Page 51 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“Condom?”Poppy whispered.
Nick grabbed the foil packet he’d taken out of his sweatpants.
“You carry one in those?”
“While you’re in my house, I do.”He tore it open and rolled it on.
Nick then picked her up and sat with her straddling his thighs.
“Take me inside you, Poppy.I don’t want to hurt your arm.”The muscles in his jaw bunched as he looked at her.“Now,” he demanded.
Poppy may not have a lot of experience, but she read books and had learned a lot about sex that way.She rose on her knees until she felt the blunt, hot head of his erection pressing at her entrance.His hands gripped her hips as hers went around his neck.
“Just take it slow, baby.”
One large hand gripped the back of her neck as she slid down the first inch, and his mouth took hers.Poppy lowered further, feeling the delicious stretch of her muscles accommodating him.
“So tight,” he whispered, and then she took all of him inside her.He moaned.“Hell, you feel good.”
She felt the tension climb again as she rose and then lowered back down onto his hot length.He let her set the pace.Let her take it slow.But Poppy felt the effort it cost him.Soon, the delicious shudders ran through her.
“Fuck,” he gritted out, jaw clenched, and she knew he was close.“Come for me again, Poppy.”
He pulled her down as he thrust up, and she shuddered.Seconds later, she was free-falling into another orgasm.Nick joined her, pumping hard into her a final time.
She sat there, breathless, slumped against that solid chest with his arms holding her close, wondering what she’d been thinking doing that with Nick Atherton.Because Poppy was sure of one thing now: he’d just ruined her for all other men.
Chapter20
Poppy woke alone.Nick’s brother Sam was arriving early, and they were having a business meeting, so he’d left while she slept.Shaking the pillow to remove the indentation from his head, she pulled up the covers.
Poppy had never spent the night with a man before… with anyone, if she was honest.It was unsettling.Her head was all over the place, and she wasn’t sure what to do now.
After making love on the sofa, she’d left Nick downstairs.Poppy hadn’t exactly run to her room, but it was a close thing, and the words she’d uttered while leaving had made no sense.
He’d followed, stripped off his clothes, and joined her in the shower.After telling her to stop running from him because he was sticking—and not in a stalkerish way—he washed her thoroughly.She was soon panting, and he made love to her again, pressed to the shower wall, in a scene she’d never be able to recreate in a book—if she wrote romance, that was.They’d then dried off and gone to bed, and she’d slept again in his arms.
“I just don’t know how to do this, Hercules.”The cat stretched and went back to sleep.“Don’t know how to play this cool and then walk away.”
Because after all this danger was over, surely that would happen?Or maybe it wouldn’t, and they’d date?
Needing a distraction, she pulled on jeans and a sweater and sat on her bed to check the emails she’d been neglecting.
Her agent, Astrid, was the first one that caught her eye.The heading said, “Urgent,” in large, shouty capitals.Why are you not answering your phone, Poppy?
“Damn, Hercules, I didn’t give her my new number.”
I know that up until now, you’ve avoided public appearances, but now that you’re doing them, I just went ahead and said yes on your behalf to one because it’s in Brook.
The date was today.
You and Hillary Bailey will be talking about your writing journeys to the invited guests and signing books.
“Poppy, you want coffee?We’re done with the meeting,” Nick said, knocking on her door.The handle then turned, and he stepped into the room.
Hair tousled.Jeans and a black sweatshirt.On his feet were thick socks.It wasn’t healthy for anyone to be that hot, Poppy thought.
“Sure, be right down.”
