Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 38003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Her mother only ever trimmed off the split ends. She tried to never have it cut. After dropping the brush, she grabbed a band and pulled her hair all together. She didn’t wrap it up, and she let it go, staring at her reflection.
Up or down?
To put it up felt like she was annoying Klaus.
Leaving it down, giving in to him.
“Why does Klaus even matter?” she asked, mumbling to her reflection. “He’s a stupid boy. A stupid, stupid, idiot boy.”
Even as she said the words, they didn’t actually have any meaning.
“Screw him.” She was wearing her hair down for herself.
Without another glance at the mirror, she toed some sneakers onto her feet and headed downstairs.
Her mother was already gone. Lionel had picked her up an hour ago.
Greg was busy changing, and Poppy had decided to take a nice long bath before getting ready.
There was going to be dancing and fun. A party. It had been a few months since the last one. She hadn’t really joined in. Humming to herself, she headed downstairs and came to a stop when she saw Greg waiting at the front door.
He was in jeans and a white shirt that seemed to be a little too tight across his chest.
There was no hum. No thrill. Nothing.
He was a good-looking man. Kind, sweet, caring. A true alpha’s son. But, even with all of his flirting, she didn’t feel anything. There was no arousal.
Unlike Klaus.
The long bath had also allowed her to take care of her pesky arousal. How he could even make her aroused was beyond her.
She hated him. No, she didn’t hate him. Disliked him, a little. Maybe more than a little. It didn’t matter.
Like aside, she shouldn’t be aroused by him, not even a tiny little bit. The guy was a monster, but that didn’t stop her from imagining him doing all kinds of wicked things to her body. Making her crave him. Calling out his name as she came and panicking in case someone heard her.
She didn’t want anyone to hear her moan anything.
“Greg, hi. You haven’t been waiting long, have you?” she asked.
“What? No. I only just got here.” He pointed at her. “Wow, you look amazing, Poppy.”
She glanced down at herself and smiled. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I mean, wow.”
This wasn’t a date. She was about to tell him as such when the doorbell rang. Poppy didn’t like it as he opened the door.
In fact, it pissed her off just a little.
He didn’t live here. He had no right to open her front door.
“Klaus,” Greg said.
Her heart started to race.
Klaus was here.
“Hey, I thought, seeing as I’ve been showing you the ropes today, we could, like, you know, er, head into town together.”
“Oh,” Greg said.
“You know, that sounds like an awesome idea,” Poppy said.
She walked toward the door, grabbing hold of it and pulling it open. She had this impulsive need to see Klaus. “We can all walk into town together,” she said.
No one spoke.
She looked from Greg to Klaus, then back again. Klaus’s eyes had seemed to take on an amber hue.
His wolf was close.
This wasn’t good.
She quickly stepped forward, brushing her body against Klaus’s as she nudged him out of the way of the door.
He somehow cupped her hip, drawing her a little closer. She pulled out of his touch and grabbed the door as Greg joined them.
Coughing quickly, she turned to Greg and Klaus. Touching her mate first, who was not her mate, she then grabbed Greg’s arm, but not so delicately.
She had to get them moving toward the town, where no one was paying attention to either of them.
Greg tried to grab her hand, and Klaus put a possessive hand on her hip, which surprised her. She wanted Greg to stop touching her, and Klaus, well, it was like she’d not had an orgasm an hour before. This was a nightmare.
It didn’t help that they entered a town full of people. Full of pack.
She immediately stepped away from the two men and got lost in the crowd. There had to be space between her and Klaus.
Poppy couldn’t think, and her thoughts were dominated by all that was Klaus.
The bully Klaus. The same bully who was her mate.
This wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t be aroused by the guy she hated.
Any normal person would be aroused by Greg. Older, more mature, seemingly wiser, and not-a-bully Greg.
She stopped by a soda stand that sold a homemade blend of lemonade, and she paid for her glass before stepping away.
The cold had to do something to her body. She downed the drink in two gulps, and the ice, well, she wasn’t going to allow that to go to waste, so she started to suck on the cubes.
Poppy glanced around, smiling at people who passed and trying to catch sight of Klaus.
He was nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t happy about that.