always a treat, always excited her before his lips even met hers. That usual buzz of anticipation was just as potent as ever, though as his tongue slid against hers and he tightened his embrace to pull her higher, Poppy was reminded that they were about to part.
“If you go out drinking, go to Naughtie’s,” he said, still nuzzling her mouth despite what it had to be doing to his back. “And Naught won’t take money from you, I’ll settle up when I get back.” She loved how he still wanted to take care of her, even when he wouldn’t be around. “The guys will look after you. Ritchie will get you home.”
“I won’t be going out late,” she said. “I think Charley will be more interested in spending time with David—”
“If he so much as looks at you,” he growled, his jaw tight.
“It’s okay. I’ll go out if Charley wants to go out, but we live close enough to the bar that if he shows up, I can go home. Ritchie and Naught will take care of Charley… I’ll probably spend my week rearranging your closets and tossing out anything that belongs to your ex-girlfriends.”
“Don’t think you’ll find anything like that,” he said, kissing her quick. “Anything female related, you should ask the sisters before you go on a purging spree. They leave their shit lying around all the time.” As Poppy licked her lips and tried to kiss him again, he eased back. “I came up here to bring you out, not to lay you down.”
“It’s just a kiss,” she played, aware of just how quickly their kisses could become carnal. “You promise you’ll come home to me?”
“Yes.”
“Not just because it’s the Venture, but because I’m there too.”
“Baby, do you know how tough it is for me not to just toss you in the truck and take you home myself?”
“You made Aitken a promise.”
“One Grammie could get me out of,” he said.
One Aitken would probably let him out of if he just asked. As it was, Grammie was maintaining the status quo on the estate so Poppy could get home and organize Turner’s surprise. Aitken would keep Turner on site. He’d even demand that Turner work the usual few hours on the Saturday, which would delay him just enough… if all went to plan. Preston was the back up. If it came to it, he’d be the most annoying and high-maintenance road trip buddy that ever lived. Poppy was sort of sorry she’d miss that hilarity.
“This is going to make us stronger,” she said. “The way I love you could survive anything. Even distance.”
“And your pussy?”
Poppy laughed and threw her arms around his neck to pull him down again. “We are going to have so much sex when you get back to the Venture. So much sex… We might even have to ask Ritchie to keep steering the ship for another week… or two.”
“Think the guy’s about ready to toss in the towel. Not sure we’ll be friends after this.”
“I’ll help as much as I can,” Poppy said, aware of just how Ritchie was holding up. She’d swiped Turner’s phone to get Ritchie’s number and called to fill him in. “I’ll field the calls and organize the jobs. He’s only dealing with the big emergencies.”
“Which means there’ll be a backlog of the regular stuff,” Turner said, the burden of it showing in his expression.
“Hey,” she said, stroking his cheek. “We can handle anything, right? We’re together now. This is it for us. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together. So what if you’re busy for a couple of weeks? It won’t be forever. You’ll talk to Ritchie, get a new building, wind down on your caretaking jobs and then…”
“And then?” he prompted her.
Though Poppy tried to keep her smile demure, her excitement wasn’t easy to contain. “Then, when you’re ready… you’ll knock me up.”
“My mom won’t care about the ‘when we’re ready’ part.”
“Maybe I won’t either,” she teased. “You came before your parents thought they were ready and you turned out just fine.”
Considering her, his eyes narrowed. “You’re really into the kid thing, huh?”
“I didn’t think I was. I mean, I didn’t think it would be that important to me, then I met you and your family… now I want a bunch of little yous running around.” Taking a breath, she couldn’t help but squirm. “I know I’m supposed to want career and workplace domination—”
“Whatever you want is what’s right,” he said, his thumb caressing her jaw. “You