by Maggie Marr
“God, yes,” he moaned. He leaned forward and pulled her lower lip into his mouth, teasing the flesh with his teeth. She clasped her legs around him and pushed him deeper. The searing heat in his balls cascaded through him. His body tightened with each throbbing plunge deeper and deeper into Poppy.
“You are mine.” With the release of the words, control slipped from his grasp, and he released her wrists. Skin slapped against skin as he rammed into her over and over again. She clung to him with her arms, her legs, her pussy riding him and pulling him deeper and closer and further. Her sex tightened. Heat shot from his cock and together they tumbled over the edge.
*
Poppy woke to the warmth of Trevor’s body beside her. She could stay here, perhaps for forever. His arms were a safe place filled with the love she craved—that was, if she really believed she could be part of a forever kind of love. Which she didn’t. At best, for her love’s existence was an ephemeral magic that ended in heartbreak.
She lifted the blanket. Her gaze swept over Trevor. He was beautiful and looked so peaceful. His lovely strong nose, his sharp jaw, the loose blond curls that fell around his face. His body that of a surfer and a runner. Trevor had been given the gift of beauty and brains. And words. Oh, the glorious words he’d written for her. She slipped from his bed. If she left now, before daybreak, she could catch the first flight to Hong Kong and avoid the messy scene that would take place if she waited until Trevor woke up.
She grabbed a pair of jeans and a light sweater, pulled a fresh pair of panties from her bag, and scurried toward the bathroom. Once she was ready she looked over her shoulder at Trevor. He still slept peacefully. He deserved more than this, didn’t he? Hadn’t he come close to stealing her heart, to convincing her that she could be part of a relationship for the rest of her life? If she stayed much longer with Trevor, she’d be completely fooled into believing that a lifetime love was possible.
She grabbed a pen and a pad of paper that lay on his desk and scribbled a note. Perhaps in another lifetime her soul would be better prepared to love. Then, maybe, she’d fall into Trevor’s arms and lay there for a thousand years, but not now, not here, not in this lifetime. In this lifetime she needed to leave.
Heat built behind her eyes and huge lump grew in her throat. Again her gaze drank in the gorgeous man who she’d nearly given her heart to. She bent forward, her lips just above his, and breathed in the scent of sunshine and salt water and a deep dark rich smell that was entirely masculine and uniquely Trevor’s. She took a long deep breath and with her gaze memorized a face that was already seared into her mind. Her lips brushed over the full tenderness of his mouth.
Trevor stirred and Poppy pulled back. Her fingertips rested against his mouth … please, no … don’t wake up. She couldn’t bear to say good-bye to Trevor. No, she was much too big of a coward, hiding behind her best friend, bravado. She needed to sneak away like a thief in the night, stealing both their hearts.
“Poppy, babe,” Trevor said without opening his eyes. A smile curved over his lips and he reached for her. He pulled her hand into his. She bent down closer so that his sleepy self might believe that she actually slept beside him, actually would still be there when he woke.
“Babe, I love you,” he mumbled as he pressed his lips to her cheek. Then he turned his head toward the other side of the bed. Even in his sleep, his love was absolute and complete.
What was she doing? How could she leave this man? He was everything she could ever hope to find. There wouldn’t be another man like Trevor. Beside him she felt safe and understood, and yet she couldn’t stay and surrender her heart. She couldn’t trust love, nor give him the love and commitment that he deserved.
“I love you too,” she whispered nearly silently. She grabbed her bags, opened the door, and left.
*
The sun hovered just above the horizon when Poppy arrived at Mesquale Airport. She hustled through the quiet terminal toward Hong Kong Air just as her phone rang.
“Mimi, a bit early for you, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s late?” Poppy’s older sister rarely went out any longer, not since she’d become a mom two times over. No, she spent most nights in with her family.
“You’ve finished your contract at Mesquale?”
