Chapter 44
Forty-Four
Poppy
“I didn’t even drink that much,” Joey slurs, leaning heavily against Blossom and Clover as they help her out the door.
“I’ll pay for their room,” Storm says as he watches Shep and Rain haul Damon out of the bar.
“Nah, I’m good,” Riley says. “Damon gave me his credit card two Cedar Hollow Kisses ago.”
I snort.
She winks.
Then follows the group out.
Shaking my head, I move over to where Storm is clearing off tables, wrapping my arms around him from behind. “How are you holding up?”
Worry sat heavy on my lungs for several hours after the interaction in the parking lot, but though things were a little stilted and awkward for a bit, it was nothing a few Cedar Hollow Kisses couldn’t fix.
“I’m good, baby.”
He sounds it.
But….
“That was a lot,” I whisper. “A lot of emotions and a lot of the past and—”
“I meant what I said, Poppyseed. It was a gift coming back here, finding you and Holly.”
I shift around to his front, hop up onto the table so that his big, strong body is pinning me in place. “It was still a lot.”
“Ah, Pop,” he murmurs, “don’t you know that I could handle just about anything with you at my side?”
“Even this?” I tug my phone out of my pocket and—
“Jesus, Gertie,” he snaps, snatching it from me and glaring at the screen.
CEDAR HOLLOW HOCKEY HERO TAKEN DOWN BY GOOSE
I bite back a giggle.
He senses my amusement anyway.
“You think this is funny?”
“I mean, the picture is,” I say. “Especially since no one got hurt,” I add, smoothing my fingers over the lines of his frown. “To think my big, strong boyfriend was felled by a bird.”
He glares at me. “Gerald is a goose. And a big one at that.”
This time my giggle escapes.
Those gray eyes fill with humor. “You’re lucky I love hearing you laugh.”
“You’re lucky I told Riley to lock the door on her way out.”
Instantly humor is replaced with heat. “Yeah?”
I hold up my cast-free hand. “Remember what the doctor said about PT?”
“I don’t think jerking me off can reasonably count as PT, Poppyseed.” A wicked grin. “But don’t let that stop you.”
Grinning back, I wrap my arms around him and kiss him.
But before things can really get going, he scoops me off the table.
“Storm!” I gasp, but he just tightens his arms around me and kisses me until my lungs protest.
Only then does he release me—or my lips, anyway.
My body he carries across the floor.
“We have to clean—”
“Later,” he mutters, jabbing at the keypad then slanting his mouth over mine again.
A heartbeat later, we’re upstairs.
And a moment after that, we’re in bed, the door locked.
“I was proud of you tonight,” I say as he lowers himself over the top of me, slowly nuzzling at my jaw, nipping at my throat.
“Mmm.” He tugs up my tee, drags it over my head. “Because I mixed those Cedar Hollow Kisses all on my own?”
My lips twitch, but I catch his face in my hands. “Yes.” A beat. “But no.”
He turns his head, kisses my palm, then looks into my eyes and waits.
“You didn’t run,” I whisper.
“Except I kind of did, baby.”
“You taking a breather in the parking lot is a bit different than you hitting the highway, Stormy.”
A scowl at the nickname, but his touch when he brushes his knuckles over my cheek is gentle. “Maybe.”
“It is,” I press. “You stayed and you figured it out and…” My eyes well up. “You trusted in the family we’re building. You can’t know how much that means to me.”
“I know.” He says, stroking his finger down my throat. “I do know it, baby.”
He does, I realize.
He really does.
And then time stretches, our eyes connecting, a thousand things passing between us—joy and love, hope and happiness, connection and…forever.
A heartbeat, a minute, an hour later, our bodies move as one, our lips finding each other, and he kisses me lazily.
As though we have all the time in the world.
And I suppose we do.
We have years ahead of us.
A lifetime.
Our touches are languid as he slowly removes my bra and draws my jeans and underwear off, as I unbutton his shirt and push off his pants. As he kisses every inch of my skin, caresses my breasts, my belly, my sensitive inner thighs.
When he spreads my legs and licks me, he moves just as slowly, coaxing my pleasure out of me, nudging me toward an orgasm that has his name dancing off the tip of my tongue.
Then he’s climbing up my body, his hard chest pressing into my softer one, one big, warm hand coaxing my leg over his hip, the other lacing our fingers together as he nudges the head of his cock at my entrance and oh so slowly pushes inside.
I moan at the burn, the stretch, the way he so perfectly fills me up.
But it’s even better when he draws back, when he strokes in.
And he does it all with that easy patience, the gentle care, making love to me in every sense of the word.
Never have I felt more cared for, more seen, more precious.
I go over the edge before him which means I get to watch pleasure infuse the lines of his face, get to watch his eyes growing warm, get to watch him fall apart and be put back together by our bodies, our souls, our love.
After, he cleans me up and gathers me close and we talk about our day.
“How much longer are Rain and Riley going to pretend they’re not crazy about each other?” I ask as I cuddle into his chest.
Storm laughs, weaves his hand into my hair. “You know us Harrisons. What do you think?”
“That you’re stubborn to a fault,” I tease.
He tugs lightly.
I press my lips to the spot over his heart. “And that you get what you want,” I murmur, eyes growing heavy. “Even if you have to work for it.”
A yawn before he draws me deeper into the circle of his arms.
“But,” I say as sleep starts nibbling at my toes, starts dragging me under, “I think that Riley may have taken Stubborn Lessons from Clover.”
His yawn is bigger this time, nearly drowning out his chuckle. “Then heaven help my brother.” A beat, his hand smoothing up and down my back. “Because I think he’s in for a world of hurt.”
I remember laughing as sleep takes me.
Remember his arms holding me tight and dreaming of the future we’re going to make.
But little do I know that night would give us…
Rose.
In about nine months, anyway.