Page 15 of Spotlight on Poppy

"Poppy, I'm just being professional. I want you." he said against her neck, kissing her one last time. "But that's obvious," he said. He pushed her against the wall with his hips, grinding his erection into her. She gasped again and he took her mouth and kissed her. He kissed her deep with the same passion their kiss last night had. His hands explored her body and his tongue danced with hers.

"Come back to my room with me," he said.

She wanted to, she really wanted to, but she also really needed to get some sleep. And her gran was gracious enough not to say something last night, but she knew that courtesy would not be extended to the second day.

"I can't. I really want to, but I have to get home and get some sleep tonight."

"You don't have to stay over. Just come over for a little bit."

Poppy thought about it, she tried to push away how good his lips felt on her neck and how good his hands felt on her body. Poppy was not now, nor had she ever been a booty call, and she didn't plan on being one for him. As much as it pained her, she would say no, and their relationship would be stronger for it. This was just the beginning for them.

"Damien, I would love to, but I really have to get home tonight. I want to get up early and get some baking done for the store."

"If you must," he said, kissing up her neck. He gave her one last kiss. "We should go then. Bring me some more of those muffins again. They were delicious."

"Right," she said. He had assumed those muffins were for him. Baking for him hadn't even crossed her mind. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would appreciate a good muffin. He seemed more like the kind of guy who would be concerned by the carbs in a muffin, at least that was a pleasant surprise, because she couldn’t care less about carbs.

He pulled away from her and went to turn off the house lights. All that was left was the glow of the ghost light on the stage.

"Alright, let's get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow."

They walked out of the theater. "I'm this way," she said, nodding her head to the right.

"I'm this way, so I guess this is where we part."

"Looks like..." She waited. She wasn't sure what for. For one last kiss? For him to walk her? Anything?

"Welp, good night." He turned and headed down the sidewalk.

Poppy slowly started down towards her car. Something felt off, she was putting up with stuff from this guy she never would have normally. She was trying to trust the process. If they could make this work this could be the start of something new and different for her. She couldn’t help but wonder how the spell felt for Hannah. Had she been this uncertain? Hannah would be home next week, and she couldn't wait to talk to her. She needed to hear how the love spell felt for Hannah. She knew Graham and Hannah did not like each other at first, so maybe these mixed emotions were normal?

As she turned the corner, she saw Josh standing by her car holding her basket. Her heart swelled. While she wasn’t sure what was happening with her and Damien, it was a comfort to know some things never changed. Josh Turner being one of the things, and she was realizing more and more lately how much he was this pleasant constant in her life.

"Hey, you waited for me?"

"I just wanted to give you this back." He handed her basket back. "I put the last muffin in a Ziplock bag. It’ll be a great breakfast tomorrow. Thank you so much, I was having a bad day, but that helped."

Poppy couldn't help the dopey grin that was plastered across her face right now. "You're welcome."

"Really, it was very thoughtful of you."

"No problem." Her car was right next to his, she took the basket from him, and walked over to her car. “I’ll see you tomorrow," she said as she got into her car.

"Good night, Poppy," he said as he watched her get into her car.

Poppy took a moment and smiled to herself. He just called her thoughtful, that felt really nice. Poppy was often called things like, bubbly, funny, fun-loving, but she was also called things like scattered, emotional and a time or two self-absorbed. Thoughtful was a new one, and she liked the way that one felt.

CHAPTER9

Josh

It was Friday night when Josh sat down on his couch. It had been a busy week and he was happy it was over. He had worked a few bar shifts after rehearsal a couple nights and had been doing work at the inn, plus finishing up the sets. He was beat. However, there was no rest for the weary, he picked up the phone and turned on his Uber app. He had had a job since he was fifteen. Life was hard and it was all about the hustle. Which is why he had all the side hustles.

Theater was the only thing he really did for himself. Theo Williams had built the sets for years and asked Josh to help. Once the people there knew Josh could sing, he was asked to be in the chorus of shows. He found that he really enjoyed being on stage. Getting to be someone else for a while was a nice break from his own life sometimes.

He plated himself up some leftovers and sat down to watch Netflix. He turned on a comfort show that always made him laugh.

As he finished his bowl of warmed up fettuccine, he heard his phone ding. He had an Uber call. He claimed the ride and headed out the door to the inn where the pick-up was.

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