“Go ahead.”
My fingers replaced hers at the collar and I gently tugged it lower. I was careful not to touch her skin, knowing it would be tender, but also so my dick wouldn’t get any ideas about where this was going.
On her right shoulder, covered in plastic wrap, was a long string of delicate script—the rest is still unwritten.
“I like it.” I had expected any tattoo she’d get to be something about Jamie, but this seemed more like something just for her. “What does it mean?”
“It’s a song lyric. Something that has always stayed with me.” She adjusted her shirt back over her shoulder as my fingers let it go. “The first few years after Jamie died were hard. I didn’t see any of our old friends much. Mostly I just kept to myself. I worked as a receptionist for a dentist’s office until I bought the restaurant, and if I wasn’t at work, then I spent my time at home or with Finn and Molly.”
I nodded and stayed quiet, not wanting her to stop.
“But after three years or so, I started to get out more. I started running into old friends. They’d always chat with me like old times, but as soon as I’d turn away, I’d hear them whisper widow. That was the first word they used to describe me behind my back. That poor widow, Poppy Maysen.”
She stared, unblinking, at the truck as she spoke, while the anger flashed in her eyes.
“I hate that word. Widow.” Her hands balled into fists on the workbench. “Every time I hear it I want to scream. People say widow like that’s who I am now. Like it’s expected that I stay in this permanent state of grief. Like it’s unacceptable that I’d consider moving on with my life.”
She didn’t have to say their names, but I knew she was referring to Jamie’s parents.
“Anyway.” She relaxed her hands. “That’s when I started to think about doing Jamie’s birthday list. And that’s what my tattoo means.”
“That the rest of your life is still unwritten.”
She nodded and locked her blue gaze with mine. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot these last couple of weeks.”
“Yeah?” My chest tightened as I braced for her to throw up that wall. As I waited for her to tell me I wouldn’t be part of her unwritten.
“Yeah.” She looked to her lap. “You scare the hell out of me, Cole,” she whispered.
“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?”
“I’m sorry. I just needed some time to think.”
I wanted to touch her, to tip her chin up so she’d look at me, but I kept my hands tight to my sides. “And what did you come up with?”
“I like you,” she told her fingers. “I like you a lot.”
The tension rushed out of my shoulders and I let out a breath. She likes me. This was good. No, this was fucking great. If she was actually willing to acknowledge her feelings for me, my uphill battle might start to level out. “I like you a lot too.”
“But I—”
“Wait.” My finger flew to her lips. “Let me say something before you take away the best feeling I’ve had in weeks.”
She smiled against my skin.
“I’m not trying to take Jamie’s place or erase his memory or make you forget that you loved him. I’m just trying to explore this thing between us.” I stepped closer, resting my hip against her thigh.
Her breath hitched under my finger and I dropped it away, resting my hand on the other side of her lap, trapping her in my space.
“What I was going to say was,” her eyes held mine as they smiled, “but I’d like to take things slow and just see what happens.”
Slow. She wasn’t going to back away or keep me at a distance. She just wanted to take this slow. And slow I could definitely handle.
“God, I want to kiss you.” I wanted to strip her down and take her right here on this workbench, but since she wasn’t ready for that, I’d settle for a kiss. “Does that scare you?”
She nodded.
“Do you want me to kiss you, Poppy?”
She didn’t move. She just stared into my eyes as our breaths mixed. Then, she made my whole year by giving me the slightest nod.
I closed the inches between us until my nose brushed against hers. I stopped when she tensed, then waited, not moving a muscle. But just as I was about to step away and give her some space, she leaned into my lips with a hesitant brush.
“Cole! Do you want pizza?”
Poppy and I jerked apart, our heads turning toward Mom as she walked through the side door into the garage.
“Fuck,” I muttered at the same time Poppy whimpered.
I stepped out of Poppy’s space and frowned at Mom. She wouldn’t have been able to see us from the side doorway, so I couldn’t get too mad, but damn—kiss blocked by my mother. It felt like the time in high school when she’d caught me making out with my girlfriend in the driveway.
“Oh, Poppy!” Mom said, walking around the old truck. “I didn’t realize you were still here. We’re ordering pizza. Will you stay?”
She smiled. “Sure. Thanks, Mia.”
“Cole and Brad both like meat lovers, but I get the veggie. Is that okay?”
“Sounds great.”
“Okay! I’ll call you when it gets here.” Mom winked at me before she turned around and went back out the door.
I ran a hand through my hair and took a few seconds to get my dick under control. He’d gotten the idea that he’d be getting more than just my hand tonight and was jammed against my zipper, ready to come out and play.
Poppy’s fingers were working themselves in tangled circles, her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Sorry.” I held up my hands. “You said slow.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m just . . .”
“Hey.” I stepped back toward the bench, trapping her hands between mine before they flailed. “We’ll go slow until you’re ready to pick
