“One other thing.” I passed her the rose and she took it with tentative fingers. “Don't ever bring roses.”
She gulped once before nodding, scratching down on the pad: zero roses. “And your address for delivery?”
“504 Lovers Ridge.” I watched as she wrote my words on the pad, underlining it twice.
“Okay then, I guess I'll have your first delivery for you tomorrow. Is there any theme I should go with this week?”
My eyes tracked up and down her pure features. “Well, since you brought it up, how about deadly love?”
CHAPTER TWO
Poppy
“He sounds batshit bananas,” my best friend, Bela Andrews, laughed over the speaker of my phone.
“I can't even begin to describe it. His body is beastly, like this guy could be Thor in another life, he just needs the shield and sword.”
“He sounds sexy as hell, to be honest.”
I burst into a laugh, Mrs. Clawson's fresh vase of calla lilies for the library nearly toppling as I did. “If you like to date Roman gladiators, maybe. Personally, he scared the shit out of me. That's why I called, in fact, I wanted to bribe you with pizza and hard lemonade in exchange for delivering my last order of the day. His.”
“Hm, the barbarian that ordered flowers? I don't think he wants to see me, Poppy.”
I groaned, sliding the last lily into place to complete the arrangement. “The flowers aren't even for him, he said—”
“Oh, sometimes I swear you are so dense. He probably wants to see you again, this is the best way he guarantees he gets more of you.”
“No, that's definitely not it. He's older, Bela, like a lot older than me.”
“Like how old?”
“Like...Captain O'Henry old.”
“Poppy! You're hot for a guy that's as old as your dad?! You minx, I didn't know you had it in you.”
“Have what in me? Sometimes I think you're the crazy one. Listen, the guy is a beast, a big tall broad manly man-beast. Honestly, he sends shivers of fear through my veins. I don't have a thing for him, I'm afraid of him. There's a difference.”
“Not in some circles.”
I groaned. “Sometimes I wonder how we've been best friends for so long.”
“Because I make you laugh.”
“I just like to let you think you're funny.” I deadpanned and she giggled wildly.
“Thanks for that, buddy. You've been my #1 since we were in diapers, you know I want the best for you.”
“And sometimes you like to see my fail too, let's not forget in fifth grade cafeteria—”
“Yeah, yeah, I like to see you trip and fall over your big feet once in a while, but not in matters of love.”
I sighed, still wondering why we were having this conversation. “So, is that a no then? No delivery, no pizza, no hard lemonade?”
“You know I'm always up for pizza and hard lemonade, but hit me up after you deliver to Mr. Mountain Man.”
“Ugh. You torture me.”
“Maybe you torture yourself, Poppy. I'm sure he's not as bad as you make him sound.”
“You don't even know half of it.”
“You're just dramatic and complicated, life isn't always a Jane Eyre romance, O'Henry.”
“Great, thanks again for the wonderful encouragement. If I don't catch you later, send a search party up to 504 Lovers Ridge, this could be the last time I talk to you before I'm caged in a basement and tortured for an undisclosed amount of time. Take heart, the next time you see my face might be on a missing persons poster.”
I hung up, Bela's cackling laugh haunting me long after I'd cut the line.
I sighed, eyes searching the shop as I wondered what to put in Mr. Wonderful's arrangement. I didn't know if he'd be keeping these for himself, but he had left me with the parting words of a deadly love theme, so I went with my gut and started plucking as many dark flowers as I could. Heavy on the carnations, the customary funeral flower, I also added blood-red mums and giant eggplant lilies. The arrangement took me all of five minutes and it looked fit for the castle of an evil queen.
Perfect for 504 Lovers Ridge.
I gulped, hitting complete on the order on my tablet, before swiping my keys and bundling both arrangements in my delivery box. I'd been so rattled by his presence, swallowing up my shop with his big broad shoulders and barbaric height, I'd forgotten to take down his payment information.
I dragged my feet every step to my small car, wondering if at least I could drop the large vase I'd arranged on the porch and get the hell out of there with a beep and a wave. I groaned, realizing I'd left my purse and tablet in the shop, darting back in to get both of them and then looking through the door as I went.
I had ten minutes to get my act together before I was face to face with the most terrifyingly intriguing man I'd ever met. When he came crashing into my life all fists and blood last night, I should have known better than to bring him back to my shop, but my bleeding heart had won me over. And, I was willing to do anything to get this man out of my dad's hair. The dustups between my dad and Maverick Wright over the years were legend. I had a right to be downright terrified of the man, I'd heard my dad come home enough times grumbling about this antic or that annoying act he'd committed to get under my dad's skin.
Sometimes their hatred even crossed into prank territory—well, on the part of Maverick, anyway. My dad's hands were always handcuffed by the law, ironically. As the Captain of the police department, he took his job of law and order in this town seriously, and Maverick Wright was just one of those people that seemed to buck the order of things by nature.
I'd never really ever gotten a good look at the man until today—their interactions usually when my
