by Ruby Forrest
“You weren’t supposed to see that.” He said the words so quietly that Poppy might have missed them had she not been able to read his lips. He added a little more loudly, “Don’t you worry yourself about that. It’s just something I like to do in my free time.”
“So, you are a naturalist?” Poppy found herself giving him the only reasonable explanation. She wasn’t sure whether she was simply trying to ease her own thoughts on the matter or showing him that it didn’t really matter to her what he chose to do in his spare time.
“Something like that,” Stetson shrugged. “Help yourself to anything you want in the kitchen on your way out to the pool. I will join you as soon as I can.”
With that, he pressed his lips to her forehead and then turned in the direction of his study. Poppy remained where she was until he clicked the door shut behind him. Then she turned and began to head down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, the marble floor of the hallway was cool on her feet and it remained so until she reached the sun room at the back of the house. She didn’t really want anything to eat, at least not before she swam. A quick dip in the pool was just what she needed to rinse away the last of her anxiety and trauma of the night before.
CHAPTR ELEVEN
As soon as Stetson had determined that his brother had no new information for him, he headed down to the pool to find Poppy idly swimming in the clear, sparkling water. The sun bounced off her hair and fair complexion and again she reminded him of a water nymph. She moved gracefully through the water, causing ripple waves to lap out around her.
He wasted no time in stripping off his clothes and slipping into the water to join her. Next to running in his wolf form, swimming in his human form was the next best thing. It had been the reason he’d had the pool installed in the first place. Now, as he saw Poppy leisurely floating in the pool, he was even surer he’d made the right decision on the work.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” he smiled to her as he began to swim a lap beside her. He had to slow his movements to remain at her side as her smaller arms did not carry her as far as his own.
“I’m sure I will be enjoying myself much more now that you are here,” she told him as she paused in her lap and began to tread water. Stetson stopped in front of her and pulled her into his arms. The water rippled out around them and she smirked up at him as she placed her hands on his broad shoulders.
“I have to admit, I was hoping to wake beside you this morning.” Poppy’s voice was filled with disappointment and it stabbed Stetson straight in the heart to hear that he had caused such an emotion within her.
“Perhaps I could make that come true for you tomorrow morning?” Stetson suggested, and Poppy’s smile broadened at the thought that they would share a bed again that night.
I really shouldn’t be getting involved like this, Stetson warned himself, even as he leaned forward to press his lips against Poppy’s. She pressed her body ever closer to his and he felt his already hardening cock grow like steel between them.
“Somebody is happy to see me,” Poppy giggled as she looked down through the water and reached out with her hand to take hold of him. He gasped with shock and pleasure as she rubbed her hand up and down the length of him, gripping him with just the right pressure. “I don’t know what you have done to me, Stetson. I have never been this type of woman before.”
“What type of woman is that?” Stetson asked through gritted teeth. He found it hard to keep up a conversation while she had her hand wrapped around his cock. The thought of being inside her again almost overwhelmed his every sense.
“The type of woman to sleep with a man so quickly and then go back for more so soon,” she confessed. “Then again, I guess I have never liked a man enough to go back a second time.”
“I could say that you have done the same to me,” Stetson told her. He reached around to her buttocks to pull her flush against him. In reaction, she wrapped her legs around him. Stetson dropped his feet to the floor of the pool to hold them both up. Their lips connected again, and their kisses were as passionate as they had been the night before, if not more so. Stetson’s entire body tensed at the thought of being inside her again. He could feel his cock hovering just beneath the entrance of her mound and he struggled to stop himself from thrusting straight in.
The loud ringing caused them to jump and water splashed all around them. Poppy gasped as water hit her face and Stetson continued to hold her until she had regained her composure. Then he released her and began to swim towards the sound of his cell phone, still in the pocket of his trousers.
“Can’t you ignore it?” Poppy asked him as she began to swim behind him. Stetson reached the side of the pool and pushed himself up and out, just enough to reach for the phone.
“It might be Brett,” Stetson sighed. “If it’s something about whoever is after you, then I need to know now.”
“But I’m perfectly safe right now,” Poppy insisted as she slipped between his body and the side of the pool, pulling him into her so that she was pinned against the tiled wall.
Stetson tried to fight the urge to ignore the call for as long as he could but Poppy’s wet, naked body pressing up against his own caused him to hit the end call button and drop the phone back down onto the pile of his clothes. He pressed his body against hers, pushing her flush against the wall and reached down to press his cock at her entrance. “Is this what you want?” he asked with a smirk and when she nodded, he pushed himself deep inside her.
Poppy moaned, and her fingernails dug into his shoulders as he began to thrust. He brought his lips down to hers again and when he felt her teeth bite down on his bottom lip he growled, “Fuck!”
He was losing himself deep inside her and there was nothing he could do about it. He did not have the willpower to pull back and stop himself.
