33. Poppy
33
Poppy
I t’s weird being back in Bailey’s room after spending every night with Wyatt. I’m lonely in the little inflatable bed without him, something I never once felt after leaving Kurt. No, once I was away from Kurt, I celebrated being alone, even after many years together.
But after only one month with Wyatt, being away from him feels like I’m missing a limb.
“Thanks for letting me have your bed,” Bailey murmurs in the dark.
“ Your bed,” I remind her. It’s felt less and less like my bed since I’ve stopped using it.
“Have you thought any more about finding your own place?”
I stiffen. This is my place, I want to tell her. And why is she asking me that, anyway?
“Just, I mean, if Dad is seeing this new woman, he might want a little more privacy,” Bailey adds quickly. “He’d never say that, so I probably should.” She sits up in bed, and I can see the outline of her silhouette from the streetlight sneaking in under the blinds. “No rush, of course, but this was always supposed to be temporary, right? Until you found somewhere safe?”
I screw my eyes shut in the dark. This is where I feel safe. With Wyatt. She doesn’t realize it, but she drove me into his arms. It was her idea for me to move in here, her concern about me going somewhere Kurt wouldn’t bother me.
And now she’s pestering me to leave?
Irritation prickles along my skin. She kicked me out with only three days’ notice, insisting I move in with her dad. She abandoned the business we’d agreed to build together, to pursue her new job. Then she shows up here, unannounced, expecting Wyatt to be free, asking me to think about moving out of the one place that’s felt like home since I’ve lived in the city.
Yes, but you’re the one secretly sleeping with her dad.
Shit.
I quickly check myself, sucking in a deep breath. It’s not fair to get mad at Bailey, she’s only looking out for Wyatt. And it’s especially not fair given I’m keeping such a huge secret from her.
“Uh, yeah,” I mumble, smoothing my hands over the covers. “I’ll… look into it.”
“Dad seems happy.” Bailey yawns, settling into bed. “That’s nice.”
I smile to myself. He does seem happy, doesn’t he? All because of me. My heart swells at the thought.
I don’t have to answer because a few moments later Bailey’s soft snores drift across the room. Even with the time difference she’s fast asleep, and it makes concern nip at me. I hope she’s not working too hard.
I roll over on the mattress, trying to get comfortable, but I’m too wired to sleep. My mind drifts back to what Bailey said about sending me a message this afternoon, and I pull my phone out, wondering why it never came through. But when I scroll through my messages, it’s right there.
Bailey: Surprise! I’m in New York and I’m coming to see you. Don’t tell Dad!
It’s marked as Read at 4.16 p.m. When I was on the back of Wyatt’s bike, riding home. I know I didn’t read it.
If I didn’t, who did?
Bailey rolls onto her back, her snoring stopping briefly, and I shove my phone away, hoping the light didn’t wake her. When her snores start again, louder this time, I know I won’t fall asleep. I rise from the mattress and pad from the room, shutting the door quietly behind me. Then I press my ear to the wood, making sure I can still hear Bailey’s snores on the other side, before tiptoeing down the hall to her dad’s room.
I give a soft knock, then crack the door open. Wyatt is sitting up in bed, the blue glow of the TV flickering over him. He glances at the door when I enter, motioning for me to come inside quickly and close it.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks, muting the TV. “Me neither.”
“I miss being in your bed,” I murmur, crossing the room and climbing under the covers as he holds them open for me.
“It’s our bed, baby.” He reaches for me. “Bailey asleep?”
I nod, snuggling into his side. Ah, that’s better. The heat of his skin, the firmness of his muscles as his arms slide around me, that earthy smell with the hint of sage I love.
“It’s lonely in here without you.” He drags a hand down my back to squeeze my ass. “Why are you wearing panties? You should know better than to sneak into my bed with panties on by now.”
I snort into his shoulder. “I guess I figured if your daughter caught me sneaking out of the room half-dressed, she might wonder why.”
Wyatt grimaces, letting out a massive sigh. “We should talk about what we’re going to do. About Bailey, I mean.”
“Yeah.” I trail a hand over his chest, letting it rest on his heart, over Bailey’s name. “She just asked me to think about moving out so you could have more privacy for your new girlfriend,” I say, huffing a laugh to disguise the hurt that snakes through me, but Wyatt senses it anyway.
“Shit. I’m sorry, baby.” He turns his head to look at me in the glow of the TV, brushing his lips across my forehead. “We have to tell her, right?”
“We do.” I press a kiss to his beard. “I’m not sure how she’s going to take it, though.”
“I don’t know,” Wyatt says, his tone hopeful. “She seemed pretty thrilled when I told her about the amazing woman I’d met.” He squeezes me, and I sigh.
“Sure, but she’s clearly imagining a forty-year-old woman who isn’t her best friend. This is going to be weird for her.”
“Yeah.” Wyatt scrapes a hand down his face. “Maybe if we talk her through it, she’ll come around. She loves us both, and wants us both to be happy. We just happened to find that happiness with each other. She can’t be mad about that.”
“Maybe,” I murmur doubtfully.
“I think we should sit her down and be straight with her. She’s out at the conference all day tomorrow, so let’s tell her over dinner.”
I swallow, my stomach fluttering with nerves. “Okay.”
Wyatt twists so he’s on his side, bringing his other arm around me. “I’m so excited for our future, Poppy. I don’t want to wait. And I don’t want this hanging over us.”
