AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Which was good because we needed to be … gathered.
My gaze lingered on her neat handwriting. The lists were such a fascinating glimpse inside her head, and I found myself wanting every single one.
“Good grief, Poppy, how much shit you got on that list?”
“A lot,” she sighed. “I just don’t want to forget anything. My brain is like a sieve these days.” She tilted the page toward me, and I tugged it closer, shaking my head at what I saw. “You should see my lists at work,” she added ruefully.
I took the last bite of my sandwich and stretched my legs out in front of me. “Pretty sure your job would be perfect punishment for someone like me.”
She laughed lightly, wadding up the paper from around her sub and mine, then shoving them in a bag for garbage. “Ilove it. Keeping track of all the little details is the thing I love most. I’m not like Greer or Ivy. I can’t come up with the big picture ideas and concepts like they do. But if someone gives me that idea? I can immediately figure out the hundreds of steps we need to get there.”
“That’s why you’re good at your job.”
Poppy’s cheeks flushed pink, that addicting soft wash of color that always gave away her embarrassment. Or pride. Or desire.
I wondered if she hated that she did it, hated that she couldn’t control it.
For someone like me, who needed clear signs of where her head was at, I loved that little tell. Loved it, even if it got my head in trouble, leading it down paths it really shouldn’t go.
How far did that blush travel down her body?
Clearing my throat, I yanked my thoughts somewhere safer.
“You glad you went to school instead of starting with Wilder Homes earlier?” I asked. Cameron and Greer had taken over the family business from their dad early. Cameron was twenty when he started moving into the general contractor position, easing some of the responsibilities from his dad. Greer worked as the head designer in tandem with getting her degree. Poppy was the only one who didn’t start with the company until after her degree was finished.
No matter how much I didn’t want to admit it, I’d been paying attention to her a lot longer than I realized.
She nodded. “I liked being in school. Liked learning. I didn’t really need the Master’s in Management, but I’m glad I have it now that I’ll be overseeing Wilder House too.” She leaned her head back on the bedroom door and sighed, her hand moving over her stomach again. “I can’t imagine ever working somewhere else, but it’s nice to know I have the education to back up what I’m doing, if I did.” I found myself fidgeting with a straw that went unused with our lunch, andher eyes lingered on the movement of my hands. “You glad you didn’t go to school?” she asked.
My answering nod was easy. “College wasn’t for me. Took one semester because Henry thought I should try.” I smiled a little, picturing the day I came back here and told him I was dropping out. He was so pissed. “Hell, if it hadn’t been for Cameron helping me, I probably wouldn’t have done as well in high school either. I can’t handle sitting anywhere too long. I’ll go crazy.”
She shifted, a slight wince on her face as she adjusted her growing body. “A trait this child has picked up.”
“Yeah?”
Poppy nodded. “They’ve been moving a lot today. This baby will grow up on jobsites, just like I did, won’t they?” She smiled. “In the back storage rooms of Wilder House, and knowing how to frame a house before they can drive. Isn’t that weird to think about? That’s how I was too, I guess.” She smiled. “I’ve never given much thought to what you were like when you were a kid. I bet you were serious back then too, in a little red house dreaming about a dark blue bedroom.” Poppy paused, her chin raising slightly as she searched my eyes. “What else did you dream about, I wonder.”
I took a deep breath, my gaze holding hers for a long beat. The space between us seemed to shrink with every second that neither one of us looked away.
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
I dropped my gaze. “Nothing.”
“Jax.”
For the rest of my life, I’d be able to conjure the memory of her saying my name in a variety of ways. It wouldn’t be a tangible memory, an action, or a specific moment. But the way she said it now—the clear want of something from me—would be my downfall.
Because I couldn’t say no. No matter what she asked of me.
Slowly, I stood and held out my hand to help her up. The confusion on her face was plain, and I let my fingers wrap around hers while I pulled her to standing.
She didn’t let go right away, and neither did I.
My eyes traced over the tiny blue speckles on her shoulders, and even though it was stupid and I fucking knew better, my thumb reached out to touch one on her jaw. Her eyes fluttered shut. “I was a serious kid,” I told her. “Sometimes I think the only way I’ve changed is that I’ve gotten bigger. Still don’t know what the hell I’m doing most days.”
Poppy’s eyes opened, and she licked her lips before speaking, like her mouth was dry. That flash of her pink tongue had my mouth dry too.
“That’s not true,” she said.