***
It wasn’t until sometime after Stetson had spilled his seed inside her again that he finally managed to find the willpower to pull himself out of the pool. “As much as I have had a lovely morning, I should probably get back to work.” He was already aware of the fact that his cell phone had gone off multiple times in the time that he had been pummeling her against the pool wall.
Poppy stood in the middle of the pool and swung from side to side, showing off every inch of her naked body beneath the water. “Are you sure you have to?”
“I’m afraid I have to, beautiful,” he told her as he stood on the edge of the pool. He allowed his body to drip dry for a few moments.
Poppy swam to the edge and offered him her hand. “Would you help me out?”
Stetson knew that she was simply trying to put herself in his way again. He could see the spark of desire in her eyes. It was a look he’d seen in many women’s eyes, though Poppy was the first in a long time that he’d actually wanted to see it in. He reached down and gripped hold of her by both hands to pull her easily up and out of the water. Poppy gave a gasp, as though she couldn’t believe how strong her was and he cursed himself again.
They stood at the poolside together for a moment and she placed a hand on the center of his chest. “I suppose I should go upstairs and get dressed, although I have no idea what I am going to put on.”
“I forgot to mention, Bronte always leaves a few outfits behind whenever she stays. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you using a couple of things,” he explained.
Poppy cocked her head prettily at him and slapped her palm against his upper arm. “You mean there’s been clothes around here all this time? I bet she has about six bikinis too, knowing Bronte and her love of fashion!”
Stetson chuckled. “Ok, I’m sorry. I didn’t forget. I just couldn’t resist being able to watch you swim naked. You have an amazing body, Poppy.”
He was pleased by the way her cheeks blushed as he gave her the compliment and he leaned down to press his lips against her forehead. “I will come and check on you in a couple of hours. Feel free to do whatever you like around the house.”
> ***
Stetson had been in his study a little more than an hour when he heard his cell phone buzzing. He paused in what he had been doing on his computer, flicking through emails, and turned his attention to the phone. He remembered he hadn’t called back whoever had called while he had been in the pool with Poppy. Guilt overwhelmed him as he imagined one of his brothers fretting as they tried to get a hold of him. When he picked up the phone, he half expected to see that it was Brett, but he was shocked to see Darian’s name pop up on the screen.
“What do you want?” he asked as he answered the phone. It was how he always answered his youngest brother.
“What do I want? What do I want?” Darian sounded almost hysterical, something he almost never was. “I want to know why the hell you’ve been ignoring Brett’s calls!”
“Whoa, sounds like somebody got a thorn in his paw,” Stetson said as he shook his head and sighed. He could never understand why some people felt the need to shout down the phone when they clearly knew the device was right next to somebody’s ear. Perhaps it was with the purpose of causing discomfort.
“Don’t mess around with me, Stetson,” Darian snapped at him. “This is serious. Brett has been trying to get a hold of you because he got more information. What the hell have you two been doing anyway? As if I can’t guess.”
“It’s not like that,” Stetson replied all too quickly and his brother clearly picked up on his need to defend himself so suddenly.
“It’s exactly like that isn’t it? You are falling for your charge, aren’t you?”
“I am not falling for her!” Stetson snapped back. “I feel nothing for her.”
But even as he said the words, he knew that they were not true. He felt more for Poppy in the few days that they had known each other than he had ever felt for any other woman after having known her for weeks, months or even years. She did things to him he never dreamed possible, but he couldn’t allow his brother to know that. “She is nothing but a client.”
Stetson heard the gasp in the hallway just then and his hackles rose as he realized that he wasn’t alone. He whipped around just in time to catch sight of Poppy’s eyes staring back at him with horror. He didn’t even have chance to call her name as she turned around and began to rush away down the hall.
“Damn it!” he cursed himself before speaking into the phone. “Darian, I am going to have to call you back.”
He was mildly aware of his brother trying to tell him something before he slammed the phone down on the desk, not even bothering to press the end call button. Then he was off, out of the room and down the hall after Poppy. She was much quicker than he had anticipated.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Poppy had just showered off all the chlorine and pulled on a pair of leggings, a t-shirt and a pair of flats when she caught the sound of Stetson’s voice, loud and angry, coming from down the hall. Her heart hammered in her chest for a moment and she found herself wondering what he was yelling at. Well, there was only one way to know for sure…
She slipped from Bronte’s bedroom and wandered down the hall, careful to tiptoe in case he caught her snooping outside of his study room. When she reached the door, she could just see through where he had left it open a crack. He was pacing up and down.
“It’s not like that,” Stetson said loudly into the phone he had pressed against his ear. “I am not falling for her.”
Poppy found herself holding her breath. He couldn’t have been talking about her, could he? She waited to hear more before jumping to any conclusions.
“I feel nothing for her.”
Those words caused Poppy’s heart to ache. She was growing more and more suspicious that he was talking about her. She remembered what they had done in the pool not an hour ago and she felt like she had been stabbed in the chest. She could barely breathe.
“She is nothing but a client.”
