she needed. Spinning around, she held them his way only to see he was holding the open wine out to her in return. “How did you do that?”
The cork was out of the bottle. When she went over to take the wine from him, he twisted the cork off some tool he was holding in his other hand only to then toss it past her onto the bed.
“Magic,” he said, folding the tool in on itself to slip it into his pocket again.
Shaking herself back to her senses, she waved the money at him. “Two fifty, as agreed.”
He took the bills. “I guess we don’t need security given the state of the place.”
Poppy had no earthly idea what he was talking about. “Need what?”
The line between his brows deepened. “Never mind,” he muttered like something else was on his mind. “I’ll give you a receipt in the morning.”
She waved a dismissive hand his way, wondering what to put the wine in. “I don’t need a receipt. I trust you.”
He swiped the bottle from her hand, stealing her attention. “Always get a receipt. Jesus, did you just fall off a turnip truck?” Poppy still wasn’t following his meaning. As though he’d seen her confusion about the wine, he put the bottle to his lips and took a drink right from it. As he swallowed, he thrust it back at her. “You come from money.”
Put on stunned alert, Poppy froze for a second before stuttering. “Wh… what? Why would you—”
“It took me a minute,” he said. “I was too busy checking you out to see it yesterday, but you do, right? Big money I’ll bet.” Pushing her lips tighter together, Poppy wasn’t sure whether to answer or not. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t need a receipt because you trusted me?”
The point of that question was obvious. She’d said she trusted he’d be honest about the money she handed over but was then withholding information.
“Yes,” she said, feeling oddly small. “I do.”
He bobbed his head in understanding. “Is the husband gonna come looking for you?”
“I’m not married.”
The arch of his brow revealed he didn’t believe her. Wearing a smirk, he put his hand in another pocket to produce a key. “I put a new lock on the front door today. I have the spare, but I’ll always knock before I come in. Charge your phone at work. Don’t leave it in the hallway overnight.”
“Because someone might steal it?”
“No one comes up here,” he said. “But if there’s a chance you’re going to get into trouble, you need a line to the outside world. You know about 9-1-1, right?”
He was enjoying learning more about her; Poppy wasn’t so into his teasing methods. Her head fell to the side and she screwed up her face in a scowl of her own.
“I come from money, not from Mars,” she said, swiping the dangling key from his fingers.
He laughed. “Sure, Candy. Uh huh. I have never, in my life, met anyone who didn’t know what a security deposit was.” She blinked, realizing her ignorance had given her away. “Me and Charley are the only two people who know you’re here, unless you told anyone?” She shook her head. “Then you should be safe. Anyone comes around asking, they won’t get any information from me.”
Not only did she believe him, but Poppy found herself touched by his reassurance. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“No, but if the cops find your body on my property, I’ll have a lot of awkward questions to answer.”
On one hand, that was galling, but when a smile began to curl his lips, the statement took on a different hue. He was kidding. Mr. Grumpy, the same guy who hadn’t wanted to give her the time of day when she first showed up, was teasing her.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” she said, licking her lips. “Worst comes to worst, you have all those power tools lying around.”
“Do you know how much mess a body makes?” he asked. “I’m the mug who has to clean up your mess… and no security deposit.” That took some of the wind from her sails. It did the opposite for his. His smile grew wider until he laughed. More than before, it was a real, honest sound of amusement. So honest it took her aback. “Babe, you’ve gotta stop doing the doe-eyed deer thing… Gives you away in a heartbeat.”
No one at the hotel asked if she was from money. No one from work figured it out,