“What did he do to you, Poppy?”
“It’s nothing.” Her words infuriate me and by the widening of her eyes when she looks at me, I think she can tell. “Just forget it, Zayn. You shouldn’t be here.”
“And yet, here I am. Let me help you.” Reaching out, I run my knuckles down her bare upper arm. She shudders, her skin pricks with goose bumps and her eyes shutter slightly.
“Zayn.” I think it’s meant to be a warning but it falls a long way from the mark.
“Did he hurt you?”
I hold her eye contact and shift a little closer still, her floral scent getting stronger and making my mouth water.
“N-no.”
“Did he threaten you?”
A bitter laugh falls from her lips. “That’s all he does. You don’t need to get involved in this.”
“And yet I am, and I won’t be leaving until you tell me what happened.”
“Fine,” she huffs. “He followed me into the dressing room and… yeah.” Once again she looks down at the bed, unable to hold my stare.
“Poppy,” I say softly. “Did he… did he touch you?”
“Please don’t do this, Zayn,” she begs. The brokenness in her voice guts me.
“I’ll fucking kill him if he so much as laid a finger on you.”
“Can you leave, please?”
“No,” I bark and she startles at my tone.
Reaching out, I take her chin between my finger and thumb and force her to look at me.
“You need to tell me what he did.”
“I don’t need to tell you anything.”
“Fucking hell, Poppy. Stop covering for that motherfucker. I just want to help.”
“You can help by staying out of it.”
“But—”
Her eyes drop to my lips briefly before she cuts me off. “No buts. Please, just leave it. He’s full of threats, I’m not scared of him.”
“Which is why you ran away claiming to be ill?”
“I just needed to get away. Everything was just too much.”
“What else is going on? What are you keeping from everyone?”
“It’s just life, Zayn. Sometimes it’s shit, but you’ve just got to carry on.”
“That’s bullshit, Poppy.”
She shrugs, sadness oozing from her. Sadness that I wish I could take away.
Without thinking, I lean toward her.
“Zayn, what are you doing?” she whispers, but she doesn’t stop me or pull away as I slip my hand around to the nape of her neck and press my forehead against hers.
“Making your life a little less shit.”
“No, we… we can’t…”
“Says who?” My lips brush hers as I wait for her to stop arguing and accept that this is about to happen.
“Nothing good happens after this… happens.”
“Well, maybe it’s time to change that.”
My fingers grip her tighter as I brush my lips against hers once again, only with more insistence this time.
She remains as still as a statue for two seconds but the moment she feels my tongue run along her bottom lip, she caves, just like I knew she would.
She needs this right now, she just doesn’t know that she does.
Her lips part and I greedily push my tongue past them in search of hers. A quiet moan rumbles up her throat as I deepen the kiss.
Just like the previous two times, everything around me vanishes and the only thing I’m aware of is her. It’s a heady feeling and one I haven’t been able to find with anyone else. It’s addictive and I can only imagine how good it might be if we were to ever take it farther than just a kiss.
“Zayn,” she moans when I kiss across her jaw. Her head falls back, allowing me the access I want to her neck. I brush my lips across the smooth, taut skin, feeling the thundering of her pulse just beneath the surface.
My tongue sneaks out, licking a line back up before I suck on her skin.
“So sweet,” I murmur against her.
“Oh God.”
Shifting on my knees, I lower her back to the bed, never moving my lips from her.
“You need more?” I ask, half expecting her to tell me to go to hell, so I couldn’t be more surprised when she agrees.
“Make me forget, I don’t care how.”
I pause with my lips against her pulse point, waiting for her to start laughing and push me off, but she doesn’t. Instead her chest continues to heave beneath me.
Sitting up, I stare down at her. Her tank is not far off being see-through, her pert nipples obvious beneath the fabric. It’s pushed up around her waist, showing off the smooth skin of her stomach and her hips are covered in a lace edged pair of pink panties.
“Z-Zayn?” I hate the hesitation in her voice, she thinks that I’ve stopped because I don’t want to give her what she needs, but she couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“Shit, sorry. You’re just so… beautiful.”
A self-deprecating laugh falls from her lips. “I appreciate that, but I look a hot mess.”
My eyes find hers. Yes, they’re red from crying and she’s got makeup smudged down her face from the tears she’s shed. But I don’t see any of that. I see the hunger, the need in her gray depths. I see her cute freckles that I know she hates and tries to hide with makeup. I see her full, pink lips and her shy little smile. I see her sinful curves that I crave to touch, to feel against me.
“Want me to prove you wrong?”
“Sure, if you think it’s possible.”
There are a million things I could say to her, to try to convince her of, but she wouldn’t believe a word of it, so instead, I stick with actions.
9
Poppy
His lips crash down on mine once more and I forget about everything, all the reasons why this shouldn’t be happening, and I just lose myself in his kiss. He makes it too easy to push real life aside and just focus on him.
It’s dangerous. Too dangerous. But after the day I’ve had, it’s more than welcome.
If Preston is serious about what he started today in that dressing room, then I may as well make the most of what Zayn’s got to offer before Preston takes whatever it is he thinks I owe him.
His lips leave mine once more in favor of kissing down my neck. Butterflies go wild in my belly. I’ve never had a boy in my room, let alone one on top of me while I’m half-naked but hell knows there’s no way I’m stopping this now.
Something coils tightly inside, telling me that things are only going to get better and I’m more than happy to find out just how good it’s going to be.
His lips brush over my collarbone and the swell of my breasts.
His heated eyes find mine. Something crackles as our connection holds.
“You want me to stop, just say the words.” His hot breath races across my sensitive skin and makes me shiver.
“Okay,” I breathe, unable to find my voice while he’s looking at me like I’m something precious. It’s as incredible as it is unnerving.
He nods once before crawling down my body a little but he stops when his mouth is right above my breast. His eyes remain on mine as he closes the space between us and flicks my nipple with his bottom lip.