Running From Love (10 page)

“Now they want you to run it too.”

“Well Mom does. Dad passed away when I was a teenager, before college.”

“Which was at—”

“Stanford.”

Poppy leaned back against the cushions. There were so many things about her own life that she’d intentionally not shared with Trevor. The sun dipped into the ocean. Poppy watched as the molten golden ball oozed into the water. Darkness drifted up and replaced the glowing orb. The air chilled. Trevor picked up a blanket and put it around her shoulders.

“I’m an only child of an only child, and my father’s will requires that the company be run by me or a sibling, otherwise it goes public and this generation is cut out. I have to decide by my birthday.” 

“Which is next month.”

“You know?”

A small smile split her face. “I looked at your driver’s license once at Mesquale.”

“Ahhh … no wonder you thought I lived in Northern California. That driver’s license still has my San Francisco address.”

“Didn’t notice that part.” Poppy tilted her wine to her lips, but a guilty smile hovered around her mouth.

“Right. Uh-huh.”

“Oh, come on,” Poppy continued. She picked up a strawberry from the platter on the table in front of them. “Like you can talk? You managed to not only find me, but my sister and her family.”

“Guilty.”

“And I’m guessing you had help?”

“Again, I’m guilty as charged.

“So what’s the problem? You run the business and write on the side.”

 Trevor lifted an eyebrow. “Seriously, this question from you? The woman who can’t remain on the same continent for more than six months? It’s a lifetime commitment, Poppy, to run a privately held Fortune five hundred company.” Trevor pulled away from her. He stood and looked out at the ocean. “Doesn’t leave much time for writing.”

“No, it wouldn’t. But lots of writers have other jobs, and what an opportunity, right? To impact other people? You could start a foundation, you could feed the hungry, you could do so many great things.”

“I could.” Trevor turned back from the waves and faced her. “Would you do them with me?”

His words struck her. Hard and fast, and yet there was a yearning deep within to say yes. She wanted to be with Trevor, and she knew that with him she’d never be happier.

“Why hesitate, Poppy?”

“Because I’m scared.” Poppy crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to say yes, Trevor.” Her gaze locked with his. “I do love you. I suppose you know that I love you, or you wouldn’t have come and found me. I even want to stay, but I’m so scared.” She rubbed her hand over her arms. “My …” She took a deep breath. “Therese, the woman who gave birth to me, is in the hospital. She’s dying.”

Trevor sat beside her. His eyes reflected the pain she felt.

“I haven’t seen her since I was five. She walked out on us, on me. It was Mimi, my sister, who took care of me until I was sixteen. I never heard from Therese.”

Trevor wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned in toward him. Warmth came from his body. Security. Kindness.

“Mimi reconciled with Therese when Laura was born. I … I haven’t. I can’t …” She sought some kind of understanding in Trevor’s eyes. “I don’t know if I want to. And I think … losing her when I was little, the idea of my heart breaking like that again, terrifies me.”

He pulled her close and pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I love you. How can I make you feel safe?”

“I don’t know.” What could she say? What did she want to say? She wasn’t certain what to say. “I can’t be the reason you walk away from Up Side Burger, I can’t be the person that makes you walk away from all this.” She lifted her arms and looked at the Malibu palace with the Pacific Ocean as its backyard. “That’s not fair.”

“You won’t be.” He pulled her closer. “I know this is my decision. I love my writing, but for the first time I’m starting to understand just what this company has meant to not only my family but all the people who work there.”

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll be here once Therese is …” Poppy stopped. She looked away, her gaze taking in the darkness of the ocean. “When this is over.” Damn, she hadn’t wanted to share her life with him. How foolish she’d been to think that if she kept the details of her family away from him that she might be able to retain her heart.

“I already knew about Therese. I mean, before you told me.” His gaze dropped to her hands. “I’m sorry, Poppy. I wasn’t going to bring anything up unless you mentioned it. I know you’re private and—”

“You spied on me?” Her heart pounded and a caged feeling tightened around her. “You were spying on me and you followed me and now you’re telling me all these things about your life.” She couldn’t catch her breath. She spun in place and her vision swept over the expanse of the ocean around to the glass windows. She started toward the sliding doors. Her fingers closed around her phone. She would Uber. She couldn’t stay, she wouldn’t be hemmed in, or contained, or—

“Stop.” Trevor’s hand grasped her forearm. She didn’t pull away from his touch. In his eyes were compassion and love and kindness. All the things that made her love Trevor, but also made her want to run. “If you have to go, I’ll take you home. No questions asked.” Sadness pulled at the corners of his lips. “I don’t want you to be afraid, or feel claustrophobic. I want you to feel happy, and if this … if I don’t make you happy then I … I want you to go.”

