by Jenika Snow
“Fuck, Poppy.” The pain from his viselike grip on her waist would leave bruises, but it made her feel all the more claimed by him. He had her pushed so far over the back of the couch that the tips of her toes barely touched the floor, but that was okay because Blake kept her grounded. The tip of him hit her cervix and a sting of pain rang throughout, but that feeling was overshadowed by everything else he did to her. “Hang on, baby.” He moved her slightly, so he had her ass in the position he wanted. The new angle had him hitting a spot inside of her that sent fireworks careening into the tips of her fingers and the soles of her feet.
Her orgasm came upon her so quickly that it blinded her with its force. Poppy was aware of Blake pumping into her several more times, and of the filthy, erotic things he grunted out with each thrust. He groaned out as he came, his erection swelling even more inside of her. The awareness of being filled to the brim with Blake’s dick was powerful. They tried to catch their breath as neither moved from the compromising position. He pulled out of her, and the sense of loss became so great her beat skipped a beat. What they had done was not about making love. It was raw, blazing, passionate, and hungry. It was about living and being in love, about giving up their preconceived notions of what they should and shouldn’t do. It was everything Poppy needed.
Blake gently cleaned her up and carried her to his room. Immediately she curled into the warmth and safety his body provided.
“I love you, Blake.”
He kissed the top of her head and inhaled deeply. “And I love you, sweetheart.”
If only reality wasn’t around them Poppy could imagine they lived in their own little bubble of bliss.
Chapter Twelve
One week later
“You’ve misclassified the Abies grandis.” Maggie tossed a file in front of Poppy and glared down at her. The thin wire-framed glasses were perched on her nose, a nose that looked like a bird’s beak.
“Are you sure?” Poppy picked up the folder and scanned the printout.
Maggie snorted. “I think I would know.” Her finger jutted in front of Poppy’s eyes and forced her to learn back slightly. “You see this?” Poppy looked at the line in reference.
“Yeah?”
Maggie looked at her incredulously. “You’ve placed it with the Picea pungens. These are completely different classifications. By placing them together you could have compromised our data.”
Poppy knitted her brows together at the way Maggie said it, like there was a lot more to them then what met the eye. She stared at the woman, trying to gauge what really went on in her head. Blake was collecting samples, so Poppy knew she had a bit of privacy with the woman. No point in having Blake hear their conversation, especially with what Poppy planned on asking her.
“Maggie?” The woman cocked a dark eyebrow at her. She couldn’t help but feel like a child being reprimanded for something she didn’t do. Suddenly Poppy felt nervous broaching the question, but she knew she had to know where Maggie stood when it came to Blake. “Do you have feelings for Blake?” Poppy lifted her gaze to the other woman and was surprised by the expression on her face: narrowed eyes, nostrils flaring, and face turning pink.
“How in the hell is that any of your business?”
Whoa. “I meant no harm. It’s just, well—” Words suddenly failed her.
“Listen, just stick to doing your job. I was with Blake well before you decided to come here, so let’s just keep the relationship between us purely business.” Maggie snatched the folder out of Poppy’s hands and continued to glare down at her. The hostility was so thick that Poppy couldn’t breathe. “The fact you show up here, out of the blue, and act so disgustingly inappropriate with Blake leads me to believe you have no decency or self-respect.” She all but snarled the last part. “Blake is not up for discussion. Can you fix the mistake you made, please?” She said the last word a little too saccharine. Maggie turned and left Poppy feeling dumbstruck.
For several long moments Poppy didn’t do anything but stare at the open doorway. What in the hell had just happened? The fact that Maggie’s reaction had been especially strong told Poppy all she needed to know. The woman was clearly hung up on Blake. She really didn’t know how to feel about that.
