it. They had to.
With her legs still apart, her hands holding her weight behind her, she could feel the temptation of his pillows against her elbows. Trying her best to calm down, Poppy looked through the darkness to the man at the bottom of the bed. One forearm supported his weight while the other was lower, probably exactly where it had been between her thighs before she stole herself from him.
It took him a minute to recover from his own daze. “I’ve got protection,” he said, pulling himself further up the bed. “Somewhere.”
“No,” she said, pushing further back until her ass was between the pillows. “We can’t do this.”
From the feral glaze over his expression, Poppy didn’t know if he was really listening.
“This is honesty max., baby,” he growled, grabbing her ankle to tug her down the bed beneath him. “It’s what you wanted.”
He laid a hand on the bed by her head. His elbow bent and he began to descend, angling for another kiss.
Poppy pressed both hands to his chest. “But not what you want,” she said, noticing a flicker of awareness in the twitch of his brow. “We’ve been drinking and fighting… We’re emotional and tipsy… You’ll wake up hating me in the morning. You may never be able to love me, I’ll find a way to accept that, but I couldn’t take another breath if you hated me.”
He didn’t seem to understand and she couldn’t blame him. Stroking his cheek, Poppy savored the moment. Being under him in his bed was exactly what she’d wanted, and exactly what he’d been fighting to resist.
“Baby,” he said, dipping to kiss her.
She didn’t fight him, but did push harder to part their mouths. “I won’t take advantage of you. You are the first and only man I have ever truly… I respect you too much.”
The befuddlement on his expression as she pushed him further away to skootch off the bed was confirmation that she was doing the right thing. Her shoes were… somewhere. It didn’t matter. Creeping through his dark apartment, Poppy was pleased the front door was close to the bedroom and slipped out without making a sound.
Her key was on the top of her door frame, that’s what Ritchie had told her since he was the last to leave her place before Naughtie’s. She’d have to jump to get it, but was grateful to have a way in. She’d need time to process and Turner would need time to forgive her.
TWELVE
For the first time, the next day, Poppy considered going home.
Lying in bed, she stared at the ceiling all day, unable to will herself to move. She’d heard the knocking. Thought she maybe even heard his voice, but she didn’t get up. If he wanted to come in, he would. She’d told him he didn’t have to knock anymore. He hadn’t paid attention to that at the time. Maybe their exploits would change his mind.
Whoever was at the door, whatever he or she wanted, Poppy never found out. She stayed in bed until she fell asleep.
Doing so little on her last day off meant she was up super early the following morning. The gym, thankfully, was open twenty-four, seven, so at least she had something to occupy her body. Her mind wouldn’t switch off so easily.
Her next shift pattern was going to be tough: five PM to one AM. That meant killing a whole day just wandering around, window shopping, taking in the air. She’d left her front door open, actually wide open, that morning. If Turner wanted to work, there would be nothing stopping him. That also meant she couldn’t go back to the apartment without the risk of seeing him.
Work turned out to be her savior. Mid-afternoon, she went into the building to read the magazines that were always left lying around in the breakroom. She ate the sandwich she’d bought and sort of, kind of enjoyed the vending machine coffee… sort of.
Sitting there by the window, Poppy wasn’t even aware that she was looking outside until a truck pulled into the parking lot at the back of the building. Only people with employee passes could get in there. She didn’t know every vehicle of every employee; there were too many and she’d never really cared. Something about that truck caught her eye, though it was just a distracted interest until it pulled to a halt at the other side of the lot, without parking in a space.
She didn’t really start to pay attention until Charlotte