Page 66 of Half Baked

My mind had gone utterly blank in the moment. I just need a moment to think. Stepping deeper into the kitchen, I lean my elbows on the counter and hope to have some time to settle my thoughts. I don’t get more than a second though, because a click of the patio door fills the silence around me.

Chapter 29

Hayden

She had promised she would be here. And as much as my heart hoped it to be true, my brain was thoroughly convinced she wouldn’t be ready for this. Guests filtered in one after another, but no Poppy. I told myself there was still a chance if her friends weren’t here yet either, certain she’d be coming with them.

“It’s early,” Beckett reminds me as we make our way back to the pit. When Nash and Jamie catch up to us, he doesn’t say anything else. But he’s right. There’s time. This doesn’t mean she’s changed her mind.

Getting to work starting the fire, I keep the front walk in the corner of my eye. I’ve done this enough times that I can move through the steps on autopilot. Which is exactly what happens as I repeat Beck’s words like a lifeline.It’s early.

And then Poppy is there on the walkway.

A real siren of the sea come to life, in a dress that makes me want to drop to my knees and worship her. Being in Poppy’s presence, I understand the men in the folklore. It takes every ounce of self-control to remain in place, simply watching her drift into the party. I want to run to her, my pulse quickening when her eyes find me across the lawn in no time.

Mine.

The word pushes itself to the front of my mind, and I take a step toward her until Mrs. Taylor beats me to it. I watch them hug. And then she’s saying something and it is causing my siren to move quickly away from me, headed for my house.

I follow. Of course I follow.

“Weren’t going to say hi to me at my own party, Poppy Seed?” I ask huskily, stepping into the kitchen.

Spinning to face me, she whispers, “You looked busy.” Her eyelashes bat innocently at me. It’s like a personal challenge, the sudden need coming over me to wipe the innocent look from her eyes and replace it with fiery passion. I want her walking back out to that party on my arm, dazed and sated. Looking every bit of mine.

“When are you going to understand that I will never be too busy for you,” I murmur, gently brushing the back of my knuckles along her jaw. Her sharp inhale is confirmation that she’s feeling the electricity in the air as much as I am. That’s how it is any time I’m near her though, charged. “You show up looking fucking gorgeous in that dress and you expect me to keep my hands off you today?”

“And if people see us together, like this?” she challenges, all the while her own hands snake their way up my chest and wrap around my neck.

“I’d be thrilled. But it’s up to you, Poppy,” I reply. “Tell me what you want from me today.”

“I want you to kiss me.”

My hands shoot to her waist, yanking her flush against my body and holding her tight. Tilting forward, I catch her bottom lip and give a teasing suck. “Just in here? Or out at the party too?” I murmur into her mouth.

“I don’t think I’m capable of pulling away from you once we’re outside. If that’s what you’re asking,” she replies with a sigh.

“So, if I put my hand here”—I slip my palm across the small of her back—“around everyone… you would be okay with that?”

“Yes,” she moans as I pull her into a real kiss this time. My mouth is greedy to consume her after her admission. And I’m only spurred further by the way she makes her way inside my button-down, pressing her hands directly to my skin. The last time she was at my house, her hands were on my bare chest too. This time, she doesn’t withdraw them. This time she’s grasping for more of me.

And I’m willing to give her anything. I have been, for longer than she would ever believe.

I drag my mouth down to her neck, stopping when I find the sensitive spot that causes her body to shiver against me. “Tell me, baby, do you still despise me?”

“Shut up. You know the answer to that,” she replies, throwing her head back and sighing.

I lift my mouth to whisper in her ear. “Tell me.”

“God, you’re demanding. No, Hayden. It seems that I don’tdespiseyou.”

Taking her head in my hand, I turn her face to meet my mouth once again. I kiss her hard, desperate. Like a man who was just told that I was the love of her life. Because for Poppy, this was as big of a deal for her to say.

I want to take her upstairs. Send everyone home and spend the day wrapped up with her. But no, there is a whole party happening outside, just through the patio doors. Glass patio doors. And I’m well on my way to being indecent in this kitchen with her. Leaning back, I look into her eyes—dazed, same as mine are I assume.

“People are going to start noticing that we are both missing,” she murmurs, coming to the same realization that I am. “You are the host after all.”

“If we go outside, will you stay with me?”

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