by Sylvia Fox
“Hi Dad.” I squeezed the words out. “I’m okay. No burns, no scratches. Blaze got me out of the house before anything happened.”
“Blaze.” My dad pulled away and wrapped his best friend up into a bear hug that must have knocked the air out of his lungs. “Buddy, I don’t know what I can ever do to repay you. Thanks for getting her out of there and for letting her stay with you. Though I bet you were missing your Netflix, weren’t you, Poppy?”
My dad turned to me with a grin then, and his eyes caught on my clothes. Last night, I’d fallen asleep in one of Blaze’s flannels after we’d made love, and I still wore it now. It was a bright, blinking neon sign, signalling exactly what had happened between us while I’d been staying here.
His face went hard.
“Blaze. Buddy. Why is my daughter wearing your shirt and only your shirt?” He twisted to his friend, suddenly noticing that he was standing there in nothing but his jeans. “Tell me this isn’t what it looks like because it sure as hell looks like something that you shouldn’t be doing with my daughter. Hell, no one should be, least of all you.”
“Tim,” Blaze began slowly. “There’s something Poppy and I need to talk to you about, but I think it’s best if we all sit down. Would you like a coffee? Some water?”
My dad puffed out his chest and raised his chin, making him grow at least two inches taller. I gripped the long flannel sleeves in my hand and squeezed tight. This wasn’t going to go well. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wouldn’t understand this no matter how hard we tried to explain how we felt about each other.
“Poppy, go outside and get in the car.” His voice was hard and flat.
“Now, Tim. You haven’t given us a chance to explain things yet.” Blaze rolled back his shoulders, and testosterone bounced through the room. The air was thick with it.
“What’s there to explain?” My dad began to shout. “You’re half-naked, she’s wearing your shirt, and the place reeks of sex. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what you two have been up to in here.”
“Daddy, I—”
“Out in the car.” He pointed at the front door. “You and I will talk about this later, young lady, after I’ve had a word with Blaze.”
Even though my heart ached from his response, irritation flickered inside me. He hadn’t talked to me like that in a very long time, like I was a child who needed scolding. “You can’t order me around. I’m a grown woman, Dad.”
His eyes narrowed as anger rippled across his lips. “You may be twenty-one, but you still live under my roof. I pay for your college, your clothes, your food. You’ll do as I say until otherwise. And right now, I’m telling you to go outside and get in the car.”
My cheeks flamed, both from anger and embarrassment at his words. I couldn’t believe he was talking to me this way, especially not in front of Blaze. He made me feel like I was twelve years old again, desperate for his approval.
“No.” I found the resolve within me strengthen. “You’re not being fair.”
“Poppy,” Blaze quietly broke through, his hand appearing on my elbow. Dad’s eyes zeroed in on where we touched, his whole body rigid. “Just go on outside. Maybe it’s best if we discussed this alone, just the two of us. Man to man.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. If Blaze thought it was best, then I’d go outside. But I hated that it felt like I was giving in, leaving him alone to face my father by himself. We were supposed to explain this to him together, not apart. We were a team, a unit now. And he didn’t have to handle this on his own.
“Are you sure—” I started, but Blaze quickly nodded.
With a sigh, I turned and trudged outside. My father’s bright red Jeep sat waiting, glaring and wrong in the pristine white snow. Grumbling to myself, I climbed inside and slammed the door hard enough for him to hear it inside. Even though I was going along with this man-to-man nonsense, I wanted him to know exactly how I felt about the whole situation.
As I sat waiting, I cranked up the engine, opening the vents to blast the heat onto my cold hands. A part of wished I could press my ear against the cabin door and listen to whatever was going on inside. But the other part of me was scared to hear it. Both men had seemed on the brink of an explosion, and I couldn’t stand the thought of them fighting, not over me.
But what if my dad wouldn’t understand why we wanted to be together? He was right about one thing, after all. I was still his dependent, and he and my mother paid for everything so that I could get a good education. I didn’t have any money saved up, and I didn’t have a job. If they said I couldn’t see Blaze, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it, even though I was a grown woman with a mind of her own.
My heart hurt. This was what I’d been afraid of, why I’d run from Blaze the day before. He’d assured me we could work this out, but had he been wrong?
Was I going to lose him? And in the process, would I lose my dad, too?
A moment later, the door flew open and my dad charged out into the snow. His face was screwed up, and the faint lines that usually highlighted his age had deepened into aggressive marks. He stomped toward me, his face as red as his Jeep.
With my breath held tight in my throat, I craned my neck to see behind him, but Blaze was nowhere in sight.
When he launched himself into the car, I twisted to face him. “What happened? Where’s Blaze?”
Dad didn’t answer. He just cranked the engine and started backing out of the snow-dusted drive. I gasped and shook my head, reaching for the door handle. He was actually taking me away from Blaze. Whatever he’d planned to say to my father hadn’t worked at all.
