to be able to upset me. What he did to my sister was upsetting, because I care about her, not because I care about him.”
“Shit, yeah,” he muttered. “That must’ve been intense.”
“I didn’t have a clue why he was just standing there. He told Violet he was in love with her sister and I looked at Primrose, I had no idea he even… I don’t think we were ever even alone. How could he be in love with me?”
“You’re magnetic, babe,” Turner said, scooping her around in front of him when they paused at the intersection by their building to let a car go by. “I don’t blame the guy for falling for you.”
“They say Primrose is the most beautiful of the Granger Girls… Violet is definitely more elegant than me.”
“Not the type to paint the walls in a ball gown?”
Poppy let him walk her across the street, their hands tangled in front of her, his arms around her. “It was a bridesmaid’s dress,” she said, hearing his amusement. “And she’d never paint a wall… Not unless it was part of her Vogue editorial shoot or something.”
“She’s a model?”
“Dallied when she was younger,” Poppy said, keeping his hands but pushing out of his arms when they reached the opposite corner. Their corner. The one where they’d first kissed. Raising one of his arms, she let go of his other hand to twirl in front of him. “She’s tall.” Walking backwards, she kept her hand up high. “You wouldn’t get a backache kissing her.”
“I’ll stick with the Granger I’ve got, thanks,” he said, backing her up into their doorway and reaching around her to open the door.
If he’d crowded her there for long, she’d have kissed him for sure. Making amends with him was doing wonders for her mood. Admiring him, Poppy walked backward, his gaze still adoring all of her. They traversed the building foyer, past the mail slots to the staircase.
“I should go upstairs,” she said, still holding his hand, facing him as she stepped backward onto the bottom stair. “By myself, right?”
Wearing a smile, he touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb, then grazed it across her cheek. “Yeah, you should go to bed and get some sleep. Let me know when you’re awake in the morning, I’ll take you somewhere for breakfast… or lunch.”
“Out in public,” she said, remembering what he’d said. “Check.”
“We’re gonna concentrate on you,” he said, coming right up to the foot of the stairs. “Get you settled into your new life and I’ll be your safety net.”
“You could still be my safety net in my bed, but okay,” she said, but was really just teasing him. Laying her vertical forearms on his torso, it was thrilling when he put his arms around her. “You don’t want us to be in a fight or a grey area and for something to happen. You want to know I’ll always come to you.”
“Yes,” he said. “If this is real, it will stand up to us keeping things cool.”
“Keeping things cool,” she murmured, then tipped her chin up and pushed even closer. “You know the nothing inside each other rule?” He nodded. Rising onto her tiptoes, Poppy lowered her volume. “Does that include my hands in your pants?”
The curl of his lips came quick. “Baby…” He bowed to brush his lips across hers. “You have no idea how much I wish it didn’t.”
Spinning around, Poppy grabbed the bannister and fell back against him to talk over her shoulder. “You’ll just have to stop wearing pants then.”
He laughed. “Think the other tenants might complain about that.”
“Not if they’re attracted to men,” she said. “Besides, you don’t care about their happiness as much as you care about mine.”
“That’s right,” he said, pulling her back against him and kissing her again.
Her tongue was so tempted to break the rules. His was too; more than once they had to exclude each other’s entry. It wasn’t easy, but Poppy hadn’t been wrong to put on the brakes in his room.
“Do you know how close my bed is?” he murmured, his lips still on hers. “How tempted I am to—”
“Breakfast,” she said, closing her eyes to rest her temple against him. “Oh, baby, I’ll dream of you every second until I see you again.”
She pushed away, intending to go upstairs. Turner hooked an arm around her waist and tugged her back, sweeping her hair from her neck. “Dream dirty,” he breathed into her ear and dipped to kiss that soft spot