NOAH
It’s been five weeks since I’ve seen Poppy and I feel her absence like a missing limb. I knew she was way out of my league. I knew I couldn’t offer her more than a few nights of hot vacation sex.
Honestly, I thought it would be enough.
Until a few nights became a few weeks. And before I knew it, I was ready to throw caution to the wind and asked her to be mine. Except for the fact that she kept using the phrase vacation fling.
So yeah, my sweet, lovely Poppy was a billionaire heiress. She could have her pick of the litter, literally, and here I was a hick from a small town in Texas. We were night and day. Oil and vinegar.
That first night together, and then all the subsequent times had been unbelievable. The best sex of my life, but it had been more than that. I’ve lived my entire life feeling just a little bent out of shape. Like the cedars alongside the road out by the ranch. The wind off the ocean blows on them, so long and so hard, they never have a chance to grow up straight. They’re hunched over, bracing themselves against the wind. All my life I’ve felt like that. Like I was clinging to something, trying to get my roots down deep enough to stand up straight.
But with Poppy, holding her in my arms, talking to her, laughing with her, for the first time in my life I felt calm. Like the wind had died down and I could stand up and be the man I was meant to be, as long as she was there with me, putting down roots.
Fuck if I know what that’s supposed to mean, all I know is that I miss her fiercely.
“Hey Cowboy,” Gabe says as he walks into our open office area. He’s got dark circles under his eyes and he plops into his chair and groans.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Ghost from my past.”
“That bad?”
He grins. “No, it was fucking great, I’m just tired. Didn’t get much sleep.” He waggles his eyebrows.
“Wait, weren’t you working last night?”
“Yes, but the work is actually in a couple of days. Last night was just preliminary. It’s a gallery with a new exhibit.”
“So you gonna see the girl again?” I ask. I can’t help but feel a pang at the thought. I’d like to see my girl again. Poppy felt like mine, but she wasn’t. We didn’t even live on the same continent.
Gabe smiles broader than I’ve ever seen him. He’s not grumpy like some of the other fuckers here, but I’ve never seen him look like this.
“I’m gonna see her every day for the rest of my life.”
“Already? You know that from one night?”
“Nah. We have a past.”
“The one that got away?”
“Something like that.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I can’t give bossman shit anymore about his romantic stuff with Summer. I can already tell I’m gonna be just as bad.”
I chuckle. But damned if I can’t help but wonder if I could have all of that. If Poppy and I could have a future together.
One of the other guys walks by my desk and drops a magazine on it. It’s open to a page. It’s clearly a gossip rag because the headline boldly reads: Tech Tycoon Heiress’s Secret Love Child. There’s a blurry picture, then a more zoomed in version and holy fuck, that’s Poppy.
I scan the article. Evidently Poppy was photographed buying a pregnancy test in a local drugstore. I realize it’s Jason who’s dropped the bomb on my desk.
“What the hell, man?” I ask.
“Have you talked to her?”
“No. She hasn’t returned my calls.” We’d talked twice since she left. Once the day she got home and then a few days later. After that we’d texted a few times, then she’d ghosted me. I guess now I knew why.
“Don’t you think you should talk to her?” he asks.
“I can’t make her answer her phone, Jace.”
“What’s up?” Gabe asks.
The three of us have desks that are relatively close together, and normally I like that we’re all out in the open with each other, but right now I’d really like to be alone.
Jason holds up the magazine article for Gabe.
“Hey, isn’t that Sam’s friend?” Gabe asked.
“Noah spent quite a bit of time with her too,” Jason says. Then he exhales slowly. “Listen, man, that could be your kid. You need to talk to her. If she won’t answer her phone, you’ve got a fucking passport.”
“We used a condom,” I say. Everything in my body feels numb. Had she been with any other men during that time period? I can’t believe that. There was nothing about her that felt false or untrue. She’s not a cheater.
“Condoms aren’t fool proof,” Gabe says. “Ask Kris. Or Kevin for that matter.”
“Ask me what?” Kris asks from a few desks down. He’s the newest member of Windsor Securities.
“Condoms?” Gabe says.
“Ninety-nine percent effective my ass,” Kris says, but he’s smiling. “Annie is due in a few months.”
That little spark brings me back online. I can feel my fingers again. Could she be carrying my kid? I stand. “I’ve got to go to London.”
“Damn straight,” Jason says.
Doubt isn’t finished with me yet. I brace my arms on my desk. “What do I say to her? She’s an heiress. Worth more money than I’ll ever make. And fuck, she can probably trace her heritage back to William the Conqueror. I don’t even know what ethnicity my parents were. We don’t fit.”
“Do you want to be with her?” Jason asked.
Did I? Yeah, more than anything I wanted her. “It’s not that simple.”
“Actually, it is,” Kris interjects. I hadn’t realized he was still paying attention to our conversation. “I came home with PTSD and almost let that keep me from being with Annie. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Do I deserve her? Fuck no. But I make sure I tell her everyday that I love her and I do my best to take care of her. And myself.”
“You know what Poppy told me that changed everything with me and Sam?” Jason asks.
I shake my head.
“She told me that more than anything Sam deserved a man who respected her enough to let her make her own decisions. It was Sam’s choice whether or not to be with me. I kept trying to make it for her to protect her from getting hurt, but the truth was, I was the one that kept hurting her. Let Poppy make the choice. But at least give it to her.”
“Can you let Cade know that I’ll be back in a few days?”
“Sure. We’ve got you,” Jason says.
“Where you going, hot stuff?” Sam asks as I near her desk.
“London.” I stop and bend to kiss her cheek.
“Be careful with my friend,” she says.
“I will. She’s precious to me.”
“Do you love her?”
I wink at her. “I think Poppy deserves to hear that before you do.”