Gazing into her face, he took in every detail of her upsetvisage, wanting to replace it with a smile, but actually being able toaccomplish that seemed like a huge task.
“Will you do something for me?” she asked quietly while shesearched his face.
“Anything,” he answered, hoping he was able to do whateverit was quickly and it wouldn’t involve her leaving him to do so.
“Listen to this music. I think it will help you understandwhat I’m saying…how I feel.” Reaching for her music player, she took herearbuds and placed one in his ear and the other in hers. Selecting a couplesongs from Patty Griffin’s 1,000 Kisses, she started playing the music.“Just listen,” she whispered in his free ear.
Three songs later he finally got the point. By this time,Poppy was basically sitting on his lap with her head against his chest as theylistened. When the track ended, she gently tugged the earbud from his ear.
“It sounds so sad,” Wheaton said, gazing deep into her eyes.If this sad music was comparable to the way he’d made her feel, it made himwant to punch himself in the mouth. How had she sat here feeling like this fordays?
“It’s supposed to,” Poppy said, staring into his eyes justas intently, seeming to realize he finally got it.
His hands, which had been rubbing her back in a comfortingmotion, moved to cup her face.
“I don’t want you to feel that,” he said before his mouthslanted across hers. Wheaton vowed to himself the pain and loneliness she wasfeeling right now would never be caused by him again. He was realizing hishappiness was hinged on her own. “I should explain…”
Pausing for a moment to suck in a huge breath, he realizedhe owed her the truth. “After our first night together I made a decision. Adecision I now think was the wrong one.” Catching her gaze, he cupped her cheekin his palm. “I thought it would be best to not get too close to you, in caseour match ended up not being permanent. I could not imagine it being easy toget over the feel of your presence if I let you fully into my life and then youdecided to leave. Now I realize that I was pushing you away and that is theexact opposite of what I wanted to accomplish. I will fix this if you will letme.”
Poppy had sucked in a deep breath before he blocked it withhis mouth. His lips sucked lightly at hers while he cradled her jaw. Poppy slidher hands up to his face, tracing his cheeks, before running her fingers intohis hair. Slow and deep. Consuming and drowning. Wheaton felt himself get lostin the kiss. His hands left her face to run down her back to her bottom. He rumbledinto her mouth while licking at the seam of her lips. Unable to stop his handsfrom massaging the plump cheeks within his grasp, he then pulled her hipsforward to grind against his erection. Breathing hard, he struggled for controlas he pulled away.
“Will you stay?” he asked softly.
“For now,” she whispered back.
Relief hit him in a wave. If she had said no, he was notsure what he would have done. Wheaton knew he wouldn’t have let her go but wasunsure of how he would have convinced her to stay. Seeing their position on thecouch, Wheaton smiled at her and twisted his hips a bit to call attention toit.
“I would like to take you to our sleeping area.” Wheatonsmiled at the blush on her face that replaced her now gone tears.
Leaning her forehead against his shoulder, Poppy hugged himand then scooted off his lap. She studied his face and he wondered if she couldread that he was not only listening, but also absorbing.
“I would like to talk more first. A couple hours ago I wasready to pack my bags. You can’t keep me at an arm’s length and expect this towork. We need to have some time for ourselves. I know that you work hard but ifyou want me to stay then we have a lot to work on. From the small bits I’vebeen able to be around you I can already tell you I like and admire you.” Poppypaused, cupping his cheeks. “And our physical chemistry is off the charts. Ihave never felt the desire that you make me feel. I’ll stay for now but we needto get to know each other better. What do you say we start over?”
Wheaton nodded, pleased she was giving him a second chanceto make up for ignoring her for so long. From what he had been able to see ofthe woman Poppy was, he was grateful for the chance to make up for the mess hehad made. She was truly a wonderful woman and it was time she knew herecognized that.
“We have lots to talk about.” Holding out her hand, shesaid, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t cuddle and talk at the same time.”
Smiling, he followed her into the bedroom. “As long as youremember we will be doing this naked. You wore clothes the past few nights andI assumed you were cold because I wasn’t present. There will be no excusetonight,” he teased, happy that she was giving him another chance.
“Deal. But this time, I get to undress you too.”
Chapter Twelve
Their truce lasted through the following week and then thenext. Poppy could tell that Wheaton was consciously trying to include her intohis daily routine. She started a tradition of good-morning kisses, which heusually tried to make into all-day kisses. Not that she minded. Thecompanionship she was receiving now was like night and day compared to thefirst few days here. Wheaton talked about his childhood, his life on the ship,home world and hobbies, which were all fascinating to Poppy. From what hedescribed, Poppy realized he must have had a very lonely existence and hiswarrior friends were brothers by choice. She talked about her love of dogs buthow she wasn’t able to have a
