Found

ELEVEN-1

ELEVEN

By the time Poppy got back to the house, anyone who wasn’t already asleep was getting ready for bed. Moving fast to ensure no one could intercept her, Poppy went straight to her grandmother’s bedroom. Grammie was madly in love with Emmie and Ashlee, Willow and Autumn too. While Poppy got ready for bed, Grammie regaled her with tales of watching the movie with the youngsters. Marigold Granger might be in her late seventies, but no one could accuse her of being old.

Once they were tucked up in bed, it didn’t take long for Grammie to doze off. Eventually, the whole house was silent.

The distant waves were quiet too, she couldn’t hear any wildlife, just the occasional creak from the old house as it cooled down after a busy day. Switching off wasn’t so easy for Poppy. She didn’t really know what was on her mind, just that she couldn’t sleep. Sharing a bed with Grammie limited her ability to toss and turn too; she didn’t want to wake the elderly woman up.

So much was going on. She worried about Zoey, who she hadn’t seen since leaving her in her bedroom with the phone. The twins seemed to be coming around, if they ever hadn’t been around, which was something. Although Turner hadn’t been explicit, Poppy figured the reason he’d invited his eldest sister to the worksite with her son was to talk to her. Val would help that effort and Poppy doubted Preston would’ve hindered it. The Maddoxes were welcoming and Preston had been a part of their clan for a long time.

Turner would be working again the next day, he’d be working every day. As Poppy became more accustomed to the idea that they might have a future, she found herself more and more tempted to be near him. Finding excuses to go to the worksite would be easy enough, Grammie would even help that along. But Poppy didn’t want to distract him from his work. Turner was serious about his commitments. Plus there was the chance he’d be ribbed for the spoiled heiress always coming to visit him. The guys wouldn’t know anything about their relationship or about her, so it would be easy for them to jump to conclusions.

Slipping out of bed, Poppy couldn’t stand lying still staring at the ceiling any longer. She crept through the closed curtains into her grandmother’s bay window. The moon and stars illuminated the view. It was beautiful. Until saying it to Zoey, Poppy hadn’t realized just how much she took all of it for granted. She was guilty of that on more than one front.

Grammie had tried to tell her that it was important not to be complacent about her feelings for Turner or his reciprocation of them. Being together wouldn’t be easy, but it had been her dream. Why was she flouting their chance? As proved by the deaths of her grandfather and Turner’s dad, people could be gone at any moment.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t sleep. Her lace-trimmed navy negligee wasn’t the type of thing she’d usually go scampering around the house in without a robe, but she didn’t pause to retrieve one after leaving the window to cross Grammie’s suite.

Poppy couldn’t sleep because there was something on her mind: Turner.

Tiptoeing to his bedroom, she held her breath while opening the door as quietly as possible. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of wanting to see him or that her parents would object if they caught her sneaking into his room, Poppy just didn’t want fanfare. She went into his room, closed the door, and paused to admire him sleeping on his side in the middle of the bed.

Just like in her bedroom, in the times she’d come home from work to find him asleep in her bed. The first time she’d snuck into bed with him, she’d told herself it wasn’t s****l. Poppy wasn’t so naïve or deluded anymore. Getting into bed with him could lead to anything. She was attracted to him and didn’t doubt his attraction to her.

Still, she went around to the far side of the bed and slipped under the covers at his back. s*x in her grandmother’s house wouldn’t be a good idea. Although it was an old house, there were cracks for sound to escape all around the doors and the hallway was an echo chamber. Poppy was careful in sliding closer and settling on her side, she didn’t want to wake him, that wouldn’t be fair when he had to work the next day. But draping her arm over his waist, she already felt more relaxed. Sleep would find her there, with him, where she was safe, happy, content. Turner’s arrival might have been a surprise, but it was no surprise that he was her security. Loving him was easy, making it work would be a whole other ballgame.

The intrusive chime of an alarm jammed itself into her consciousness. Groaning, Poppy squeezed her eyes closed, wishing the new day away. An alarm, she hated alarms, they meant work. Except…

Her head hadn’t got to the present when his mouth touched hers. Warmth became heat became need; it happened fast, though there wasn’t any urgency. The gentle brush of lips, the teasing as they parted, the calm sweep of his tongue across hers, it was all slow, deliberate, not hasty or rushed.

“Mmm, baby,” she whispered when he kissed the curve of her jaw. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“You have?” he breathed against her neck, kissing his way south.

“I like alarms,” Poppy purred, pushing up to welcome his kiss in her cleavage.

His mouth trailed across her breast. Peeling the delicate fabric away, his tongue sought her n****e, circling and suckling, reminding her of every second they’d missed when they should’ve been together.

No underwear. Her man didn’t wear underwear, which meant… Coiling one leg up over his hip, she did her best to tempt him closer. Coercing him didn’t take a lot of effort, he rose to settle himself between her thighs like it was his home.

That was what she wanted to be, his home. “Turner,” she whispered, opening her fingers in his hair, pushing his mouth deeper into her breast.

He resisted her duress with little effort. “You should’ve woken me up when you came to bed,” he said, his strong hands tightening on her waist. “Damn, I f*****g need this body.”