“Just queuing up now for my boarding pass to Hong Kong.” Poppy fought the sadness over leaving Trevor that threatened around the edges of her belly and instead focused on the excitement she usually felt when leaving Mesquale for six months. There wasn’t much. Instead a thick sadness hovered around her.
“Mom’s been hospitalized.”
The words thwapped Poppy in the chest. Mom? What a word. She’d hardly call Therese “mom.” The word didn’t seem to fit the woman who’d abandoned her children when Poppy was only five. Mimi had managed to forgive Therese. Somewhere around the birth of Mimi’s first daughter, she’d decided she wanted Therese in her life.
“They don’t think it’ll …” Mimi’s words caught in her throat. Poppy heard soft crying over the phone. Mimi was the woman that Poppy should call Mom. She’d taken care of Poppy when Therese ran away. Poppy had been only five and Mimi twelve and Brian ten.
“Mimi—”
“Can you change your ticket?” The words shot out from Mimi with the force of tears behind them. Her voice softened. “Would you change your ticket? Poppy, I can’t do this on my own. I need you … I need you here.”
Only one person stood in front of Poppy in line at Hong Kong Air. Her flight would leave in an hour. Now Mimi wanted her to fly to California and deal with a woman who had abandoned them as children. Poppy wouldn’t go to California for Therese. No, if she changed her ticket, she’d be going for Mimi.
“Yes,” Poppy said hesitantly. “Yes, I can. I’ll change it now.” The man in front of her tucked his ticket into his blazer pocket and walked away. Poppy’s gaze locked with the airline clerk’s. She smiled brilliantly, asking Poppy what she could do for her. “I’ll text you the details,” Poppy said into the phone.
“Thank you, Pop, thank you.” Mimi’s sniffles assured Poppy that she was doing the right thing. Mimi had been there for Poppy a million times in a million different ways, she was simply returning the favor for her big sister. “See you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too.” Poppy pressed the off button and slipped her phone into her pocket.
“How can I help you?” The clerk repeated, her big smile unwavering.
“I need to exchange my ticket to Hong Kong. Looks like I’m going to Los Angeles instead.”
Chapter 4
Trevor opened his eyes. His head throbbed. Thank God Poppy had agreed to wait two more days so that they could go to Hong Kong together. He rolled to his left and stretched out his arm.
Empty. Bed.
The sheets were cold. He sat up and looked about the room. Army green backpack? Gone. Red rolling carry-on? Gone.
His heart careened through his chest. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Trevor stood. He wrapped the sheet around his hips. How? After last night? How could she leave him? Finally after all these months, after never committing, after he chased her with words and love notes and coaxed her along as though she were a scared rabbit, she’d agreed to be his. To try. To let him go with her, if only for a while. He strode across the small space and opened the bathroom door. He had one final hope that the fear in his chest was unfounded.
No Poppy.
She’d run just like that scared rabbit he’d imagined her to be. He’d known if they traveled together, if she stayed with him, if only for a while and not at Mesquale, that she’d never be able to deny their love. She did love him and he loved her. Poppy’s fear prevented her from committing.
He picked up his phone. No message. No call. He sat at his desk chair and his head dropped into his hands. He closed his eyes. His heart might split in two. Shattered. She’d absolutely and unequivocally shredded him. He turned and looked at his desk.
There. Lying on top of his journal was an envelope w
ith his name. He lifted the flap and pulled out the paper. How very dramatic. How very Poppy. Anger started to burn through him. Anger that masked his pain.
Trevor,
You knew it couldn’t last. That’s me. It’s been well … more than I could ever expect.
Your 6-month lover,
xPoppy
He crumpled the note in his hands. How droll. How charming. How nonchalant. He tossed the paper toward the trash can. It bounced against the rim and landed on the floor. She fooled him even less than she fooled herself. What did she think she would get by leaving him? An unscarred heart? An effortless existence? Freedom from the possibility of pain?
