Chapter 16
Poppy’sfront door is in front of me. I’ve been staring at it for five minutes, trying to convince myself to get back in the truck and drive far, far away. This is a terrible idea. One of the worst I’ve had in years to date.
But I grip the handle anyway. It’s unlocked like I knew it would be. She sent me a message just as I pulled up, informing me that she broke my orders only to slip out of bed and unlock it. My palm burns with the need to punish her for it, to cover her pretty ass with red handprints.
Sucking in a long breath through my nose, I step inside the small entryway and lock the door behind me, slipping off my shoes. I attempt to calm myself with a sweep of my gaze over the small living room and kitchen. It’s impossible not to notice all of the imperfections and lack of things that I would consider essential for day-to-day life. Like a coffee machine that doesn’t require you to fill a filter with grounds or even a dishwasher. The rack beside the sink full of clean, hand-washed dishes is something I haven’t seen since I was a boy.
Despite how out of date everything is, the place is clean and organized. Functional in a way I can appreciate. I’ve never been one for messes, not mine or others.
A low, breathy moan cuts through the house, and I’m moving in an instant, my chest suddenly too tight with the frantic race of my heartbeat. I’m a predator on the hunt, that tiny sound of pleasure more than enough to steal all my focus. The hall is dark, lit only by the dim light leaking from Poppy’s bedroom. It’s a beacon that isn’t necessary, not when I memorized the way to her room the last time I was here.
My first step inside brings me face to face with the spread length of her bare body on the queen-sized mattress, two thin, flimsy pillows keeping her propped against the headboard. Her soft thighs are parted, knees bent and feet flat to the soft yellow comforter. I don’t fight my gaze when it strays between her legs, at the two fingers toying with her swollen, glistening pussy. The swell of her hips and stomach makes it hard to breathe as my throat bobs. My cock hardens in my jeans, discomfort once again on the horizon tonight if I don’t shed them immediately. Poppy focuses on me, eyes hazy, pupils blown.
The rapid rise and fall of her chest draws my attention, and I curse under my breath when I watch her nipples tighten and swell. She has a hand curled around one, her fingers spread enough for the nipple to sit in the crease of two as she squeezes softly.
“Took you long enough,” she murmurs, lashes fluttering furiously as her body shudders.
I drop my stare between her legs again and watch as she rubs quick circles around her clit, her bent knees shifting inward and out repeatedly.
“Stop,” I demand, tugging at the button of my jeans. She does as I say, sliding her hand up her stomach and to her other breast, palming it. “Have you come?”
She shakes her head nice and slow, keeping her eyes on mine. “No.”
“No?”
“No.”
I reach behind my head and tug my shirt off, setting it on the dresser beside the door. My jeans are undone, hanging open around my hips. She sucks in a sharp inhale, those wide eyes scouring my upper body, curious and interested. A wave of some disconcerting emotion swells inside of me before crashing, rocking me back on my feet. Insecurity, maybe, at the bold way she looks at me, like I’m a meal she wants to devour. It should make me feel confident. I’m always confident. Especially in the bedroom. This odd moment of weakness is noted.
I clench my jaw and shove out of my pants and socks, not giving myself a chance to dwell on that odd feeling. By the gaping of Poppy’s jaw as she stares at my cock, I certainly don’t have anything to feel self-conscious about.
After scouring the bed for the toy I told her to leave on the mattress, I smirk, taking two prowling steps toward her. “Are you lying to me, Poppy?”
She rolls her lips before swiping her tongue along their seam. “I’d never lie to you about that.”
I cock my head. “Show me the vibrator, then.”
“I don’t want to use it. I want the real thing.”
“This?” I ask, reaching down to grab my shaft, stroking from root to tip just once.
She sighs, licking those lips again. God, I want to be the one licking her mouth, nipping at it with my teeth and diving inside with my tongue. I hold myself back, knowing what’s coming will make the wait worth it.
“I’ll give you my cock all night, Poppy. Fast, hard, however you want it. Until you beg me to give your sore pussy a rest. But not until you do as you’re told.”
“I don’t take orders well.”
“Are you asking me to break you in? To teach you how to please me? Is that what you want?”
“How about I teach you how to please me?”