My heart backflips in my chest. “Me too,” I agree, touching my lips to his. His hands tighten on my back, rolling us so I’m on top of him.
“Now give me what I couldn’t have on that beach,” he demands roughly, tugging my panties down my legs. I kick them off with a giggle as he removes his boxer-briefs, then settle back on him, his cock growing hard between my legs.
“You sure you want to have sex with me again when I’m not supposed to make any noise?” I say, thinking of the time we slept together in Napa and he had to clamp his hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. I can’t help it; he knows exactly how to make me moan.
“I think you like it.” His voice is a low growl in my ear. “You like being naughty for me, or you wouldn’t have snuck in here again.”
His hands palm my ass, and my breath thickens as heat curls through me. He’s right—I do love being naughty for him. I rock my hips over his hardness, where it rests at the meeting of my thighs, smearing my arousal along his length. And as Wyatt groans quietly in my ear, lifting his hips to meet my movements, all I can think about are his words on the beach.
I think about marrying you. Having a family with you. Filling the house with our children.
“Do you really think about marrying me?” I whisper, as he dots kisses along my jaw.
“Every fucking day.”
“And having children…” I swallow. “You think about that too? Having a baby with me?”
Wyatt stops rocking his hips to look up at me, his face flickering in the light of the TV.
“Poppy—” But he bites off the rest of his words, as if holding himself back.
“Tell me,” I urge, stroking his cheek.
His dark eyes bore into mine. “I imagined you pregnant with my baby the first time we had sex. I couldn’t help myself. The image…” He blows out an agonized breath. “The image just came to me. It was like I knew I wanted it, even then.”
My heart jumps. He’s actually imagined me pregnant? And, God, he thought about it our very first time? Molten heat floods through me.
“Do you like thinking about it?” I ask, dragging my wetness over him.
He clenches his jaw. “Too much.” His cock twitches under me in confirmation.
“It turns you on,” I say, my voice husky. “Thinking about getting me pregnant.” Heat streaks through me as I say the words, because he’s not the only one.
His eyes are glassy and hooded. “So fucking much.”
“Me too,” I breathe, and with that, he tilts his hips back and sinks inside me. I drop my head into his shoulder, muffling my moan as he fills me to the hilt.
“You like that?” He drives into me with a hard thrust. “You like the thought of me breeding you, pretty girl?”
Fuuuck . There’s something so primal about those words that goes straight to my core.
“Yes,” I whimper. I’m hot all over, my skin so sensitive, pleasure already swelling between my thighs. I lift my hips, lowering my mouth to flick my tongue over his nipple piercing, making his breath hiss out between his teeth. Then I sink onto his length, moaning when he hits the deepest part of me.
“Shh,” he says, a sinful smile curling along his mouth. “You need to be quiet if you want me to put a baby in you.”
Holy fucking shit .
My thighs squeeze in response, heat shuddering through me. We both know he’s not actually going to get me pregnant because I’m still on birth control, but talking about it is enough to get me drunk with arousal.
“Is that what you want?” His hands grip my ass as he pounds me. “You want me to fill your pretty little pussy with my cum?”
“Yes,” I choke out, delirious as he kisses me hard.
“You want me to make your belly grow?”
I don’t respond, too wrapped up in the pleasure to say anything, and he takes my chin roughly in his hand.
“Tell, me Poppy.”
“Yes,” I pant. “Yes, Wyatt, I want it so bad.”
“Good girl.” His hands tighten on my hips, tongue plundering my mouth, cock slamming into my depths. “You’re mine, baby.” His eyes are wild, cheeks flushed with the effort of fucking me so hard. “You understand that? You’ll always be mine.”
His words spear me through the heart. “Good,” I whimper, mouth moving over his cheek, his jaw. “Because I love you more than anything.”
He lets out a low, guttural growl, sinking his teeth into my shoulder, fingers twisting in my hair. I clench around him as I’m swept away by the pleasure.
“Come,” I beg him. “I need to feel you come inside me. I need you to fill me.”
“ Fuck , Poppy—” His words die away as he buries his face in my neck, shuddering under me, his warmth spilling into my core. I dissolve on top of him, sobbing into his shoulder as the hardest orgasm of my life rips through me, my vision filling with stars.
“Shit,” he mutters when I finally come to. “I don’t think we were very quiet.”
I cringe as I draw back to look at him with wide eyes. He might be right.
“I just can’t fucking help myself with you.” He sighs, grazing his lips over my cheek. “Everything about you, Poppy. I’ve never felt like this. Never.”
“Me neither,” I whisper, my throat tight. I lower my lips to his for a feather-soft kiss as his hands stroke my hair.
“We’ll tell Bailey tomorrow. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Yes,” I agree, knowing the sooner we tell her, the sooner we can build our life together. Properly.
With a sigh, I peel myself from his bed, squeezing my thighs together to contain his mess. “I’d better go back to the other room.”
“Yeah,” he says despondently. “I doubt I’ll get any sleep without you.”
“Same.” I brush his hair back, kissing his forehead, then grab my panties from the floor as he finally flicks off the TV. “Goodnight.”
“Love you, baby,” he whispers back in the dark, and I press my hand to my too-full heart.
“Love you too.” I slip into the bathroom, clean myself up, then pad along the hall to Bailey’s room, relieved to find she’s still fast asleep.
Wyatt’s right, I think, as I climb back into bed. We have to tell her.
And I can only hope we don’t lose her.