What she did know was she had no intentions of informing Blake of the conversation, or lack thereof, she had with Maggie. The woman already didn’t like her, most likely from the extreme PDA she witnessed, and having Blake know wouldn’t help anything. Maybe there had been more to their one night then Blake let on? Clearly after months Maggie still pined over him. Pushing her embarrassment over her confrontation with Maggie, and her clear misunderstanding about classifications, Poppy turned back to her computer and fixed the mess she caused, but that was about all she could fix.
****
Blake had left Poppy in bed, deliciously warm and snuggled against his pillow. Guilt and disgust over what he was doing were a constant whisper from over his shoulder. He told himself he wasn’t doing this to be sneaky or dishonest, but it didn’t matter how many times he repeated that in his head, because he knew it to be the truth. He parked the Yukon in front of the small café right outside of town. The warm glow of the lights drowned out some of the darkness that settled around him.
The dashboard showed ten P.M. It was late, but the little café was open all night. Not too unusual since a lot of shipments came and went from Blithe at all hours of the night, and several businesses, especially ones on the outskirts of town, took advantage of the steady flow of dock workers.
He saw Maggie’s Blazer parked off to the side, but the vehicle was empty. After turning the SUV off, he sighed in defeat. These impromptu meetings were getting fucking ridiculous, and today he planned on setting things straight with Maggie. Even now he could hear her voice in his head, from two weeks ago when she had caught him with Poppy in his office. Of course it had been his fault that Maggie had seen him all but fucking Poppy in his office, but dammit he hadn’t been able to help himself. The way Poppy looked at him from across the room that day, all hot and needy and wanting him, had snapped what little restraint he had.
She had been so close, so fucking close to letting go right on top of him, and then Maggie had come in. Then when he tried to do damage control Maggie had flipped the fucking switch. She was blackmailing him, and today he would put it to rest. Blake wasn’t about to be cornered by a woman who couldn’t let go that one night they shared. The fact she threatened to report him, which would end up cutting off his funding, had him seeing red. She didn’t care that running her mouth would have affected her, too, not when her motives were to get him to be with her.
Blake rubbed his eyes and tried to calm himself as his anger built. When he dropped his hand and looked out the windshield he wasn’t surprised to see Maggie standing in front of the Yukon. It wasn’t lost on him that something was definitely missing from her, something that would have made her see that all of this shit was wrong. Today he would put an end to it, even if that meant his funding got cut off and his research couldn’t continue. He was wrong for having anything sexual with Poppy at the office, and wrong for waiting so damn long to set Maggie straight, but things were going to change.
Poppy had told her mother about them, and here he was keeping this from her.
His sweet and innocent Poppy, who didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark and betrayed, was the only light in his life. She had already been through so much, and he was just adding to that. Guilt that he had been seeing Maggie behind her back was a constant companion to him. It didn’t matter that he did nothing physical with Maggie, because staying at work late just so Maggie could talk with him, going to these ridiculous meetings at cafés and restaurants, was just as bad as touching his co-worker. Maggie lifted her hand in a wave, and her smile grew slow and appeared satisfied. She thought she had him by the balls, and would just string him along until she could get whatever it was she was aiming for in this sick and twisted situation.
Blake climbed out of the SUV a
nd walked toward her. She immediately reached for him, like she always did, but he deftly moved out of her grasp. “Come on. Let’s just get this over with.” He pulled open the café’s door and stalked inside. The scents of coffee and pastries wafted around him as he searched for an empty table. He sat in the booth, and she slid in the seat in front of him. Already he itched to leave.
“What’s the matter?” She always sounded so sweet and sincere, but he could see the plotting going on behind her dark eyes. She reached across the table and tried to touch his hands that were folded together. He moved them onto his lap.
“Maggie—” The waitress arrived and cut him off. After they ordered and she disappeared to get their drinks, he hurried forward. “Listen, these phone calls from you at all hours have to stop. These meetings have to stop.” Her face revealed no expression, and he breathed out. He would have rather she scream and yell at him, instead of this apathetic personality she displayed. When she did tear her eyes away from him it was to look at her lap.
