“Oh, well, nice to meet you. Sorry to barge in. The door was open.”
“I’ll tell him you stopped by. Poppy, right?” His sister smiled and, in contrast to the other woman, had a friendly quality to her. She didn’t look like Gabe, except for possibly the shape of her eyes, and the matching dark hair.
The other woman laughed. The kind of laugh that was often followed by ‘bless your heart.’ A fake laugh dipped in sugar.
“You brought him a cake? That’s so sweet. You don’t know him too well, do you? He’s not into sweets. Never eats dessert. And we’re not going to eat it.”
“I’ll eat it. And I don’t know what you’re talking about, Caroline. Maybe he didn’t eat cake in front of you, but… It looks delicious.” She sounded so genuine I might have believed her if she’d bothered to look at my cake.
“I’ll get out of your way. Sorry again about barging in.” I rushed down the hall without waiting for a reply. Behind my back, the two women continued speaking as if I didn’t have ears.
“Do you think Gabe’s dating her?”
“Dating? Noooo. She’s not his type. Trust me. I know Gabe’s type. Now, Reed…he’d bang anything. Fat, wrinkled, trampy—”
The front door slammed behind me.
Chapter 21
Gabe
A cold wind whipped the palm trees lining Transom Row as I pounded on the door. Where the fuck is she? I tapped a text into my phone to ask. She had to be somewhere nearby. One good thing about this deserted speck of land—no one could be too far away. The door opened before I hit send.
“What’re you doing here?” She stood behind the screen door, tentative. Pink splotches marred her pale skin. Oh, hell.
“What happened? What did they do?” I should’ve never flown them down here.
“Nothing.” She breathed in and blinked a few times.
“Can I come in?” I heard a click and expected the door to swing open. But it didn’t. She locked the fucking door. “Poppy…what’s going on?”
“Now’s not a good time for a visitor.” She stepped back and reached for the wooden front door to close it.
“Poppy, come on. You’ve got to tell me what happened. If my sister or Caroline did something to you, you’ve got to tell me.”
“They didn’t do anything. I barely spoke to them.”
“Then what’s going on? They said you stopped by.”
“You could have called. I just wanted to thank you, that’s all.”
“Well, you can thank me by letting me in. I came here to escape those two. They’re driving me nuts.”
She glanced over her shoulder, and I followed her gaze. “You’re throwing away all of my flowers?”
Her bottom lip protruded, lush and plump, in a full pout.
“Poppy?” I prodded.
A click sounded, and the screen door swung open.
“Fine. Come in. I might have gotten a little emotional, and I didn’t want you to see. But now you’ve seen, so just come on in.”
“Did I do something?” I asked as I stepped inside, kicked off my boots, and closed her front door.
I sidestepped the tall kitchen trash can she’d pulled into the foyer.
“No. I can be sensitive. Too sensitive.”
She headed down the hallway to her sofa, claimed one end and pulled a sweater throw over her entire bottom half. I joined her on the opposite end.
“Your sister is Lauren. Who is the other girl?”
“Caroline. She’s my sister’s friend.” Poppy picked at a loose thread in the throw, refusing to look at me. “She’s also my ex.” I watched her reaction closely for any clue.
“Is her heart as skinny as she is?”
I laughed out loud then swallowed it whole when hurt blue eyes looked up at me.
“What did she do?” I’d observed Caroline in action more than once. She’d never sunk her talons into someone I cared about, though. I looked over Poppy’s outfit for something Caroline could have commented on in her subtle cutthroat way. She wore a sweater and leggings. I reached over and squeezed her knee, then crept forward to the middle of the sofa.
“I’m not your type.” I cocked my head, rolling her words around. “That’s what she said.”
“Like she knows.” I brushed my thumb across her cheek and gently lifted her chin. “I don’t have a type, per se. I can tell you that I’m very into you. And if you’re not my type, it’s only because I’ve never met anyone else quite like you. A type implies there’s a subset of women that fit the category, or a group. And if there’s only one, then by definition, it’s not a group. Right?”
She’d either cried away all her eyeliner or washed her face, but she appeared more fragile without all the black around those eyes. I lifted the throw over both our laps, then pulled her against me. She dropped her head onto my chest, and I placed a soft kiss on her golden waves.
“Your ex is like Barney’s and I’m like Dollar General.”
I sucked back a laugh. “Interesting comparison. Barney’s went bankrupt, and Dollar General has proven itself to be a solid investment.” She stared at the floor.
“You weren’t so into me after our last date.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“You didn’t want to come in.” I attempted to lift her chin, but she pressed the side of her face against my chest, refusing to look at me.
“I very much wanted to come in. But…I suspect Ben, and maybe some other guys in the past, haven’t treated you the way you deserve to be treated.”
“And that turns you off?” Her tiny frail voice begged for protection.
“No. Did you think I didn’t come in because I wasn’t attracted to you?”
“I’m a big girl.”
I bit my lip to stop from laughing. “No, baby. I’ve seen you. Trust me. I’ve looked at all your photos. And you are not a big girl.”
“Those photos are at special angles. Photoshopped. In person…I’m squishy.”
“What?” The girl had thousands of men following her, and she doubted her sex appeal?
I stood off the sofa and lifted the blanket. That got
