“I wouldn’t say you’ve made it easy.” To prove his point, he tightened his hold on her and brought her around so she faced him. Their hips pressed close together. She tried to wriggle away.
“You didn’t say anything about mauling when I agreed to this.” She continued wriggling. “Quit it,” she whispered.
He moved his head just before she banged hers into his chin. “Quit what?” he teased.
“We’re not dating, remember?”
“I remember.” But he didn’t loosen his grip. She was slippery and would scoot away if given the slightest opportunity. He knew his mother had one eye on them. All he needed was for her to see Poppy publicly end things. He’d spend the rest of the week fending off his mother’s prying questions as to why things hadn’t worked out.
“Then stop crushing me. I can’t breathe.” He wasn’t sure if she was being truthful, but he eased up a little. She made a big show of inhaling, but didn’t dart away. He figured that was a win.
Emmy and Jamie stared out at the lake, when they weren’t staring into each other’s eyes, and eventually called out they were heading back to the house because Emmy was cold. His parents followed suit.
Beck watched Poppy watch them. When they moved out of sight, she tried to shake Beck off again. But he was an immovable object. He could manage her weak attempts with one hand.
“What is the matter with you?” she asked once it became clear she wasn’t getting away from him quite so easily.
“What do you mean?” He played dumb and turned her in his arms so they faced each other again. “All my parts are in exactly the right places.” He leaned toward her so she could check for herself.
“That is not what I meant.” She wedged her elbow between her body and his so he couldn’t press up against her. “Why are you trying to convince everyone we’re dating?”
“That was the agreement.”
“No, the agreement was that I would act as a buffer and you would help me get some time with Jamie. A point at which you failed miserably.”
Beck didn’t think he’d failed miserably. He’d been the one to suggest Jamie head down to the dock to take a look at the view, and then casually mentioned to Emmy it might be chilly with the wind blowing. He’d even tried to prevent them all from coming down, but once his mother had mentioned going and his father had agreed, there had been no way to stop the entire group from making the trek.
But he shrugged in the face of her complaint. “If you think you can manage to get the time with Jamie on your own, that’s fine.”
It was a power play. A subtle one, but a play nonetheless. If she thought she could manage this on her own, she would never have joined forces with him.
“Maybe I will.” She crossed her arms and shot him a challenging look.
He recognized her bluff. Beck had seen enough of them in boardrooms to recognize the signs. The way she held his gaze without even blinking was wholly unnatural and not something a confident person did. If they were to shake hands, she’d probably try to squeeze hard enough to rub his bones together. Plus, she had a pinched curve to her lips and held herself stiffly as though waiting for the anvil to drop on her head.
“Okay,” Beck acceded to her statement. “Then I guess this is it. Good luck.” He stepped back and removed his arms from her, pleased when panic flashed across her face before she replaced it with a tired, been-there-seen-it-all smirk.
“Are you forgetting that you need me to keep your mother from shoving you and Grace into a rushed engagement? You’re trying to fake me out,” she said, taking a step toward him, “but it isn’t going to work.”
“I’m not trying to fake anyone out. It’s only a week. I can put up with anything for a week.” True, but he didn’t want to. This was much more fun. He met her eyes long enough to convince her and took another step toward the house.
She faltered, but recovered with a quick shake of her head as she followed him. “I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want.” He moved down the steps, but instead of taking the path back to the house, stepped onto the small sandy beach.
“Okay, fine.” She charged after him, waving the shoes she still carried. “I still need your help.”
He stopped and faced her. “And what are you going to do for me?”
“I already said I would help with your mother, and I think I got off to a pretty good start today. By the way, what’s going on with your parents? I thought they were divorced.”
Beck stilled. “They are.”
“They don’t act like it.”
“I know.” The words tasted sour. They were acting like a couple of dopey teenagers.
“Are they getting back together?”
“I don’t know.” A lie. He did know. He grimaced. Not asking for outright confirmation didn’t change anything.
She put a hand on his arm. “Does it bother you?”
He didn’t want to think about it because thinking about it meant he had to face his own feelings. That he wasn’t happy about his parents reuniting. That he didn’t want to see them hurt each other again. “Yes,” he said quietly.
He wasn’t sure she heard him, until she slid her arm around his neck and hugged him. There was the sound of her shoes dropping on the sand and then the feel of her lean body wrapping around his. He liked that. Liked it a lot.
They stood that way for a minute. The wind tugged her hair loose so it draped across them. Her scent filled his head. Their bodies pressed together. Some of the ice inside him started to melt.
He pulled her closer. “It bothers me an awful lot.” And let his hands slide up her back to tangle in her glorious hair. “I’m practically devastated, but this helps. You know what else would help?”
“What?”
“A kiss.”
She shoved at his shoulders, but he wasn’t letting go. “Beck.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He dipped his head into the curve of her neck and inhaled. A quiver racked her body and caused an answering one in his own.