“I’ve been enjoying your company, Blake. I thought you reciprocated those feelings as well.” She always sounded so clinical. “Is this because Poppy is making a big deal about us seeing each other?”
“We aren’t seeing each other, Maggie, and no, she isn’t making a big deal about anything because I haven’t told her anything.” The smile she gave him was downright blinding.
“So you don’t want her to know about us?”
Blake exhaled and leaned back against the booth seat. “Maggie, I really don’t know how many times I’ve explained this to you. We are not seeing each other. I shouldn’t even be here right now talking about this because there isn’t,” he gestured between them, “an ‘us’.” He leaned forward and hoped the seriousness of what he was about to say really cemented how he felt. “It’s wrong that you are trying to corner me into something that isn’t going to happen, and it’s wrong that I’ve went along with it for this long.”
Brow furrowed, Maggie said, “So you haven’t been enjoying our visits? I thought you enjoyed them as much as I have.”
Was nothing he said getting through to her? “Maggie, this thing you think is going to happen between us won’t.” Blake said it gently, but he needed her to know he was serious.
She leaned back in her seat, and looked like she wanted to respond, but the waitress took that moment to bring their drinks. Once she left the silence filled the space between them. Maggie’s stare was trained on him and calculating.
“So, you must not care about all the work we have accomplished or the grant money that helps us achieve that.” Maggie showed no emotion and brought her coffee cup to her lips.
“You know I care about the work we do here, but blackmailing me for something that you thought you saw is immoral.” A hint of emotion played across her face. Her jaw tightened just a fraction, and the corner of her eye twitched.
“What I think I saw? You had Miss Matthews on your lap and were doing inappropriate things in the office. How is that proper?”
Is she fucking kidding? “Really, Maggie? How proper is telling me if I’m not available when you need me you’re going to the Head of the department and telling him what I did on company time?” Still she didn’t crack that damn façade she held so close. “I’ve known you for years, worked beside you tirelessly, but the woman that I see right now is not the Maggie I know. You are calling me constantly, taking me away from important things to come here and talk about nothing at all. You tell me you need help after hours in organization and filing the specimens, yet all you do is grill me on my relationship with Poppy.”
“Please, Blake, don’t say stuff like that. I’m still the Maggie you know.” Her eyes were big, pleading, but he had seen too many shifts in her emotions to know what was real and what wasn’t. When he didn’t respond she narrowed her eyes and thinned her lips. “You think what you have with her is a relationship?” She started to laugh, but it held a strange note to it and sounded humorless. “Sleeping with a woman that’s only been here for what, a month, six weeks, is far from what I would consider a relationship.” She leaned forward and instantly looked so earnest. “I’ve been by your side for years, Blake, years. We share something special, don’t you see?”
He shook his head. This conversation had already veered way off course. “Poppy isn’t up for discussion.”
“No? It seems like she is the reason we’re even having this discussion.” Maggie’s voice dropped lower. “Seems she is the reason we are even in this situation to begin with.” Blake noticed how her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. This anger and sudden hostility he saw in Maggie were new to him. The years he had spent with Maggie prior to Poppy coming to Blithe had been anything but memorable. She was quiet and reserved, and certainly didn’t show any kind of anger. The woman in front of him was like a stranger.
“I want to know why you’re willing to give up everything for this woman.” The switch in her flipped again, and she was once again calm and seemingly unaffected.
Blake sure as hell wasn’t going to talk about Poppy. “Listen, I guess I just need you to know that this is over. I’m all about keeping our work relationship professional, but what you think is going on here, won’t happen.” He dug out a few bills and tossed them to the table. Blake stood and said, “You do whatever you have to do. If that means telling the Department about what you saw Poppy and me doing, then so be it.” Blake knew it was so much more than what Maggie saw. She looked for any excuse to bridge the gap between co-workers and lovers.
