Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,46
voice sounded a lot like West’s.” Poppy took a step into the living room and then another. He couldn’t see her face because of the lack of light, but he could see her outline. See her head swiveling, and knew she wasn’t sure exactly where he was.
Which gave him the element of surprise.
She hesitated a little, and he willed himself to remain calm. He didn’t want to move too soon.
The dark gave him an advantage; it also made it essential that he knew exactly where she was. He didn’t want to hurt her.
But he did kind of want to scare her and also mess with her a little.
He couldn’t stop his face from smiling.
He hadn’t smiled this much in years. He supposed that, if anything, should tell him what kind of woman Poppy was.
The kind of woman he wanted to spend a lot more time around.
Maybe scaring her might not make her think that he was the kind of man she wanted to spend a lot more time with.
That was female logic. He shoved it aside. Scaring her would make her fall in love with him.
Wait.
Did he want her to fall in love with him?
He pushed that thought aside too.
Scaring her would make her see how strong and capable he was.
Yeah. That was definitely male thinking.
Poppy took another half-step and paused.
West shifted. A board creaked.
Poppy’s head swiveled.
He moved.
She gasped, but that’s all she had time for before he grabbed her, one arm around her waist, one hand clamping over her mouth.
He hadn’t really intended to pull her close, but that’s the way it ended up.
He pressed her to him, her back to his front, his mouth next to her ear.
“Don’t scream, and I’ll let the children live,” he growled in her ear.
She snorted, the sound coming out her nose since he had his hand clasped over her mouth.
Her stomach shook under his hand, and it was all he could do to keep his hand from moving. She was slimmer than she looked, and she fit perfectly against him. He hadn’t anticipated either one of those two things.
After her initial surprise, she rested against him, her head eventually falling onto his shoulder, with her chin partially up, and her eyes showing white in the dark as he looked down at her.
She smelled like springtime flowers, sunshine, and happiness. And there was an underlying woman scent that pulled his heart and made him forget to breathe.
He had to say something, just to prove he still could.
“Guess I better get my handcuffs out. I can tie you up and throw you in the barn for the night.”
He couldn’t be sure, but he thought her eyes rolled.
“Miss Poppy? Miss Poppy. Where are you?” Warren’s voice came out of the dark, no fear in it, but definitely he’d noticed the silence and felt like he needed to fill it.
Poppy’s arms crossed over her chest, and he thought her foot was tapping. She stared at him.
“Miss Poppy?” That from Garrett.
“Poppy, where are you?” Hazel sounded just a little concerned.
“Pop pop?” Trevor even joined in.
Under his hand, her mouth moved, probably in a grin, since it seemed like all the boys were on her side.
“I’ll take my hand away from your mouth, but you need to tell the boys that I’ve won tonight’s game of hide-and-seek.”
She turned her head, and he let his hand loosen.
She whispered, “You won? How does someone win a game of hide-and-seek when they’re not even ‘it’? I found you. You can’t win.”
“Facts are irrelevant.”
“Truth matters,” she returned.
“I won because I captured you.”
“That’s not the point of hide-and-seek. The point is to not be found.”
“Boys,” West said in a louder voice. “I’ve captured Miss Poppy, and that makes me the winner for the night.”
“What?!” Warren yelled before he said, “Come on, Trevor. Let’s go get him. Where you at?” he yelled, coming in from the hall.
West shuffled to the side and hit the light switch with his elbow. “I’m right here, and here’s my captive.”
“Come on, guys, we can take him!” Poppy called, startling him because he wasn’t expecting it, and twisted in his arms, wrapping her foot around his leg and pulling, getting his knee to bend.
They fell over the arm of his recliner together before sliding onto the floor. West twisted to keep Poppy from landing on her back. Through the chaos, he didn’t miss the big grin on her face. It looked smug yet not in an unkind way. He supposed his own grin matched it.
The boys and even Hazel