Page 18 of Last Second Chance

Over the course of a year, I built up a reaction in my mind. I thought she would throw her arms around me and beam with happiness as she realized that I didn’t cheat on her. That she’d been wrong all along.

Then again, that last part was probably a little upsetting. She was probably embarrassed. In the grand scheme of things, I thought it was more important that I hadn’t betrayed her, but I might have been a little biased. The awkward tension that stayed with us all the way up in the elevator and as we walked to her door was torture. I just wanted to touch her soft skin...breathe in the scent of her shampoo...

...spread her out naked beneath me and worship her body like I’d dreamt about for the past year.

Okay, my expectations might have been a bit much, but it was driving me crazy to be around her in short shorts, tight sundresses, and a barely-there bikini when I couldn’t be with her the way I wanted. My fantasies were keeping me awake at night, and there was no relief to be had that was as satisfying as the real thing.

Iknewthis to be true. It wasn’t just the idea of her that got me going, it was the memory. She was a wildcat in bed, and I missed it with a nearly painful potency.

So, I kissed her. I had to. If I didn’t get a taste of her, I was going to lose my mind. She was just as hot and sweet as I remembered and my lips tingled with sensation long after we parted.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t hope to be invited inside her hotel room, but she didn’t do that. Pulling away from the kiss, she rested her forehead against mine and looked into my eyes. I felt like she could see into my soul.

Then, she thanked me for dinner and went inside the room alone.

It was a disappointment, but I had made a hell of a lot of progress with her, so I was happy. It was hard to believe that I was close to giving up just earlier this afternoon. Thank God Ben was there to knock some sense into me. When I officially had her back in my life, I was going to buy him courtside seats to the Knicks.

He deserved it.

It was the day after our dinner together, and I wanted to spend more time with Poppy. I felt like I needed to keep this momentum going. If the train of reconciliation stalled out, I didn’t think I’d get another chance.

It was the day of Michael’s bachelor party, but that wasn’t taking place until the evening. I wasn’t sure what Poppy had planned for the day, but I decided to text her and find out. I had my phone in my hand as I left my room early in the afternoon, but she was standing alone in the hallway, waiting for the elevator.

I approached, and she turned when I was still ten feet away, seeing me coming. For once, she didn’t look unhappy at the sight of me or try to leave the area immediately to avoid me. Her steady gaze held mine as I came closer. She looked amazing in a blue wrap dress that highlighted her curves.

“Hi,” I said, as I came to a stop beside her.

“Hi.” Her reply was short, but lacked any animosity.

Progress.

But as the elevator door opened and we got inside with five other people, things got awkward quickly. Poppy was forced to stand so close to me that I could feel her soft curves pressed against my side. Our eyes met a couple of times, in the furtive way that flirting teenagers often did. Thankfully, the ride to the lobby was short with no further stops along the way. When we got out with everyone else, I looked around. It was crowded today, probably because of an influx of guests arriving early for the weekend.

“Do you maybe want to go for a walk with me?” I asked. I felt like I was asking her out on our first date, and there was a nervous flutter inside of me that I was trying to hide.

Her smile was soft. “Yeah. Let’s go to the beach.”

I boldly took her hand, feeling nostalgic for a time when I wouldn’t even have to think about touching her. I never appreciated it as much as I should have.

Leading us outside, I bypassed the pool area. When we reached the sand, we both kicked off the sandals on our feet, and started to walk with them in our free hands. I didn’t care where we went, so I let her choose the direction. She went right, pulling me closer to where the sand met the waves and water ran over our feet at steady intervals as we walked along.

It was peaceful. I ran my thumb over the back of her hand, even though I knew my hands were calloused from working on cars my whole life. I knew Poppy liked it. I never had to be embarrassed that I had the blue-collar job of a mechanic. I didn’t go to college, but I did well for myself. She always used to comment that the slight roughness reminded her that I was all-man, big and strong.

Hearing her purr those compliments into my ear was erotic as hell, and just reliving the memory made my cock grow heavy in my shorts. Although, these days it didn’t take much to get me going.

We didn’t talk much as we walked, but the uncomfortable feeling from before seemed to fade. Maybe it was the fresh air, or maybe she was starting to come to terms with the story I told her last night.

We reached a boardwalk, and Poppy turned toward it. I was just following her lead at this point. I felt like I could do that forever, just trail along with her wherever she went in life, happy to be along for the ride.

God, I was crazy about this girl. The feelings hadn’t faded at all during our time apart. My dad would have called me a sap for being so hung up on one woman, but for once, it was easy to ignore his voice in my head. He might have been married three times, but that wasn’t the way I wanted to live my life.

“You want to check this out?” Poppy asked as we reached an arcade on the boardwalk.

I peered into the dark space. There were a few kids inside already, but that wasn’t going to stop us from having a little fun. We got some change from the cash I had in my wallet and walked around the arcade until Poppy found a game she wanted to play.

“Oh my God, I used to be obsessed with this game. I went to the mall and played it all the time in high school,” she said, dropping my hand and rushing over to a machine. It had a big screen with a little female character on the screen that danced while music played. There was a foot pad that recorded whether or not the player did the right dance moves.

I handed over the quarters and Poppy started up the game.

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