Sometime down the road …
“Two minutes is plenty of time.” My voice was rough in Poppy’s ear as I flipped the skirt of her frilly bridesmaid’s dress over her ass and tugged at the barely-there thong she was wearing under it. Her eyes met mine in the mirror over the sink and her hands braced on the vanity I had her bent over. She shook her head no but her hips pressed back into mine, rubbing against my cock where it was hard and tenting the front of my tuxedo pants. Her teeth bit into her bottom lip and her eyes glowed with golden heat.
I’d gotten good at doing a lot of things in two minutes and under, you had to when you had a growing kid underfoot. There were diapers that needed to be quickly changed, messes that needed to be cleaned up, a dog that needed its fur rescued from strong, grabby hands, feedings that had to happen at the drop of a hat, and tantrums that needed soothing regardless of what the adults in the house might be doing. I was quick; often Poppy was quicker when Royce needed something, but we still always tried to take our time with each other. I would always give her more than two minutes, but today we didn’t have that luxury.
Sayer and Zeb had gotten married an hour earlier and we were both supposed to be down at the reception before the bride and groom arrived since we were in the wedding party. Zeb had asked me to be his best man and I couldn’t have been prouder to stand up there with my oldest friend as he tied himself to his perfect girl. He also had Rowdy and his brother-in-law stand with him while his son, Hyde, acted as the ring bearer. Sayer asked Poppy to be her maid of honor, so I got to walk her down the aisle in a lilac dress shirt that matched the fluffy underlay of the bride’s cream-and-ivory dress. No boring white for Sayer, not anymore. She’d also asked Salem, and Zeb’s sister, Beryl, to stand up with her, so the entire wedding had been a family affair.
The reception was held at the Crawford, so of course I had gotten us a room. Royce was with Kallie for the weekend and I had no plans on letting Poppy out of bed after all the pleasantries of the wedding and reception were said and done. That gave me plenty of time to have my way with her, but I couldn’t wait. I was always hungry for her, starving for a taste of her unique honey and spice flavor.
“You’re going to take longer than two minutes.” Of course I was. With her, I felt like I could last for hours and even days if my body was capable. There was humor in her tone but she obediently opened her legs when I nudged my knee between them. Her shoulders stiffened and her head dropped forward on a sigh as my lips hit the back of her neck and the sound of my lowering zipper filled the room.
I grunted in response and ran a questing finger along the lush line of her ass before dipping it inside and tickling my way down to the sweet spot between her legs. She was already wet, already quivering and unsteady on the tall heels her feet were still encased in.
“No one will even notice that we’re not there.” That wasn’t true, but I was sliding my cock along her cleft and coating myself in her slick moisture, so I was willing to say anything to get her to stay exactly where she was.
She gasped as I pushed in, spreading her open and sinking in. It never got old, the feeling of taking her and of being taken in by her. I groaned into the curve of her neck and moved my palm over the curve of her ass.
“If we take too long Royal will come looking for me and you know it.” She was breathless and I barely heard her warning. If Royal did come looking, she was going to get an eyeful because there was nothing on this planet that would pull me away from this woman, not when she was whispering my name in pleasure and lifting up on her toes so that she could push back against me.
After Poppy’s dad put her in the ER, she’d gotten close with both Royal and Saint. Saint made it a point to stop by and check on her every day she was in the hospital and even asked if Poppy would consider working with the victim outreach program through the hospital. Royal stood by her side through all the court proceedings and even went to court on the day Pastor Cruz was sentenced to twenty-five years in jail for the attempted murder of his daughter. Royal was surprisingly protective of my girl so she would come looking for her, but luckily Asa was good at keeping her distracted. Knowing the Kentucky charmer, I would put good money on him having coerced his wife into finding their own dark corner to race against the clock in. They were still acting like newlyweds even though they’d been together for years and married for several months now.
Asa had given Royal her dream wedding, a low-key ceremony on the beach in Hawaii that we’d all flown out for a couple of months after Salem and Rowdy’s little girl, Glory, was born. It was the perfect winter getaway and Royal made a beautiful bride. It was no surprise to anyone when Shaw announced shortly after the trip that she was expecting baby number two. Rule was over the moon about it, telling anyone that would listen that he was going to have a little girl with his mom’s pretty green eyes. There was something about the balmy beach air that made everyone seem particularly amorous. Rowdy was already planning on another baby even though his first wasn’t yet at the age where she slept through the night. He and Poppy’s sister were in no hurry to get married, claiming they’d been born to be together and a ring wouldn’t change that. Salem was his last and he was hers.
Nash and Saint had been forced to skip the wedding because Nash got an offer to do several guest spots in some world-renowned tattoo shops all across Europe this summer. Since Saint didn’t have school she took a leave of absence from work and went with him. The girls were taking bets on whether the pretty, redheaded nurse was going to come back in the fall knocked up, because, apparently, vacation sex was extra potent. Saint insisted she wanted to wait, and Nash insisted that all he needed was ten minutes to change her mind. I knew if Saint had been around at the wedding today, she would definitely notice my girl was missing, so I was glad that was an interruption I didn’t have to worry about.
