by Ruby Forrest
“Here we were, Chateau Hardy.” Stetson suddenly broke the spell his gaze had on her as he turned his attention back to the window and gestured out at the building ahead of them.
Poppy turned her attention in the direction he gestured, and her mouth practically fell open. Though it was lit up with bright, white security lights the building couldn’t have been further from a prison. In fact, had it been slightly smaller it could have been considered a small castle. The walls looked as though they were made of granite and the climbing ivy made the entire building to look as though it had dropped right out of a fairy tale.
“This is where you live?” Poppy gaped. She couldn’t even begin to imagine that a place like this would exist just outside the city. Stetson smirked again as though he was amused by her amazement.
“I don’t really live here but it’s the closest thing I have to a home. My brothers and I bought this place together so that we’d always have a place to come where we could be safe away from the public eye. Other than myself, Darian, Brett, Bronte, the maid, and now you, nobody else even knows this place exists. At least, not where we are involved anyway.”
“Next, you’ll be telling me you own your own private jet and a soccer team.” Poppy rolled her eyes.
“Not the soccer team,” Stetson said simply, and Poppy’s mouth fell open all over again.
“You have a private jet?” she gasped.
“I have a jet and a yacht, and this place even has a swimming pool and a tennis court but that’s beside the point.” Stetson shook his head. “I worked hard for what I have and, up until my brothers and I brought this place, none of us had very much we could call our own, save for our businesses.”
“I knew the Hardy brothers had done well for themselves, but I never expected any of this,” Poppy said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“It’s just money,” Stetson sighed and there was something so sad in his eyes that it pulled at Poppy’s heart strings. “It doesn’t really mean much if you have nobody to share it with.”
Before Poppy could say anything to that, Stetson pushed open his door and climbed out of the truck. Within seconds, he had pulled open her door and offered her his hand. Poppy had wanted to question him about why he didn’t already have someone to share everything with, but the moment was gone, and she was too tired to try and get information out of him. She was still in her dress from the preserve party and she felt as though she desperately needed a bath.
“Let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” Stetson said as though he had read her mind.
“How did you know I wanted to get cleaned up?” she asked him.
“It’s not hard to guess when you still have your attacker’s blood all over you,” Stetson pointed at her neck and Poppy suddenly remembered how she had burst the guy’s nose with her head. “You sure gave as good as you got.”
“He deserved it,” Poppy shrugged.
“That he did,” Stetson agreed. “Let’s get you inside.”
***
Poppy slipped into the silky bubbles of the bathtub and leaned her head back as she closed her eyes with a delighted sigh. A warm bath had never felt so good as it did in that moment with the Jacuzzi jets massaging her aching limbs and the scent of vanilla and honey filling her nostrils. The sounds of the water bubbling up in her ears soothed her nerves and she found she was smiling to herself as she ran her hands up and down in the water.
“You are so beautiful.” The words whispered in her ear startled her, but she did not budge an inch as she felt the hand slip beneath the water and cup her breast. The freestanding bathtub made it easy for Stetson to crouch behind her. He reached his other hand in the water and took her other breast into his palm. A gasp caught in Poppy’s throat as he began to squeeze the pink buds gently and a fire lit between her thighs, the likes of which she’d never felt before.
“Stetson,” she whispered and then gasped as she felt his hand slip lower, down her ribs and over her stomach, reaching down to her….
“Poppy?” The loud hammering on the bathroom door caused her to jump up into a sitting position so quickly that she sent water splashing everywhere. “You alright in there? I thought I heard something.”
Poppy felt her cheeks grow red hot with embarrassment. I didn’t moan out loud, did I? She asked herself the question as she tried to recall whether she had in fact called his name aloud. She wasn’t sure what was more embarrassing, the fact that she had said his name or the fact that she had been fantasizing about him while he was literally a few feet away.
“I…I’m fine,” she called, and her voice was more than a little weak and breathless. “It wasn’t me.” Even as she said the words, she was almost sure that he wouldn’t believe her. Something about the way he had spoken told her he had heard exactly what she hoped he hadn’t.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come in there?” Stetson’s voice was filled with concern and Poppy could tell that it was genuine concern for her safety. It warmed her heart to hear it. She had never heard anyone sound so sincere.
“I’m naked, Stetson,” she said matter-of-factly. Part of her hoped it would put him off coming in and seeing her blushing face, but the other part of her made her wish that he would bust in and do exactly what she had just been imagining him doing.
“I can close my eyes,” Stetson suggested through the door and Poppy found herself rolling her own.
“What good would having your eyes closed do if you were coming in to check on me?” She raised her voice a little, fearful that he might not be able to hear her because she was having a hard time of hearing him.
“That’s a very good point,” Stetson sighed. “Well, the next time I hear something concerning, I won’t be asking. I will be coming in there.”
