Endless Obsession (39 page)

I look down at my shoes, holding in my pain at hearing Olivia talk. All I want is to love Poppy the way she deserves. I want to hold her at night, protect her from any pain, comfort her when I can’t, laugh with her, watch our babies grow in her belly, shop for furniture, bicker back and forth about stupid things, make up after arguments, and most of all, shower her with so much love she feels smothered.

“Thank you, Olivia.”

“But,” she says, poking me in my chest. I glare down at the finger, feeling that unpleasant feeling again being touched by someone other than Poppy. This time, Olivia ignores my dark look. “You hurt her again, I’ll come after you with everything I have. I’m a small woman, but I know people who aren’t that would do unspeakable things to you.”

I almost laugh, but the look in her eyes stops me. She looks like she’d try her best to skin me alive right now if I did; however, I can’t hold back my skeptical look.

“What?” she snaps. “You don’t believe me? My fiancé is Italian. You know how Italians are. And mine just happens to love me enough to do anything for me.”

My lips twitch before I can stop them. Before she can reprimand me, I hold my hand up. “I get it, but there’s no need. There’s nothing that could ever make me hurt Poppy again.”

“You better hope you’re right,” she says. I grit my teeth when she pats my chest as she takes a step back. Her grin says she knows what she’s doing. Before I forcefully remove her hand, she gets smart and drops it. “I’ll go let Mr. Ballard know. I’ll call him this afternoon with another appointment.”

She turns on her heel.

“Don’t forget to cancel the rest of my appointments for the day,” I call after her.

“You got it, Asher,” she says and flicks her hand over her shoulder.

“You still work for me, Miss Banner,” I remind her.

She turns and smirks. “I do, but soon you’ll be family.” With that, she winks and turns back and walks to a set of doors I know Mr. Ballard is behind.

I run my fingers through my hair as I turn back to my office, not sure if being related to that firecracker, even through friendship, is a good or bad thing.

Two hours later, I’m still sitting at my desk, getting absolutely nothing done for the day when there’s another knock on my door. I drop my glasses on my desk and rub my tired eyes.

“Come in,” I call, thinking it’s Olivia again. She’s been quiet since our conversation.

It’s not Olivia, but Eric. He peeks his head in. “You got a minute?”

“Yes,” I say, gesturing for him to come in.

Closing the door behind him, he makes his way to the chair across from my desk. Taking his seat, he throws an ankle over his knee, leans back and gets comfortable. I steeple my fingers and wait for him to talk.

“Have you heard from Poppy?” he asks. I straighten in my seat, not liking hearing her name come out of his mouth.

“She’s still sick,” I say vaguely. He still doesn’t know of our involvement, and I’m in no mood to enlighten him of it.

“I’m worried about her. She hasn’t missed a day since she started working here. She comes in even when she’s sick. Are you sure nothing happened while you two were gone? I’ve tried calling her a couple times, but I just get her voicemail.”

My hackles rise and anger instantly rushes in. This is the first I’m hearing of him calling her. There’s no fucking way I’ll let this continue. I was going to wait to tell him about my connection with Poppy after we worked things out, but obviously, that’s not going to work now.

“Why are you calling her?” I ask first, needing to know how deep his feelings are.

He turns his eyes away from me, then shifts in his chair. “Because I’m still interested in her. I never got to take her out—”

“Stop,” I bark and stand from my seat. This shit stops now. I lean my hands on my desk and drop my head, trying to control the rage coursing through me. It’s not his fault. Poppy is… well, Poppy. She’s beautiful, smart, sweet, and has an innocence about her that draws people in. I know I’m not the only man that sees her as such. Although I recognize all this, I still can’t help the possessiveness I feel. I know other men will look, but it won’t be done right underneath my nose by my employee and friend.

Fuck no.

I look up and across my desk into Eric’s eyes. There’s no way he can miss the heat blazing from them. His wide eyes prove that.

“I’ll tell you this once and only once. You need to forget any interest in Poppy that you have. She’s not available to you or any other man.” My fingers dig into the hard wood as I lean further over the desk to emphasize my next words. “Except me.”

Eric looks back at me, shock registering on his face. He drops his leg and straightens in his chair, no longer looking relaxed.

“Shit, Asher, I had no—”

“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is you backing off her. Poppy is mine.”

“Okay, okay,” he says, palms coming up in a ‘calm down’ gesture. “I get it. You’ll get no interference from me.”

My jaw still tics, but I try to push the anger back. I still don’t like knowing he still may have lingering feelings. Or him looking at her and imaging her in anything other than a professional manner. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll keep an eye on him for a while. If I sense there’s more coming from him, I’ll take care of it.

“How long has this been going on?” He looks at me with interest.

I take my seat and force my body to relax against the leather.

“I’ve had feelings for her since the beginning, but haven’t made them known to her until Dallas.”

“Wow,” he mutters. “I really had no idea.”

