Noah

I had always loved nighttime sounds. The crickets chirping outside the window. Frogs serenading each other in the pond. The whir and squeal of the old standing fan in the corner of my room as it oscillated. The backdrop for all those sounds was a still silence that provided a rare moment of peace, but after tonight, I had a new night sound to add to my list of favorites: Poppy's snoring.

Head resting on my hand, I laid on my side and watched her sleep while damn well knowing if she opened her eyes, I would look like a creep. Hell, I felt like one. What had transpired between us was part of an agreement that didn't involve catching feelings, and indulging in this kind of moon-eyed behavior was a sure fire way to catch feelings.

Falling back on my pillow, I let out a huff and glared at the ceiling. For fuck's sake. The woman drove me mad on a good day. Not to mention she was a flight risk. I wanted a woman who would put down roots, and Poppy was born with wings.

Sleeping with her was supposed to scratch an itch and relieve the tension between the two of us. Honestly, I expected to want to send her home after the first round, but my dick had other plans. Surprisingly, every other part of me agreed with it. Maybe it was the way she'd moaned beneath me or the way she had taken everything I could give her, even demanding more. It was like I'd awoken something within her, maybe even something she didn't know existed, and neither of us could get enough.

It was well past midnight the last time we had sex. We'd gone to the kitchen to take a break and get some snacks, only to end up with Poppy bent over the counter while I licked whipped cream out of her until she came so hard her legs shook. Of course, that made a mess that required a shower, and she had informed me so very sweetly that taking a shower together was better for the environment.

My cock twitched as I thought about how I had pounded into her from behind while holding the shower head against her clit. She came so hard I saw stars as her tight pussy clenched around me. When she finished, I dropped the shower head to hold on to her hips with both hands, then picked it back up to wash the ropes of cum off her back.

Afterwards, she mentioned leaving, but the idea of her driving home exhausted in the dark made my teeth clench, and I told her she could leave in the morning. For a moment, I thought she would argue. Her plump mouth twisted sideways and that spark of defiance flashed across her face, but she surprised us both by crawling under the covers and falling asleep almost at once.

Now here I was. Awake, horny, and confused as hell about what this was. It wasn't like I hadn't had a fuck buddy before. Jenny and I managed well enough for a long time. Our appetites were similar, but neither of us saw a future with the other. That's how it should be with Poppy.

"Shit," I muttered, rolling to my side and punching my pillow to plump it.

A few hours later, sunlight struck me in the face, and I jolted awake with a curse on my lips, wondering why I'd forgotten to close the curtains last night. Legs hanging over the edge of the bed and hands curled around the mattress, I squinted and shook my head to clear it. The rumble of a car engine out front snapped me out of my daze, and I twisted to look at the bed, already knowing Poppy wasn't in it.

By the time I pulled on a pair of pants and made it to the front porch, the only evidence that she'd been here was the cloud of dust lingering in the air above the road. Inhaling and exhaling hard through my nose, I went back into the house, letting the screen door slam behind me. The sharp slap of metal against the frame was an echo of the frustration building inside my chest, and I drummed my fingers aggressively on the countertops while I waited for the coffee to brew.

It wasn't until I was on my second cup, wandering about the house with a scowl on my face, that I realized I was searching for a note. I didn't expect some flowery love letter. A simple thank you for the great sex would have been enough, but all she left was the certainty that last night was a mistake.

"Whoa, what happened in here?" Luke asked, taking off his hat as he stepped into the kitchen.

I'd been so wrapped up in my irritation that I hadn't heard his cruiser pull up. "What do you mean?"

Luke pointed to the island in the middle of the kitchen. The bills that had been stacked neatly on top of it were now on the floor, and there were sticky streaks of red across the white quartz surface. I frowned before I remembered Poppy had been eating maraschino cherries out of the jar when I'd decided I'd rather eat her than a sundae.

"Don't you knock?" I growled, banishing the image of her freckled skin bunched between my hands as I kneeled on the wooden floor.

"Dude. Go back to bed and roll out the other side because there's no way in hell I'm spending all day with you like this."

"All day with me? Oh, shit..." I'd asked him to help clear the trees in the east pasture. "Sorry. Long night."

"Mm-hmm," Luke said, his eyes alighting on something on the floor. He bent over, and when he stood up, he had a pair of lace underwear dangling off his fingertip. "I bet it was. Who's the lucky lady?"

"No one to concern yourself with," I snapped, snatching the underwear out of his hand and shoving it in my pocket. His laughter followed me back to the bedroom, where I dropped the panties on top of bikini bottoms. It was quite a collection I was starting, but it was going to have to get me through this phase.

Because there was one thing I was sure about, I could not fuck Poppy again.