her hair away from her face. “But you’ve got some mouth on you when we’re going at it, babe.”
Pondering the point, her attention drifted. “I never thought about that… I don’t remember ever making much noise before you.”
“Well, I’m honored,” he said, curving his hand around the back of her head to draw her down and kiss her forehead. “You couldn’t be dirty or cheap if you tried, Candy-Cane. You’re perfect elegance.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right, tell my mom that.”
“I’d love to,” he said. “When are you inviting her over?”
That question changed the mood fast. “Don’t,” she said, shaking her head and being more forceful about pushing away from him to sit up. “My family are nothing like yours. How many times do I have to say it?”
“I worry about you and Charley,” he said. “You and all of them. My sisters like you, Popkat.”
“And you don’t like that I’m hiding something from them.”
“You’re not hiding something, you’re hiding everything. They don’t know the truth of who you are.”
“Why don’t you tell them?” Poppy asked, climbing off the bed to seek her clothes. “You enjoy talking to your mom about us, why not talk to them too?”
Turner sat up. “I told you already, my mom just knew… I don’t know how, she just did.”
“Maybe it started with you talking about me,” she said, putting on her underwear.
“Your name came up… She’s my mom, Poppy, she’s been reading me my whole life.”
Poppy wasn’t really mad that Valerie knew about their attraction. It just didn’t make it easy to look the woman in the eye. Yes, she was perceptive, Poppy couldn’t deny that, but maybe that was what scared her.
Dipping down, she swiped her dress from the floor. “Does she know we’re sleeping together?”
With his arms straight behind him, he supported his upper body. “You’ve asked me that before and I told you I don’t know.”
“How can someone not know something like that?” she asked, stepping into her dress. “Either you told her about this or you didn’t.”
“I didn’t explicitly say, ‘oh, by the way, I’m fucking Poppy every chance I get.’ And it’s impossible to casually ask, ‘has anyone mentioned that Poppy and me are getting naked together day and night?’ without sorta tipping our hand.”
“If you haven’t told her, then you should be saying that no she doesn’t know.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes, when your name comes up, she looks at me.”
Poppy took her turn to do that, her eyes widening with every second they stayed on his. “Looks at you?”
“Yeah, you know… like she’s reading my reaction.”
“And what is she reading?”
“I don’t know,” he said, exasperated. Getting out of bed, he came around to join her. “Baby, you don’t have to freak yourself out. Whether she knows or not, we’re not doing anything wrong.”
That wasn’t what worried her. Poppy didn’t want Valerie thinking less of her and didn’t want the woman to have any expectations either.
“What if she gets the wrong idea and thinks that we’re together?”
Smiling, he slid his fingers into her hair. “She doesn’t think that.”
It was sort of insulting that his smile was so easy. “How do you know?”
“Because she’s not so subtle in telling me to ask you out all the time.” At least it was some consolation that Valerie didn’t know just how desperate Poppy was in throwing herself at Turner. He bent his knees to lower to her eye level. “Okay?” She shrugged and nodded without making eye contact. “Candy, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, pushing his hands out of her hair.
“You know I have five sisters, right? I know when women are hiding things.”
His ability to read her had never been in doubt. His dedication to the females in his life meant that not only could he read women, but being decent to them and caring for them was just automatic.
Poppy couldn’t share all of what was on her mind. “I just have to go.”
“Where?” he said on a sigh, which was presumably a sign of him relinquishing the badgering… either that or he was just fed up with her.
That they weren’t together did sometimes have its advantages.
Wearing a smile, she flounced away to sweep open the door. “Beauty of being your sex toy instead of your girlfriend…” she teased. “I don’t have to answer that question.”
Poppy blew him a kiss and left the bedroom. She didn’t have long to make it to the coffeehouse where her friend would be waiting for her; she definitely didn’t want to be late. All week she’d been looking forward