From the look on his face, she’d guess he’d taken that to mean their carnal arrangement.
Poppy laughed and laid a hand on his arm. “The apartment,” she said. “The apartment has changed. Last month it was worth two fifty, and this month it’s worth more… I have bathrooms for a start.”
“You don’t even know how much I charge for one of the units when it’s done.”
Her eyes went to the side as she tried to remember if they’d ever talked about it. “No,” she said, without responding to his caress of her cheek. “I don’t think I do. What do you charge?”
“We’ll talk about that when it’s time to sign a lease agreement.”
That was a plan Poppy couldn’t argue with. They had more pressing issues to deal with in that moment. She popped her door, ready to jump out.
“Ash?” Turner said.
“Don’t wake her.”
“If she sleeps too much during the day, she won’t sleep tonight.”
It was on the tip of Poppy’s tongue to comment on how much she loved how great he was with the kids, but that was too close to what she didn’t want him to know.
Hopping out of the truck, she opened the back door to help the sleepy Ashlee out of her seat.
“Unc Tur,” she said when Poppy helped her hop down.
“I know he’s difficult to resist,” Poppy said, picking Ashlee up and slamming the door.
She went around the hood of the truck to the driver’s side as he wound down his window.
“Ladies?”
Ashlee reached for him. “Unc.”
He ran the back of his finger down the little one’s cheek. “Go see Grama,” he said. “Be a good girl for your aunt.”
The little one pouted, so Poppy swung her closer. “Give her a kiss.”
She loved his mouth, even as he kissed Ashlee’s cheek. “Good girl,” he said to the little one, but glanced at Poppy as she began to slink away.
Whatever they were doing, it was dangerous. In a lot of ways, he had the best of both worlds. As much sex as he could squeeze into the day and not an iota of commitment. Still, as she carried Ashlee up the path, Poppy could feel him watching her. He wasn’t driving away. Either he was admiring her ass or he was sticking around until he knew they were safely inside.
Knowing how bad she wanted it to be the latter was a good sign she was sunk. Resisting the urge to turn back, Poppy knocked on the Maddox door. She’d been told by both Charley and Val to just go in because there often wasn’t anyone at the front of the house. It still felt weird, but she opened the door and went inside.
“Will we go find Grama?” Poppy asked, closing the door and passing the stairs to head for the kitchen.
Before she got there, the kitchen door opened and Val came out.
When she spotted Ashlee, she lit up like Christmas. “Oh, my Angel!”
Rushing over, Poppy was more than happy to hand the baby over to Val. The two of them were ecstatic to be together. After a long hug, Val kissed Ashlee all over her face until the toddler was in hysterics.
“Gama!” Ashlee shrieked.
“I missed you, sweetheart,” Val said, nestling her close. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Poppy said. “Emmie and Noah are at some fun center place and Ashlee was too little. I said I’d bring her over since I was seeing Charley anyway.” The smile dropped from Val’s face. “Is that not okay?”
It took Val a second to answer. “No… Of course both of you are welcome any time.” She turned her focus to Ashlee. “Isn’t that right, my Angel?”
“Gammie!” Ashlee called out as Val turned to take them into the kitchen.
Poppy hadn’t seen anyone else, so followed along. “Is Charley upstairs?”
Val put Ashlee in a chair obviously meant for her and put a little apron over her. Ashlee got excited as Val gave her a bowl and a big chunk of chocolate.
“Break that up all nice. You know what to do, sweetie,” Val said to Ashlee.
Poppy got that there was something going on. It didn’t make her feel any better when Val took her over to the deck by the back door, just out of Ashlee’s immediate earshot.
“Charley hasn’t been home,” Val said, her concern apparent. “When did you last talk to her?”
“After work yesterday,” Poppy said. “She wanted to go shopping, but I went home. She told me to come over here today so we could