Shaw (Alpha Geek #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,13

His curiosity was piqued. “And what is it that you do?”

“I’m a nurse. I’m working in a nursing home two towns over.”

Shaw couldn’t even contain his surprise. “A nurse? At a nursing home? Which one? I’m surprised our paths haven’t crossed yet. I volunteer at a few.”

It was Poppy’s turn to be completely shocked. “You do? That’s not very common for men your age.” She gave him a warm, teasing smile.

“I mean, I’m making it sound way more interesting than it is.” He explained what he did, teaching the elderly to use modern technology to communicate with their families and the larger world out there.

“That’s very sweet. I think you should come by Stone Meadows to volunteer next. So many of my patients are lonely and don’t get any visits. It breaks my heart.”

“I’d love to help out if I can.”

She smiled brightly at him. “That’s awesome. I love my job, really. I wouldn’t do anything else. But it is tough to see these people in the twilight of their lives being so alone. It kind of makes me sad…” Her voice broke on the words.

Shaw leaned in, and his instincts told him there was a story there. “Are you all right?” he asked, placing a warm, comforting hand onto her knee.

Poppy waved him off. “It just makes me sad. I didn’t get to see my parents grow old, you know? They died when I was just a little girl. But if they had had the chance of living into the old age? You can bet your ass I would have visited them as much as I could.”

“I get it,” he said. “I was raised by a single mom and my grandmother. I visit my nana as much as I can. If I make it too long between visits, she sends me texts filled with hilarious GIFs.”

The sounds of Poppy’s laugh were clear and sweet. “She does not!”

“Oh, she sure does. She really likes the ones with sassy kids. She also has a huge following on social media. She shares all kinds of tricks and recipes in the kitchen. Stuff that will be lost to time.”

“That is very cool. I’m guessing you taught her to do all that?”

“Well, sure. But I also showed her how to use search engines. I can’t tell you the amounts of times I get weird questions about things nanas really shouldn’t know about. She learned quickly, and now she’s always up to some kind of shenanigan.”

“That is hilarious. I want to be a grandma like that one day. You know, the type of nana that you never know what she is going to say.”

“You should meet mine. That is exactly how she is.”

He had basically just asked her to meet his only remaining family member. After only a short conversation. He wasn’t that kind of guy, the kind that got overly attached way too soon, yet there he was. It was pretty crazy.

What was even crazier was how easily the conversation flowed between them. It didn’t take long for him to tell her all about high school and college. He listened intently as she told him all about what it was like to go to an all-girl school, because the uncle who had raised her had some pretty old-school ideas about how girls should be educated and how they should behave. He thought it was particularly brave that she had changed her major to something that she was passionate about, even though it had seriously put a dent in her relationship with her uncle.

The man sounded like a bad dude. He had to wonder if it was him Poppy needed protection from. But that would have been prying way too much into her business. That was hardly first date talk. Asking her about her protection needs was probably only something he could bring up later. Like on a third or fourth date.

If Poppy agreed to see him again.

Shaw cleared his throat, suddenly feeling his skin itching with all of the sugar he had ingested. He leaned in close, and he didn’t miss the way Poppy did the same. Their bodies were angled together as if they couldn’t resist the pull between them. As he lowered his hand onto the table, his fingers brushed hers softly. Poppy extended her fingers until she could softly rub the pad of her digits along his hand. It made him shiver, and all of his blood only existed in two spots. His hand where she was touching him and his