She would get none of those things. Those things didn’t exist in a world with the absence of love. Only when you embraced the scar, the effort, the pain could you feel the full experience of life. His writer’s heart crumpled under the weight of what he’d just lost. Of all that Poppy had just tossed aside due to fear. Of what they wouldn’t share together, simply because Poppy was afraid and she was running from love.
Trevor stood and tossed the sheet onto his bed. Well, he wouldn’t let her run away from him. He’d find her and bring her back, no matter the time or the effort it took. He had two more days on his contract at Mesquale, but he couldn’t give her that big a head start. He’d buy his way out of his contract if he had to. Find other staff to cover his shifts. Surely Ryan and even Charla would help him, wouldn’t they? He had to find out. He had to try, because Poppy made his world spin.
*
“Where the hell is she?”
Ryan stood just inside the door of his Mesquale penthouse and Charla, Poppy’s former roommate at Mesquale, sat on the couch on the far side of the living room.
“Good to see you too.” While a hint of sarcasm dripped through Ryan’s voice, his face showed only concern.
Trevor ran his fingers through his hair and then planted both hands on his hips. “Sorry.” If anyone could understand the sea of pain that Trevor was currently wading through, it would be Ryan. Hadn’t he just recovered the love of his life, Charla, after three long months of no communication?
Charla and Ryan exchanged a look. Trevor’s gaze slid away. So difficult to be in the presence of love. His heart ached. Damn, why had Poppy left?
“Trevor, come in. Have some coffee.” Charla lifted the carafe and poured a cup. Only then did Trevor notice that Charla wore a robe and Ryan had on some sort of shorts that he most likely slept in. Of course. They’d just reconnected after three months and here he was, busting in on their morning after.
“No, I’m sorry … I should have called … you guys—”
“Trevor,” Ryan said, his voice firm but soft. “Come in. We were just talking about Poppy.”
Her name on Ryan’s lips again caused Trevor’s heart to careen around his ribcage. He walked to the couch and took the cup of coffee that Charla held out to him. After a long drink, he sat beside Charla. “Have you heard from her? Is she on her way to Hong Kong?”
Charla’s eyebrow lifted, and again she sent a look toward Ryan. “She’d kill me if I told you. I definitely shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“You have to.” Ryan walked to a chair beside next to the couch where Charla sat and sat beside her. “You know what she’s doing, right? She admitted to you that she loves Trevor.”
“She did? She told you that?” Excitement thrummed through Trevor’s body. Of course he knew that Poppy loved him, and she’d occasionally tossed out her feelings when drunk or right after sex, but for her to actually tell Charla that she loved him? That sealed the deal.
“Not those exact words, but I know she does.” Charla leaned forward and picked up her phone. “So here’s the thing.” She took a deep breath. “She didn’t go to Hong Kong.”
Trevor’s lips curled into a smile. That meant she’d changed her mind. That she was here on Mesquale, that she was waiting for him and they were going together.
“She went to California.”
His eyebrows lifted. “California?”
Charla nodded. “Therese is in the hospital and Mimi needed her help.”
“Who is Therese and who is Mimi?”
Charla’s lips thinned. “Her mother and her older sister.”
Damn, Poppy had secret layered upon secret. How did he not know the names of anyone in her family? But he did know some of the details.
“She doesn’t speak to her mother. Hasn’t since, what—”
“She was five and Mimi was twelve. Mimi reconciled with Therese and it seems Mimi needed Poppy’s help.”
“So she went to California?”
Charla nodded. “Los Angeles.”
Trevor jumped up. “I have to go now.” He locked eyes with Ryan. “Can I get my last two shifts covered? Is that okay?”
“Trevor, I can get your last two shifts covered. You don’t have to worry about that. But do you think this is the best idea?”
“I love her.”
Charla clasped her hands in her lap. “I know that, Trevor, and I think she loves you, but I’m just asking, we all know Poppy. Do you think if you chase her to L.A. and corner her at her sister’s house when her mother is in the hospital that she’ll react well?”