“The only person I’m worried about coming is you, honey. Lift your knee up on the counter.” I was breathing hard and there was a light sheen of sweat dotting my forehead. “I’ve got you, so don’t worry about those shoes.”
She lifted her eyebrows at me in the mirror and then did what I asked her to, her mouth dropping open as I sank even deeper and hit her spot even harder. I rubbed my thumb up the part of her spine that was exposed and let my head fall back on my neck. Her heat and the snug pull of her body were my favorite sensations in the world. Every time I buried my cock inside her I knew it was the only place I wanted to be and the one place that was all mine. It was where I belonged.
I slid a finger between the perfectly heart-shaped cheeks of her bouncing ass. Her eyebrows shot up even higher, to the point where they were almost lost in her caramel-colored hair. She liked it when I touched her there, liked it even more when I took her there, but we really didn’t have time for that at the moment.
I could hear my phone ringing in the other room and I knew by the ring tone that it was Rome. Typically, I dropped everything when the big man called. He was a primary investor in my business and had just recently come to me with an expansion proposal. He wanted to know if I would be interested in spearheading a custom motorcycle shop that focused on commissioned builds and restoration projects. I didn’t know all there was to know about motorcycles; I mean, I could make one run with no problem, but beyond that I was pretty clueless. As it turned out, all Rome wanted was for me to keep an eye on the shop and the guys working out of it. He had a bunch of bikers that liked to come in and out of his bar, and since he rode himself he thought it would be a good opportunity. I had a lot on my plate already with Royce and getting Poppy to the point where she was ready to move in with me; as soon as she said yes, I was putting a ring on her finger and a baby in her belly. Royce was almost a year old and I couldn’t love him more if I tried. It wasn’t always easy juggling his childhood between two homes and I always felt his absence when he was with Kallie, but we made it work and I was more than ready to make it work with Poppy. She was amazing with my son. I knew she would be.
The truth was I couldn’t tell the big man “no” to much of anything, so now I was running two garages and everything badass in Denver on two wheels or four came through me and my guys. I found myself with more family and more opportunity than I ever expected.
As soon as Rule started on and on about Shaw’s pregnancy, everyone assumed that Rome was going to step it up and put a third baby in his wife, Cora. As it turned out, the little, blond firecracker was done with the baby making, claiming their daughter, Remy, was like having five kids. She had her hands full with the precocious little girl, the one that had made a big production of kissing Hyde right after Zeb kissed Sayer. They also had a little boy who was the sweetest thing ever and both claimed one of each was perfect.
I ignored the call. I ignored everything except the way Poppy’s body tightened around mine and the way she whimpered as I plowed into her over and over again. I let out a low moan as her wetness spread across my cock in a hot rush. Her eyes were closed, her cheeks were flushed, and her hands had curled into fists on the edge of the vanity. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and her thighs shook against mine. I dug my fingers into her hips, let my cock dive into her over and over again until my spine stiffened as a ball of pure pleasure wrapped around the base of it. I told her she was everything and promised her anything as I emptied myself inside her.
It wasn’t two minutes but it was close. We went off hard and fast, pleasure spiraling and spinning through us like a storm.
I pulled out with a groan and watched as the evidence of time well spent marked her thighs. I always liked the way I looked smeared all across her tawny skin. It was hands down one of my favorite sights to see.
I reached around her for a towel and cranked on the sink as she lowered her leg back to the ground, keeping her dress up around her waist so that she wouldn’t get anything on it. The caveman part of me wanted her to stay just like that but I knew time was running out and we had to put in an appearance.
I cleaned her up, made sure there were no telltale signs of what we’d been doing on the front of my black pants, and took her hand so I could lead her back to the ballroom. Luckily, Zeb and Sayer hadn’t arrived yet, but everyone else was already milling around the room and I could tell by the knowing smirks and twitching eyebrows that everyone knew what we had been up to.
Ayden gave me a wink when I walked past her and muttered under her breath, “Jet likes a quickie in the bathroom too. It’s always worth the embarrassment of walking in late.”
The stunning brunette and her husband were still based out of Austin and no one got to see them as much as they would have liked. Jet was still on the road but he’d picked up a young band out of Denton, Texas, that was on the verge of blowing up huge. They had the potential to be superstars, and if they did that, attached to Jet’s record label, it would enable him to stay home more, which was what both he and Ayden wanted. Being married to a rock star was far less glamorous than anyone wanted to believe. At the beginning of the year Ayden had suffered a miscarriage when Jet was on the road; their loss rippled through our extended friends and family like a wave of sorrow. Poppy being Poppy had stepped in as the only person who could understand exactly what Ayden was going through. She offered an ear and a shoulder, and as a result the two had forged a bond that only that kind of loss could solidify. They spoke on the phone regularly and I was no longer surprised to find my girl crying over the absence of a baby that wasn’t hers. She cared so much that sometimes I wondered where she put it all.
