I half expect her to slap me, but she grabs my collar, pulling my mouth back to hers. Fuck, yes. The kiss is brutal and beautiful, all in the same moment. A paradox of qualities, much like the woman herself.
With a grunt, I hoist her up, guiding her legs around my waist. I grind against her, desperate to sink inside her, to feel her squeeze around me. This woman’s pussy was a thing of beauty. I’ve never, not in all the women I’ve bedded, ever felt or tasted another woman as magnificent as Poppy.
My fingers knead her ass as she digs her nails into back, dragging them across my skin. “Let me inside you,” I murmur against her lips, feeling her stiffen at my request.
“Put me down, Dylan.”
I nuzzle her neck in an attempt to coax her back into the moment, but she’s not having it. “I’m just getting started, beautiful. Let me love on this incredible body. I’ll show you how much I’ve missed you.”
“Put. Me. Down. Now.”
Something in her tone gives me pause, and I oblige her request, smoothing down her shirt that’s ridden up to expose her lacy bra. I offer her my hand and a rueful smile. “Let’s go back to my house. Spend the day together. Fall in love all over again.”
Tears brim in her eyes, but she doesn’t bother to wipe them away. “No more, Dylan. I won’t be a notch on your belt, and you seem to have a full roster. Excuse me.”
I dash after her, catching her as she pulls open her car door. “I’m so sorry for last night. I want to be with you more than anything.”
Poppy gazes toward the sun, the light turning her eyes a glorious mix of green and gold. “I can’t let you into my heart, Dylan. I’m positive that you’ll break it again. But this time, I might not survive it.” She jerks the door from my grasp, turning on the vehicle before lowering the window. “If you care about me at all, you’ll stay away from me.”
I watch her drive away, knowing two things for certain.
One is that I’ve never screwed up this badly, not even when I deserted her in California.
The other is that I will continue fighting for us until she realizes that I meant every word I said.
I love that woman more than life itself. The hard part will be getting her to believe me.
Chapter 9
Poppy
Stay calm. Just stay calm. It was only a kiss. You’ve been kissed before.
I accelerate away from the shooting range, my hands wrapped around the steering wheel in a death grip.
Okay, it was way more than a kiss. It was the hottest moment I’ve experienced in the last decade. With a man who has done nothing but throw conflicting signals my way.
He said he loved me again, and I swore it rang true when I looked into his brown eyes. But Dylan is a charmer, and I’m sure he can make any lie resemble a beautiful truth to a woman desperate to believe it.
I choke back a sob, hitting the steering wheel with the heel of my hand. I’m so upside down I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Hell, I push him away and then grab him back to me, only to stop his advances moments later.
What is that about?
The last ten years certainly haven’t hurt that man in the kissing department. Wow.
I rub my neck, feeling the flush color my skin. Dylan could always kiss, but this time, there was something deeper in the moment. The way his hands pressed my body—closer and closer—as if he couldn’t get enough of me.
I know I couldn’t get enough of him. Even now, my skin tingles where his body rubbed against mine.
“Snap out of it, Poppy. The man is a player, and you just got played. Again.”
I drive back to my store, determined to get my head involved in thinking about something other than Dylan West.
I may be delusional, but I’m giving it a shot. I brew some tea, allowing myself some gentle yoga stretches as I will my heart rate and hormones down to their normal operating level.
The bells jangle above my door and I walk from behind the curtain, stopping dead in my tracks.
Not three feet from me stands the raven-haired woman from the bar.
There’s not a tea blend or yoga pose in the world to make this situation palatable. “Can I help you?” I manage, trying to control the tremble in my voice.
“I figured I should introduce myself. My name is Gayle.” She extends her hand, which I accept gingerly.
“Poppy.”
“I know.” She shoves her sunglasses on top of her head, pursing her lips. “May I have a moment of your time?”
Okay, that’s not how you normally start a conversation that ends with an ass beating. Progress.
“Sure. Have a seat.” I motion to the overstuffed chairs near the window. “Would you like some tea?”
“Love some. Thank you.”
I return with the mugs, chewing my cheek as I wonder what this woman could possibly have to say.
Stay away from Dylan?
You mean nothing?
I know where to bury you, so that they’ll never find the body?
“I saw you two together at the bar last night.”
“I remember.”
“No,” Gayle waves her hand at my comment. “Before I interceded. I was there for about ten minutes, watching the two of you.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t. But that’s not my point. The way he looked at you. The way you looked at each other. I asked him last night—point blank—about you. His candid response shocked me.”
My heart rate accelerates as I lean forward in the chair. “What did he say? You know what? I don’t want to know.”
“He’s in love with you, Poppy. He told me that he’s always been in love with you.”
“No, he isn’t. If he cared at all, he wouldn’t have done that last night. To either of us.”
Gayle nods, patting my arm. “I agree that he’s an asshole for his stunt. But it was a stupid mistake, fed by an insatiable jealousy that some other man might claim you before he got the chance.” She bites her lip, letting out a sad sigh. “I meant nothing, Poppy. I never did.”
“What a terrible thing to say.”
“It’s the truth. Dylan and I served a purpose in each other’s lives. But he’s never looked at another woman like he looked at you. He never even looked at Merry like that.”
“You knew Merry?”
“I did. We ran in the same circles when we were younger. I knew that Dylan and Merry were close friends who in a momentary lapse of judgement made a baby. I also knew about you.”
“Me?”
“Dylan spoke often of you. He went looking for you a few times, at least. And every time he returned without you; I swear another piece of his soul died. So, although I wanted to crack his skull open with a whiskey bottle last night—”
“And mine,” I add, earning a giggle from Gayle.
“True,” she concedes. “When he admitted you were the same woman that he’s loved all these years, I couldn’t even be mad anymore. That you’ve found your way back to each other…do you know how rare that is? Hell, it’s the only reason I let the man keep his equipment. If you’d been any other woman, he’d be missing his balls right now.”