His heart skipped.
“I know it’s date three. I reacted the way I did because in this moment when you were angry, I didn’t stand there and see a killer. I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid I’ll never see you again. I was afraid you’d die on that mountain, and today, I was afraid you’d get hit by that car. I don’t want to protect you. I want to love you. It’s different, and I just realized it.”
He didn’t know what to say.
Other than family, other than Emma, he had never had a woman say she loved him.
“I love you, Dimitri Gideon, and I can’t arrest you because I don’t see what you did as bad. You were saving people, and you always do. You saved me. You gave me something so precious. You gave me the truth. Well, I’m going to give you the same.”
He held his breath.
“I’m in love with you. I have been since I kissed you on that mountain. Your soul isn’t dead. It was asleep. It recognized mine, and I don’t care about the hookers or Marissa Pierce. I only care that in this moment, you are worthy of my love. It may not be much. I’m just some street cop. I’m just some woman you stumbled across, but I won’t hurt you. I will love you with everything I have, and I accept you. I love you, Dimitri Gideon. You are safe with me.”
He glanced over his shoulder and there were tears in his eyes.
Poppy kissed him.
Her mouth found his, and she controlled the kiss. She understood that no one had ever cherished him, loved him, or wanted him like a partner, lover, and someone who saw him.
So she’d do just that.
Poppy knew that pain. It was the story of her life too. Her mother had chosen sex over her own children, she’d been abused in a foster home.
Poppy knew pain.
She also knew love healed.
So, here went nothing.
Keeping her mouth sealed to his, she climbed into his lap and kept kissing him. She didn’t let him stop. Poppy could feel his body relaxing, as her hands stroked flesh. They went from his chest to his back, touching with soft fingers all the wounds that were there.
Dimitri didn’t stop her.
He was astounded that someone was touching him and that she’d told him she loved him.
He didn’t know if he could believe it.
When she got off his lap, she broke free from the kiss. Staring into his eyes, she held out her hand.
“Let me show you.”
He took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet. Her hand went to his shirt, and she pulled it from his body. Her fingers explored, running gently over that scar on his shoulder where he’d been shot. It was still pink and raw.
Gently, she left kisses across it.
Poppy felt the tremor.
She knew no one had ever kissed his wounds, gave him love, or tenderness.
So, she would give him that.
Tonight, she’d give him softness to fill his soul.
Moving behind him, she stared at his back. It was even more horrifying in the light of the room. She ran her fingers over it, and with her mouth, she left kisses on each and every slash to his skin.
As a boy, it had to be so painful, so horrifying, and so unbearable. So, Poppy gave him that love, so he could feel like someone cared that he’d been hurt.
Because someone had.
Her.
Poppy cared.
When she was done, she moved to stand in front of him, and there was so much in his eyes.
“I love your body,” she admitted. Running her fingers down his chest, she gently touched him. Dimitri wouldn’t want rough, violent fornication.
He’d need sweet, gentle, and love.
She touched the top button of his jeans. She expected him to stop her, but he didn’t. He watched with curiosity.
So, she continued.
When she had them opened, she slid her hands into his pants and shoved them and his boxers to the floor. Since he was still wearing his shoes, she had him sit.
He obeyed as he watched her.
He couldn’t think.
He couldn't breathe.
She was touching him so gently that it was filling his body with peace. He was curious what she’d do.
How far she’d go.
Then she did something that stole his heart. Poppy headed away from him to the door. She closed it but left it open a crack.
“In case the kids need us.”
In that moment, he was lost.
This time in love.
Dimitri knew she was the one earlier, but now…he was pretty damn sure Poppy was meant to be his.
That compassion…
She stood in front of him.
“Let me love you,” she said. “Let me give you peace for the first time in your life.”
His heart skipped.
“Please save me.”
She touched his cheek.
Dimitri watched as she pulled off her sweater and tossed it on the floor beside his polo. She undid her jean button, and then shoved them off her body. As she stood there in front of him in her bra and panties, he looked at her in love.
She was sure of it. She could read people fairly well, and his face said it all.
Poppy went to her knees.
Dimitri watched her take his erection in her hand and stroke him. He was rock-hard, and he desperately wanted her mouth on him.
With the tip of her tongue, she teased the head of his dick until he moaned.
Poppy wanted to please him. She’d give him everything she had to give him peace. She’d love him until she couldn't love him anymore.
She took him in her mouth, and he leaned back.
He began whispering in Russian.
She understood most of it. He was begging her not to stop. He was begging her to fill that void, so she did.
She gave him all she had, sliding his erection in and out of her mouth until she felt his whole body shake.
He warned her that he was close.
She didn’t stop.
Poppy kept going, pushing him over the edge and into one hell of an orgasm.