“I don’t know how the hell she’ll react. I can’t stay here … I can’t wait for her to reach out to me. She’s stubborn and afraid and …” Trevor sat back down. “What the hell am I going to do? I thought I had her convinced. If she’d waited for me and we’d gone to Hong Kong together, she’d never be able to run from our love again.”
“I think she knew that too,” Charla said. “And I think that’s exactly why she couldn’t stay.”
Trevor took a long breath to clear his head. His overwhelming impulse was to rush to the airport and go after Poppy, but here was her best friend telling him that doing what he wanted might make her run again.
“I’m going after her.” Trevor jumped to his feet. “Maybe not today, but I am going after her.”
“You know about her parents and her childhood … feeling safe is important to Poppy. She pretends it’s not by chasing around the globe, but for her to really settle down, I think she wants to know that she’s secure.”
Trevor looked toward Ryan. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “You still going to let that deadline go by?”
Confusion slipped across Charla’s face. “Deadline?” She looked from Ryan to Trevor. “What deadline?”
“My deadline,” Trevor sighed. “I have an inheritance, but I have to return home and work in the family business to collect it.”
“And you don’t want to?”
“It’s this burger place and—”
“Ha!” Ryan said. “A burger place? You call Up Side Burger, the biggest privately held chain of burger restaurants, a ‘burger place’? Come on, Trevor, get real.” The look Trevor shot Ryan showed his irritation.
“Your family owns Up Side Burger?” Charla tilted her head to the side. “I love Up Side Burger, everyone loves Up Side Burger. They’re the best burgers on the planet.”
Yes, he’d heard all this before. Whenever someone discovered his family owned Up Side Burger, they raved about it. “My grandparents started the first restaurant and built the business. Now my mom runs it all. She wants me to come back and run the company.”
“And you don’t want to?”
“I’m a writer. My mom? She wants me to be a businessman.”
“Can’t you be both?” Charla asked.
Trevor shook his head. “I don’t know how exactly. Up Side Burger is a full-time gig. I watched my grandparents build it, and then my parents run it, and now she wants me to do the same. I don’t want it.”
“But there’s a couple billion dollars that go along with him taking the job,” Ryan said.
The muscle in Trevor’s jaw tightened. “As long as I give up the rest of my life to the company, yes, there’s a lot of money.”
“Or nothing?” Charla asked.
Trevor nodded. “Nada. Cut off.�
��
“That’s some choice,” Charla said.
“What choice?” Ryan held out his hand. “Are you kidding me? There is no choice. You take the gig and write in the evenings and on the weekends. It’s security for you and your family. The opportunity of a lifetime. How could you possibly turn your back on this job? Not only is it a ton of money, but you’re working for one of the most widely respected companies on the planet. Trev? Really? You’d rather be scratching out words for pennies and bartending the rest of your life?”
Charla’s eyes softened and she smiled toward Trevor. “Forgive him. He just wants everyone to be secure.”
“It’s not just that,” Trevor said. “You got to build your own life and choose what you wanted to do. I’m not immune to the security that kind of money can provide, but I’d be giving up my right to choose my life by signing on to the family business.” He glanced toward Charla. “And I think we all know the one thing that money, no matter how much you have, can’t ever buy.”
“Happiness,” Charla whispered.
Trevor nodded. Even Ryan, believing that there could be no other choice for Trevor, understood the fleeting happiness in life. His own life had been brushstroked with pain and tragedy, and all his billons hadn’t saved the woman, who at that time, had been his beloved.
“We both know what you’re talking about.” Charla clasped Ryan’s hand. “Not an easy choice. You have to make it soon?”
“A few months.” Trevor stood and stretched his arms over his head. “By my next birthday, I either take the job or lose my share.”
“So Hong Kong?”
“Was a way out,” Trevor said. “A way to make a decision without deciding. It would have been worth it to be with Poppy.”
“Wow!” Ryan said. “That’s some love affair you’ve got going. Give up billions of dollars for the Popster?”
