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Poppy’s sigh was deep and dramatic, and to my utter shock, her pink lips edged up in a crooked, amused smile. “Well, I guess that settles it then,” she said breezily, waltzing past me to start pulling open cabinets, letting out a noise of satisfaction when she found the whiskey and a few other bottles. “Nothing left to do but play a drinking game with a sort-of friend who’s too old and grumpy for me, and then pass out so that I can allow my hangover tomorrow to be punishment for my stupid idea.”
I blinked.
“What?”
She fluttered her lashes as she passed. “Catch up, Jax. We’re drinking to moving on from old crushes. Right? You’re too old, too grumpy, too stubborn, etcetera, etcetera.”
My head reared back. “I never said I was too stubborn.”
Poppy snorted. “Those words may not have come out of your mouth, but believe me, you did.”
Absently, I rubbed at my chest because fuck, was it bad that I was praying this was all a drunk hallucination? “I don’t have an old crush. What am I drinking to?”
She sat down at my kitchen table and opened the bottle of whiskey, pouring us both a generous serving into two glasses. Then she knocked one back, shuddering as she coughed. She waved her hands in front of her face as her eyes watered, hunching over to curse through the burn in her throat.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” she gasped.
I tried to lock down my smile at the pinched look on her face, managing it just as she was able to pry her eyes open as the coughing settled down.
Hooking one of the chairs out from the table, I turned it around and sat down backward. “Where do you think you’re passing out, exactly?”
She waved her hand somewhere in the vicinity of the back of the house. “Guest bedroom.”
I snagged the glass meant for me and took a leisurely sip, enjoying the heat as it went down. “Don’t have one of those. Unless you plan on sleeping on my weight bench.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Well, I guess we’ll figure that out before it’s bedtime, huh?”
Bedtime.
Bedtime in my home with Poppy underneath my roof.
It would take the authoritiesten yearsto find all the pieces of my body.
I grunted. It was the only possible sound I was capable of.
Poppy set her chin in her hands, and even with the clear glaze of alcohol in her eyes, she studied my face leisurely like she had all the time in the world. The warmth of that hit my bloodstream like another shot, which is why I set the glass back down.
“Not agreeing to any games just yet,” I said as steadily as I could manage. “You eat dinner?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “Didn’t have much appetite on my shitty date.”
I took one more sip of the whiskey, stood and opened the fridge, frowning when I saw the meager options on the empty shelves. “I have some leftover pizza. A couple of eggs. And cereal.”
She laughed. God, what a sound it was. Light and delicate, another punch to my already swimming senses, and I shook my head slightly to try to shake that off.
“Surprise me,” she said.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the fact that she was here, she wasstayinghere, and I was about to face the greatest threat to my sanity I’d ever experienced: an entire night alone with Poppy Wilder.
Chapter 4
Jax
“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I suggested a drinking game.” Poppy’s eyebrows had a challenging arch to them.
I took a minuscule sip of my drink, gesturing to the game board. “We’re drinking. It’s a game.”
“It’scheckers,” she said, enunciating her words as clearly as someone drunk could. “How is this the only game you have at your house?”