The panic in her belly slipped away. “No.” Her voice trembled. “I don’t want to go, Trevor … it’s just … I’m scared.”

Trevor nodded. “I know.”

He pulled her into his arms and the warmth of his body surrounded her. The flame that was always present between them heated them both.

“My God, Poppy, I’ve missed you.”

She tilted her head, and their lips met. Her body ached for his touch. His hands drifted over her shoulders and down her back until he cupped her ass through her skirt. He pulled her forward against the hard insistence of his sex. Her hips tilted forward toward him. Desire for him rushed through her body and her nipples tightened beneath the cloth of her dress. His skin, she needed the hard warmth of his skin. She tugged at his shirt and raised it over his head. In the firelight, with the glow of the moon, her eyes feasted on his flesh. He was beautiful perfection. The chiseled body of a surfer. A man who loved to move. Her hands trailed over his golden hued skin, tight over hard muscles. She wanted him, with all her heart she wanted him. He lifted her dress over her head and his eyes gorged on her flesh. He stepped back and looked at her. A deep thrill of want clasped her belly.

“You’re perfect.” His voice, like warm velvet, caressed her body. His hand reached out and tipped her chin up toward him. He stepped forward and his lips took hers. A hungry, powerful kiss. His tongue slid along the seam of her lips until they opened to him. As his tongue probed deep into her mouth, his hand caressed her back and unsnapped her bra. The silk dropped to the deck. Both of his hands cupped her breasts. His breath came faster. The pads of his thumbs stroked over her tight nipples.

His mouth pulled from hers. “My God, Poppy.” His lips pulled her nipple deep into his hot, wet mouth. She arched upward and his hand flattened against her back. My God, but she loved him, loved his touch, and loved the strong masculine scent that was Trevor. He smelled of sunshine and salt air and man … just strong man. He released her breast and pulled her up into his arms. He walked to the long full chaise lounge and lay her down on the deep luxe cushions. He knelt before her. His lips now on her belly. His hands grasped her thong panties and pulled them down over her knees.

Heat barreled through her body. She wanted him, and her hips arched to meet him as the flat of his hand held her belly in place. He pulled her leg up and placed her knee over his shoulder. Her entire body tingled with the knowledge of where his mouth would soon be. His touch. His tongue. His deep caress of every inch of her sex. His mouth trailed over her belly to the edge of her curls.

“You smell like heaven.” He lifted his head, took her other leg, and placed it over his shoulder. His mouth skirted around her curls and her sex clenched. His tongue slid down from the top of her sex, brushed over her clit.

Heat ripped through her body. She grasped the pillow, clutching and clawing with pleasure. Her hips thrust up. She wanted more, she needed more, the release that his mouth could provide. His tongue thrust into her and his finger stroked over her engorged clit as his tongue pulsed in and out of her sex.

“God, oh my God, yes.” She grasped his head and pulled him closer. The edge of pleasure cut so close and sliced through her body. His finger stopped caressing her clit and he pulled his mouth away from her sex and kissed along the sensitive flesh of her thigh.

“No, no, no.” His lips on her sex, she needed his mouth on her, gorging and sucking and pulling her over the edge to the sweet abyss.

“You like that, baby?” Trevor’s voice held a lilt of teasing.

“Yes, please, please.”

His hot breath blew over her curls and tendrils of want squeezed her insides. He moved closer and his tongue flicked out and over her sex, over the tiny engorged spot, the nerves already on fire from his touch. Her hips spasmed upward. His mouth latched onto her and his tongue twirled over and around her clit, with the suction pulling her, pulling her.

“Oh my God, Trevor, yes, yes, yes!” She shattered into a million pieces while the ocean waves hit the shore.