But then Blaze appeared, his bulky frame filling the entire doorway of the cabin. His face was twisted into sadness, and his fists were clenched tight at his sides. He took another step forward, his eyes locking onto mine. And the look on his face made tears stream down my cheeks, ripping my tender heart into shreds. This was killing him, watching my dad back me right out of his driveway without even being able to say goodbye.
“Dad. Stop the car,” I said firmly.
“No can do, Poppy.” My dad pressed his foot harder onto the gas pedal, lurching me further and further away from other half of my heart. “Whatever happened between you two is over. You’re going back to school. Tonight. And that’s final.”
Chapter Eleven
College held a newfound aura of sadness that followed me throughout my day. Outwardly, nothing had changed. The classes were the same, the friends in the dorms were the same, even the sky looked the same. But inwardly, I felt like a totally different person than the one I’d been when I’d left for winter break. None of the work seemed to matter to me anymore, none of the friendship and romantic drama that cropped up on a daily basis. It was nothing to me now, not when I yearned to spend my days in a cosy cabin on the side of a secluded mountain rather than in bustling classrooms full of hungover students who cared even less about the work than I did.
Rachel had noticed my new outlook on life, commenting that my time spent with Blaze had changed me. But I didn’t think that she was completely right. Instead, if felt like he’d brought out the real me, the me I’d been hiding underneath a false exterior I thought the rest of the world wanted to see. Polite, achieving, studious. But that wasn’t me, not really. There was a rougher, wilder side of myself that I’d kept from anyone else. Not the kind of wild to get drunk at frat parties but the kind of wild that wanted to roam free. I wanted to be out in the wilderness, breathing in fresh air and digging my hands in the dirt, feeling Blaze’s rough hands roam across my body while a roaring fire that we’d built ourselves kept us heated through the night.
The bright florescent lights, the constant hum of laptops, the unending tweets and text messages. It all seemed so fake and so empty next to the kind of life I could have had with Blaze.
“Helloooooo,” Rachel said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. I’d been standing in the middle of the hallway staring at absolutely nothin
g. “Earth to Poppy.”
“Sorry, Rach,” I said with a tight smile. “I got a little distracted.”
“Still thinking about Hunky McFireman?” She shook her head with a laugh. “Man, he really did a number on you, huh?”
“It’s not Blaze that’s the problem.” I sighed and shrugged my backpack higher onto my shoulders, turning toward the doors.
“Your dad is still insisting you can’t see him, huh?” She flung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me toward the double doors leading outside. “I’ve never seen him so pissed off about something. He’s usually such a chill dad.”
“Well,” I said with a sigh as I pushed open the door. “Not anymore. In fact, he is the opposite of chill. He’s so mad about Blaze that he hasn’t even said a word about the fact I let the house catch fire during a crazy party while he and my mom were in France.”
“Silver lining?” Rachel raised her eyebrows.
“Honestly, I would trade in a heartbeat if I could.” My heart felt heavy as we stepped out into the cool air. “Because that would mean I could see Blaze.”
“Well, my friend, I think you might be able to see him sooner than you think.” She pointed across the parking lot that spread out from the academic buildings.
There he was. Blaze Marshall. He leaned against his four-by-four in a dark red flannel shirt, jeans, and thick mountain boots. Arms crossed over his chest and stubble dotting his jaw, he was the best thing I’d seen all day. It had only been a week since my father had forced me out of Timber Bluff, but it suddenly felt like years. I hadn’t expected to see Blaze for a long, long time, but here he was, looking tall and sexy and manly on my college campus.
And he only had eyes for me.
“Blaze,” I whispered. And then I was off, racing down the steps and across the parking lot before launching myself into his arms. His strong body enveloped mine, sending a soothing warmth into my very soul. He felt so damn good, looked so damn good, and the way he smelled…somehow, he carried the scent of the forest with him, and it brought with it memories that I’d tried to push aside.
Blaze and I in front of the fire. His tongue dancing across every inch of my skin. His deep, dark eyes staring into mine and saying things he hadn’t been able to voice. The sound of birds chirping outside the windows as I awoke slowly and lazily in his arms.
I missed it. Oh, how I missed it.
I missed him so much it hurt.
“Hello to you, too.” He pulled back and gave me a smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You look good enough to eat.”
I blushed and glanced down at the ground. Even though this was Blaze, a man who knew me for who I really was, I still felt shy sometimes, still felt amazed he wanted me. Of all the women in the world, of all the gorgeous, sophisticated girls he must have met over the years…I couldn’t believe that I was the one he’d chosen to be with.
Poppy Snow, his best friend’s daughter.
At the thought of my dad, my happiness felt squeezed out of my gut. Blaze couldn’t be here. I didn’t know when and I didn’t know how, but I knew without a doubt my dad would find out. He always did.
“How are you here?” I asked, blinking up at him. “Did my dad change his mind?”
“No, Poppy. I’m afraid that Tim hasn’t spoken to me since that day he told me to go to hell.” His face suddenly looked very tired. “But while I respect your father, I’m not going to let the man keep me from making you happy.”