I grin, the first real one I’ve worn for far too long. “What would your first lesson be?”
“I’d start by telling you to crawl up the bed, get between my knees, and lick my pussy until I’m ready for you to stop.”
I sway forward a step, then another. The mattress is soft beneath my hands as I lean into it, suddenly wondering why I haven’t already buried myself inside of her. The glistening cunt in front of me is parted, exposed to not only my eyes but my fingers and mouth if I just inched forward.
“I don’t take orders. Not in the bedroom or outside of it,” I mutter, even as I grip the comforter in my fists and lean even further over it.
“Either do I. What happened last time . . . that was a moment of desperation. I enjoy having my ass spanked, but I’ve never been submissive.”
“This may be a problem, then,” I muse, giving in to the urge to stroke myself again, my grip tighter, harder.
Poppy’s dislike of submitting isn’t surprising. She’s never once given me the idea that she enjoys being tossed around and controlled. Yes, she may have allowed me to command her a bit the other night, but we were desperate then. Two people aching to fuck any way possible if it led to relief. This here, tonight, is very, very different. I’m prepared and excited, just as she is.
We’re ourselves now. And we’ve come to a crossroads.
“It only stays a problem if we don’t find a solution,” she says, continuing to work her clit beneath two fingers.
I swipe my thumb beneath the head of my cock, shivering at the spark of pleasure that has my knees wobbly. Poppy locks on to that movement as those fingers of hers travel further down and sink deep inside her pussy. She curls them and squirms before beginning to fuck herself with them. Each thrust fills the room with wet noises that have me swallowing a groan, aching to drop forward and lick her fingers clean.
“What do you propose we do, then?” I grunt.
“An even split of dominance and submission. For both of us.”
“I’ve never done that,” I admit on an exhale, jerking myself off at a fast speed now, desperation seeping into my actions.
“Would you like to try?”
In one quick move, she removes her fingers and rolls to her front, propping herself up on her knees and elbows. It’s an offering worthy of far more than just me. The fucking Roman gods, maybe. Her back dips, the heavy globes of her ass perched in the air as she watches me over her shoulder, taking in my every reaction.
“Fuck,” I spit, stalling my hand, tightening my hold on my cock to the point of pain just to keep my mind straight.
“That’s the idea,” she purrs.
Her ass sways, knees spreading further apart. The puffy pink lips between them are so, so wet. So fucking inviting. She’s as turned on as I am, and the shine on her inner thighs nearly breaks me.
“You still haven’t shown me your vibrator.”
The corner of her mouth turns up. “I put it away after I used it to make myself come, hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
I break. In two steps, I’m kneeling on the edge of the mattress and taking her ass in my hands, kneading it roughly, fingertips digging deep. She gets no warning before I’m lifting my hand and bringing it back down over her ass cheek, the sound of skin hitting skin crackling through the room.
She jerks forward and releases a high-pitched, needy sound. Her ass stays in the air as she shakes it in front of me, begging for more.
“You’re a fucking brat,” I hiss, angry with her for being so goddamn attractive. Every sexual fantasy I’ve ever had, all wrapped up in one absurdly confident, outspoken spitfire of a woman who I shouldn’t be touching this way. Not fucking at all.
“I am,” she agrees coyly.
I spank her again, christening the other cheek with my handprint. She moans at the contact, burying her face in the comforter and continuing to wave her ass in my face, pushing me for reasons I don’t understand. If she wants me to submit, this isn’t the way to go about it. I want to dominate her right now. Own her. Cover her round, soft ass in my marks so she feels me for days while working that damn pole of hers. Will I be able to see them in those tiny shorts of hers? I want to find out.
“You look pretty submissive right now, Poppy.”
She laughs, but it’s a garbled sound, thick with arousal. “This isn’t submission. I’m allowing you to do this to me because I fucking like it. I demanded you spank me without even needing to open my mouth.”
I smack her ass again, and this time, her breath hitches at the sting. “How many of these will it take to get on your knees for me?”
“I’d have sucked your cock the moment you stepped into this room with it already hard for me. That’s the power I have and the kind I crave. I take whatever the fuck I want in the bedroom. And tasting that dick is high on my to-do list.”