Chapter 25 #2
Dropping her chin to lock eyes with me, her palms slide slowly down her neck and over her chest. She places her hands on my abs to use me for balance as she gyrates her hot centre on top of me.
My dick presses against the back of my zipper with every roll of her hips.
Reaching up, she hooks each of her spaghetti straps with her thumbs and pulls them down over her shoulders.
When she slides the dress down lower and reveals her gorgeous bare chest, I can’t sit and watch a second longer.
My hands glide up her stomach, over her ribs, and cup the exquisite weight of her breasts. She bites her lip and swivels her hips over my rock-hard cock.
“Booker,” she groans holding my hands against her chest. “Make love to me.”
I sit up and band my arms around her waist, devouring her neck with my lips. “I’d love nothing more, Poppy.”
Just as my hand slips into the back of her thong, a loud knock blasts through the tiny playhouse.
“Oi, you two! Get your arses decent and get out of there right now,” an unfamiliar male voice bellows from outside.
Poppy’s wide, terrified eyes find mine as she grapples with the straps of her dress. Trying not to smile, I look out the window to see the man walking away from the playhouse.
“Fuck me,” I whisper, noticing his uniform. “It’s the park warden.”
“No!” Poppy exclaims, her hand covering her mouth.
Squinting out again, I reply, “Christ, I think it’s the same one from when we were kids.”
“How is that possible?” Poppy shrieks in a whisper. “He was old even then!”
The two of us giggle and fumble to get ourselves decent. Poppy fixing her dress, me fixing my erection. We make our way out, and I see all the lanterns have already burned out. I assume the old man must have seen the light from the playhouse.
When we walk over to stand in front of him, we must look the picture of guilty because the short, chubby old man blasts his torch in our faces and barks out, “Where the hell did this building come from?”
I squint against the light and hold up my lantern to get a proper look at him. It really is him. The same short, paunchy old git who busted us in the park after hours when we were kids. His hair is white now instead of grey, but he looks as grumpy as he did back then.
“I built it,” I reply, holding my hand up to block his light.
“This park is owned by the council. You don’t have the clearance to build anything out here.” I wince at that little tidbit I never considered, but he’s not done. “Who are you and where do you live?”
Scrunching up my face in shame, I reply, “I’m Booker Harris. My dad is Vaughn Harris. He’s one of the homeowners whose property backs up to this park.
“Oh, bollocks,” he growls. “You’re not a Harris.”
Frowning, I reply, “I assure you, I am.”
“All right, take me to the Harris house then. We’ll see whom you belong to.” He makes a gross throat clearing noise as he flicks his light away from us.
Shaking my head, I reach over and wrap my arm around Poppy. This is certainly not the way I expected our night to end. I lead us on the path toward the back of my dad’s property. The park warden shines his torch on our backs as we trudge through the trees.
Poppy whispers in my ear, “I feel like I’m twelve all over again.”
Smiling, I whisper back, “Me, too. Blue balls and all.”
She pokes me in the ribs as we reach the back gate. I open it and we make our way through the garden toward the kitchen entrance. I can see my family sitting down at the table, preparing to eat. Vi is the first to notice us and gestures for everyone to look. God, we must look like naughty children.
I open the door and Poppy scampers in, avoiding everyone’s eyes on us. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks as awkward as I feel as she stands by the wall.
My father stands abruptly, his grey eyes narrowing on the sight before him. “Dad, you may remember the park warden,” I grimace. “He, erm…doesn’t believe I’m a Harris.”
Dad scoffs, “This is my youngest, Booker Harris, and I’m Vaughn Harris, owner of this home. What’s going on here?”
The warden’s cheeks flame red with embarrassment, but he maintains his stance as he replies, “Well, I caught these two being indecent in the woods after hours, inside some sort of structure. The park is owned by the council. Unless he had a permit to build, which I’m certain he didn’t, that structure has to be taken down. ”
Dad lets out a haughty laugh. “Are you referring to the playhouse my boys spent the last two days building around the clock?”
“That’s the one,” the warden nods. “It’s an unapproved structure and it must be disposed of.”
“Well, we’ll call it a donation to the park,” Dad retorts.
The warden shakes his head. “That’s not how it works, Mr. Harris. The council has rules about unapproved structures. There will be a fine, and it’s going to have to be taken down immediately.”
My heart sinks, but Dad doesn’t seem the least bit put off. “I’ll talk to the council myself.”
The growly man looks around the room at everyone and huffs, “You Harrises still have absolutely no respect for the law.”
“We have the utmost respect for that park,” Tanner dejects. “That dead tree had been out there for years and the council never once saw it fit to remove it.”
“Yeah,” Camden adds. “It was a safety hazard, and we took care of it and beautified the area with it.”
“We’ll handle the fees and then some,” Gareth’s voice booms. “Surely the council wouldn’t resist a monetary donation.”
Hearing my brothers stand up for me has me finding my voice as well. “And surely other families that frequent the park would enjoy that playhouse.”
“Exactly!” Vi adds, lifting Rocky out of her high chair. “My daughter for one.”
The warden’s head snaps all around as my family chirps out their arguments. He stammers, “I’m not sure this is the kind of problem you can throw money at.”
“We’ll be sure to find out,” Dad replies, narrowing his eyes at the man. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Sunday is family day. And as you’ve said, the park is closed, so nothing can be done about it tonight. We’ll address it first thing tomorrow.”
