Chapter ten

Theo

My arms and legs shook as I carried Poppy to the living room. Instead of laying her down on the sofa like a sane person, I lowered us both to the cushions and leaned against the armrest.

“Good idea,”

Rowan said, yanking my legs onto the couch and pulling Poppy’s legs over mine. “Mom, put the lamp on the table and grab some blankets. We should start a fire.”

The front door slammed open, and Aiden, Cal, and Chris rushed in. Cal had a gash on his face, probably from falling on the way over, and the other two didn’t look much better.

“Is she unconscious?”

Cal asked calmly despite his disheveled appearance.

“Fainted when she saw the nail in her foot,”

Rowan answered with enough panic in her voice to send my heart pounding more than it already was. “That’s on brand for her, but I’m worried she might be hypothermic. This was all she had on outside.”

“How long was she out there?”

Cal asked.

“A few minutes,” I said.

Poppy stirred, then began to shake. “Did I faint?”

she asked in a weak voice.

“Yep,”

Chris said.

“Here,”

Rose said, covering us both with one blanket and then another.

“Leave her feet out,”

Rowan said. “Mom, take off her top.”

“No,”

Poppy said.

“Yes, it’s soaking wet,”

Rose said. “Boys turn around.”

“Theo, take off your shirt too,”

Rowan yelled.

“Um, maybe you should switch places with him, Rowan,” Cal said.

I reached behind my head and yanked off my shirt, then closed my eyes while Rose pulled the wet fabric from Poppy’s skin.

“Good, Theo,”

Rowan said. “Now wrap your arms around her and hold her hands until Cal can look at them.”

I brushed my hands across Poppy’s stomach, praying I didn’t accidentally cup a boob, until I found her hands and gripped them. They were ice cold, but she did her best to squeeze my fingers back. If I wasn’t so worried about her, this position would be torture. Her entire naked back was pressed to my bare chest. I could feel every breath and shiver like they were my own. Hell, maybe they were. My breaths were coming in panicked bursts in time with the tremors racking Poppy’s body.

“Can someone grab me a bowl of lukewarm water?”

Cal asked.

“I’ll get it,”

Chris said, turning on his phone’s flashlight and running toward the kitchen.

“Should we call 911?”

Rowan asked Cal.

“Maybe. I don’t know what to do with the nail. But it would take them forever to get here with the ice. We should at least try to warm up her feet. I don’t like how swollen they are.”

“Let me take a look,”

Aiden said, shoving Cal aside. “I see stuff like this all the time. Take off Theo’s socks and check his feet too since the big oaf won’t notice if he’s getting frostbite.”

Cal yanked my wet socks from my stinging toes. “What were you idiots doing outside without shoes?”

he asked, gripping my foot.

“Stop rubbing my feet and just get me a dry pair of socks,”

I said louder than I meant.

Cal dropped my foot, and I heard his own boots hit the floor before he slid a pair of warm socks on my aching skin. It felt too nice to give him shit about wearing his dirty socks. I pressed my face into Poppy’s hair, breathing deep the lavender scent and trying to calm down while everyone worked around us.

“Good thing you got that tetanus shot, Pop,”

Chris said, bringing a bowl of water into the room.

“Don’t talk about shots, Christopher,”

Rose snapped from the hearth where she already had a small fire burning. “We don’t want her to faint again.”

Everyone paused and looked at Poppy.

“Stop fussing, I’m fine,”

Poppy said, which would have been reassuring if her teeth weren’t chattering. “Fudge nugget,”

she shouted and arched off my body.

“Got it,”

Aiden said, handing something to Cal. “Worst is over, Hell Cat. I don’t think she needs stitches, do you?”

“Not tonight, assuming we can get the bleeding stopped,”

Cal said. “But I’m a physical therapist, not an ER doctor. Poppy, you should follow up with Dr. Evers tomorrow.”

“I’ll get the first aid kit,”

Rowan said and hustled out of the room.

