.
“Allow me to escort you to your room, madam,” he told her as he pushed himself to his feet and wandered around the desk to join her in the doorway.
She barely moved an inch as he tried to slip past her. For a moment, he found himself pausing in the doorway, his body pressed against her own. The warm, clean scent of her wafted into his nostrils. It was tainted with the scent of vanilla and honey, but her natural scent drifted through. It was a scent he had begun to grow used to and a scent that he was more than pleased to smell. He was already excited at the thought that it would soon cover everything in his home. He wasn’t sure what scared him more, the fact that he knew her scent by heart or the fact that he wanted to continue to smell it.
“This way,” he said through the lump in his throat, as he realized just how close they had come to each other. They had come so close that, had he leaned his head just a little, he might have been able to kiss her.
Get a grip on yourself man, he thought to himself as he began to make his way down the hallway past the bathroom to the bedrooms at the other end. You need a good run to let off all this steam she’s building up inside you.
He knew very well that there was no chance he could do that until he was sure that she was sound asleep. He couldn’t afford to risk her seeing him shift.
“I think this room will offer you the most comfort,” he told her as he pushed open the door of the guest room. It was the one most made up for a woman. It housed a four-poster bed, a vanity table, a wardrobe and a small sitting area. It was the most softly furnished of the bedrooms in the house, save for the one that Bronte used whenever she happened to stop by. “My interior decorator managed to get her hands on this one before I could stop her.”
Poppy smiled with amusement as she stepped into the room beside him and glanced around at the soft greens and golds of the room. “Bronte has excellent taste.”
“How did you…”
“I know my clients better than they know themselves.” She shrugged her shoulders. “And it’s easy to put two and two together when Bronte is your sister-in-law and she makes no secret of her success in the interior design world.”
“I’m starting to believe that you are just as talented as she is,” Stetson admitted, and he watched her as she sauntered across the room. She ran her hand along the silk sheets at the bottom of the bed. As he watched her, he could almost imagine that instead of the silk, it was his skin that she was running her fingertips along. He found himself imagining how her sweat would taste as he ran the tip of his tongue along her collar bone, thrusting deep inside her. He felt his cheeks light with both desire and embarrassment.
As though she sensed his arousal, Poppy turned her attention back to him. “I do believe that I should take that as a compliment from the hugely successful eldest Hardy brother.”
“You certainly should,” Stetson replied, and he found himself taking a large step towards her. He could not bring himself to stay away. She was drawing him in with her scent, her gaze, the way she twisted her body towards him as he moved. “I may be finding you difficult to read but I certainly know talent when I see it.”
He reached up and stroked a wet lock of hair from her face, pushing it behind her ear. When his fingertips brushed the top of her ear, Poppy visibly shivered and he could see in her eyes that she was having the same difficulty he was.
“How long do you think I am going to have to stay here?” she questioned. When her eyes lingered on his lips, he felt himself quiver as she bit her own lip.
“Like I said before, long enough for us to get to know each other a little better,” Stetson replied. With that, he took hold of her hips, thrusting himself towards her as he threw her down onto the bed. She gasped with shock as her knees were taken out by the end of the bed and she found herself pinned beneath him.
“Stetson,” she breathed. The way she said his name caused him to pause. He pulled away a little, suddenly realizing what he had done, and guilt overwhelmed him.
“I’m sorry, I…” Before he managed to apologize properly for what he had done or give her any excuses, she gripped hold of his face and forced his head around to hers.
“Stetson, look at me,” she said softly. He realized that he’d slammed his eyes shut to stop himself from seeing the disgust or the fear he was sure he would see in her eyes. He was used to being too much for women, used to them not being able to handle his more dominant side. “Stetson, please.”
When he finally chanced a look at her, he realized that he couldn’t see either of those things. In fact, all he could see in her eyes was lust. “Don’t ever be sorry for showing me how you feel. I’d much prefer it to the hundreds of men who have told me how they feel but never backed it up with any action.”
“The truth is, I am not sure how I feel,” Stetson admitted. He tensed then, and he realized that was true. He had never felt the way he felt about Poppy with any woman. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew it was different to anything he’d ever felt before.
“Then show me,” Poppy whispered. Then she leaned up to take possession of his mouth with her own. Stetson’s heart thundered rapidly in his chest as he allowed himself to drop back down onto her. She quivered beneath him as she slipped his hand into the towel she still had wrapped around her. When he found her soft flesh beneath it, she gasped, and he ran his fingers along her ribs, upwards until he came to the curve of her breast.
“Stetson,” she whispered against his lips. This time, he simply enjoyed the sound of his name coming from her throaty gasp as he took hold of her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
***
It had been such a long time since Poppy had been touched by a man. Granted, she had made it that way, but with Stetson, everything seemed to fall into place. The feel of his hands on her flesh was like fireworks popping off deep inside her. Every single nerve ending in her body was on high alert, ready and waiting for his touch.
When his hand slipped down between her thighs, Poppy felt as though her skin might light on fire. She burned with desire for him and every inch of her tingled with the need to feel him inside her. A low growl erupted from his throat as he felt the wetness already present between her legs and Poppy realized just how ready she was for him.
She leaned up to take hold of his face in her hands and kiss him deeper, but he grabbed hold of her hips. In the next moment, he was throwing her further up the bed. He moved her with such ease that Poppy couldn’t believe how strong he was. In the process, she found herself stripped of her towel, completely exposed on the bed before him. Her head fell back as she hit the mattress and her heart hammered as he slipped onto the bed between her legs.
