“No. You will not. I will kill any male that comes nearyou.” He bared his teeth. “Part of me wanted to pull Behyr’s arms off and beathim with them when I saw you both smiling at each other,” he admitted.
Taking her free hand, Poppy cupped his cheek. She realizedthat this big, stupid man had made a mistake and finally figured it out.Leaning forward to give him a hug, she basked in his closeness again.
Poppy sniffed through her now-stuffy nose. “You aren’t offthe hook yet, big guy. I am still disappointed in you for having doubts.”Rubbing at her nose, she gave him a serious look.
“And I am pissed the fuck off at that bitch, Hannah. She’s ahuman woman and would know how much that kiss would hurt me but also how thatmessage sounded. I have a feeling she wanted me to hear it.”
That quickly, Poppy’s emotions shifted from sadness toanger. Jesus, it felt as if she were going through every single emotion in theworld today. From complete bliss when finally able to see Wheaton, thensadness, anger, confusion. Anger at the other woman was clearly winning in theemotional wheel of fortune. She definitely needed to have a sit-down withHannah the Whore, and hopefully it wouldn’t end with her pulling out everysingle strand of her silky blonde hair.
“There will be no more sleeping in the same bed. You shouldhave been on the couch or the floor the first night the problem came up. Idon’t care how uncomfortable it is.” Seeing he was going to argue, shecontinued with what she knew would make him understand.
“Can you imagine how you would have reacted if you had foundanother warrior in my bed? Even simply sharing the same space? When Behyr foundout I was pregnant, he didn’t want me to spend my nights alone in case therewas an emergency. It took quite a few talks to make him understand I didn’tneed him monitoring me during the night.”
Breathing out heavily, Poppy said, “From now on, when youcome across a situation like this, I want you to ask yourself one question.”
“What is this question?” he asked.
“The question is, ‘How would I feel if Poppy was in myplace?’ Get it?” she said with her brow raised.
“I believe so,” he replied with an expression of mildconfusion.
“Okay, let me give you a ‘for instance’… Ask yourself howyou would feel if I shared a bed with another warrior. A warrior who had beenassigned by the Council as my new mate?” she asked with an innocent smile, asif she didn’t know what his reaction would be.
“I now ‘get it’.” His face was murderous as he responded toher question.
“Good.” Taking off her nightshirt and throwing it back onthe floor in the corner, she turned to face him.
“Now, let’s go to bed. We have an early appointment to seeWheaton Jr. tomorrow morning.” Walking over to her side of the bed, she glancedbehind her to see Wheaton watching her ass sway with every step.
“And no nookie. You’re still on my shit list for a bit,” shepointed out.
Giving her a disappointed but understanding grimace, Wheatonlay down beside her and hugged her close. As he snuggled up to her back and puthis hand over her belly, he whispered to the top of her head. Unable to hearwhat he had said, she adjusted so she could see his face.
“What?”
“I said I am sorry I fucked up. Is that the correctwording?”
“Yes and yes, you did fuck up. I’m still angry but Iunderstand you work on logic and not feelings so you get one free pass. Don’tfuck up again, because we’ll have problems if you do. I won’t be able toforgive and forget a second time. No matter how much I love you.”
Making sure that her words sank in, she leaned up to givehim a quick peck. “Now go to sleep, big guy, we have a busy morning and I amemotionally done with today.”
As Wheaton hugged her close and tried to relax, he thoughtto himself, Thank your god for second chances.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next morning, Poppy woke up completely entangled inWheaton’s arms. First thing she noticed was how hungry she was. She’d misseddinner last night when Wheaton had surprised her at the door. Squeezing outfrom underneath the arm and leg he’d thrown over her, she made a pit stop inthe bathroom before heading to the kitchen. If there was ever a day that calledfor pancakes, it would be this one. When the food generator beeped, she pulledout her plate, prepping one for Wheaton as well. Hearing him stir in thebedroom, she peered through the doorway to see him pulling on a pair of pantsbeside the bed.
“Babe? I have breakfast ready once you get cleaned up, andthen we need to head to the medical unit,” she called out.
“Let me use the facilities and we can eat before we go backto the other apartment. I will need fresh clothes before my meetings today,” hecalled back.
Taking a moment to enjoy the flavor of her pancakes andchocolate milk, she wondered if Hannah was going to be at the apartment whenthey stopped by for clothes. She didn’t necessarily want to have it out earlythis morning, but she also knew that until she spoke with Hannah, she wouldkeep thinking about the shenanigans the blonde had tried to pull.
Wheaton joined her and before sitting down at the bar, heleaned over and kissed her.
“Good morning, little flower,” he said, giving her anotherkiss, and then licked his lips. “You taste good.”
“So do you. Now eat. We have lots to do today and the guysasked me to get to the medical unit before it gets busy this morning. They wantme in the regen bed before the warriors need it,” she said with a smile, lovinghow his eyes lit up at the mention of the med center. She was just as excitedto get more information on her pregnancy.
Quickly devouring his plate of pancakes, he didn’t speakmuch other than mumbles of “so good” and “I have missed these”. When his platewas empty, he helped her clean up and then
