foregone conclusion she’d be in there one day… or maybe she was reading too much into his tone.
“You know…” Poppy said, laying a hand on his shoulder to rub and squeeze him. “If you don’t find a way to occupy us that doesn’t include going beyond swooning…”
Turner cleared his throat. “Yeah, I hear you,” he said, taking her hand from his shoulder, but keeping it in his.
“I’d go out again, but…” Looking down at herself, she just sighed. “Hmm.”
“I think you look amazing.”
“Yeah, well you know why I’m wearing a paint splattered bridesmaid’s dress,” she said, thinking nothing of shifting the balance of her weight to fall against him. He didn’t move and their hands stayed linked, but when the press of her breast against his hard chest registered to both of them, the air began to crackle again. “I shouldn’t have done that, right?”
“Baby…” he said, tossing her arm up around his neck. “You sure don’t make it easy to keep the brakes on.”
He’d sort of given her permission to touch him by touching her first… he’d wrapped her limbs around him and held her. That wasn’t nothing. At least she didn’t feel humiliated by his rejection anymore.
Dropping her head to her arm on his shoulder, Poppy nuzzled the side of his neck. “How specific are your rules? As long as no part of us is inside the other, we’ve got to be doing well.”
He groaned. “Popkat, you have no idea.”
Grazing her lips down his jaw, she reveled in the sensation of his stubble beneath them. She’d never been with a man who wasn’t perfectly groomed at all times. “Not that I’d be averse… if you wanted to put something inside me… Something of yours…” Her fingers drifted up the side of his body. “Something that might feel good… inside me.”
“Closet!”
Startled by his outburst, she pulled back to check the man behind the ragged breathing. Taking both of her hands, he put them on the ladder and then took three very long, very deliberate steps away from her.
She gave him a minute, sort of appreciating that he needed it to compose himself. “Are you okay, honey?”
“You can help me with the closet,” he said, almost glaring over his shoulder.
Poppy couldn’t restrain her smile. He wasn’t mad, he was turned on. Yeah, he might not appreciate it, but it was empowering to know she had the ability to do that to him.
“In that enclosed space, just you and me? I’m game.”
“You help with the designing part,” he said. “Tell me what you need and where you want it.” Something about the excitement of her grin gave him a hint to her thoughts. “With the closet. The wood.”
“You trust me to know what to do with your wood?” she asked, hopping down from the ladder.
Whatever he’d intended to say caught in his throat when he noticed the sway of her hips. “Damnit, girl. Just walking you do it to me.”
“You’re just standing there and you’re doing it to me,” she said, stopping only when she’d encroached on him to an indecent point. Still, she didn’t let any part of her touch him. “You really had to tell me about the paint in your bedroom? You know that’s all I’ll dream about now.”
“Someone’s gonna need a shower,” he said, eyeing her dress. “Play your cards right, you’ll see it.”
The game wasn’t so fun anymore. Panic prickled her neck, that’s what the prickle was. “No…” Backing away, Poppy couldn’t respond to the question in his frown. “No, I don’t want to do that.”
He wasn’t wrong about her need for a shower. That didn’t mean she wanted to be in his most personal space. Teasing and flirting was difficult enough to deal with. To see something of his that was real, to imagine herself a part of it, only to have those dreams yanked out of reach, Poppy wasn’t strong enough for that. She wasn’t over him enough for that.
“Babe, what’s wrong?” he asked, raising an arm toward her though he didn’t move. “We were messing. What—”
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. Drawing in a cleansing breath, Poppy pasted on a perfect Granger Girl smile. “You wanted to design the closet… I presume you have the dimensions.” Poppy could forgive the mix of confusion and concern on his face. The odd professional voice was just an automatic defense and one that didn’t seem to want to go away. “Closets are something I do have experience with… a lot of experience. Shall we get started?”
Even