The darkness surrounded them, the metronomic beat of the water against the shore their companion. Poppy lay naked on the chaise beneath the moon. Her body’s curves glistened in the moonlight and firelight, the curls between her legs still soft and wet. Her chest heaved from the exertion of their passion. Trevor put his arms around her, pulled her close, and lifted her. Poppy curled into his arms and settled her head against his chest.

Her weight was perfect, as though every bit of her was built for him. Through the dark coolness of the house and toward the stairs he carried her. Her naked flesh warm against his body. He’d feast on her further. Take her over the edge into pleasure again and again and again. He entered the privacy of the master bedroom. Trevor laid her in the center of the giant king-sized bed that faced a wall of windows overlooking the sand, the sky, and the ocean.  He lay beside her and pressed his lips to hers. A hard churning in his belly. He needed to be inside Poppy. To take her, to make her his.

His hand trailed down her body and slid between her legs. His finger stroked her clit, wet and moist and swollen and sensitive. With the slightest touch, Poppy’s hips thrust upward.

A tiny moan came from her throat. The noise nearly undid him. His entire body wired tight with his need to take her. His hard cock pulsed between them. Poppy’s hands grasped him. With a long even stroke she slid her fingers down over his sex. She pushed him onto his back. Her dark eyes smoldered with a heat and she watched his face as she slid down his belly. Her lips trailed hot kisses.

Trevor’s breath shortened. Her long curly hair trailed behind her lips. She got to the edge of his sex and turned herself to watch him. His gaze was locked onto her face. Her mouth parted, lush lips opening. Her tongue slipped from her mouth and slid over the rim of his cock. She circled his head while her hand stroked a long slow pull down his shaft and back up. Her lips took the entire top of his cock and drew his sex deep into the hot wetness of her mouth. Her hand stroked faster and tighter. Drops of pre-come spurted from him and Poppy’s tongue swiped over the top of his sex.

Heat built in his balls. Her eyes were wide and her full mouth pressed down over his shaft. She took him deep into her mouth again. Her lips closed around him. She sucked, her hand gently cupping his balls. That hot wet mouth squeezed tight and suctioned his shaft. 

Damn. He wouldn’t hold back much longer. She stroked her mouth down him with faster movements that took all of him. Every muscle in his body tightened. She gently pulled and flipped onto her back. He kneeled above her. She adjusted him so each of his knees was on either side of her.

Jesus. Sweet Jesus. His whole cock was in her mouth. Her hair a wave around that beautiful face. Those full lips took all of him deep into her throat. She widened her mouth for more. The vision of this beautiful woman whom he loved with her mouth wide and his cock deep in her throat. The vulnerability of the position. The surrender. The heat. Fuck.

Her hands held his hips. She pulled him and he leaned forward, slowly pressing deeper into her throat. The liquid heat. His balls tingled. Not long. Not long.

“Fuck, Poppy, this is …” He couldn’t speak. He slid his cock from her mouth. A shiver pulled down his spine. Her hands held him tight and he stroked back into the wet suction of her mouth. “Fuck, this is amazing!”

Her hands clasped him and her nails dug into the flesh of his ass. Her mouth closed around him again. Her eyes widened and he pulled back, fear that he might hurt her clutching his belly, but her hands urged him on. She pulled him closer, his cock going even deeper into her throat. Her tongue wrapping around his shaft. She gently squeezed his balls and the heat tore through his body. Control was lost.

“Oh Poppy, baby, baby, I’m going to come.” He leaned back to pull his cock from her mouth, but she grasped him tight. Her tongue licking and stroking the side of his cock. Every muscle in his body hardened. The hot come thrashed through him and shot deep into her throat. She licked and swallowed around his cock. A hard shiver pulsed through his body. He pulled his sex from her mouth. He leaned forward and kissed her. Pulled her into his arms.

“Baby, oh, my God, Poppy, that felt so good.”

She turned onto her side and stretched out beside him. His fingers ran over her long curly hair. Her flesh hot against his. How impossibly beautiful she was. He pressed his lips to the tip of her nose. A sigh claimed him and warmth flooded his chest. This. Moments like this with Poppy in his arms were how he wanted to spend his entire life. Nothing mattered. Money, no money, job, no job—as long as she lay alongside him for every night of his life, he would be content.