“Then take it,” she said, smiling when he rose to gaze down at her.

“s*x? In your parents’ house?”

“It’s Grammie’s house,” she said, squeezing his shoulders, testing the resistance of his muscles.

Throwing caution to the wind had never been encouraged in the Granger house. Not by her parents anyway.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ll go easy,” he said.

Before he could swoop down, she caught his jaw in both hands to hold him there above her. If he made love to her like he wanted to, like she wished he would, Poppy wouldn’t be able to maintain any level of discretion.

“You’re right. We shouldn’t. The kids are just through the wall and Charley’s across the hall.”

“Thought you were across the hall,” he said, joining their lips again.

“I gave my room to Charley so she could have more space. I bunked in with Grammie.”

“You won’t have to do that again,” he said. “There’s always space for you right here.”

Poppy loosened as all her stress receded. “I missed you,” she said, coiling her arms around his neck. “I couldn’t sleep… until I got here.”

“I live to serve you.”

“But not service me,” she said on a sigh. “Why does this feel like history repeating?”

“It’s a big estate, baby. You telling me we can’t carve out a corner to get it on? Just tell me when and where…”

“Hmm, maybe,” she teased.

“You better, baby, or I’ll drag you back to the Venture. I said I’d live wherever you want, I shoulda said I’ll live wherever you want so long as s*x is allowed.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” she said, stroking his face with her forefingers. “A lot of stuff to work out.”

“We’ll get there, baby.”

“Tiller says they’re thinking of inviting Holden here for dinner.”

Shifting off her, he lay on his side next to her. “Pres mentioned something about that.”

“How do you feel about it?” she asked, righting the fabric over her chest. “About him being here with your family?”

“I think he should have to look the people he’s messing with in the eye.”

“But the kids…”

“Yeah, they shouldn’t be there.”

“And the twins,” she said, l*****g her lips. “Charley’s upset too… Zoey’s been super understanding, but I don’t want to put her through that… I want Holden to face what he’s done just like you do. And I want to give him a piece of my mind, but if we give him any reason to be smug… I want what’s best for our families.”

“Family,” he said, combing his fingers into her hair to spread it on the pillow. “You heard Grammie, it’s all one and the same. I haven’t seen you and Violet talk much.”

“Pfft,” Poppy said, at the end of her tether. “I don’t know what to do. I never spent any quality time with Holden, yet somehow he thinks there’s a potential future for us. Violet I saw almost every day of my life, but that hasn’t earned me the benefit of the doubt. Should I chase her down? Should I leave her be? I don’t know what’s best. I’ve been trying to give her space, hoping she’d notice how much I’m desperate to get rid of Holden… So far, it hasn’t worked out.”

His rough fingers grazed her forehead, soothing her. “You know you’re not dealing with any of it alone anymore.”

Poppy needed to be adamant. “I am not piling my burdens onto you. I know there’s something here, with us, but we have to deal with Holden before we can start to figure it out.”

“Good,” he said, showing her a rare smile. “I have a goal. I’m great at fixing things, Popkat.”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she was ready to surrender to the present. “Don’t I know it,” she said as he lowered to kiss her again. When he tried to pull back, she tightened her arms. “We can’t have s*x, but we can make out.” His mouth was the most fascinating thing in her whole world. “Do you want to make out with me?”

“Would be a dream,” he said, glancing past her. “I’ve gotta be at work soon.”

“Work,” she said, blowing out a puff of frustration. “I knew there was a reason I hated alarms.”

When her consciousness had begun to wake, Poppy had thought for a few seconds that she was due at work. That part of her life was history; it was still present for Turner.

Though the twist of his lips suggested he enjoyed her sulk, he didn’t tease her. “Do you want to come and look at apartments with me this weekend?”

If they did have Holden over for dinner that week and he got the message, they might be able to pack up and leave soon. “How much notice do you have to give Aitken?”

“Couple of weeks, I think,” he said. “But Grammie’s our in, I’m sure she could sweet talk him. That a no on the apartments?”

“We’re wasting make out time,” she said, pulling him closer.

“Come get in the shower with me,” he said, touching his lips to hers for a second. “I’ll make you moan in there.”

With the cover of the water. That might work or it could be a disaster. Somehow, Poppy couldn’t bring herself to care. “Turner Maddox.”

“Mmm?”

His tongue dipped into the groove of her throat. “You fought for us.”

“Always will, Candy-Cane,” he said, rising to taste her mouth again. They lost themselves, staring into each other. “I love you, Poppy Granger.”

She wanted to say it back, intended to until the bedroom door opened, interrupting their moment. Turner was quick to sit up and flip around to face whoever had intruded.

“I have to get out of here! All of us, we need to leave now!”

Charley.

Poppy closed her eyes. Reality had impeccable timing.

“Charley,” Turner said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I can’t take waking up here. Being here. Everywhere. Why are we here? Why are we in her world?”

“She was in ours,” Turner said. “We welcomed her. Both of us.”

“We welcomed a liar,” Charley said. “How can you just be okay with this?”