Truth or Demon

Poppy flung her arm back over her head, panting. Sweat trickled over her flushed skin. More moisture pooled between her legs, the flesh down there pulsing with her release. She’d fallen asleep and had a dream.

A very, very graphic dream.

She knew she should be embarrassed. Mortified, really. She didn’t have sex dreams, but the truth was, she was simply too weak to even muster concern. Her body felt heavy and sated—as if Killian had really been in bed with her, loving her.

Killian gasped, his whole body shaking from the intensity of his dream. A bead of sweat rolled from his temple, slowly down his neck, and even that tortured his overwrought skin.

A dream, he realized as he reached down to press his hand against his waning erection. The organ was still so sensitive, he gasped, imagining what it would feel like to be inside Poppy when he experienced that kind of release.

They both closed their eyes, allowing themselves to float.

It had only been a dream. A delicious, lovely and utterly erotic dream. This time when sleep returned, it was nothing more than engulfing black. Peaceful and warm.

CHAPTER 16

“Poppy?”

Confused, Poppy sat upright, looking around her. She was in her bedroom, her manuscript pages strewn across her duvet cover. Daisy stood in the doorway, her brows drawn together with confused concern.

“Oh, sorry,” Poppy said, still feeling heavy and languid. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“Are you all right?”

Daisy came closer, her dark eyes worried. Poppy wasn’t the type to nap, unless she was sick. And even then, she wouldn’t sleep through Daisy’s getting home from school. Poppy never liked the idea that Daisy might not come home and no one would know for hours she was missing. Poppy was an unbridled worrywart. Daisy knew that.

“Yes,” she reassured her little sister. “I’m fine. Just sleepy.”

Daisy sat down on the edge of the bed, her eyes still reading her. Poppy, self-conscious, touched her hair, brushing wisps that clung to her warm skin back from her face.

“You don’t look right,” Daisy said. “You’re all sweaty, and your cheeks are really flushed.”

Poppy touched her face. She did feel hot, but she knew that was because of her dream and her own embarrassment.

“I’m fine,” Poppy repeated, gathering up her work papers, then crawling off the bed. Her legs quivered as she stood, as if she’d really participated in the act of her dream. Even the sensitive spot between her legs felt different, heavy and moist as if Killian had really …

She blushed. But then she cleared her throat and forced a wan smile. “You know, maybe I do feel a little off. I think I’ll take a quick shower.”

She grabbed her robe off the back of the door and started down the hall toward the bathroom, only to stop when she realized Daisy was following right behind her.

She turned back to her sister, this time regarding Daisy closely.

“Is everything okay with you?” Poppy asked.

Her own residual reaction to her dream and her embarrassment disappeared as soon as she realized Daisy looked—anxious.

Daisy fiddled with her ring, one she always wore: a gold band with a garnet stone, her birthstone. A gift from their mother.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Daisy said with a smile, but Poppy got the feeling she still wanted to say more.

Poppy raised an eyebrow expectantly. She knew her little sister. Something was on her mind.

Daisy made a what? sort of face, but then asked, “So did you do anything today?”

For some reason that wasn’t what Poppy had expected her to say. Not that asking Poppy about her day was so out of the ordinary. But there was a strange paradox between Daisy’s fidgety body language and the casual—the almost too casual way—she asked that just didn’t seem normal.

“Why? Should I have done anything?”

Daisy shrugged, again the movement a practice in mild indifference. But not total indifference. The ring was still being twirled. Daisy wanted to know something.

“I did go out to lunch with Killian,” Poppy finally offered.

“Killian? Really?”

Around went the ring again. And again.

Oh, there was definitely more to this line of questioning than her sister was revealing. But Poppy simply nodded, waiting to see where Daisy’s questions would go now.

“So you really like Killian. I mean as a friend.”

“Sure,” Poppy said, trying not to think about her other, more-than-friendly reactions to him.

“Did you go somewhere nice? Where did you go?” Daisy asked, her finger moved from her ring to her hair, twirling a strand by her temple. Another nervous habit.

“We went to Smiley’s,” she said.

“Oh, that’s good.” Daisy nodded, her expression approving. But Poppy got the distinct feeling it wasn’t because Daisy loved the food there. What did Daisy expect to happen today?

Poppy nodded back, deciding maybe the best thing to do was just go take her shower. Maybe she was reading too much into Daisy’s behavior.

“Well, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okay,” Daisy said, turning to head into to the living room. But then she looked back. “Did anything—you know, interesting happen? At Smiley’s, I mean.”

Poppy didn’t answer right away. What was she trying to find out?

“Not really,” Poppy said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. All the excitement, such as it was, had happened after lunch.

Just briefly her dream replayed through her mind.

“Did you have fun?” Daisy asked.

Poppy shrugged; this time she was the one to play casual. “It was fine. Just lunch.”

“Oh, okay,” Daisy said, her expectant look fading.

She left then, but Poppy got the distinct feeling her little sister had been disappointed.

“Why are you in bed?”

Killian sat upright, startled out of the warm cocoon he’d been lost in. What the hell?

Then he saw whom the demanding voice belonged to, and all vestiges of anything remotely dreamy fled.

Madison leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed, her mouth set in its usual disparaging smirk. Emma stood behind her, nothing visible but her round face, huge eyes and pale Shirley Temple curls. It was a bit like a two-headed teen monster.

And neither was the female he’d want to find in his bedroom doorway. At least there was no sign of their ringleader. He supposed that was a small blessing. And they were perhaps better than either the cat or the possessed version of the cat.

“So did you take out Poppy today?” Madison asked, either not aware, or not concerned, with the fact he’d been asleep and wasn’t fully awake now.

“I did,” he answered, running a hand through his hair, trying to clear his head enough to comprehend what was going on.

“Where?” Madison asked, her tone as staccato and no-nonsense as a drill sergeant’s.

He grimaced. He didn’t remember, and he didn’t want to think about it frankly. He’d been rather enjoying a nice, deep sleep after his highly sensual dream.

Talk about a buzzkill here.

“I don’t know. Some coffee place that actually served food. The name didn’t match the décor at all. It