your reality, First. You said secret sex would be difficult with your sister in my apartment, not impossible… Look on the bright side, no one’s sharing your apartment with you anymore.”
He laid his hand over hers, pushing it a little south. “Yeah, between the two of us we have two whole apartments. Problem is Charley’s not so little to live with.”
And Poppy worked with her too. “We’ll make it work, if we want to. I don’t know about you, but I really want us to keep having sex.” He picked up her hand to kiss her fingers. “We don’t date, we have sex. That’s all we need time for… We don’t even have to get naked if there’s no time. Whatever you need.”
Turner pressed her palm against his chest. “God, you’re depressing me.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
“You want to reinvent sex? Baby, we’re pretty good at the old-fashioned way.”
“We’re pretty good at every which way,” she said. “If you want me, you’ll find a way to steal me long enough to have me.”
“I’ll lock you in my fucking bedroom,” he muttered. “Keep you there forever.”
It didn’t really feel like that was for her, yet it was so flattering, Poppy gobbled it up. “You still have to fix up my place… maybe Charley will be out sometimes… I could help… with your wood.”
His eyes caught hers in the mirror. “You wanna start that game? You promised me sex tonight, how’s that gonna work now?”
They did have a plan to go home together after Naughtie’s. With everything that had transpired, that plan was shot to hell.
“Leave your door unlocked and I’ll sneak down in something slinky later.”
He jolted. “You’re not walking around the building like that.”
Poppy laughed. “It’s your building.”
“Yeah and we have other tenants.” He exhaled his frustration. “All the apartments around yours are gutted.”
“You’re not starting another renovation.”
Her apartment wasn’t done. The floors weren’t finished, the walls weren’t painted. Most of the windows didn’t have anything resembling a finessed treatment. Oh, and there was no kitchen. Still, Poppy loved it.
“I can throw a mattress on the floor in one of the empty places.” The moment the words left his mouth, he groaned and released her hand to lay his over his eyes. “Maddox, what is wrong with you?”
“Stop being so hard on yourself,” she said, squeezing his shoulder.
“Throw a mattress on the floor? No guy should say that to a lady.”
“I spent twenty-six years being treated like glass,” she said. “If that’s being a lady, they can keep it.”
He turned enough to show his smile in profile and nodded toward the house, which made her turn. Charley was running down the path, a laptop clutched to her chest. Doing her best to be discreet, Poppy slid back in her seat.
Charley jumped into the truck again. “Okay, I’m good. We can go.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Turner said, getting them moving.
“What’s got you in such a bad mood?”
Figuring that wasn’t a path they should start down, Poppy changed the subject. “You know I don’t have internet access at the apartment.”
“I’ll use it at Turner’s.”
He raised his chin. “I need my key back.”
“Yeah, right,” Charley scoffed.
“You’re living with Poppy, not with me. I don’t want you in and out every minute, Shrimp… My refrigerator is not your refrigerator.”
“Aren’t you always out at your buildings all over the place? I’ll keep your cable and your Wi-Fi company… maybe I’ll get hungry while I’m there.”
Turner might be muttering to himself in the front, but Poppy was smiling. If Charley was in his place, that would free hers up for… other things.
“So you know what you never told me,” Poppy said, taking Charley’s hand on the seat between them. “How come you never bought a car?”
As Charley made a sound of disgust, Turner groaned.
“Did you tell her to ask that?” he asked his sister in the mirror.
“Uh, sure, blame me, jerkoff. She spent the whole day at home, you don’t think she talked to the twins?” Charley shook her arm. “The twins, right?”
“They might have mentioned something.”
“We need a car to teach them, ‘cause we can’t teach them in Turner’s big, stupid truck.”
Realizing then that she’d never seen a vehicle in the driveway, Poppy asked, “Doesn’t your mom drive?”
“Mom doesn’t drive. Faye does, but their truck is Kev’s I think.”
“The girls need something smaller,” Turner said. “Lighter. They’re skin and bone… Just like you two.”
His sister scoffed. “Like you know anything about female figures. You haven’t had a date in six months. You’ve probably forgotten what