I shrug. My phone pings on my desk and I grab it to check the message.

Rex:
That guy Sam just pulled up.

Me:
Keep an eye on things. Let me know if something feels off.

As soon as Olivia and I were done with our conversation earlier, I came into my office and phoned Rex to update him on the situation. When I told him the creep somehow slipped past his men, he was livid. After investigating and finding footprints and talking with his men, we found out the guy came from the back of Poppy’s property and scaled her fence. He knew where to avoid Rex’s men. That’s what has us confused. How in the hell does this guy know of my protective measures? He also knew about the cameras and where to avoid them so he wasn’t seen.

“Why did it take you so long to pursue her?” Eric asks curiously, pulling me from my thoughts.

I give him a knowing look. He catches my meaning and nods. “Understandable. I wouldn’t want to start a relationship either if my future was so unstable.”

I stay quiet.

“So, what’s the real reason she hasn’t been in?”

I just stare at him, not answering his question. It’s not his business. Nothing to do with Poppy is.

When I keep my mouth shut, he finally gets it. He slaps the arms of the chair before getting to his feet. “Right. Well, good talk then.”

He takes a step closer to the desk and extends his hand for me to take. “I’m happy for you, Ash. It’ll be nice to finally see you settle down with a woman.”

I reach out and clasp his hand in mine. I may have gripped his a little tighter than necessary, but what can I say? What man wouldn’t want to assert his power over another man that has an interest in his woman?

It’s barely noticeable, but Eric winces, sending satisfaction racing through me. Call me barbaric, and I’ll say fuck you.

I release his hand and he flexes it a couple times before stepping back and heading to the door.

“I’m done for the day. If you need me for anything, call my cell.”

He salutes me with a finger to his forehead. “You got it. See you tomorrow.”

Once he leaves, I slide my phone back to me and pull up Poppy’s number. The fight to message her wins over.

Me:
I love you, Beautiful.

I hit send and pocket my phone. I don’t expect a reply, but I still need her to know I’m thinking about her.

I grab my jacket and make sure my laptop is shut off before leaving my office. I hope tomorrow will be a more productive day than today was.

I sit in my car in an old video store parking lot. I’m a couple blocks away from where Poppy is. I grip the steering wheel with white knuckles. I’m so close to her, yet so far away. I’m trying to talk myself out of going to see her, but I’m not doing a very good job. If I could just have a small glimpse of her, I know I could get control of this incessant need to be in her presence.

When I left work, I was a good little boy and went straight home. I didn’t make any detours to Olivia’s house like I desperately wanted to. I went home, took a shower, went down to the gym in my apartment building and worked out until my body felt like it was going to break. I went back and took another shower, then tried to watch a movie. Then I got hungry. I had no food in my house, so that meant I needed to go out and get something. Yes, I could have ordered in, but I was going crazy in my apartment and needed to get out. Now, my takeout is sitting in the seat beside me getting cold, and I’m two seconds away from breaking my promise to both Poppy and Olivia by going to see her. Maybe I can just take a peek in her window, see her beautiful face, then silently leave. No one would be the wiser.

She’ll never want anything to do with you again if you do
.
You’ll lose her trust forever,
my stupid mind whispers.

I bang my head on the steering wheel, causing the already dull ache to intensify. I have got to get control of myself. I’m a grown fucking man; I should be able to control my emotions. I’ve always been in control of every aspect of my life, until Poppy came along. She’s stripped me of all reasoning and has turned my life into one hurricane of a mess after another. It’s a destruction on my senses that I’ll gladly live with for the rest of my life, but until I get to the part where I have her where I want her, I fear I may combust.

The phone sitting up in the dock of my dash rings.

Mom calling

My knuckles hurt as I force them from around the steering wheel and grab my phone.

“Hey, Mom,” I sigh into the device.

“Ash, honey, how are you?” she asks, her southern drawl slipping out.

I lean my head back against the headrest and close my eyes, exhaustion settling in. “I’m good. Everything all right at home?”

“It is. I was just calling to remind you of the get-together next week. You’re still coming, right?” Her voice sounds hopeful. I hate to disappoint her, but if Poppy still hasn’t accepted my apology, then I highly doubt I’ll be in any mood to be around anyone.

“I’ll have to let you know. I have some things going on at the moment that may prevent me from coming.”

“Oh no,” she says sadly. “I hope everything is okay with Poppy…”

She trails off, hoping I’ll enlighten her on the situation. I love my mom, and I’d do anything for her, but I’m not telling her my current problems with Poppy. She’ll only try to interfere. That, or I’ll never hear the end to her rants about keeping my feelings from Poppy quiet in the first place.

“I’ll let you know in a few days,” I inform her, going no further with it and changing the subject. “How well did Owen take to Kia being interested in that Noah boy?”

She huffs out a strained laugh, and I’m grateful she drops the Poppy topic.