Tanner strides over to the door and opens it, gesturing with his hand for the warden to exit. From the doorway, the old man looks back over his shoulder and scoffs, “You Harrises. Thick as thieves and dirty as ‘em, too.”
Tanner chortles. “Yeah, we’re wicked villains building adorable playhouses for children. Be sure to write that up in your report.”
When the door closes, everyone bursts into laughter.
“I can’t believe that old man is still alive and kicking,” Dad states, trying to cover his laugh with his hand.
“His temperament certainly hasn’t improved with time,” Vi adds with a snicker.
Tanner is the next to speak. “What were you guys doing out there that got him all hot and bothered anyway?”
I look over at Poppy, who’s laughing so hard with everyone, she has tears streaming down her face. Eating up the space between us, I wrap her in my arms and kiss her forehead. “Nothing you dirty thieves wouldn’t have done.”
Everyone continues laughing and cracking jokes as they begin to clean up their dinner mess. Poppy is pulled away to chat with Belle and Indie. As I watch her with affection, Dad’s eyes find mine. He head nods for me to join him outside.
We make our way through the door, the back patio area dark, illuminated only by the light from inside.
Still able to hear the muted laughter of everyone, Dads asks, “Are you ready to tell me what’s going on?
” He looks at me curiously. “All I know is that you had to build a playhouse for Poppy. Your brothers and sister have been pretty tight-lipped about the rest, which is completely unusual for them, so I figure it must be big.”
I tug on my earlobe and wince, trying to find the right words but knowing there are no right words when you tell your dad you’re going to have a baby that wasn’t planned. “Well, Dad, remember how you said the other day that you want more grandchildren?”
His eyes fly wide. “Poppy isn’t—”
“She’s pregnant.” I finish his question with a statement and grip the back of my neck.
There’s so much more I need to tell him.
So much I need him to understand. But Dad and I don’t really talk like this, so it all feels a bit weird.
“I’m sure this isn’t the way you wanted grandbabies, considering we’re not married and all that, but it’s happening.
And believe it or not, I’m chuffed to bits over it.
Dad, Poppy is…my best friend. She’s family and I love her.
I’m quite sure I’ve loved her forever, but that isn’t an emotion I embrace easily.
Now that I have, I can’t help but feel excited about this adventure with her. We’ll figure out—”
My words are cut off when my dad wraps me up into a huge bear hug. Shock and confusion are my first reactions because my dad is not a hugger. He’s not affectionate. He’s usually stoic and stiff and…not a hugger! He squeezes me so hard, my surprised laughter is muffled by his shoulder.
He claps my back heartily and pulls back, looking at me with his glassy, grey eyes. “I’m chuffed to bits, too, son.”
“You are?” I ask, struggling to believe his reaction.
He nods and I swear I see real tears forming in his eyes. “Another grandbaby for me, a cousin for Rocky…Yeah, Booker, I’m happy.”
“But I’m not doing it the proper way,” I stammer, thinking maybe he doesn’t understand what’s going on. “You were angry when you first found out Vi was pregnant.”
His face tightens. “Well, she’s my only daughter.
And that was before I held that little baby in my arms.” He looks back toward the house, his eyes finding Rocky who’s currently in Gareth’s arms. “I had forgotten how much little babies light me up inside, Book. I had forgotten that’s why your mum and I had so many together.
Every baby she had brought another smile crease to her face. I loved those creases, son.”
His voice catches and my eyes well with tears. Hearing him speak so openly about Mum is such a rarity. And while I don’t have any memories of her myself, she’s still a huge part of my life that I mourn.
Dad wraps one arm around me and says, “She’d be proud of you, and she’d love Poppy.” His smile turns down as a tear slips out and falls over his crease-covered face. “This isn’t a cause for tears. This is a cause for celebration.”
He turns and drags me back inside, surprising everyone when he shouts, “I’m going to be a granddad again!” We all laugh nervously at his outburst because it is so uncharacteristic for him. “Vi, do we have champagne?”
Vi beams. “I think there is a bottle in the fridge.”
“Well, get it out. We have some celebrating to do.” His eyes scan the room and land on Poppy, who has a timid smile on her face. He walks over to her, grabs her by the shoulders, and kisses her on the temple. “Pour some milk for the new mummy-to-be.”
He hugs her and I think my heart explodes inside of my chest at the sight.
My three brothers all wrap her up into a group hug next.
Even grumpy Gareth cracks a smile. As Poppy is passed off to Vi, who gives her an affectionate squeeze, Hayden comes over and pats me on the back.
We look at each other and have a silent conversation of understanding because they went through the same thing.
He’s not looking at me like the youngest Harris Brother who’s in way over his head.
He’s looking at me like a man who’s about to become a father. And what a wild adventure that will be.
When Poppy first emailed me about coming home, I said it was destiny’s way of bringing us back together to rekindle our friendship. However, I think destiny must be laughing at us because she had a much grander plan all along.
I guess things work out for a reason. For most of my life, I thought I had to close my net off to others because the fear of letting too many in and losing control was overwhelming.
But what I’ve realised is that opening my heart and allowing myself to love Poppy is like being caught by a beautiful safety net.
And that’s a goal I’m willing to let slip by.