wouldn’t. She didn’t know how she knew, but Poppy was absolutely certain of it.
“You’re not married?” she murmured. His head moved in a slow shake. “That’s interesting.”
Her fingers relaxed. Poppy wasn’t exactly sure what the digits planned to do, and she never found out because he took one long step backward.
“I’ll lock the door on my way out.” Rejection knew no class limits and didn’t need a translator. “I’ve got errands and then I’ll go on a supply run in the morning. Does noon suit you?” She nodded. “Goodnight, Candy-Cane.”
Purpose took him away from her, more than he’d had in approaching her. “I…” Her word halted him. Poppy didn’t want him to go, but didn’t know him well enough to blurt that out. So she went with what her original question should’ve been. “I don’t know your name.”
“Turner,” he said without turning around. “Get some sleep, Poppy.”
So he knew her name? Obviously, if he’d been talking to Charlotte her name would’ve come up. She wondered what Charlotte thought of him not bothering to ask.
He left and she listened to him locking up, just like he’d said he would.
Balancing the bottle on her chest, she flopped onto her back. Finding a place to stay was such a relief. Why hadn’t she thought more about her attraction to the man offering it? Poppy knew nothing about him, just like she’d said. But his words, “…until you’re ready to know it too…” those were intriguing. He had secrets. That’s how it felt. Uncovering them would be satisfying, but did she want to? Stepping into something with a man like Turner…
Her grandmother had told her to take risks and already under his roof, Poppy was sure he was the biggest gamble yet.
FOUR
Her phone wasn’t the most up to date model, but it had an alarm. Without it, Poppy would never get to work on time. That morning, she’d set it to get up to go for a workout at the gym. She wanted exercise, sure, but the shower after was more vital.
By accident, Poppy left her shampoo and conditioner at the apartment instead of taking them with her. With little other choice, she elected to go back to the apartment after her workout to wash her hair in the sink there. It took her a while. Way longer than she’d predicted, but Poppy couldn’t remember ever washing her hair in a sink before.
Her grandmother’s house had like twenty bathrooms. To her memory, none had ever been out of service. Even if they had been, there were plenty of others to choose from.
Out in the hallway, her mind was still occupied by plumbing logistics when the blow-dryer suddenly went off. Looking at the device, she quickly noticed it was no longer attached to the outlet behind her.
Flipping her hair over, Poppy spun around to discover Turner had joined her in the hallway and was holding the cord in one hand. He had a box of, something, propped on his hip.
“What are you doing?”
“I was drying my hair,” she said, comb in hand. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s noon.”
“So?” she asked, tucking her comb into her cleavage to take the cord from him to plug it back in. It immediately came on, so she turned it to her hair, but he swooped down and pulled the plug again. “Would you stop doing that! You’ll break it.”
“You’re supposed to be out of here,” he said, looking her up and down. “You’re wearing a towel.”
That she may have accidentally pilfered from the hotel; not her finest moment. “I don’t have to leave for work for another half hour. I have time.” Or she’d had time before he started to play push me, pull you with the blow-dryer. “What’s wrong?”
“You were supposed to be out of here, that’s what’s wrong.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” she said, gesturing around them. “I’m in the hallway, it shouldn’t be that difficult to work around me.”
“If I’d known you were going to be here—”
“You’re always surrounded by beautiful women,” a second male voice declared, startling her. “I always say it, don’t I?”
“Who the hell is that?” Poppy hissed at Turner, peeking around him to see there was a guy, not too different in build, swaggering along the hallway toward them.
Poppy thrust her blow-dryer at Turner, forcing him to drop the box to grab for it. Letting it swing on the cord, he lowered it to the floor before he turned around to face the other guy.