Page 34 of Poppy Kisses (Return to Coal Haven #3)

Chapter Twenty

Jensen

The large windows making up a wall of Bishop’s overlooked the lake.

Built on the higher side of Lake Sakakawea, the restaurant looked like a sprawling shack from the outside and a small-town bar on the inside.

Poker and pull-tab machines filled a room to the right after we entered, and various booths and tables lined the space around a square bar.

Dishes clanked and sizzles were muted from the kitchen on the far side of the place.

We were seated at a cozy table by the windows.

A giant canoe was mounted on the wall above our heads and the paddles were crossed and secured directly across from us.

When I was with Poppy, I didn’t feel like an accessory.

She was with me. Jensen Hollis. A dad who didn’t write the best but could make gorgeous cabinets.

I didn’t have to be anything more than Jensen with her.

Poppy pushed her plate away and rested a hand on her belly. “Ohmigosh, that was so good.”

“We’re going to have to come every night so I can hear you moan like that.” When she’d put that first piece of shrimp in her mouth and groaned, rolling her eyes closed, I’d been ready to haul her out over my shoulder.

Pink tinted her cheeks. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“It’s not bad. It’s too good.” I loved her moans. She didn’t have to make a sound for me to know that she liked something. She clenched around me, gripped my shoulders, swiveled her hips. The sexy sounds were the cherry on top to complete the sensory overload she gave me.

She took a drink of her raspberry lemonade. “I was afraid the food quality had gotten worse over the years, but it’s better than I remembered.”

“I haven’t been out here since I moved back.”

“Thanks for coming.”

“Anytime.” I meant it. Whenever she wanted to eat at Bishop’s, I’d take her.

“Think Auggie would like seafood?”

“Maybe. I don’t usually cook it.” A warmth flooded my chest. She was always thinking of him, involving him.

The first night of soccer practice had hit me in the feels.

I’d watched her coach my son and build him up.

She’d done that with all the kids in her short time with them.

She was a natural, and it wasn’t for show.

I’d never be able to tell her how much that meant.

There were no words strong enough. Nor could I describe what it did to me. I’d have to show her.

I started to see a different future for myself, one that wasn’t full of me hustling to earn a living to keep me and my son in our house.

I could picture more days like the last few weeks.

I’d work in my shop, meet with potential customers, book steady work, and talk to Poppy about it all.

We’d spend time together, the three of us, and then when Auggie was in bed, she’d be all mine.

The only thing that’d make it better would be to wake up to her.

My skin grew tight. In a couple of weeks, this wedding was supposed to be for show, but it was getting harder to deny that I wanted it to be very much real.

What did Poppy want? She seemed happy. She seemed content. But she’d admitted to being a girl who left when the going got tough, yet she’d also been alone. Would I be worth sticking around for? I wasn’t begging to be loved ever again.

Would I have to beg with Poppy?

The teen server came by. “Can I interest you in any dessert?”

I lifted a brow at Poppy. She had a sweet tooth, and if she wanted to moan over some cheesecake, I wasn’t stopping her.

“Uh…” Poppy’s gaze landed on the dessert placard, and she drank in the slice of cookie dough cheesecake front and center of the options. “…nah. I’d better not.”

“I’ll share it with you.” I’d rather feed her a bite and then sample the flavor off her lips. Actually, that was a good idea. “A slice of the cheesecake, please. Can you pack it to go?”

The girl smiled. “Absolutely.”

Poppy shook her head, an amused smile dancing over her lips. “To go?”

“Yeah, I want to take a drive with you.”

Her grin deepened. “Is that all you want to do?”

“No, it’s only the beginning.”

* * *

Poppy

The dessert container lay open and empty in the front seat. I was in the back, racing toward my orgasm with my head wedged between the seat and the window. A copse of trees hid us from the dirt road that we’d followed to get here.

Jensen drove into me, his shorts around his ankles and his shirt pushed up because I couldn’t get enough of touching him. I raked my fingernails down his torso as he plunged in and out. I arched into him as best I could.

“Fuck, Poppy.” His biceps strained against the sleeves of his shirt as he gripped the seat backs on either side of me. “I can’t get enough of you.”

When he came undone like this, I believed everything he said. It wasn’t a put-on to get me in bed. I was already under him. He had no reason to boost my pride.

He grabbed the back of my head, his weight pressing harder into me, and devoured my mouth. His hand took the brunt of the force of his pounding.

I exploded suddenly and with barely any warning. He’d told me he couldn’t get enough, and he held me like it. That, more than the physical ecstasy, pushed me over the edge with the force of a cyclone.

I cried into him, and he caught all the sound. With one more thrust, he buried himself in me as far as our position would allow and shuddered, coming inside of me.

Waves of pleasure crashed over me and through me. I hugged him to me as I rode through the climax. Then we both went still, our breaths filling the cabin. The windows were fogging and it was finally dark. The whisper of the wind through the trees surrounded us. This moment was ours.

“I wish I could take you home and carry you right to bed,” he murmured and instantly went stiff. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” I didn’t want him to apologize.

I wanted to know how he felt about me. We were engaged and we were friends, but we went on dates that were more amazing than any others I’d been on.

We had frenzied sex like this when we couldn’t get enough of each other.

The cheesecake had taken two minutes to eat, and then he was licking the crumbs off my lips and boom.

We were in the back seat and my shorts were on the console. “I’d like it too.”

My pulse cranked up a notch.

