by V. Theia
Jesus, what was he doing?
He was making out with a drunk woman who lived with him while her taste became an addiction on his tongue.
Who was writing the book of his life? This chapter was all wrong and far too horny.
Because he was making out with a very grown up and sexually alluring Poppy Astor.
When their tongues connected, Texas knew he’d never had a kiss this good. Sloppy, wet and disorganized as it was.
Her tongue plunged inside, slid against his and started to explore in such a way that if Texas had his eyes open, she would have sent him blind.
She lay siege to his mouth and in turn, Texas waged a surprised war on hers.
Licking up each of her kitten mewls as she tried to crawl into his mouth.
Addiction rose up from the pit of his gut and almost strangled him with how much he needed her.
She was a ravenous hungry thing, moaning and twisting and only with his will stronger than her tongue was he able to pry her away. Heavy breaths fell over his face and he saw her frown, her fingers flexing in and out of his hair.
“It’s not fair,” she said again and the pain of those words hit him in a place he hadn’t felt in months.
His heart stumbled because he cared for her and whatever was making her sad. Whatever was happening in her life that drove her across the country to seek refuge from a man she hadn’t seen in forever.
Whatever sadness made her reach for a bottle of booze until it made her sick.
Yeah, Texas cared for her.
“What isn’t fair, little girl?” He tried to gentle her by brushing the bangs of her hair back.
He couldn’t say he’d had much practice with soothing a woman. His mother was as cold as a deep freeze and the girls he’d been involved with over the years pretty much took care of themselves.
Poppy was sweet and vulnerable and it rose instincts in Texas he’d never felt before.
Was she missing her fiancé? Regretting her decision to run away? He could help her fix it if she was. Even when his heart and belly both jolted in protest.
“What isn’t fair, Poppy?” He repeated as she laid her forehead against his.
“She doesn’t get to have both. That’s not fair. She already has one, she can’t have two.”
His brows pinched in the middle with confusion as he watched her unfocused eyes. It was Poppy who took herself from his lap, just as well, his groin had no business aching so full the way it was.
She flopped into the very corner, making herself very small. “She got one, she can’t have both of the Hunt boys. She’s a vile witch with her nasty tongue and greedy ways. She gets one, but no, she wants two.”
Oh.
Fuck.
She was talking …slurring, about Addison.
There was nothing like seeing a pretty girl fired up with flames in her eyes and heat caressing over her cheeks. Even if the girl in question was fucked up with too much liquor.
Now he knew she’d heard his conversation with Snake.
Her kiss had come out of literal nowhere and so had her declaration about his brother’s wife.
She can’t have both of the Hunt boys.
Stomach muscles tightened in a great fist, but there was no time to ask her what the fuck she was talking about or how she knew about him, Mal and Addison, because she’d passed out.
Texas sighed, dragging a hand down over his face as he uncoiled his body to stand to his feet. He carefully slid both arms under her legs and upper body before lifting her gently.
Time to put the drunk to bed.
He would get answers from her tomorrow.
ELEVEN
“I don’t need another drink – said not me last night.” - Penelope
Waking up with a hangover for the first time in her life was not fun.
Like at all, not even for a second.
She felt pain unlike anything else the moment her eyelids opened, so she did the wise thing and shut them tight, burrowing under the blankets.
One slight movement and Penelope felt the world shifting under her.
Her stomach rolled from side to side and the throbbing which started in her temples indicated that she most probably had an inoperable brain tumor because there was no pain like the pain she was experiencing.
“Oh, my God, I’m dying.” She groaned to herself and felt like her spine was fused to the sheets but there was no way in hell she was moving.
Some time passed when her bladder demanded that she get out of bed.
It was the worst trip to the bathroom ever.
Nauseous and dizzy, she forced herself into the shower in hopes the hot sprays would bring her back to life.
It didn’t help.
Neither did the coffee she partially made with her eyes closed because the world was just too bright this morning… afternoon, whatever.
It was during her third cup and fiftieth prayer to Jesus to take her, when she heard a key in the front door and then Tait was striding inside.
Larger than ever, bringing a burst of cold air from outside.
It was only when she cast her gaze to the windows that she realized there was a thick layer of snow everywhere.
Well, poop. She’d missed it snowing.
A pinch of nostalgia hit Poppy. This time most every year, except the year she caught mono, she usually spent in Aspen at her parents cabin.
Hot chocolate, skiing, real burning log fires and utter boredom being with her family. It was strange what she could get used to and even feeling melancholy over even though she didn’t particularly enjoy the trips.
Their cabin was right next to the world famous model, Tom Cohen. They talked sometimes, so that was always a nice part of the trips, but other than that, it was sheer monotony.
As she nursed a steaming cup to her lips and watched the fat flakes fall outside the windows, she realized she’d much rather be right here in this loft apartment with a man striding forward and stripping off his jacket at the same time.