“So, he doesn’t know you’re here,” I said, touched by his determination to see me no matter what. But it didn’t change the fact that my father didn’t know, that my father didn’t want him here. How was I supposed to reconcile that? While my heart soared from seeing Blaze, a part of it throbbed with unease. I wanted to be with Blaze, more than anything. But I wanted to be with him in a way that wouldn’t turn my father away from me.
“Come on,” Blaze said, holding out a hand. “I’m going to take you away from campus for a few hours.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Okay. Just for a little bit.”
An hour later, Blaze stopped his car at the edge of the nearest park. He cut the engine, turned to me, and smiled. My heart did a dance in my chest at the look in his eyes.
“Let’s go,” he said, jumping out of the truck and landing in the soft dirt.
We made our way into the woods along a dirt trail that twisted and turned up the side of a mountain. Blaze was quiet as we walked, holding aside thorny branches and stopping to help me scale rocky parts of the path. There was still snow on the ground, and even though I slipped a few times, Blaze was always there to catch me.
There was something comforting about the silence, a companionable ease that didn’t force meaningless conversation. It made me feel even closer to him, knowing that we didn’t need to speak in order to enjoy our time together.
“Here we go,” Blaze said we reached the peak of the mountain. I’d never been up here before, even though it was about half an hour from the campus. All around us, I could see the rising and dipping mountain peaks, the snow dusting the tops of the trees. It was gorgeous, and the burn in my thighs was worth this moment, seeing the expanse of the world with Blaze by my side.
I just wished it could last longer than this.
Blaze turned to me and ran his fingers through his dark and stormy hair. “Hi, sweet stuff. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned into him, enjoying the hard planes of his stomach underneath my hands.
“There’s a reason I brought you here,” he said, murmuring the words into the top of my head. “It’s not just a random visit, you know.”
“Really?” I pulled back and looked up into his handsome face. “Is something wrong?”
My heart began to pound. Had he come all this way to tell me that he couldn’t see me after all? Was this his version of goodbye?
He took a deep breath and slid his hand into his jeans pocket. “I, ah, came up with a solution to our situation with your father. I know how much you love him. And I do, too. So, I thought if I offered something more to you then he might understand exactly how much you mean to me.”
“What do you mean?” I swallowed hard, suddenly overwhelmed by an intense energy I didn’t quite understand.
“I mean…” Blaze slid a little black box out of his pocket and held it up in front of the setting sun. “I want to ask you a very important question, sweet stuff. And I want to get your father’s permission. But before I spring this on you, I wanted to make sure it’s something you want. I want to spend the rest of my life waking up to this gorgeous smile of yours, and I hope you feel the same.”
Chapter Twelve
I was back in Timber Bluff way before I’d thought I would be. Blaze pulled his truck into the parking lot of the Bed & Breakfast where my parents were staying while the workers were fixing the damage to the house. My entire body felt on edge, heart batting hard against my rib cage. This could either be the best day of my life or the worst. If my dad slammed the door in Blaze’s face yet again, I didn’t know what we’d do.
I wanted to marry Blaze, but I also wanted to do it right.
And walking down the aisle without my father by my side would hurt me more than I wanted to imagine.
“You ready?” Blaze asked, meeting my gaze across the truck. “I know you’re nervous, sweet stuff, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we can be together.”
Moments later, we were knocking on the door to my parents’ room. I sucked in short breaths through my nostrils and pressed my sweaty palms against my sweater. My body had the urge to turn around and flee into the night, but I stood my ground. This time, I wasn’t going to walk away.
The door cracked open, and my mother’s sweet face peered out at us. When she saw it was me, she smiled. But then her eyes flicked to Blaze, and her entire face clouded over. “Honey, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Mom,” I said. “Blaze and I have something w
e want to talk to you about. Please just give us a chance.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants, Poppy. I know that. I’m not the one you need to convince,” she said. “I told your father you’re a grown woman, but he’s as stubborn as—”
My dad appeared behind my mother, his entire face screwed up in anger. “Blaze. What is the meaning of this? I told you to stay the hell away from my daughter.”
“Sir,” Blaze said, speaking to my dad less like he was a pal and more like he was his boss. “Please let us come inside and explain why we’re here. I understand you don’t approve, but you’ve known me all your life. You know the kind of man I am, and we’ve been through hell and back together. You at least owe me a chance to give you an explanation.”
This wasn’t going to work. My dad just couldn’t understand. No matter what we tried, he’d just keep slamming the door on our relationship, over and over until we gave up. But the door stayed open. It even widened a little more. And with a relieved sigh, my mother ushered us into the room.
“You’ve got ten minutes,” Dad said, crossing his arms over his chest. “If I don’t like what you have to say for yourself, then I’m going to have to insist you leave. Without Poppy.”
“Yes, sir.” Blaze stood tall and confident, the total opposite of how I felt. I flittered over to my mother’s side and bit the inside of my cheek while I watched the man I loved try to find the words to tell my father that he wanted to marry his daughter. The future of my life hinged on this moment. Either I would have to go forward with a life I’d realized I didn’t want or I’d get to be the happiest girl alive, marry the man of my dreams, and build a family with him in the mountains.
I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart.
