Chapter 9 Poppy #2
He listens intently, his eyes following my lips as I speak. I look down at his hand on my knee, and he slowly pulls it back.
Phantom practically leaps from the chair and is on the phone before I know what’s happening. He barks orders to someone called Hawk and then points at Savage. “Round-the-clock surveillance,” he says. “You see anything, you tell me before you stop and take a piss break. We clear?”
Savage grins, and the look on his face is, well, savage. “Crystal. I’ll get the word out. We’ll find the fucker behind this.”
Savage claps Phantom on the back and then leaves. I hear him yell goodbye to the girls just as the credits of the movie start playing.
“Sounds like bedtime,” Phantom says, jerking a thumb toward the living room. “Come on. Let’s get you and your boy set up.”
“Phantom…” I stand up and put my glass in the sink, then shake my head and stare down at my hands. “I can’t stay here. I can’t impose like that. I’m not your problem. I’m totally sober now, and I can just take Jax and check in to a hotel for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll go to my mom’s, and…”
He’s standing between me and the living room, but I don’t feel trapped.
Instead, I feel safe. His body is a wall between me and anything out there that might hurt me.
I hate that I feel so drawn to him. Yes, I’m weak right now.
I know that, but I have had to be strong for so, so long.
I don’t want to leave, but it’s the right thing to do.
To stand up on my own two feet and get my son and myself to safety.
Before I can say another word, he lifts my chin until my eyes meet his. Those beautiful midnight-blue eyes flash with something I wish I understood. “Poppy.” His voice is low, and the growl underneath my name makes my belly flip.
I lick my lips and swallow nervously.
“Poppy.” This time, my name ends in a groan that betrays the same powerful attraction to me that I can’t deny I’m feeling for him.
I flutter my eyes closed so he can’t bewitch me with those eyes. “Phantom.”
He lowers his lips to my ear and whispers against my hair.
“Stay with me,” he says. “Let me make sure you and your son are safe. I want you here until I sort this shit out. You can go home as soon as you tell me that’s what you want.
” I feel him reach out and stroke one of the long curls that hangs over my bare shoulder.
His fingers just barely touch my skin, and I suck in a shocked breath.
This man.
His touch.
My God, it’s electric.
Everything about him.
I open my eyes and lift my face to him, and before I can talk myself out of it, I lean forward. I place the fastest, softest kiss on the corner of his mouth. I get more beard than lip, but it’s still the most erotic kiss I think I’ve ever had. I pull back so slowly, I almost think I’m not moving.
Phantom groans for real then, a strangled sound that sends a flood of wetness between my legs. “Poppy, fuck.” He slides his hand beneath my hair, cups my neck, and pulls my mouth to his. “I have wanted to kiss you since the day I met you.”
“All that time?” I ask, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I’m sure he can hear it. “One whole week?”
“Every goddamn second. Feels like a year, not a week.”
He flicks the tip of his tongue against my lower lip, and I swear my knees buckle.
“Stay with me,” he whispers. “Every single thing you want is yours. You want space, I’ll give you space.
You want to go home, I’ll respect that, once the place is clean enough for you to move back in.
” He threads his long fingers through the back of my hair and tugs lightly.
“You want me,” he murmurs, kissing my lips in light, flicking kisses between each word, “I’m all fucking yours, baby. ”
My eyes fly open, and I realize my son and his daughters are just a few feet away, probably ready to burst into the kitchen any minute and catch their parents in some highly un-first-date-like behavior.
Although, now that I think about it, how would I know anymore what people do on first dates?
Maybe a little light kissing in the kitchen is normal.
“I should get Jax,” I say, even though every part of my body wants more of Phantom.
Could I ever handle a man like him? I’m not sure I can even manage a night under the same roof.
I throw my shoulders back, and Phantom’s eyes fly to my very obviously hard nipples.
So much for being able to go braless in this dress.
I cross my arms over my chest as a hot blush sears its way up my neck and cheeks.
“Fuck me,” Phantom groans, closing his eyes, his head dropping back.
He shakes out his shoulders and adjusts his jeans a bit, making me think the bulge in the front of his jeans means he’s as turned on as I am.
“Bedtime. Sleep, I mean. The kids. Fuck.” He lets out a frustrated sigh. “Let’s get everybody tucked in.”
He turns and stalks out of the kitchen, and I follow close behind, wondering what the heck I think I’m doing. I hardly know this man. He hardly knows me.
The police said they won’t be able to find whoever did this. What makes Phantom think he can, and what will he do with them if he does?
I start to think about the things my client said about the bikers when Phantom showed up at my shop on his bike wearing his leather vest. Are these guys criminals? It’s hard to believe the hands that fisted my hair and touched my hands so perfectly could be used to hurt someone.
As I follow Phantom, Holly, and Daisy up the stairs toward the guest room, my hand on Jax’s shoulder, I wonder, after everything I’ve been through, if Phantom is the hero I never knew I needed, or if he’s the exact kind of danger I’ve been avoiding for all these years.