Poppy

 

 

 

“What’s the plan?” I ask, my words jumbling together as I hop from foot to foot and peer out from behind the tinted window of Grant’s office.

The day of the shareholder meeting had arrived. If I failed to impress them, Grant could lose everything and it would be all my fault. I couldn’t stand the thought of that happening to him. I cast a shy glance upwards at him, his face stony. When he swallows, his Adam’s apple pulses.

Is her nervous too?

His hand glides across my back, the flesh bursting with goosebumps as his fingers curl around my shoulder. His face turns to me, warm and gentle lips pressing to my forehead.

“You just be you.” He murmurs as my eyes drift shut. I feel like a moth being sucked towards a bright, irresistible light. Every inch of me wants him with peaking desperation - but he hadn’t laid a finger on me since that night we spent together.

“What if they don’t like who I am?” I ask, biting my lip and popping open my eyes to gaze up at him.

He smirks, that beautiful, delicious looking lopsided grin, and my body melts into a puddle of warm good.

“They’d be crazy.”

A sudden knock at the door jolts our attention away from one another as Reagan curiously cracks open the heavy door and peeks inside.

“Are you guys okay in here?” She whispers as though we’re having some secret meeting. She glides effortlessly into the room, sliding the door gently shut behind her. In her hands rests a huge box of jelly filled donuts and sweet croissants that make my eyes go huge and my mouth water.

As Grant reaches greedy fingers towards the box, she slaps his hand away and narrows her glinting blue eyes dangerously, “This is for those crabby men and my father so that they’ll be in a good mood!”

I can’t help the pout that spreads over my lips. I hadn’t had a donut in so long and they smelled so good…

“I suppose I can sneak two off to the side.” Reagan continues with a wily grin.

“Reagan…” I begin uncertainly, clearing my throat and edging away from the billionaire to reach a hand towards her elbow. I cup the smooth skin as her brow furrows in confusion.

“Are you alright?” She asks, glancing towards Grant as though she’s worried we’re planning to trap her and tie her down and ravage her box of pastry treats.

With a nod, I search without triumph for the right words to say. Instead of piecing together some meaningless sentence, I lean up on my toes and wrap my arms tight around her neck.

“I just thought maybe you needed that.” I whisper in her ear. Though she’s stiff as a marble statue in my embrace, slowly her shoulders relax and she leans her cheek against my own.

“Thank you.” She whispers, her voice such a hush that I barely hear it.

As I pull away, she straightens and smooths a hand down her black dress, giving a firm bob of her head, “Okay. I’m going to try and appease the beasts. You two relax and breathe. It’ll be fine. I gave Dad extra wine last night so he’s going to be too tired to argue much.” She pauses, tapping her pointed chin, “Well hopefully.”

“I’ve never seen a day that Ted Sherry isn’t up for a fight.” Grant sighs.

Reagan offers a helpless smile, winking at me before leaving the office once more.

I turn back to Grant, wrapping my arms around myself in a tight hug. Butterflies whipped and whirled around inside me with such force that I could’ve sworn they were trying to knock me off my feet.

The handsome man before me looked equally troubled, his dark brown brow knotting with fury between churning eyes.

His gaze shifts to lock on mine quickly, his teeth gritting.

“Poppy…” He whispers, taking a lone step towards me as I swallow dryly and give a tiny nod, “Do you really think she’ll set aside donuts for us?”

Laughter roars from me, my hands pressing to my belly as I double forward. Grant seems much less amused, chewing the corner of his lip, “Is that a no?”

He whirls on his foot to tinted glass once more, palms pressing to the window as his brow furrows and I expect him to break into some deeply pining ode for sprinkles and chocolate cream, but instead he simply gestures forward.

“They’re they are.” He breathes, the slow exhale fogging the glass at his lips.

I lean into his side, biting back a sigh as he wraps a warm, strong arm around my waist.

“They don’t look so bad.” I offer hopefully, but Grant just shakes his head.

