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“Leave,” she orders, a tremble in her body, quiver in her voice, all of it screaming prey, but she doesn't shrink away.
I wonder how long it'd take for her to crack. Maybe she would cry. Shout. Crumble to the floor. I wonder how long I could stand here, just like this, to get any of those reactions out of her.
Tongue licking over my lips, I feel myself start to move back in towards her, her entire body snapping straight as though she can sense it, but the sudden ringing of my phone stops me.
“See you soon, Lollipop,” I grin at her, stepping out into the empty hall, hearing the door slam at my back, feeling it vibrate through the soles of my shoes.
Retrieving my cell from my pocket.
Flynn.
I swipe the screen, lift it to my ear, listen to him speak for a short minute. Tapping my foot as I reach the elevator and press the call button. Flynn rumbles in my ear, feeding me theinformation I've been waiting on, and then I'm stepping inside the elevator, letting the doors close me in before I cut him off.
“Poppy Foster,” Flynn stops speaking, silence between us for a beat.
And then, “What you want on her?”
I grin, wide, sinister, chaotic, “Everything.”
Chapter 13
POPPY
“Snow's getting worse,” Lynx says as he steps into the room from using the dorm showers, staring out of the window at my back.
Kicking the door closed behind him, scrubbing a blue towel over his wet hair, the bleached strands standing up on end in every different direction. Water drips down his temple, and I follow it, gliding across his jaw, dripping from the soft dimple in his chin to the bare, tattooed skin of his tanned chest. I lick my lips unconsciously, feeling a pull in my tender throat.
Lynx came back not long after Bennett, his brother, left, leaving me with a sense of unease and a feeling of eyes on the back of my neck, but I didn't say anything to him about it. Not when he walked in smelling of sex,with me,looking like sin, and wrapped me up in an embrace that felt much too comfortable and familiar for a stranger.
A stranger that you were fucking last night.
“Didn't know it snowed in Texas,” I half-shrug, pushing away thoughts of our previous night's activities.
Having done zero research on the new country I'd be living in in the short amount of time I'd had between being informed ofmy impending departure and my actual departure. I know next to nothing about my new home.
“Thought it was always hot and humid, huh?” Lynx's mouth lifts up on one side, dimple carving deep into his slightly hollowed cheek, “It is. Usually. Maybe you brought the cold weather with you frommm…?”
“England,” I say quietly, dropping my gaze back to the book in my lap, hiding my smile beneath my hair.
“Harhar,” he says, but his smirk transforms into a smile that I catch with lifted eyes beneath my lashes.
“Surrey,” I offer up then, lifting my chin to look at him fully, one leg tucked beneath the other where I perch on the end of my bed.
Lynx flicks the damp towel over his shoulder, cocking his head to one side as he grabs his hairbrush from the end of his freshly made bed, “What's it like?”
Lonely,I think to myself. A big empty house with a man who doesn't want to know me.
I swallow around the lump in my throat, try not to think about that.
“It's fine, there's a nice little tea shop around the corner from my house that I liked to spend my Saturday mornings in,” I smile a little, thinking of the park I cross through to get there.
“Tea.” Lynx wrinkles his nose. “Dunno if I've ever had it. I'm not really a hot beverage person.”
“I brought some with me, you can try it if you like. I like mine with lots of sugar.”
“Ah, a sweet tooth,” he grins, and my cheeks flush instantly as though I've been called out for something. “So, I don't know of any tea shops,” Lynx starts, smirking at my obvious flush but not addressing it further. “But there is a great bakery not too far from here that serves these little cream puffs. They have all kindsof sweet fillings with different coloured toppings. They might serve tea, I usually just grab a protein shake.”
“They sound good,” I nod in agreement.