Those were the words that confirmed it for her. He had been talking about her and his words caused her to gasp loudly in shock.
It was then that he whipped around, and she realized that he had heard her exclamation. Their eyes met for a moment and she saw shock in his gaze.
She couldn’t bear to look at him, couldn’t bear to be taken in by the shock in his gaze. That look might intimate that he was sorry for what he had said. Instead, she turned around and began to run down the hallway. Her legs would not seem to carry her fast enough as she rushed down the stairs, two at a time. She needed to get out of there, she needed to be away from him, away from this house. Her heart hammered in her chest as she ran, and she felt sick to her stomach, though she did not stop.
She ran and ran and ran, leaving the house and racing down the driveway towards the huge wrought iron gates. She had no idea whether she could escape them, but she had to try. She needed to be away from there. She couldn’t stand the thought of being anywhere near Stetson ever again. Not after what he had said about her. The words rung in her ears buzzing like bees around her brain.
When she reached the gates, she was shocked to see them begin to open up in front of her. For a moment, she thought that Stetson might have opened them up from the house but when she turned to glance back at the building, she saw that he was giving chase. His huge form was lumbering towards her.
She needed to get out of there quickly. She turned again and continued her run through the gates and began to make her way down the country lane beyond. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps and her chest began to ache with the effort of it, but still she continued. That was, until she felt something suddenly wrap around her. Confusion hit her for a moment as she looked down at the arms that pinned her own to her sides. At first, when she saw them, she thought they were Stetson’s and for a moment she felt the familiar heat she felt whenever he was near. Then she saw the thick black tattoo that snaked its way up the left arm and her heart burst with fear.
“Get off me!” she screamed as the danger registered inside her. “Stetson!”
Though she was angry with him for what he’d said, she found herself calling for him. She screamed for him at the top of her lungs.
In that moment, she realized that she wasn’t just falling for Stetson. She had already fallen for him and she had fallen for him hard. Fear gripped her even more as she imagined never seeing him again.
She fought with all her might against the man those thick arms wrapped tightly around her, crushing her to within an inch of her life. She could barely breathe, and she knew that if she didn’t get away from his iron grip soon, she would surely pass out or worse.
“Stetson!” The scream was quieter this time as she choked on her almost empty lungs.
***
Stetson cursed himself for having set the sensors of the gates to allow people to exit. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. If nobody unwanted could get in, then why not let anyone leave whenever they wanted to. Now, it seemed like the stupidest idea he’d ever thought of as he watched Poppy run right out of the gates, away from him. For a moment, he skidded to a halt. Damn, that woman was faster than he’d expected. He was always underestimating her. He wished that he could shift and chase her down, but he knew that she wouldn’t just be pissed off with him then. She would be absolutely terrified and then he would have no chance of explaining himself.
How could he explain to a woman he barely knew that he had simply been telling his brother what he had to in order to stop himself from looking weak? How could he explain to her that he really did care for her and that, for him, that was the largest weakness he could ever have? How could he explain to her that he was a dangerous liability, not only to himself but also to her?
Right now, it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. The second he heard Poppy scream, he set off again, running faster than ever.
“Poppy!” he yelled back, even though he knew that with her weak human hearing, the odds of her actually hearing him were almost zero.
“Stetson!” When he heard her yell again, the
re was utter terror in her voice. It pushed him on faster than he’d ever run in his human form.
All too late, he reached the corner of the lane where Poppy was being attacked. The man stood at what must have been a foot taller than her with his thick arms wrapped tightly around her. The scene caused Stetson’s stomach to lurch as he began to race towards them. His heart hammered in his chest like it never had before. He realized that, for the first time, he was actually fearful of losing someone that he cared about who wasn’t one of his brothers.
“Get off me!” Poppy screeched as the man began to drag her in the opposite direction. He glanced over his shoulder and Stetson’s eyes connected with his. There was no fear in his eyes but, in that moment, Stetson decided by the end of the day, he would see more than fear in those brown depths.
Suddenly, Stetson felt something heavy come down on the back of his head. Pain lanced down his spine and stars sprung up in his eyes as he came down onto his knees like a ton of bricks. The second hit came just as his forehead hit the floor and everything went black.
The next thing he knew, he was on his side in the dusty back of a vehicle. When he glanced around him, he could only ascertain that he was in the back of a truck. When he tried to breathe in, a gasp of air dust floated up into his nostrils. His chest and arms ached as he realized that his arms were bound behind his back.
Damn it, he snapped at himself. Since when do I let humans get the jump on me?
It was the small voice in the back of his head that gave him the answer. Since you allowed yourself to fall for one of them.
“What are you doing?” Poppy’s shrill voice hit his ears through the open doors of the back of the truck. “What are you doing? Get off me!”
The sound of scuffling was all Stetson needed to hear to know that somebody was manhandling her. That set his blood boiling. He barely managed to contain himself as he wriggled his way around so that he could look out of the back of the van.