“Don’t rush,”

Cal shouted after her. “We need to soak her feet first anyway. Theo, can you sit up so her feet are hanging off the couch?”

I did as he asked, pulling Poppy tight against my chest and resting her legs between mine. She let out a hiss as Cal gently lowered her feet into the bowl on the floor. “Fuck, that burns. Sorry, Mom.”

“It’s OK, sweetie,”

Rose said before blowing on the small fire.

“Chris, see if you can find Poppy something warm to drink,”

Cal said. “It’ll help raise her core temp.”

“On it,”

he said, taking off again.

Rose and Aiden built up the fire in the hearth and soon the room filled with dancing light and heat. Slowly, Poppy stopped shaking. Cal swapped the bowl for one with slightly warmer water. As Poppy’s skin warmed, my tense muscles softened against her. My body melted closer, the blankets capturing the building heat between us.

“It’s all ruined,”

Poppy said after she’d downed the coffee Chris brought her. She started shaking again, only this time, I could hear the sobs she tried to muffle. I fought the urge to twist her around so I could hug her face-to-face. I rubbed my hand down her arms, but the feeling of her soft skin beneath my fingers was too much. I gave her back a couple pats, which only made her cry harder.

“What’s ruined?”

Aiden asked.

“The tree took out the front of Poppy’s studio,”

Rowan said. “All her current projects and supplies were inside.”

“Are there any downed lines out there?”

Aiden asked.

Fuck. I didn’t even think of that when Poppy disappeared into the branches. This could have been so much worse. “The lights went out right after the tree fell,”

I said, forcing down the wave of nausea that crashed over me.

“I couldn’t see any lights anywhere in the area,”

Cal added.

“All right,”

Aiden said, clapping his hands together like he was on a job site and about to dole out tasks. “We need tarps and rope. Shower curtains work too, even trash bags if that’s all we’ve got. I’m assuming you don’t have a chainsaw, Rose?”

“Just an ax and a hedge trimmer,” she said.

“That’ll do,”

Aiden said. “I’m going outside to check for downed lines before we do anything. Anyone joining me needs boots and proper winter gear, no exceptions. Bonus points for eye protection.”

Chris shot off again. Rose walked to the couch and brushed Poppy’s short hair aside with gentle fingers. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll save everything we can.”

I started to shift Poppy off my lap. “I should—”

“Stay here and help me,”

Rowan said in a tone that left no room for discussion. “I want to move her closer to the fire once Cal finishes bandaging her foot, and it’d be easier if you lifted her.”

I nodded and listened as Poppy continued to cry, wishing there was something I could do other than act as her personal heater. By the time Cal and Rowan finished with Poppy’s feet, everyone else was outside. After he checked her hands, Cal joined them.

“Give me a second,”

Rowan said. “I want to grab something to put on the floor.”

She took the lantern and ran up the stairs, leaving Poppy and me completely alone.

I gripped Poppy tighter in the gentle glow from the fire. She turned slightly and laid her head on my shoulder, her breast brushing against my chest. My cock stirred to life, begging me to touch her, but I sat like a boulder, silent and unmoving. Poppy wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled against me, and I fought like hell to get my body under control.

“Sorry that took so long,”

Rowan said when she returned several minutes later. “I had to stop in the bathroom and hurl.”

“You OK?” I asked.

“I faint at blood,”

Poppy said. “Rowan pukes.”

“Hey, at least I held it in until I’d taken care of you,”

Rowan said. “I think that earns me double sister points.”

Poppy started laughing. The sound, coupled with the movement of her skin against mine, sent jolts of pleasure down my stomach, invigorating the erection I’d tried so hard to calm.

“You’re going to make me wear pink at your wedding, aren’t you?” she said.

“Obviously,”

Rowan said, rolling out a sheet of memory foam. “Grabbed this from your bed. I figured you should sleep down here since it’ll be the warmest place in the house.”