“Got it,” Poppy replied and a small part of her wanted to make some kind of noise just to see whether he was true to his word. She wasn’t sure she could control herself if she found herself naked in front of him. It was bad enough with the door between them. She couldn’t keep him out of her thoughts, especially her dirty thoughts. The thoughts that always seemed to arise when he had been near.
“I will be right down the hall,” Stetson assured her. “If you need anything, just shout and I will be sure to hear you.”
Poppy wasn’t sure how he would hear her at the other end of the hall since the house was so big, but she believed him. Something about the way he spoke told her that he meant every word he said. He was always so serious. It was a refreshing change from the sarcastic and over exaggerated banter she was used to from the men she was used to dating.
What the hell are you doing to me, Stetson Hardy? Poppy asked herself as she slipped back into the water and rested her head back against the side of the bath. She let out another easy sigh as she allowed the water to flow over her again and wash away all the negativity of the evening. She found herself thinking again of the gray wolf who had appeared at the preserve and couldn’t help but wish that she’d been able to share the experience with Stetson. She had never felt the need to share an experience with anyone before, never felt the need to relay such an experience to someone as she had with him. There was something different about him, something that made her want to do things that she’d never wanted to do before. And the truth was, that scared her.
Her mind was still lingering on that thought when she finally climbed out of the bath and rinsed herself off in the shower cubicle on the other side of the pristine tiled room. The jet tingled against her skin and its warm temperature was luxurious as she ran it all over her body.
Don’t go getting used to any of this, she told herself as she placed the shower head back in its holder and wrapped herself in a fluffy, soft towel that only covered from breast to mid-thigh.
CHAPTER NINE
Stetson could still hear his name ringing off Poppy’s lips as he wandered into his study down the hall. Something about the way she had gasped it caused his entire body to tense and shake with
desire. His animal instincts had told him to run into the bathroom and take her right then and there, but he knew well that if he allowed those instincts to take control, he would more than certainly regret it.
This was a really bad idea, he thought to himself as he was reminded how he had invited Poppy not only into his home, but into the safe place that he and his brothers had. He was risking everything he loved by having her there but, in the moment, he’d thought of protecting her there and he had known it was right. It had felt like the right thing and his gut had never been wrong before. His gut told him that he could trust Poppy, though his mind wasn’t at all sure it went along with it.
Even as he sat down in his desk chair, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of thoughts Poppy must have been having for her to call his name in such a way. Her voice hadn’t sounded fearful or questioning. In fact, she hadn’t sounded like she was calling someone far away. She sounded as though she was calling someone close, someone that was close enough to have been touching her. That thought and the thought of doing something like that to Poppy caused Stetson to growl low in his throat.
“What are you thinking about?” Poppy’s voice caused him to jump and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel. Her long hair cascaded over one shoulder in a thick wave of wet curls and her legs were still glistening with water droplets. She looked like a water nymph, all glistening and glossy, her eyes shining with curiosity.
“I…uh…don’t you want to get dressed?” Stetson asked quickly, attempting to change the subject. He couldn’t very well answer her question. What would she think if he told her that he had been thinking about bending her over his study desk and pounding her from behind?
“I would but I don’t have a clue where you put my bag,” Poppy shrugged. “And even if I did, I’m not sure I could find my way back there because this place is humungous.”
Stetson couldn’t help but laugh at her use of the word humungous. It sounded like the kind of word a child would use to describe something that was exaggerated. Though, he had to admit that it fit his large home perfectly when it came from her lips.
“Allow me to escort you to your room, madam,” he told her as he pushed himself to his feet and wandered around the desk to join her in the doorway.
She barely moved an inch as he tried to slip past her. For a moment, he found himself pausing in the doorway, his body pressed against her own. The warm, clean scent of her wafted into his nostrils. It was tainted with the scent of vanilla and honey, but her natural scent drifted through. It was a scent he had begun to grow used to and a scent that he was more than pleased to smell. He was already excited at the thought that it would soon cover everything in his home. He wasn’t sure what scared him more, the fact that he knew her scent by heart or the fact that he wanted to continue to smell it.
“This way,” he said through the lump in his throat, as he realized just how close they had come to each other. They had come so close that, had he leaned his head just a little, he might have been able to kiss her.
Get a grip on yourself man, he thought to himself as he began to make his way down the hallway past the bathroom to the bedrooms at the other end. You need a good run to let off all this steam she’s building up inside you.
He knew very well that there was no chance he could do that until he was sure that she was sound asleep. He couldn’t afford to risk her seeing him shift.
“I think this room will offer you the most comfort,” he told her as he pushed open the door of the guest room. It was the one most made up for a woman. It housed a four-poster bed, a vanity table, a wardrobe and a small sitting area. It was the most softly furnished of the bedrooms in the house, save for the one that Bronte used whenever she happened to stop by. “My interior decorator managed to get her hands on this one before I could stop her.”
Poppy smiled with amusement as she stepped into the room beside him and glanced around at the soft greens and golds of the room. “Bronte has excellent taste.”