“I’m serious.” She turned her head so she could see him, but all that did was bring their lips within touching distance. “I was being supportive.”
“I like supportive.” He ran a hand down her side. Her dress was silky smooth. He moved his lips closer to hers. If he stuck out his tongue, he could lick her.
“About your parents.”
“I don’t want to talk about them.” He had other things on his mind, like seeing if Poppy’s skin felt as soft as her dress and if she tasted as good as he remembered.
“Well, I do.”
“No.” Her evasive games didn’t work on him. “You don’t. So about this help you’re offering me...”
“I’m not offering anything, you forced me,” she reminded him, though she hadn’t made a move to leave his embrace.
He took advantage of that by hauling her closer to him. “You don’t seem to mind.”
“I’m being polite.”
He laughed. “You’re going to have to do more than that.”
“Oh?” Her eyes were wide. If he stared into them long enough he could lose himself.
“You’re going to have to pretend you like me.” He ran a thumb over her lips.
There was a small pause with only the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the dock. And the occasional speedboat as someone zipped down the lake.
“I like you,” she finally said.
A knot he hadn’t known was in his belly began to unravel. “As I mentioned, my mother thinks we’re dating.” A notion he was increasingly glad he’d let her keep. He touched her lips again and Poppy’s eyes darkened. “You’ll have to play along.”
“Seems like quite a hardship.”
“Well, there’s something hard about it.”
“I’ve noticed.”
Beck laughed softly. “So you won’t have a problem acting like we’re dating?”
He watched the decision play out on her face. She wanted to say yes, that was obvious, but something held her back. He placed a finger on the spot below her ear and pressed gently. She sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes. He drew little circles over and over.
“Exactly what would dating include?”
“I’m open to suggestions.” He was open to pretty much anything at this point. He wanted to suck on that sensitive spot, but that was his money shot. And she hadn’t said yes yet.
She opened her eyes. His heart hitched. “And you’ll get me some time with Jamie?”
“Yes,” he agreed before she finished asking. “I’ll find some time for you to have a private conversation.” He didn’t know how, didn’t care. He needed her to say yes. It was vitally important to his health because he was pretty sure if she didn’t, he would be taking cold showers for the rest of his life. “In return, you’ll start showing just how much you really do like me.”
She nodded.
Good. He cupped her face, held her still. “I think we should seal it with a kiss.”
“We should what?” Her tongue flickered out to wet her lips.
“A kiss.” He ran a hand around the back of her neck. “That expression of interest that two people who are dating share.”
“You didn’t say anything about kissing.”
No, they’d just done everything leading up to it. The breeze kicked up again, blowing her hair around them and causing her skirt to twist around his legs.
“Part of the deal,” he told her. “But if you’re not into that...”
She wasn’t going to turn him down. She couldn’t. But she was thinking again. He knew from the small wrinkle between her eyes. “Just kissing?” she asked.
Beck flexed his fingers, massaging her neck, gratified when her eyelashes fluttered. She might not be ready to admit it, but she wanted the kissing as much as he did. “If that’s what you want.”
“Just kissing,” she repeated. This time it wasn’t a question. “And what if I don’t agree?”
He couldn’t believe she was bargaining. He struggled to keep his mind on the basics of their conversation and she hunted for loopholes. “I’m not going to force you,” he said. He couldn’t let her know she had all the power. But he did stroke that spot again.
She let her head lean to the side and Beck smiled. There it was. She was going to say yes. He started thinking of all the ways he planned to take full advantage of the just kissing portion of the agreement.
“So we have a deal?” She melted against him. He remembered how she used to do that. Let herself flow into him so their bodies touched everywhere.
And then she stepped back. He frowned. She smiled. Her eyes darted to the right and the path that led back to the house.
Beck rolled onto the balls of his feet. She was going to try to sidestep him. His frown morphed into a grin. So she wanted to play, did she? He was game for that. “Unless you think the kissing will be too much for you.” He nodded sagely. “Happens all the time. Women, they can’t resist me.”
She shook her head. “I’ll do my best to manage. But—” she pinned him with a look “—just kissing.” Then she smiled, catching him off guard long enough to make the dodge he’d been expecting.
Fortunately, he was tall, with a long reach, and he’d played football in college. His reflexes were still good. His hand snapped out and caught her by the wrist. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No.” She put her free hand on her hip. He supposed she thought she appeared intimidating. He wondered if she had any clue how she really looked standing there in her bare feet, her dress blown by the wind, showing off all her curves. “You didn’t say I had to kiss you now.”
He pointed to her shoes lying in a heap on the sand. “I meant those—” he hadn’t “—but I’m up for the kissing, too.”
Her eyes flicked toward the shoes, then her feet, then the wrist he still held. Beck tugged, slowly reeling her in, not letting the fact she tried to dig in her heels have any effect. The sand was useless for bracing anyway and he continued to pull until she pressed right up against him.
