Page 14 of Blurred Love

He blows out a breath and then shoves his hand through his hair. “Fine. When you said someone said those things to you, I found out who it was. Then I got your schedule and waited for him to show up.”

Stunned, all I can do is stare back at him.

He puts his hands on his hips. “I’m not going to apologize for it.”

I can’t believe he did all this for me. I could just thank him and let him walk away, but there’s no way I can just let this go. “I don’t want you to apologize, but I do have one question.”

He tenses, and he’s probably expecting me to ask him how he knew who Adam was or how he knew where the truck would be today. Heck, I should probably ask those things, but instead I ask him the one thing I’ve wondered about since our last meeting. “Are you going to ask me out?”

His mouth drops. “You, uh, want me to ask you out?”

I don’t trust my voice, so I just nod my head.

He lets his hands fall from his hips, and his body tenses. “Poppy, would you go to dinner with me?”

”Tonight?” I ask him.

He nods.

”Yes.” I bite my lip, wondering how much he knows about me. “Do you know where I live?”

His eyes widen, but he nods his head. “Yeah, I do.”

It should probably freak me out, but instead there is a thrill that goes through me. Just the idea that Colter is sweetly stalking me makes me a little feral. “Okay, wanna pick me up at six?”

He nods.

I take a step away and walk backwards. “See you tonight, Colter.”

He stands watching me, speechless.

I have a hundred questions I want to ask him, but they’re going to have to wait until tonight. And then, I’m going to make sure I know everything I want to know about the man that just defended my honor like it was his right and privilege.

CHAPTER8

COLTER

I’m sitting outside of Poppy’s apartment thinking of a thousand reasons why I should call this whole thing off.

Nothing is going to come of this date.

Right now, she thinks I’m a normal man that can do normal things. Eventually, she’s going to see the real me, and she’s not going to want anything to do with me.

I should save us both a lot of time and cancel on her now.

I’m staring out the front of my windshield, trying to decide what I should say to her when the passenger side door of my truck opens, and Poppy is standing there, smiling at me.

She laughs. “I’m so sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

My God, she’s beautiful. She has an off-the-shoulder blue top on that makes her eyes even bluer than normal. She has on jeans and boots that come up her calf. I’m practically salivating, looking at her.

”Colter… you okay?”

She’s holding the door open and still standing on the sidewalk waiting for me to say something.

I clear my throat. “Wait right there.”

I get out and want to run around to her side, but sometimes my gait is off balance, so I go slowly. I feel foolish since she already has the door open, but when I reach her, I hold on to it as I try to explain. “I’m sorry, I would have come up to get you.”

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