Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
She is home—I don’t say that though. Truth is, I could charter her a plane to get her home, but I’m selfish and want to keep her. Instead, I push a strand of hair behind her ear, “I’ve never been surer. Now come, let’s watch a movie with Vance.”
Vance grabs Poppy’s wrist when she moves past him on the couch, dragging her squealing body onto his lap. I take the seat at the other end, my heart stuttering when she shifts off his lap and lays her head there instead, spreading her legs until her feet move onto my lap.
This must be what it feels like to have a family.
ELEVEN
Poppy
The shower in Tristan and Vance’s apartment is unbelievable. There are eight heads, hitting every part of my body all at once. Josh’s and my shower always splutters and chokes. I have to hit it a few times just to get it to pump out enough water to rinse the soap from my hair.
The bathroom door opens, but with all the steam, I can’t see who has come inside until Tristan’s large frame closes in behind me, causing my pulse to spike.
I sometimes still wonder if I took a harder fall that day at the office and this has all been a coma dream. If it is, I don’t want to wake up.
Large palms roam down my arms, and I sigh, leaning into his touch. When he takes a bottle of body wash from the shelf, I don’t inform him that I’ve already washed and was about to get out.
Shifting me out of the spray of the shower heads, he begins rubbing the fruity-scented gel into my skin. It’s an expensive product I can’t usually afford. Focusing on the way his hands slip and slide over my skin, I try not to let my thoughts wander to why he has all these female products on hand.
When Vance brought me a whole bundle of items the first night I came here, I wanted to ask if they belonged to an ex, but I didn’t want to sound jealous or rude. I concluded that they must have family who comes to stay and simply keep a supply on hand.
“What are you thinking about, Poppy?” The timber of his voice vibrates against my back.
Shifting me to face him, he drops to one knee and lifts my foot to place it on his quad, lathering the soap up my calf, knee, and thigh. I clench my stomach muscles and try not to moan when his fingers brush my pussy lips.
“I was thinking about how well you’ve treated me.” I bite my lip when I look down at him, kneeling before me, a god at my feet. “How grateful I am.”
“You deserve nothing less.” He replaces my foot with the other, repeating the cleaning process. “And I’m the one who’s grateful to get to worship you.”
He focuses on my tattoo, I sweep my thumb over the small scar under his eye, he kisses my wrist, and I swallow the emotion clogging my throat at the prospect of someone inflicting all his scars. “I hate that someone hurt you.” My voice is barely above a whisper.
Looking up at me, he kisses my inner thigh. “They’re dead. Do my scars define me?”
“No,” a whisper escapes my lips. “They show your strength, your defiance against breaking.” My hands cradle his neck. “They’re beautiful silver lines of survival, detailing everything you’ve overcome to be here.”
He places my foot back down, then grasps my hips, gently pulling me forward and placing a kiss on my lower stomach, igniting a swarm of sensations there. “I like your perspective on them.”
When he rises, I wrap my arms around his neck and push up onto my tiptoes to brush over his lips with mine. He pulls me closer, our wet, slick bodies crashing together as he deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue into my mouth, claiming, owning, devouring. As his light stubble grazes my face and his teeth nip my bottom lip, I ache for him to leave his marks on me.
His fingers twist in my hair as his tongue plows into me, punishing my mouth with hot, panty-melting licks.
Hoisting me up onto his body, my legs instinctively curl around his waist. He pushes my back against the shower wall, groaning into my mouth while grinding his hard cock against my core. Need surges through me as his lips move along my jaw, biting and sucking down my neck.
Tilting my hips, I reach down to line his cock up with my hot heat then slide down the full length of him with a sharp intake of breath, feeling every rung on his piercing ladder.
Hissing through his teeth, he rests his forehead against mine, looking between our joined bodies to watch his cock disappear inside my pussy as I lift up his shaft then slowly glide back down. With a frenzied exhale, he thrusts his hips, his arm banding around my waist and anchoring us with his other hand on the wall beside my head.