He turned to leave, but her hand shot out and gripped his forearm. “What about us, Blake?”
He gripped her hand and pried it off his arm. “There is no us, Maggie. I’m sorry.” He turned to leave, knowing there was only one place he’d rather be, one person he’d rather see. Poppy’s face flashed through his mind, and he let the image and thought of her soothe him. When he got in the Yukon he pulled out his cell and dialed her number. It was late, but he wanted to hear her voice. It rang and rang, and when he thought she wouldn’t answer her sleepy voice filled the line.
“Poppy, love, I’m sorry to wake you.” Shuffling sounded on the other end.
“Blake? Where are you?” He had left her a note, but clearly she hadn’t woken up since he left and found it. He didn’t want to go through all of this over the phone. He had so much to explain to her, and he needed to do that in person.
“I’m sorry I’m not there, sweetheart. I had to meet up with Maggie.”
“Maggie?” She sounded confused but awake.
“Yeah, but I’ll explain everything once I’m home.” Letting his head fall back against the headrest, Blake closed his eyes and exhaled. “I’ve caused a big mess, baby.” The sound of her breathing calmed him further, and he knew that there was no other woman for him, no other person who could heal his broken heart and bring his life meaning like she could.
A beat of silence passed, and she said, “Okay, but please be careful driving.” Blake looked out his window, watched the steady fall of snow around the vehicle and smiled.
“Always, sweetheart. I have something very important waiting at home for me.” More shuffling on the other end and he pictured her naked in the bed. “I love you, sweetheart, and I’ll be home.”
“I love you, too, Blake, so much.”
And with those words he knew that no matter what happened in his life everything would be okay as long as Poppy was by his side. He cranked the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The sound of the windshield wipers swishing back and forth filled the interior. The snow started to come down harder and cover the road, but he was used to the inclement weather. Bright lights flashed in his rearview mirror and he adjusted it to lessen the glare.
Swish, swish, swish. The sound of the wipers moving back and forth had an almost lulling quality. The car behind him got closer, and closer, and he looked in the mirror. The roads were far too slick and dangerous for someone to be driving so close to him, but he refused to speed up and p
ut some distance between them. It wasn’t lost on him that the car made the same turns as he did, and made sure to keep up with him. This far into town meant the roads were dead, especially when he turned onto the back road that would lead him closer to his house. That road had practically no traffic during the day, and zero this late at night.
It could have been merely a coincidence that the car traveled the same route as he, but in Blake’s gut he knew that wasn’t the case. As if the driver had read his thoughts, they slammed into the back of his SUV, causing the wheels to catch a patch of black ice and swerve to the thick line of trees to his right. “Fuck.” Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Blake breathed out and focused on keeping the car steady. He reached for his phone, ready to call the cops, when the car slammed into him again. The vehicle jerked to the side, and the phone slipped from his hands to fall to the ground. He couldn’t control the vehicle as it spun and skidded right for the bank of trees. The tires slid on the snow-covered ground as it barreled to the side. The force and momentum in which he lost control had the trees rushing at him fast. The last thing that came to his mind was Poppy, and how she was going to lose someone else in her life.
****
Another look out the living room window showed the same thing: a steady dump of snow that only seemed to increase in activity with each passing second. Poppy continued to pace the length of the living room. It had been over an hour since she had spoken to Blake. The roads were bad, but even so it shouldn’t have taken him this long to get home, even if he was at one of the cafés on the outskirts of town. She had called the Blithe police because her worst fears came crashing through her. All she could see in her mind was twisted metal, snow falling, and blood covering the ground. Her nails were stumps on the tips of her fingers as she continued to chew on them. The police had been kind enough, but she hadn’t heard back from them. That could be could or bad. Again she tried to call Blake’s phone, and again it rang until it went to voicemail. Fear and panic seized her chest as the worst case scenarios played through her mind. No, she couldn’t think like that.