Goodness. Those biceps of his needed to come with a prior warning before they were unhoused. That too went for his veiny forearms.
Luckily for Poppy, she felt like death’s close second cousin so any ogling had to be shelved while she fought her way back to the mortal coil, one cup of coffee at a time.
“You got up then.”
“Looks like. Though, I’m still not sure if I’m awake, alive or on a mortuary slab.”
“How shitty do you feel?”
Aware he was coming toward her, she wished she looked better and felt better, at least so she could smile at her friend, but even her facial muscles hurt.
“Pretty much like poop.” She told him and gasped when he suddenly took hold of her face, tipped her head back and brushed the hair from her forehead. “Yeah, that’ll last a while, drink fluids.”
“Excuse me, unfamiliar touching, sir.”
She didn’t try to move his hands, mainly because the coldness of his palms felt exquisite against her hot cheeks and she listed forward for more of that relief.
He grinned and dropped his hands, moving around her to fix his own coffee.
“Unfamiliar, huh. That’s the way we’re playing it?”
“Playing what? I’m too hungover to play games, Tait. Maybe later.”
Though he didn’t say anything, he went about filling a big black mug with rich aromatic coffee, she noticed the smirk kicking up one end of his mouth and she suddenly got a funny feeling in her stomach.
“What am I playing?” She felt the need to ask.
“You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“Last night.”
Thoughts started to whirl and manifest, all tangled up in those hot as hell dreams she’d had.
She purposefully kept them out of her head for the main reason being the man in the starring role was standing in front of her and she didn’t want to react.
Her life was a mess, Tait had taken her in when he didn’t have to. She neede
d to find a way to pay him back, not stare at him with lewd thoughts.
“Far as I’m concerned, last night never happened.”
He grunted, sharp eyes on her.
She meant it. She was never drinking again. The odd wine was fine, but a half bottle of strong rum almost killed her, that was never happening ever again.
“Got it.” Why did his voice sound weird? “You’re starting at Paige’s place today, right?”
“Yes. I hope I don’t puke. Do you think she’d fire me if I did?”
Tait’s lips twitched. “You’ll be fine.”
“You know her well?”
“Not too well. But she’s a good woman, she was new in town once too, so she’ll help you out.”
“I’m going to work hard to pay you back, Tait. I know this is only part time, and I’ll need something better. But I won’t forget what you did for me.”
He did that manly grunt thing again with the cup up to his lips.
“Forget it.”
She blustered. “A person can’t just forget one hundred thousand dollars. I start to sweat when I think about it. Are you mad?”
“Not the last time I checked. Forget it, Poppy.” Moving around her, his shoulder grazed hers and without thought, her skin sizzled and she sucked in a mouthful of air. He looked down at her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I mean, I’m dying, but I’m fine.” Then added. “I’m still paying you back. It’ll probably take me five hundred years, but I’ll do it.”
“Make dinner,” he said. “That’s how you can pay me back.”
Poppy chuffed an incredulous laugh. Yeah, he was crazy. “Making food is not paying you back.”
“It’s what I want.”
“But…”
“End of, Poppy. Don’t you need to get ready?”
“Damn, I do. But we haven’t finished talking about this.”
His face said otherwise.
Stubborn man.
Who would do the things he had for her and not expect repaying? She thought on it some more while she dressed in a new pair of skinny jeans and a gorgeous off the shoulder pink top. It might be a little dressy for a first day at work, but she intended to make a good impression. And the better she looked, the less nervous she felt.
Tait gave her an up and down glance when she re-entered the living area.
When he licked his corner lip, she felt it in the pit of her stomach, like she could taste him there too.
“Am I too dressy?”
“No,” he said thickly.
“I want Paige to like me.”
“She will.”
At the front door, she fussed with the seam of her jeans and then cleaned off a scuff mark from her leather boots. Next went the hair check and when she started the routine all over again it was Tait’s hands stopping her that brought her head up. “You look fine, stop being nervous.”
“I’ve never had a job, Tait,” she confessed, ashamed of those words. “Not even babysitting or selling cookies. Nothing since leaving college with my business degree. Which was just a fat waste of time because daddy never intended for me to actually use it for anything.”
Shame staining her already pale face.
“Hey, stop.” grasping her chin he tipped up her face.
His eyes were so brilliantly blue she felt the power of them somewhere deep inside.
“Your parents aren’t here, Poppy. They got no influence on what you do from here on out, you understand? You make the choices; you make all the decisions to do with your life.”
She nodded, biting her lip nervously.
“Paige is going to like you. You’ll like the job and there’s nothing to be worried about.”
“Okay. Okay,” she repeated, but she still didn’t make a move to leave and Tait sighed, grabbed his jacket from the hook by the door. “Come on, I’ll walk with you.”
She was so immensely relieved; she didn’t even pretend that she didn’t want him to.