I tilted my chin in Dixie’s direction when she caught my eye and gave me a leer. I still missed her, but watching her cuddle into the massive man by her side, I knew she had also found the place where she belonged. She loved Church and she loved the place he called home. She’d even picked up a slight southern twang in the short time she’d been in Mississippi. They were the next couple up at the altar, a small wedding that was going to take place in the backyard garden of the woman that had helped to raise Church. She was well into her eighties and couldn’t travel, so we were all going south to watch Dixie say “I do.” Kallie got really emotional every time we talked about it because it meant her sister was really never coming back to Denver and that was a hard pill for her to swallow.
I was leading Poppy to the front part of the ballroom where Rowdy was smirking at me knowingly as Salem shook her head at her sister. Zeb’s sister seemed oblivious to what they were laughing at and didn’t bother to ask as she cuddled into her husband. Hyde was doing his best to avoid a very persistent Remy Archer, a plan that included trying to hide behind his cousin Joss. Joss sold him out to the adorable demon in pigtails because it was an unwritten rule that Remy got what Remy wanted. That’s what happened when you were the first kid.
A quiet murmur went through the room as Sayer and Zeb arrived at the back. They didn’t want to do a formal announcement, they just wanted to present themselves to all of their friends and family as husband and wife, so that’s what they did. The gigantic, bearded badass and his elegant, polished bride. They didn’t look like they belonged on the top of the same wedding cake, but there was no doubt when he put his hand on her lower back and she leaned into him that they belonged together. Hyde escaped Remy long enough to run to his dad and a collective sigh went up when the big man bent and picked the smaller version of himself up in one arm. They were a united front, and they always would be.
“She looks good in lilac.” I glanced over at the table closest to the one where Poppy and I were sitting and silently agreed with Quaid Jackson. He had his arm draped over the back of his girlfriend’s chair as they both watched the bride and groom make their way through the room. Quaid had tried to start something with Sayer a million years ago, and though it went nowhere because she loved the massive mountain of man on her arm now, the two of them had remained friends. They were both in the legal field and often referred clients to one another. Quaid’s girlfriend nodded her head in agreement, the lights from overhead catching in her smoky, silver-tinted hair. There was a significant age gap between the two of them, one that was obvious when you looked at them together, but there was also an understanding and acceptance there that no one questioned. Quaid had loosened up significantly since Avett moved into his million-dollar loft in LoDo and the free-spirited, wild child had settled down and really worked toward making something of herself. She was rocking an engagement ring that had a diamond the width of a quarter in the center of it, and if you asked her, she was getting married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator, so she didn’t have to plan a wedding. It was probably a good idea considering how different her style and Quaid’s were. The two of them trying to combine their styles in order to say “I do” could be disastrous.
“I think my hair would look awesome that color, don’t you?” Avett whispered the question under her breath and Quaid just nodded and kissed her temple.
“Do it. It’ll look great.” The response came from Orlando Frederick, who was sandwiched between her and his boyfriend, Dominic Voss. I liked Lando a lot and not just because he was a fellow freckled ginger. He was gentle and kind in the same way Poppy was and there was a familiar shadow of loss that sometimes crossed his gaze that let me knew he was intimately familiar with how precious and precarious life could be. Fortunately, he had a boyfriend that came armed and dangerous. Dom worked as a police academy trainer and looked like he could stop all the crime in Denver single-handedly. They’d been together for a while, and though I knew through the grapevine that their respective families were pushing for them to make it legal, neither man was in any hurry to take that step. They were committed to one another, had a life together, and between the two of them had a plethora of younger siblings they were busy keeping in line and out of jail. Eventually, they wanted to have a family, so they made a pact that when the time was right for them to expand their brood, then and only then would they tie the knot.
I put my arm around Poppy’s shoulders and pulled her into my side. Her hand found its way under the lapel of my jacket and her cheek rested on my shoulder. “You ready to move the Hudson to my house yet?”
She gave a little laugh that made her shoulders shake and had her amber eyes shining up at me. “Maybe tomorrow.”
It was a conversation we had a least once a day. I wanted her under my roof so she was always there with me and Royce and Happy, but she insisted she wasn’t ready for reasons I understood but still hated. I assured her that having unfettered access to my cock was a good enough reason, but she would just shake her head and laugh at me. She insisted that she had to prove to herself that she could take care of herself because she never had before. She also told me time and time again that I needed this time with my son and I inevitably replied that he was much happier when she was there as well because he took after his old man. It was true. My kid loved her just as much as I did and I swore the nights she didn’t make it over, he cried extra hard and acted more fussy than normal. I admired her independence and strength, but the nights we spent away from one another were the worst, and I hardly slept.
“Tomorrow it is, then.”
She smiled at me and my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest so that it could put itself in her hands. “Tomorrow it is.”
One step at a time we moved toward each other and toward the next thing that waited for us. Tomorrow, I would wake up and make sure I took better care of her than I had the day before and she would do the same for me.
That’s what love looked like.