in to nuzzle against her hair. “You might have to stand up in court for us someday, Preston, and the press know Turner too. I’ve only seen him linked to me through Charley before now, but if he’s spotted around town, it might lead to questions.”
“And how do you want those questions answered?” Preston asked. “It would give us a clear line with Abernathy if we could tell him you’re in a happy, fulfilling relationship.”
“I don’t care what you tell him. Tell him I’ve joined a convent for all I care, just get him to back off.”
“Is your dad alright with Preston being involved?” Turner asked, taking his time about gathering her hair away from her neck.
“He didn’t put up a fight,” she said. “He’s in a difficult position. Holden doesn’t have a direct interest in our family business dealings, as far as I know. But he has an influential network.”
“So your father’s worried about upsetting him?” Preston asked.
She shrugged. “It’s difficult to say. None of this can be easy for him. Violet has been hurt by the man and now he’s messing with my life, advertising our name to the world. He doesn’t enjoy it. Our father may not have been the most hands-on parent, but he would never want us hurt. What’s he supposed to do?”
“Put the guy through a wall.”
Turner’s suggestion wasn’t exactly the most helpful, but at least it came from an honorable place.
She slid her hand across his thigh again. “You have to stop being mad at him.”
Sitting up a little, he showed her the depth of his scowl. “Not gonna happen, babe. Upsetting you is one thing, but he’s screwing with our future too. If he hadn’t thrown his fit when he did, we’d both still be living in the Venture, happy, content.”
“I wasn’t happy and content,” she said, surprising him. “I mean I was, but I wasn’t.”
His brow lowered further. “What made you unhappy?”
That she couldn’t confess her love to him. Funny that Poppy couldn’t do it at the Venture because she wanted to be simple for him and feared losing him. And there she was in her parents’ house with him at her side, unable to tell him for fear it would keep him in harm’s way.
“I’m going to bed,” she said, rising just as Stephanie returned with the beer on a tray next to some glasses. “Goodnight, everyone.”
For a day that had started slow and never really got started, Poppy was exhausted as she left the dining room to drift toward the stairs. The night ahead would be harder than the last. The previous night she’d worried for the most responsible man she knew. That night, he’d be under her roof… so close. There for the taking. Poppy wasn’t sure she had the strength to resist temptation.
“Popkat?”
She’d ascended half a dozen stairs when she heard him. Pausing, she turned to see Turner approach the foot of the staircase.
The concern on his expression was so him. “You’re always so worried.”
“Worrying about my girls is my full-time job.”
With her hand resting on the bannister, Poppy descended slowly, one step at a time. “I still can’t believe you drove all this way for me.”
“I’d have kept on driving no matter where you were.”
“What were you doing?” she asked, stopping two stairs up. “When you decided to come here?”
“I was at the Eights. You hadn’t left my head for… days… probably since you left. I was tired, hungry, felt like shit. All I wanted in the world was you. I’d work non-stop, every hour I have on this Earth, if I could just know you were in my bed. That’s all I wanted. You, at home, so I had a chance of seeing you smile. That’s all I want, you, somewhere in the world, mine.”
“Somewhere in the world?”
“Ideally in my bed, but…”
“But?”
Licking his lips didn’t hide his smile. “I have five sisters, baby, I know better than to tell a woman I want her waiting at home for me.”
Ah, the truth. Sliding her hands onto his shoulders and around his neck, she descended another stair. “You want us to build a life together.”
“Yeah, that’s what I want… Grammie invited me to stay, but if you want me to go… If that’s really what you want… I don’t want to be Abernathy two point oh standing over here.”
“I don’t know how this is all going to work out.”
“Doesn’t matter how it works out, baby. It’s not about making promises that everything will always be perfect. If