Page 77 of Pucking Sweet

“And then I—oh—Poppy,” she squeals, waving me over.

The small crowd of hockey guys standing around her parts, making way for me. Even Jenni and the Johns are there, John Two munching on biscotti.

Taking a deep breath, I smooth my hands down the front of my lilac sheath dress. Plastering a smile on my face, I cross the atrium. Violet dances forward, her free hand outstretched to wrap me in a one-armed hug. She squeezes me, and I get a lungful of Dior.

“Are you surprised?” she says, shifting her hold on me to my hand. “Please, tell me you’re surprised. Oh! Your hair looks so pretty like this.” She nods at the artfully messy braid resting on my shoulder.

“Thanks.”

I know what she’s doing. She doesn’t want me to get away. Not before she’s had her say. I glance down, noting the giant sparkling diamond on her ring finger. It’s princess cut, easily four carats, with a white gold band. Anderson put it there. Did he get down on one knee? Did she pick it out herself? I can feel every eye in the atrium watching us. Oh gosh, they can’t all possibly know, can they?

Keep it together, Poppy.

“Well, were you surprised?” she says again.

“So surprised,” I manage to say.

“I had no choice. You’re impossible to get ahold of these days,” she chides, squeezing my hand. “A girl can go gray waiting to hear back from you.”

Lukas appears at my side, one hand on my shoulder. “I just said the same thing.” He sticks out his other hand around me. “Hi, Lukas Novikov, friend of Poppy’s.”

Friend?That’s a bit of stretch, seeing as I’m the utterly forgettable one-time mistake he just legally silenced.

She drops my hand, and her eyes go wide as she takes him in, clearly appreciating his physique. She traces the tattoos on his armwith her gaze, and I fight the urge to step in front of him. “Are you a hockey player too?” she asks, shaking his hand.

“Sweetheart, I’mtheplayer,” he says with a wink.

She grins, her blue eyes twinkling.

“He’saplayer, and he was just leaving.” I push on his arm. “You were all just leaving, right?” I call out to the guys.

A few of them mumble about wanting to order coffee.

“Your coffee is in your hand, honey,” I say at Cade Walsh, pointing to the cup he’s holding.

“Oh, don’t send them away,” says Violet. “I came because I wanted to meet your friends and see this glamorous new life you’ve made for yourself.”

“Did you hear that?” Paul jokes. “Malibu Barbie thinks we’re glamorous.”

“Idohave a certain panache,” Flash says with a nod.

“Dude, you can’t even spell panache,” says Cade.

Flash elbows him as the others laugh.

Colton moves quietly around them, weaving his way back over from the coffee cart. He slips a drink in my hand, and I check the little tea tag. Green tea with lemon. How did he know? I clutch to the cup like it’s a lifeline and loop my arm in with Violet’s. I am not doing this in front of an audience. “Okay, time to say ‘goodbye’ to Malibu Barbie, fellas.”

A few of them groan. Others wave.

“Bye, Barbie.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too!” She waves over her shoulder. “Such nice guys.”

“Yeah, they’re great,” I mutter, pulling her over to where Jenni and the Johns are standing. “I’m so sorry about this,” I say at Jenni. “My sister just surprised me and—”

“Oh, don’t be. Family comes first,” she assures me. “We’re just glad we got to meet you in person before the event. We can’t wait for Saturday.”

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