“You seem to be thinking a lot about the kissing.” He brushed away a piece of hair that had fallen across her cheek.
“I have not.” But her voice was breathless.
He rubbed both her arms as if to ward off a chill, but mostly to touch her and keep her tight to him. “Maybe we should get it out of the way so you can stop thinking about me that way. I’m not a piece of meat.”
“Nice try.” Her eyes met his, their bright blue sheen putting the sky to shame.
“I don’t hear you declining my generous offer.” And before she tried, he lowered his head and covered her lips with his.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“WHAT DO YOU—” Poppy started to ask him what he thought he was doing, but the words never came out, swallowed whole as his lips descended on hers.
Oh. My. God.
It had never been like this at sixteen. No way. She’d remember this. A decade, two decades, a lifetime wouldn’t have been long enough to erase this from her brain. It was as if he burned himself onto her. The searing heat, the way his tongue darted out to lick the inside of her mouth, making her body quiver and melt into his. She shuddered into him.
He growled, deep and possessive, which made her blood run even hotter. It was so, so wrong, but she didn’t care and she didn’t push him away.
Her hands clamped his shoulders, digging and marking. When his arm looped around her waist, slamming her body against his, she felt the outline of his muscles and couldn’t help herself from running her hands all over them.
Hard, hot, dangerous Beck.
It was difficult to breathe. She felt as if she was sinking or floating. Something. Obviously, she was having an out-of-body experience, since she had lost her mind. This was Beck. The same man who had crushed her at sixteen and would no doubt do the same to her twelve years later without even realizing it. Which meant she needed to be strong enough for both of them.
And she would. In another minute. Or twenty.
His fingers played over the spot on her neck, the one that made her wild. Her legs shook as the sensations rolled through her. Oh, she wanted his mouth on it, on her. And once he did that, she would put a stop to this.
Okay, she would kiss him until her heart returned to its normal speed. It couldn’t keep up this runaway-train momentum forever and it wouldn’t be safe to stop before then. Yes, she was doing it for her health. The shock might do permanent damage. So would the loss of his body against hers.
He gripped her thighs, wrenching her up into his arms. She grabbed at his shoulders again, first for balance then because she liked it. She shouldn’t like it. Somewhere in the functional part of her brain that recalled the awfulness of those weeks after he’d disappeared, a voice was telling her to take a step back and assess the situation. The voice sounded a lot like her high school gym teacher, Mrs. Parker, teaching them CPR.
She ignored it. No amount of prompting on Mrs. Parker’s part had been able to convince Poppy to put her mouth on the dummy where her classmates’ mouths had just been. And no amount of sound advice could convince her to let go of Beck.
Until he slid a hand beneath her skirt.
“Wait.” She shoved at him, craning her neck backward until his mouth lost suction on hers. “What are we doing?” she asked.
“Kissing.” He moved his head down to her exposed neck when she kept her lips out of reach.
“No.” She wished the word had come out more of a command than a moan, but she wasn’t about to be picky. It was a miracle she could speak at all with the way his lips moved across her neck.<
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He stopped, stared down at her. She swallowed and reminded herself she wasn’t here to get her sex on. She wasn’t even here to get her date on, the deal with Beck notwithstanding. She needed to make sure Jamie wasn’t making a mistake, and Beck was simply a tool to make that happen. Poppy gathered what was left of her resolve, put her hands on Beck’s chest and pushed.
He didn’t move, so she pushed harder. He growled. “What?”
“Stop.” She managed to put a bit of force behind the words this time.
“I already have.”
“You’re still holding me.” She frowned, pretending she didn’t like the way she felt pressed up against him. His hair was rumpled, messy, his shirt creased where she’d fisted her hands into it. Poppy was afraid to see what she looked like. Probably what she was. A woman who had been totally and thoroughly kissed.
“And you’re holding me,” he pointed out.
She glanced down, saw that her hands were wrapped up in his shirt again and let go. “Not anymore,” she told him, knowing her statement would have more power if she wasn’t shuddering like one of the tree leaves rustling around them.
“Don’t even try to tell me you didn’t like it.” He lowered her to her feet, but his body remained plastered against her.
She backed away from him. He came with her.
“That isn’t the point,” she said. She pulled his hands off her body, but he only stuck them somewhere else on her.
“That’s entirely the point.”
“No.” She had only two exit strategies. Shove hard and try to run, or play nice and convince him he wanted to let her go. Neither seemed promising. Or maybe it was just the kiss still fogging up her mind. She inhaled, trying to clear her thoughts. “This isn’t part of the deal.”
“You agreed to kissing.”
That hadn’t been kissing. That had been soul-searching, mind-blowing, change-your-life forevering. “Kissing only when necessary,” she clarified.
He smiled. “This is necessary.”
She stepped back instinctively and felt the cold water lap at her heels. It was the first time he didn’t step with her. Perhaps she’d found his weakness. She might get hypothermia, but it would be a small price to pay.
Not Another Wedding Page 7