The coldness of the snow air hit Poppy full in the face once they were outside and she instinctively wrapped her hands around his arm. Her way of thinking was if she fell flat on her derriere, then she was taking him with her.
At least the cold air made her feel clear headed.
She talked all the way there and when they arrived at Sweets by Paige, he glanced through the window. “Go on in, have a good first day.”
“Hey, Tait?”
He sent her a look over his shoulder before he was ready to cross the street.
“Yeah?”
She grinned. “Thank you.”
She really owed him a heck of a lot.
“Was that Texas outside?” The first thing Paige Renner said when Poppy got out of the blizzard type coldness.
Poppy blinked, a little surprised.
The place smelled amazing. Serious sugar inducing goodness and she breathed deeply.
“Oh, yeah. He walked me down. I was a little nervous,” she confessed and Paige smiled sweetly. Poppy loved her pink braid.
“You’re dating Texas?”
If only, was her first thought. “No, he’s letting with stay with him for a while. I lived in New York.” And right there, in a gorgeous smelling bakery, to a woman who had pink hair and was wearing patterned tights—even before Poppy slid her coat off, she blurted out her whole sorry history.
Not leaving out the altar dash.
“In your wedding gown?” Paige’s eyes rounded and Poppy nodded vigorously while she tied her Sweets by Paige apron on.
“Wow. And I thought my amnesia story was a show stopper.” Chuckled Paige.
Poppy learned all about that in the next hour while Paige went through what she wanted her to do.
She was instantly relaxed with the other woman and it made her day go all the faster because they got on like a house on fire.
By the end of the day, Poppy was exhausted. She didn’t know selling baked goods would be so tiring or complicated. She was basically in charge of the counter while Paige baked in the back. Restocking was time consuming, especially when the bakery got really busy.
It was while she was cleaning off the counter spaces that the bell over the door rang and loud bustling male voices came with it.
She turned startled eyes to see six of the biggest bikers she’d ever seen.
Instantly on alert, she went through the gambit of what she’d do if they wanted to rob the place.
“Well you’re new.” One of them said, leaning both his elbows on the glass counter, leering at her with a grin on his chiseled face. He had brown hair caught up in a bun at the top of his head and stubble decorated his jawline.
“Down, boy.” Another one cackled.
“I..er… we’re closed, sorry.”
“If I’d known you were on the menu, I would have been here much sooner,” the same man smirked, looking her up and down in a way she didn’t care for.
She ended up reversing into the back room.
They weren’t just scary.
They were wholly terrifying.
Big.
Loud.
Boisterously unpredictable.
“Paige…there’s a lot of bikers in front.” She whispered and didn’t expect the huge smile to cover her boss’ face.
Following her out, it was second later she saw Paige leaning over the counter meeting the mouth of one of the bikers, his hand around the back of Paige’s neck, possessively close.
Oh. Well. Then.
Her fear downgraded several levels, but she still watched the men with wary eyes.
“Paige, how much for her? Can I get her wrapped up to go?” Smirking guy winked. Poppy shrank back.
Paige laughed and turned to smile at Poppy, silently letting her know everything was okay. “Behave, Arson, or you won’t get any cream puffs ever again.”
The man slapped a hand over his heart. “Reaper, your wife is being mean to me.”
The rowdiness continued while the men fell on the leftover bakes Paige brought o
ut from under the counter display. Paige let her go and Poppy sneaked out of the back with a short exhale.
Those were Tait’s friends?
Did he act the same way when he was part of their MC?
She was still finding it perplexing how the Tait she knew would join a club like that.
Was he just as fearful as the men inside?
He was the man who’d driven across the country to buy the freedom of a woman he didn’t even know and then let that same woman take over his home, plus he bought her clothes and food and asked for nothing in return.
But before she’d even taken a step in the direction of home, the cobwebs of her lingering hangover lifted and she was barraged with memories of last night and each one brought her to an embarrassing halt.
Oh.
My.
God.
She’d made out…furiously… with Tait.
She remembered it all.
The feel of him under her.
The taste inside his mouth.
The way he’d gripped her hair and kissed her back.
He’d kissed her back!
Poppy remembered now why she was drinking.
She’d overheard Tait and his friend talking about how he was still in love with Addison and Poppy got all in her jealous feelings about it.
Having never been drunk before, she didn’t know she’d turn into a predatorial floozy.
No wonder he was asking her about playing games earlier.
Her face was beet red when she called him.
“Hey.”
“I’m so sorry I attacked you last night.” She blurted, only to hear his laugh a second later.
“Remembered huh?”
“I wouldn’t blame you for kicking me out.”
“You on the way home?”
Maybe. She might just toss herself into the gutter.
She told him yes, and they hung up because she was much too shrouded in shame to listen to his laughter for another second.
She was jealous of Addison.
Now she remembered what she’d heard, it stayed on her mind while she dragged her feet through the sidewalk slush back to his loft.
Why would he still want his brother’s wife?