Page 75 of Poppy Kisses
Worry filled her eyes. “Sure.”
I wanted to smooth the divot from between her brows. She opened the door wider, her expression expectant.
“In the living room?” she asked.
Oh. Yes. She was in pajamas, and if I entered her bedroom, I’d want to spread her out on the bed and forget both the “no bed” rule and the one dark cloud in the day. “Sure.”
We sat in our same corners on the couch, only she faced me, one leg curled under her. Her shoulders were hunched. No bra. Warmth spread through my gut and headed lower. I would never not be turned on around her.
“If we need to refigure this deal,” she said, “that’s fine.”
“What? No.” Did Poppy think I’d put a stop to everything over a Hassie hissy fit? I wiped a hand down my face. Hassie might feel better about canceling the arrangement, but I wouldn’t. I looked forward to the next year, and after Poppy had returned from dress shopping, her face glowing, I was eager for the wedding. I wanted to see her in that dress, her smile aimed at me. “I made sure Hassie knew the marriage is a deal between us and that discretion is key.”
“Okay.” She drew the word out. “She was good with that?”
“I don’t care.”
Surprise lifted her brows. “You don’t?”
“I’ve had my own life for five years, and she’s been involved in very little of it.” I shrugged. Hassie’s insistent questions had been irritating, and I’d patiently answered them all. Beyond that, I owed her little else. “I also stressed that her son lives here, and if it got out that we were faking a marriage to get the house, it could hurt his reputation at school and negatively impact my business.”
“Dang… I didn’t think this through. I can’t risk you and Auggie?—”
“No.” I grabbed her foot. She straightened her leg until her heel rested on my lap. I worked my thumb up her arch. Her eyelids fluttered, and she moaned. My erection was going to push right into her sole, but I didn’t move her foot off me. “We’re doing this, and my ex can figure out how to handle it. She’s probably forgotten it already.”
She giggled and then looked guilty for doing so. “Auggie was so excited to talk to her.”
“I know. Breaks my heart.”
“Did you—” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Ask me.”
“No, it’s not my business.”
I feathered a fingertip up the bottom of her foot. She jerked, but I held her ankle.
“You’re mean.” She tried to tug her leg away, but I refused to let go.
“Talk, woman.”
She sighed and quit fighting me. “Fine. Did you think she’d be like this when you married?”
My grip on her foot loosened. I hated thinking about the Jensen from back then. The wildly oblivious man who forged ahead when he should’ve stopped for a moment and thought really hard about his future. “I thought it would be different once we were married.”
She sucked in a sympathetic breath. “I’ve heard that from some divorced women I know.”
I stroked her foot under the guise of a massage. Having my hands on her grounded me. “I think she thought the same. I dunno. It’s probably giving her too much of the benefit of the doubt to even say she thought that much about it. I was nothing but blind adoration, and whether I turned into a rodeo cowboy or not, I’m sure she assumed I’d follow her anywhere.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t,” she said softly. “You were all about her.”
I beckoned for her other foot. A little blush stained her cheeks, but she gave me that one too.
“She was safe, in a way,” I said.
She blinked. “You did not act like she wasonlysafe.”
I was going somewhere I never talked about, and I’d rather haul her on my lap to talk about it. Amazingly, I didn’t shove the words back down my throat. I never talked about my dad, but other than Mom, there was no one to talk to about him. “Dad knew her. He’d heard me talk about her. Everyone did,” I said bitterly. My face burned at the memory of how I used to be. “So when I was going into high school and getting used to life without Dad, without telling him about my day or who I talked to, it was easier to stay in Hassie’s orbit than to adjust to another change in life.”