He placed a sweet kiss on my lips as he pulled out. Shit. Did I make this awkward? Did he say something he regretted and I ran with it?

My heartbeat thudded through my body as he helped me get dressed and got himself zipped back into place. But he didn’t open the door and shuffle me into the front seat. He sat facing me as much as possible and threw his arm across the seat back.

“I like you, Poppy.”

A pulse stopped my pounding heart for a moment. I waited for the but. “Okay?”

He worked his jaw back and forth a few times before speaking. “I think we have something here.”

A pleasant bubble of surprise popped in my head. “You do?”

His gaze was earnest. “Do you think so?”

“I think…” I fiddled with my fingers, twisting and twining them in my lap.

We hadn’t even said I do yet and feelings were involved.

Didn’t friends with benefits last longer than a few weeks before they grew feelings that threatened their plans?

I didn’t want to lose the benefits or the friends.

The vulnerability shining from his eyes knocked down my guards. “I think so too.”

He let out a long exhale. “Good. So now what?”

“You mean, how are we going to get married when we’re fucking and supposed to be only pretending to be married?” I grimaced. “We messed up.”

“No, we didn’t.” He caressed my face. “I’m having fun again, and goddamn, I didn’t think life could be like this.”

His words sunk in, and instead of calming me, I wanted to run. That would mean leaving him, so I’d be honest. “I’m scared.”

“I know,” he whispered. “We’ll take it slow. I know a wedding in a couple of weeks doesn’t scream slow, but that’s not about us.”

I wanted it to be. When I saw myself in my wedding dress, my first thought was what Jensen would think when he saw me.

I wanted him to see when normally I might hide.

But he made me comfortable. He might’ve created some of the wounds inside of me, but he was slowly smoothing over the scar tissue so they didn’t tug and pull at my insecurities anymore.

“This is us.” He placed a sweet kiss on my lips. “You and me, right here. We like to go out on mandatory date nights. I’m obsessed with your legs, and you love my ass.”

I laughed. “I never said that, but I do love your ass.”

He sat back and pulled me with him. I curled up on his lap and rested my head on his shoulder.

“We’re cuddling,” I said.

“Yeah. I’m one hundred percent sure Mom is passed out on the couch, or I’d take you to bed.”

My anticipation leaped, but I reined it in. Going to sleep in Jensen’s arms was becoming a fantasy, so was waking up to him. “What about Auggie?”

“He’s understood a lot so far. We would just talk to him.” He dragged in a steady breath and blew it out. “We shouldn’t get caught until I do. If we feel like we’re speeding through this and we know what we’ve been doing, he’s going to have a hard time understanding.”

My disappointment was understandable but present regardless. We were in a complicated situation, but I also wanted him to toss caution to the wind and claim me. Ultimately, like him, I’d never disrupt Auggie’s life for my selfish wants.

His heartbeat thumped under my hand. We stayed like this until little pricks of light appeared and disappeared in the distance.

“Fireflies,” I said, pushing up. “I haven’t seen them in years.”

“I used to when—sorry. Never mind.” He sat up and opened the door.

“You can tell me.” We were sharing our bodies, and we’d shared a lot of ourselves, but this moment was proof that he held back.

I didn’t think he would, but he paused with the door halfway open. “I used to wait up for Hassie when she’d be out partying after an event. I’d sit outside the trailer, fucking miserable and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, and sometimes fireflies would be out.”

“You didn’t party?”

“Not after a while. It was just a bunch of rodeo people talking rodeo. I grew up ranching, yet I was the impostor.”

“Because you never rode a bull?” I said lightly.

“Not intentionally. And the barrels I raced were to get to a calf and get it tagged and vaccinated and get outta there before mama cow body-slammed me.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“But I didn’t do rodeo and I didn’t live and breathe horses, so I didn’t fit in.

It’s like they thought my time helping Dad on our ranch was cosplay. ”

“Just so happens I like former cowboys turned carpenters who are raising their kids and encouraging homeless women to start their own business.”

He laughed. “You weren’t homeless.”

“I had no address.”

“Now it’s the same as mine.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

He squeezed my hand and ushered me into the passenger seat. He leaned in and gave me a lingering kiss before shutting the door and jogging around the hood of the pickup.

We wouldn’t be going to the same bed tonight, but we were going home together. We’d cuddled, and I looked forward to much more of that in our future.

The drive back to his place was quiet. Was he wondering if we were making a dumb decision to explore this chemistry between us?

Were we foolish to think we could fan these flames and not explode while we were still married?

I didn’t know and only time would tell, but with Jensen, I wasn’t as worried.

He was calm and logical, and he looked out for me.

He turned down his drive. When he got closer to the house, a big silver Dodge dually sitting in front of his garage glinted in his headlights. He jolted like he’d gotten shocked.

“Who’s that?” I asked, frowning at his reaction and the large vehicle. If it looked this expensive in the dark, how fancy was it in the daylight?

He didn’t have to answer. The front of his house opened and a tiny woman sauntered out, legs as long as her shorts were short. Her blonde hair fell in waves down her back, and she stuffed her hands into the teeny pockets of her denim shorts. The porch light acted as a spotlight for her.

The shrewd but uncaring expression on her face made all sorts of memories tumble back.

Recollections of a little girl who used to be my best friend until time and her superior attitude had put distance between us.

Thoughts of a girl who hadn’t been sad when I moved, and she hadn’t said goodbye. Jensen’s ex-wife. Hassie.