“Any chance you brought me sweats too?”

Poppy said.

“Slipped my mind,”

Rowan said, with a hint of laughter in her voice. “Sorry. Just hold onto the blankets when Theo moves you.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m sure Theo has seen plenty of tits in his line of work, and mine are nothing to brag about. But I’d love to get out of these wet bottoms.”

“He’s probably seen plenty of bottoms too, haven’t you, Theo?”

Rowan said, with a smirk.

“I’ve seen plenty of everything, but no one as fine as Poppy.”

They both sucked in a breath. Maybe I was hypothermic. I certainly wasn’t thinking straight, saying shit like that. In one sentence I’d confessed my attraction to Poppy, something I’d never flat-out admitted to anyone. “Um, why don’t I bring you over to the fire, Poppy, then you can have the blankets to yourself and just ditch the bottoms.”

I felt her nod against my neck, so I stood and carried her across the room. She held the blankets close as I lowered her onto the foam “I’m going to help outside,”

I said, standing and reaching for my wet shirt.

“Please stay,”

Poppy said so softly my chest ached.

“OK, kardoula mou.”

Rowan patted my bare shoulder. “I’ll see if I can find something of Chris’s for you to wear and grab her sweats.”

I should have kept my distance, but after Rowan left, I stretched out on the floor beside Poppy, facing her and the fire. Seeing her so hurt and upset made it impossible to deny myself the closeness I’d always craved with her.

“It doesn’t matter what they salvage,”

she said, softly.

She began tracing the omega on my arm that surrounded Logan’s name. It was one of the first tattoos I’d given myself and one of the most significant. I held my breath, enjoying the feel of her small fingers on my skin and waiting for her to say more. The fire crackled, bathing us in a warm glow. The rest of the house was dark, the silence rich and thick.

After a few moments she gripped my arm. “I’ve lost it.”

“What have you lost?”

I asked, brushing the soft, damp skin below her eyes with my thumbs.

“I haven’t been able to sculpt in weeks. I’ve lost my art.”

“Impossible. I saw the sketches you did the other day. Maybe you just need a break from sculpting until something inspires you, but you haven’t lost your skill, your talent.”

She nodded but her eyes looked so sad, I couldn’t stop myself from inching closer and brushing a kiss on her forehead. A quick kiss wasn’t out of line, especially after everything that had happened. But I lingered too long.

“Theo,”

she breathed, lifting her hands to my face when I didn’t pull away. I leaned into her touch and lowered my mouth to kiss the tip of her nose. It’d been so long since I’d felt a woman’s hands on me like this. Had it always felt this good, or was it because the fingers brushing gentle circles on my cheeks were hers? My feisty, talented Poppy who deserved so much more than I could ever give her. She lifted her face until our lips were so damn close.

I don’t know if she erased the slim distance between us or if I did, but suddenly, our lips were touching and we were pressed together, leaving no doubt of the effect she had on me. She arched against my erection, and I buried my hand in her short hair, pulling her closer. I lowered my other hand beneath the blanket to her breast, caressing her smooth skin until my fingers found her nipple. She moaned, opening her mouth for me to explore. I wanted to crawl under the blankets and learn every inch of her beautiful body. I wanted her to touch me until I forgot all the reasons I’d kept us apart.

Her fingers skated down my torso to the waistband of my jeans and all the consequences of what was happening slammed into me. There’d be no stopping if she went further, and I had to stop. I pulled away and stumbled to my feet, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep myself from reaching for her again. I kept my eyes on the ground, my resolve too weak to look at her face.

“This might work,”

Rowan said as she walked into the room. I didn’t bother looking at what she’d brought me or thanking her, I just grabbed the clothes and started for the front door where I’d left my boots.

While I dressed, the weight of the sisters’ silence smothered all the thoughts in my head, so when I stepped outside without my jacket, I was numb to the cold, the sounds of activity in the backyard, numb to everything but the certainty that I should be alone.