“How did you…”
“I know my clients better than they know themselves.” She shrugged her shoulders. “And it’s easy to put two and two together when Bronte is your sister-in-law and she makes no secret of her success in the interior design world.”
“I’m starting to believe that you are just as talented as she is,” Stetson admitted, and he watched her as she sauntered across the room. She ran her hand along the silk sheets at the bottom of the bed. As he watched her, he could almost imagine that instead of the silk, it was his skin that she was running her fingertips along. He found himself imagining how her sweat would taste as he ran the tip of his tongue along her collar bone, thrusting deep inside her. He felt his cheeks light with both desire and embarrassment.
As though she sensed his arousal, Poppy turned her attention back to him. “I do believe that I should take that as a compliment from the hugely successful eldest Hardy brother.”
“You certainly should,” Stetson replied, and he found himself taking a large step towards her. He could not bring himself to stay away. She was drawing him in with her scent, her gaze, the way she twisted her body towards him as he moved. “I may be finding you difficult to read but I certainly know talent when I see it.”
He reached up and stroked a wet lock of hair from her face, pushing it behind her ear. When his fingertips brushed the top of her ear, Poppy visibly shivered and he could see in her eyes that she was having the same difficulty he was.
“How long do you think I am going to have to stay here?” she questioned. When her eyes lingered on his lips, he felt himself quiver as she bit her own lip.
“Like I said before, long enough for us to get to know each other a little better,” Stetson replied. With that, he took hold of her hips, thrusting himself towards her as he threw her down onto the bed. She gasped with shock as her knees were taken out by the end of the bed and she found herself pinned beneath him.
“Stetson,” she breathed. The way she said his name caused him to pause. He pulled away a little, suddenly realizing what he had done, and guilt overwhelmed him.
“I’m sorry, I…” Before he managed to apologize properly for what he had done or give her any excuses, she gripped hold of his face and forced his head around to hers.
“Stetson, look at me,” she said softly. He realized that he’d slammed his eyes shut to stop himself from seeing the disgust or the fear he was sure he would see in her eyes. He was used to being too much for women, used to them not being able to handle his more dominant side. “Stetson, please.”
When he finally chanced a look at her, he realized that he couldn’t see either of those things. In fact, all he could see in her eyes was lust. “Don’t ever be sorry for showing me how you feel. I’d much prefer it to the hundreds of men who have told me how they feel but never backed it up with any action.”
“The truth is, I am not sure how I feel,” Stetson admitted. He tensed then, and he realized that was true. He had never felt the way he felt about Poppy with any woman. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew it was different to anything he’d ever felt before.
“Then show me,” Poppy whispered. Then she leaned up to take possession of his mouth with her own. Stetson’s heart thundered rapidly in his chest as he allowed himself to drop back down onto her. She quivered beneath him as she slipped his hand into the towel she still had wrapped around her. When he found her soft flesh beneath it, she gasped, and he ran his fingers along her ribs, upwards until he came to the curve of her breast.
“Stetson,” she whispered against his lips. This time, he simply enjoyed the sound of his name coming from her throaty gasp as he took hold of her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
***
It had been such a long time since Poppy had been touched by a man. Granted, she had made it that way, but with Stetson, everything seemed to fall into place. The feel of his hands on her flesh was like fireworks popping of
f deep inside her. Every single nerve ending in her body was on high alert, ready and waiting for his touch.
When his hand slipped down between her thighs, Poppy felt as though her skin might light on fire. She burned with desire for him and every inch of her tingled with the need to feel him inside her. A low growl erupted from his throat as he felt the wetness already present between her legs and Poppy realized just how ready she was for him.
She leaned up to take hold of his face in her hands and kiss him deeper, but he grabbed hold of her hips. In the next moment, he was throwing her further up the bed. He moved her with such ease that Poppy couldn’t believe how strong he was. In the process, she found herself stripped of her towel, completely exposed on the bed before him. Her head fell back as she hit the mattress and her heart hammered as he slipped onto the bed between her legs.
“I have a feeling I am going to enjoy tasting you,” Stetson smirked as he gripped the backs of her knees. It caused her to bend her legs as he brought his head down to her overly sensitive sex. Every instinct told her to stop him, told her that she simply wanted him inside her but the second she felt his tongue lap ever so gently around her clit, her mind was blown. He started out with a touch that was slight, almost so slight that she couldn’t feel it, but with each passing moment, his tongue grew heavier on her heated flesh. Her mouth gaped open in a soundless gasp.
All she could do was lie back and take it as he expertly worked her body towards climax. She felt every muscle in her body growing tense, every nerve ending sizzling with pleasure as his hands slipped up her ribs and came to cup her bare breasts. When he growled again, she felt the vibration of the sound against her pussy. That was her undoing. She screamed as the climax ripped through her in a heatwave of pleasure that sent her mind whirling. The world around her spun as Stetson continued to work her body. He never let up, even as her body began to wriggle and squirm under his grasp.