“They’re snakes in the grass, Poppy. Wolves in grey hair and thick glasses. Whatever they say, whatever they do, assume the worst intentions.”

A frown tugs on my lips, but I say nothing. How could they be as bad as Reagan and Grant made them out to be? They seemed nice enough from our safe position behind the glass. A little stoic with their firm jaws and tight lipped mouths, but not cruel.

They just wanted the best for the Price family business, just like Grant. Right?

Reagan beams like a beauty pageant contestant from beside the propped open door of the conference room, the box of donuts open and ready. I notice she’s dressed a bit differently toady, her dress just a bit tighter and more low cut on her breasts, her skirt just a bit shorter.

She was born to play this part.

“Reagan really cares for you, doesn’t she?” I say abruptly as Grant’s eyes meet mine in our reflections on the smooth glass.

“She’s always been like that, a care taker. Especially after Talia.”

One of the more rotund men stops in front of Reagan, staring down into the box like it’s a pot of gold before slowly reaching in and snatching up a cream filled, white chocolate covered treat.

“Good boy, Jennings.” Grant whispers under his breath.

As the last of the men disappear into the conference room, the perfect smile on Reagan’s red lips vanishes, her eyes connecting with us from down the hall. Though she can’t see us, she knows we watch.

“It’s time.” His hand slides down my arm, our fingers interlacing as my breath lodges tight in my chest.

It was now or never.

“Do I look okay?” I sputter as he pulls me gently towards the door of his office.

Grant’s eyebrow quirks slightly upwards in surprise, his head cocking to the side.

I shoot a desperate glance towards the darkened window, eyes grazing over the cerulean dress that hugs my body. My long hair, tamed by a saloon Reagan suggested, curls in soft waves over my shoulders, rippling with every movement. I’d felt so confident this morning, standing in the bathroom and spinning in circles. Now… I felt borderline hideous.

“Poppy, you’re beautiful. You look more than okay, you look amazing.” He speaks as though he doesn’t understand where my sudden hesitation comes from. As though he’d never noticed the slight gap between my teeth or that my feet were too large or that I wasn’t thin enough to be gorgeous.

How could he not see all those flaws?

When I don’t move, he steps forward, easily closing the distance between us as his arms wrap around my waist. He moves closer, our noses brushing, his sweet breath lighting on my trembling lips.

“Remember what I said.” He says softly, his mouth only a centimeter from mine. My heart thuds as though it’s trying to leap from my behind my ribs, “Just be you. They’ll love you for it.”

His lips press to mine with chaste, quick sweetness and when he pulls away it’s all I can do not to grab hold of his collar and yank him back down to me. One kiss isn’t enough, all it serves is to light my entire being on fire. I can feel red heat rise from my pores.

Then his hand is once again twined around my own and he guides me down the hall to where Reagan waits at the door. The fake mirth she presented as a show for the shareholders has vanished completely from her face.

“Good luck.” She mouths silently as we pass, stepping back to allow the door to close between us.

The gentlemen, who’d been lightly chatting and chewing on their donuts, went eerily silent the second the door shut tight and I’m positive they can hear my heart pounding away like a jackhammer against my bones.

“Hello again, everyone.” Grant announces, his face showcasing the same dazzling smile that Reagan had worn so well.

I could see it now. With these men who held the future of the business in their clammy fingers, everything was an extravagant performance.

So be it.

If there was one thing I knew from my days of waitressing and tip-hounding, it was how to stroke a man’s ego.

“I am so happy to finally meet you all.” I gush happily, cuddling up into Grant’s side as a shy new bride to be would do, one hand clapping to my pink cheeks. For once, I’m glad to blush so easily, “Grant has tried so hard to explain how important you all are to the company, but I just can’t seem to grasp it. I understand you all are the most important piece of the corporate puzzle?”

The man in the middle, Ted Sherry, frowns.

Damn. Was that too much?

Beside him, however, the other men exchange slow grins and the round one who is on his third donut already nods his head happily.