“I have a feeling I am going to enjoy tasting you,” Stetson smirked as he gripped the backs of her knees. It caused her to bend her legs as he brought his head down to her overly sensitive sex. Every instinct told her to stop him, told her that she simply wanted him inside her but the second she felt his tongue lap ever so gently around her clit, her mind was blown. He started out with a touch that was slight, almost so slight that she couldn’t feel it, but with each passing moment, his tongue grew heavier on her heated flesh. Her mouth gaped open in a soundless gasp.
All she could do was lie back and take it as he expertly worked her body towards climax. She felt every muscle in her body growing tense, every nerve ending sizzling with pleasure as his hands slipped up her ribs and came to cup her bare breasts. When he growled again, she felt the vibration of the sound against her pussy. That was her undoing. She screamed as the climax ripped through her in a heatwave of pleasure that sent her mind whirling. The world around her spun as Stetson continued to work her body. He never let up, even as her body began to wriggle and squirm under his grasp.
As her body began to relax from the first orgasm, she felt it begin to tighten up again, ready for the second. Her hands fisted into the sheets on either side of her ribs, her arms outstretched in such a way that she thought they might snap if she tensed up anymore. Her legs bared down on his shoulders and she knew that, had he been a lesser man, she might have been able to push him away. But he wasn’t a lesser man and he held her there, easily showing her the true nature of his power as he continued to eat away at her pleasure.
Before long, she lay dripping and exhausted on the bed in front of him. When he finally let up, he smiled down with amusement at her. “Enjoying yourself?”
All Poppy could do was nod and pant.
“You think you can handle some more?” Stetson asked her, and Poppy wasn’t at all sure whether she could handle more from him. She felt like she was going to explode, but she wanted to see just exactly how much he could give. The way he leaned up on his knees with his tie loosened around his neck, still wearing his suit pants and pristine white shirt…it made her want to know what he was hiding beneath.
As though he had read her mind, Stetson reached up and pulled the tie from his neck. “I’m suddenly glad I wore this tonight.” He grinned devilishly as he leaned down and wrapped it around Poppy’s hands. Within seconds, her wrists were bound above her head and the sheer sexiness of being helpless caused her to quiver all over again.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked. She was curious about what a man of his obvious talents could do to a woman like her. He had already given her two mind blowing orgasms. She could only imagine what he could do with the rock-hard cock that was barely hidden beneath the fabric of his pants. Poppy’s eyes were drawn to it as she spoke, and she couldn’t help but notice how large he looked, even through his pants.
“If I told you all my secrets, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, would it?” Stetson’s voice grew husky as he spoke, and Poppy’s stomach flipped. Her inner goddess begged her to question him further but the look in his eyes told her to keep her mouth shut. There was no way she was going to mess this one up. She had to see firsthand what he could do to her.
“Keep your hands above your head,” Stetson told her. “For your own safety.”
There was something in his threat that told Poppy he was only half joking, but she obliged him with a nod. She watched him unbutton his shirt and drop it onto the floor, kicking off his shoes. In the next moment, he had stripped completely naked. When he knelt between her legs again, his steel member bounced into view. Poppy barely managed to bite back the gasp at the sheer size of him. She had never seen anything so magnificent in her entire life. She’d never seen anything she wanted so much.
“You still sure you can handle me?” Stetson asked, and Poppy had a moment of uncertainty. He looked as though he was far too big to fit inside her. She could already imagine the kind of pain he could inflict upon her if he went too hard or too deep but still she wanted him inside her. She needed to have him, needed to feel him inside her. And she trusted him. More than she’d ever trusted anyone.
She simply nodded again, fearful that her voice might fail her.
“Don’t worry,” Stetson assured her as though he saw the fear in her eyes. “I will go easy on you. This time.”
His words eased her nerves only a little as he dropped down on top of her and she felt his cock hovering close to her entrance. Her hands burned to reach up and touch him, but she quickly remembered the order he had given her. She wasn’t to move her hands from above her head. So instead, she gripped hold of the pillow with both her hands and took a deep breath as he inserted himself deep inside her. It was uncomfortable for only a moment as he became still to allow her body to adjust to him.
“Are you alright?” he asked, and his words brought a tear to her eye. Never had someone been so concerned with her feelings or needs before. She was so used to men going for what they wanted and needed from her and so unused to them caring about what they could give her in return. Perhaps that was why she had been expecting it to hurt. She was so used to men rushing into what they wanted that Stetson’s slowness startled her.
“I…I’m fine,” she assured him in a small voice. When he was satisfied that she had told him the truth, he began to move. He pulled out right to the tip before thrusting in again. The movement caused Poppy to gasp all over again. He repeated the motion over and over again, and with every one of her gasps, his own groans grew deeper.
“Stetson!” she gasped, so similar to when she had gasped in the bathtub. But this time, she was not afraid that he had heard. She wanted him to hear her and she wanted to see the pleasure on his face as he heard his name being called. She’d never felt the need to call her partner’s name before but with Stetson everything was different. She could feel herself growing steadily towards her climax, even as his own body began to tremble on hers.
“Oh, God. Stetson!” she gasped, as her climax finally erupted, and her sex clenched around his cock. As though he sensed her release, his own came in a rush and he growled deep in his throat.
“Poppy!” Her name was little more than a rumble in his throat as he spilled his seed deep inside her. She gasped at the sheer volume of it as she felt him fill her up with his essence.