Page 180 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

“Kiss me,” she breathed and it was all the permission I needed.

Sliding my hand into Poppy’s hair, I tilted her face to mine and kissed her. Slow and sure, teasing the seam of her mouth with my tongue. “Mmm,” I murmured. “You taste so good.”

It would have been so easy to let the kiss become something more, but we did need to talk… about a lot of things. So I flicked my tongue against hers, pressing one final kiss to Poppy’s mouth and broke away.

“You stopped,” she said.

“We need to talk, and if I don’t stop now, I might never stop.” Because despite the cool temperature, my body was on fire, burning from the inside out.

I ran my hand along the side of her neck and touched my head to hers, breathing her in.

“You’re shaking,” she said, wrapping her hand around my arm. “Are you cold?”

“Not cold, Poppy Star,” I rasped.

“Oh.”

“You’re cute when you blush.” I stole another kiss because she was looking at me like I hung the fucking moon. And it was so much more than I deserved.

“I didn’t sleep with Zara,” I blurted out. “The guys, they thought it would be funny to leave me out there and have her help me out.”

“Help you out?”

“Yeah, you know… since I’m a virgin and all.”

“You were half-naked and covered in her lipstick.” Poppy pulled away and a cold blast of air filled the space between us.

“I was. When I told her it wasn’t going to happen, she tried… well, I guess she tried to seduce me.”

“You didn’t kiss her?”

“I didn’t kiss her back, no. I swear. She got pissed at me, untied me, and left. I didn’t know she’d used my cell to text you, Poppy, I swear.”

I should have listened all the times Cole and Ezra told me to watch my back with a girl like Zara, but I didn’t think she was manipulative enough to do something like that.

“She said she, ‘Gave you the ride of your life.’”

“Fuck.” I winced at the hurt in Poppy’s voice. “She didn’t, I promise.”

“And before… the two of you fooled around?”

Shit.

“Poppy, I— yeah,” I confessed. “I knew I couldn’t have you and you were hanging out with Eli. It was stupid and I regret it, but it meant nothing.”

Poppy glanced away and that single action splayed me wide open.

“I hate her. I hate her so much, Aaron. And watching you with her, knowing you… did things with her, it hurts.”

“I know.” I palmed her cheek and gazed down at her. “But I love you, Poppy June Ford. I’m in love with you.”

“You love me?”

I nodded, swallowing over the lump of emotion in my throat. “I think I’ve loved you ever since you told me someone’s first kiss should be epic.”

“Aaron, we were twelve.”

“I know. But hearing you talk about your first kiss, how you wanted it to be… all I could think was, it should be me. It should be me. But I was so scared that it would mess everything up, so I told myself I was being stupid. You were a girl and I was a boy, of course I was going to feel things sometimes.”

“We wasted so much time.” She sighed.

“We did.” I pushed the hair off her shoulder and tucked it behind her ear. “But maybe we needed time to grow, to realize that it was real.”

“Aaron, it took me dating someone else for you to realize.” Her lips curved into a sad smile.

“Because I’m a fool, Poppy Star. Aaron the Fool.” I leaned in again, touching my head to hers, needing to be close. “It’s always been you, Poppy. I waited… for you.”

“I just keep thinking if I hadn’t started dating Eli we wouldn’t even be here…”

“I guess we can never know that.” My stomach churned. “But I think we would have found our way to this point eventually. Because you’re mine, Poppy. And I’m sorry it took Eli for me to see that… but I’ll spend every second of every day trying to make it up to you, I swear.” I brushed my nose along her jaw, kissing the corner of her mouth. “You’re mine, Poppy Star. And I want the world to know it.”

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