“That is correct!” He coos, standing up and reaching out a sticky hand which I shake without hesitation, “You can call me Jennings. This is Bob, Carl, Steve, and Ted of course-”

“Mr. Sherry.” Ted interjects and I shower him with a coy bat of my eyelashes.

“You must be the man in charge here, Mr. Sherry.” I overemphasize every syllable of his name and from the corner of my eye I can see Grant concealing a grin as a slow pink tint spreads over Ted’s nose.

“I… I am.” He sputters.

“Grant told me that I should be respectful to a man of your power, but he never warned me that you’d be so handsome.” I break into another shy giggle, clutching my lips, “Oh my, I didn’t mean to say that out loud! You gentlemen will have to forgive me!”

The men laugh and Ted slowly sits back in his chair.

“It’s no trouble at all dear.” He smiles.

“I’ve been working with Reagan, she trained me you know.” I continue as Grant and I sit next to each other, “I’ve never met a more beautiful, hardworking lady in my life.”

Ted’s eyes go bright as he nods and leans forward, “That’s just how I raised her.”

“It shows.” I smile, patting Grant’s knee and gazing up at him with an adoration I did not have to force, “Now I guess you boys want to talk business. I’ll just listen along and do my best to understand.”

The men nod and exchange glances before continuing.

“Grant,” Ted begins slowly, “I think I speak for all of us when I say that you’ve done a great service to the company. I believe we can skip over… certain matters and just talk about our projections for this quarter.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Grant grins, his fingers tightening around my knee as he leans forward to inspect the folder placed before him.

 

~~

 

“Oh my god, Poppy!” Grant gasps as we escape back into his office an hour later, finally letting out the bellows of laughter that he’d somehow managed to contain, “I have never seen Ted look so stunned in my life! I don’t think I’ve ever been as impressed as I am right now. You played them like a fiddle.” He chuckles again, running delighted hands through his hair.

My whole body feels light, like I’m filled with a giant helium balloon about to drift off into space.

“If there’s one thing a man with an ego the size of China can’t resist, it’s a woman pretending not to understand their oh so hard and strenuous career.” I’d understood every word of their meeting of course, but a group of men like the shareholders needed to be treated with delicate kid gloves.

“You played a fantastic part back there. I owe you more than you can imagine. I’m sure it was difficult to act like you did.”

“That doesn’t matter now. I just can’t believe we did it!” I grin, “I can’t wrap my head around it!”

Grant’s laughter fades and his face slowly turns serious. He leans against the corner of his desk beside a single napkin with two donuts that go ignored, his fingers grazing my hips and pulling me into him.

“I can believe it.” He murmurs, voice deep and velvety smooth like dark chocolate, “I never doubted for a second that you could handle this, Poppy. I knew it from the moment I asked you to embark on this insane journey with me.”

My eyes drop to the floor, inspecting the black heels that Grant had picked out for me. I’d never worn heels before, but these were comfortable and undeniably pretty. On the outsides of my heels, his polished loafers tap the ground, his fingers still hooked at my hips.

Gingerly, I lift my gaze to meet his own, startled by the intensity of his eyes.

“Poppy…” He begins, voice raw and husky and suddenly I can no longer control my body.

I lean forward, pressing myself against his firm chest as my lips flatten against his own, inhaling whatever words he was about to say.

His rough fingers dig into my hips, making me gasp against his mouth as he deepens the kiss, his tongue wrestling desperately with mine.

I grab his shirt with clumsy and uncertain hands, fumbling with the buttons until he rips it clean off his shoulders as the tiny bits of plastic scatter on the ground at our feet. He glides to the zipper of my dress, lowering it down my back with a slowness that makes a shudder roll through my entire body. I freeze as his hands move to my shoulders, pulling the straps free as the soft fabric falls to my ankles.

Crimson color seeps down my neck and chest as my arms instinctually wrap around myself, hiding away from the scorching heat of his gaze as it travels down my body - clad only in a bra and panties.