Dimitri came hard. It had been a while, so he couldn't fight it. He couldn't do battle with that demon too.
He let her take him off the edge, and when he fell, he could feel her moving back up his body, leaving a trail of kisses in her wake.
He let her touch him.
He let her explore.
When he opened his eyes, she was staring down at him.
“Now comes my favorite part.”
He waited.
“We just hold each other and know that in this moment, I love you, Dimitri. If there’s never anything more, you had my love. You can never say that you were never someone’s special moment. You were mine. You were cherished, you were adored, and you mattered. In this moment, you were mine.”
His heart kicked.
“Oh, Poppy.”
That was what he needed.
There were tears in her eyes.
“It’s never pity, Dimitri. I love the man you are. You may be a killer, but you slayed the fear in me. You saved me, and that makes you the best kind of killer. An honorable one who loves his family.”
He rolled and placed her beside him.
He wanted to share the same words, but he had one last thing he needed.
His kids.
He needed to see her with his kids.
“Want to cuddle?” she asked, willing to take one for the team and give him more affection. “I’ll spoon you. Or you can spoon me and check out my ass.”
He laughed.
“I have something else in mind,” he said, finding her mouth with his.
He kissed her, and it was filled with need.
When her hand found his erection, and he was still hard, she broke the kiss.
“Yippee!”
He laughed.
He’d never laughed during sex.
This was new.
“That’s my line,” he said, kissing his way down her body. He slid his hands behind her back
and unhooked her bra. When he pulled it free, he worked on her nipples, spending time licking, teasing, and pleasuring her.
Her quick gasp of pleasure was more than enough to drive him wild.
“Oh, Poppy, this can be addictive,” he admitted.
She couldn't speak. His hand was sliding down her torso, and he was exploring, but not beneath her panties. He teased her through them, and she shook.
“I love how you feel,” he admitted. “Your skin is so soft, so smooth, and you taste like peaches.”
“It was some lotion in the penthouse bathroom. I think it was Emma’s.”
He was going to buy her a vat of it, and he was going to make sure she had plenty on hand. It was the best-tasting thing in the world.
Dimitri went lower and lower.
He slid down her body until he was at her belly button. With his tongue, he teased a line toward her panties.
She held her breath.
When he got to them, he didn’t pull them down. Instead, he found the wetness and added to it with his tongue.
She gasped as he found her clit through her panties and began feasting on her.
He worked that sensitive bud, and it was even more erotic when he did it through the panties.
She shook.
“Dimitri!” she hissed, as she came.
He watched her shake, and as she came, he tugged the panties off to find her wet, ready, and bare.
He growled low, so hungry to taste her again. Instead of waiting, he dove in, burying his mouth in that wetness.
It was addictive.
He couldn't hold back. With his hands, he held her open, and with his mouth, he devoured and forced her back up and to the pinnacle.
She teetered, and he felt that delicious little bud swell. With his tongue, he forced her over the edge, and into the pleasure again.
She came with his name on her lips and her wetness on his.
It was Heaven.
Every woman before her fell away. They disappeared, and there was only Poppy.
Sliding up her body, he knew he didn’t have any condoms there. He didn’t fornicate in his nest, and for the first time, he didn’t care.
He slid his erection through that wetness and found her open for him. Dimitri slid home.
Nothing had ever felt so good.
He’d never been in a woman bare. He’d never slid into that tight sheath without a barrier to protect himself.
With Poppy, he didn’t want to protect himself. He wanted to please them both.
So.
This was love.
In his head, there were the fantasies he only kept to himself. They weren’t of wild sex, orgies, or parties with sex kittens. They were of a wife—a pregnant wife of his own. They were of family, home, and a baby.
He buried himself in her, and when she opened her eyes, he began moving.
He moaned as her body rippled, gripping him and trying to lure him to the edge. Their first time would need patience, effort, and all he could give her.
He began moving, slowly building the speed. As she stared up at him, their eyes met and locked.
They did the dance.
Her legs came around his hips, and he felt safe. He moved into her, picking up the speed.
Poppy slid her hands up his body, into his hair, and to the back of his neck.
“Oh God!” she whispered, as he focused on that spot. He’d found it, and he was going to have her fall for him.
She came.
She came with him in her, him taking her back up, and him holding her locked to him.
He struggled to fight that wave of orgasm, as her body begged his to tumble with him.
As he moaned her name, he stared at the headboard, and then pulled out of her body.
“I want you from behind,” he said, his accent thick.
She wouldn’t stop him. He could have her hanging by a toe from his balcony. It would be worth it.
He pulled her up, turned her around, and then pressed her to his headboard.
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I loved your ass,” he whispered in her ear.
He nudged her, finding his way back into that wet warmth. Then he began moving, as she was trapped between him and that wall.
Never had he done this.
Sex was about getting off.
Oh, and he would, but Dimitri was enjoying that she was giving him all of her. He stared down at her ass, and it was spectacular. It was full, there were dimples on those delectable cheeks.
It was the most amazing sight. Even better was him sliding into her from behind.
He closed the gap, wrapping his arm around her body to find her clit. His head was on her shoulder, his mouth by her ear.
She was trapped.
He stroked with erection and fingers.
“Cum with me,” he whispered. “Fall with me into that pleasure. I want you to fall into that bliss with me in your body.”
She gasped as he roughly stroked her.
She felt the tremors.
“Mine,” he whispered. “I’ll kill anyone who touches you,” he vowed.
She shook.
He couldn’t hold on anymore. His body was weak. The tightness of that angle and her body calling to him with that siren’s song did him in.
They came.
Dimitri exploded in her, filling her.
Poppy ruptured apart, trapped between his hard body and his headboard.
The world around them exploded.
Poppy felt herself falling. She felt herself tumbling to the bed with him. When she landed, he was still in her. She was still wrapped in his embrace.
“Stay with me,” he whispered.
She knew how special that was.
“Yes, Dimitri. I’ll stay as long as you want me here,” she promised.
“Forever,” he whispered. “I’ll want you forever.”
Poppy only hoped.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Oh, she was going to be in for one hell of a surprise. She was going to come home eventually, and when she did, she’d find the present.
It was perfect for her.
He’d picked it with such love and care.
It was ideal for a filthy, whore.
As he crept into her apartment, leaving the gift, he rifled through her things.
Her panty drawer was his favorite little place to seek those treasures.
When he pulled out a thong, he shook his head in disgust. His sweet Eloise shouldn’t be wearing these things for anyone else. She should only be wearing them for him.
Tsk.
Tsk.
Now that he saw how big of a cheating whore she was, he’d have to make sure she paid.
With her pathetic, slut life.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Wednesday Morning
Poppy knew someone was watching her, and she knew it wasn’t going to be Dimitri. She could feel him breathing on the back of her neck, and the person checking her out was standing in front of her.
That meant one of two possibilities.
Sam.
Petra.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to see who was watching her, and there stood his daughter.
She was holding her stuffed dog and watching her with the same aqua eyes. From the clock on the nightstand, she could see it was barely six thirty in the morning.
Poppy lifted her head.
Immediately, the little girl motioned for her to follow her. She headed toward the door, stopped, waved, and waited.
Poppy looked back at Dimitri.
He was asleep.
They’d made love through the night, and she was three days past exhausted. When he didn’t move, she sat up, dropped her feet onto the floor, and grabbed his polo shirt. Pulling it on, she followed the little girl.
They both padded barefoot down the hall and to the kitchen. Poppy knew where this was heading.
“What do you need?” she asked, as the child came to a stop in front of the
refrigerator. Immediately, she pointed up to the colorful box there.
“Cereal?” she asked, touching the box.
Petra clapped.
“Red.”
The box was, indeed, red, so she figured she was on the right track.
Pulling it down, she wasn’t sure what to do next.
“Do you want milk?”
The girl looked at her and said nothing. It was kind of eerie with aqua green eyes—Dimitri’s eyes.
She tried it in Russian.
Still, the little girl looked at her.
Poppy opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. The girl didn’t respond.
She searched for a bowl and poured the cereal into it and added the milk. She found a spoon and put it in the bowl.
The girl climbed onto the stool and sat there staring at it like she’d never encountered it before.
Okay, this was interesting.
Poppy picked up the spoon and tried to offer her some. She shook her head.
Poppy tasted it.
“Mmmmmm.”
The child opened her mouth and she fed her the cereal. She would only eat if Poppy had some too.
“You are just like your father. He’s trying to fatten me up too,” she teased.
She handed the girl the spoon.
“You’re a big girl. You can feed yourself. Show me.”
Petra began eating.
“Good job, babe,” Sam said, heading in. “She is hard to get to eat. My sister, Kat, thinks it’s because she’s never had free access to food. She needs to feel like it’s okay for her to eat or she’ll be punished.”
That was so sad.
It broke her heart.
Immediately, Poppy wanted to protect the child. No little one should feel that way.
“Babe, huh?”
Sam climbed onto the stool.
“Yes, babe. We meet again. Welcome to my crib. Want to play video games?” he asked.
She laughed.
“Well, stud, I have to work today. Maybe on the weekend,” she offered. “I’ll kick your butt too. I am a mean video gamer.”
He gave her his most suave smile.
“It’s a date. Can I have some cereal? I like a babe who can cook.”
She laughed and made him a bowl of cereal.
“I don’t cook. You’ve found the wrong babe, stud. I suggest you look at a cooking school.”
Mob Justice Page 38