“Let me see, Poppy.” He breathes gruffly, eyes hungry, “Let me see your beautiful body.”

I want to look away from his eyes but he stares at me so intently that I can’t seem to break away. My arms somehow drop to my side, my knees quaking.

Would I be good enough for him? Would he hate what he sees.

A growl ripples through his throat as he once again pulls me into his arms and up onto his lap, his mouth devouring my own and bruising my lips as I moan in pleasure. He flips us onto the desk so that I lay on my back, gazing up into his handsome face.

My fingers run down the chasm of his perfect muscles, feeling the firm strength and the beating of his own heart. It pulses as fast as my own behind his ribs.

Soon his pants have fallen to the floor and he stands naked before me, not a shred of shyness on his set jaw.

His body is as perfect as I knew it to be, his manhood engorged and huge between his legs.

“I’ve never-” I begin, but he hushes me gently with his lips, freeing my body of my underwear. He stands between my legs at the edge of the desk, letting me wrap my arms around his waist as his warm lips graze over my cheek and jaw, nipping and sucking at the flesh of my neck as I moan and writhe beneath him. He rubs against me, red hot lust burning before my eyes.

His hands stroke up and down my stomach, torturing me as his lips wrap around my nipple.

“Please!” I cry out, squeezing my eyes shut, “I just… Please!”

When I think I can handle no more, he thrusts slowly inside of me.

Though he is gentle and slow and he holds me so tightly, the pain is intense as though my body is being ripped apart. My mouth opens to cry out but find his lips waiting instead. He cups my face, kissing away the tears that spill from my eyes as the sting melts into something… magical.

Intense pleasure bursts at my belly as Grant begins to thrust.

Our mouths move together, raw desperation and ecstasy welling up inside the both of us with the intensity of a wild tornado. His hands tangle in my hair as I cling to him, fervently trying to rock with his rough, quick pace as our mouth devour one another greedily, as though we can survive only on the sweet flicks of the tongues of one another.

He growls against my mouth, his fingers yanking at my hair as my fingernails dig into his back.

Just as I my entire body begins to clench, spiraling into a pleasure so deep and endless and brutal I can’t see or hear or feel anything but Grant’s body against my own, he lets out a roar of pleasure that plunges me over the edge of ecstasy, my eyes squeezing shut as I rock and writhe in his arms. He explodes inside of me, both of us collapsing in a damp heap on the desk with no regard to the papers or folders or anything that might have been there before.

Lazily, he kisses my face and my lips, his arms tight around me.

“Are you okay?” He asks, his voice hoarse from pleasure.

I can only nod, untrusting of my words, but I was more than okay. I floated with pleasure, I wanted never to be apart from this man.

He completed me, heart and soul - that much had become clear.

Slowly, he untwines from me though cannot seem to keep his mouth from my own, like magnets.

Laying his suit jacket on the ground, we sink to the floor of his office, propped up by the back of his desk as we cuddle and embrace one another until the shivers of pleasure have ebbed. The ecstasy remains in the back of my mind, however, like a lingering sweetness on my tongue. Grant leans up, pulling down the donuts from on top of the desk and setting them on his knee. Smiling shyly at one another, we nibble on the dessert in between kisses.

For hours we stay in that locked office, ignoring the knocks on the door and the ringing of the phone, until our bodies ache and our minds are exhausted. He helps me dress, his fingers tender and sweet, before he slides his own clothes back on - minus the shirt that remains destroyed on the floor.

“Let’s go home.” He murmurs in my ear, his fingers on my hip.

I nod, clinging to him, allowing him to guide me from the room. My senses are fried and frazzled but oh so very pleased. I can’t even feel the ground that we walk on. Reagan locks eyes with Grant as we turn towards the elevator, a slow grin spreading coyly across her face as she shakes her head.

 

For the next two months, everything is perfect and lovely.

We spend long nights with one another in Grant’s huge canopied bed, tangled in the sheets and in our desire.

Then, one beautiful spring day with a shining sun and a cool breeze, it all changes before I can blink.