“At least I don’t look trollish.”

“You’re perfect.”

Her smile is as addicting as her touch, but we’re not alone, and we won’t be for a while, so I back it up and pass April her phone, turning back to Poppy. “So I can still come over later?”

“Sure. If you want to.”

“Around seven thirty is okay?”

She glances at April. “That should be good.”

“Can I stay again?”

“I actually need to sleep tonight.”

“Okaaayyy. So I’m going to wait out there for you.” April slips out the door, but leaves it ajar this time.

“I’ll let you sleep, even if I don’t want to,” I say.

“I’m not sure I believe you.”

“I promise.”

“We’ll see how good you are at keeping promises.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes. It’s a yes.”

I tuck a loose tendril of hair behind her ear so I can touch her. “Can I steal one more of those sweet kisses before I go?”

“Just one?”

“Maybe two.” I tug on the end of her ponytail and steal three before I finally leave.

CHAPTER 20

FALLING IN

POPPY

“I need details. Lots of them. All of them.” April takes a hefty swig of her margarita.

“You’re not getting all the details.”

“Oh my God, he looked like he wanted to eat you. And you’re seeing him again tonight? Sweet lord, I can’t even…” She fans her face. “Did you sleep with him? You slept with him, right?”

“Can you keep your voice down?” I look around the pub. It’s busy, and no one is paying attention, but I checked out the pictures of me and Lance on the ride over here, so now I’m paranoid.

There are a lot of them, with plenty of kissing and touching. Luckily everything is tasteful, but it’s far more attention than I’ve ever had, apart from the few images that circulated last year when I ended up back at his place. Those pictures didn’t focus on me, though, and they weren’t very clear, so I never worried about them.

These are much different. I am the central focus of every image. And I am very clearly Lance’s primary focus. It’s as flattering as it is unnerving.

“Sorry, sorry. So did you?” April leans in close.

I try to hide behind my Shirley Temple. “Yes.”

“Oh my God! I knew it!” She slaps the table.

I grimace, along with all the other people she’s scared the crap out of.

She makes one of her faces and lowers her voice. “How was he? Is he, you know, well equipped?”

“He was really sweet, and yes.”

“Come on, Poppy, you have to give me more than that.”

“What do you want me to say?” I’m not really one to talk about my sex life, although I’ve also never been with someone whose dinner date ends up being fodder for social media gossip.

“I don’t know, based on that conversation back at the clinic, you didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. Does that mean he kept you up aaaaall niiiiiggght long?” She sings it while making thrusting motions and wags her brows.

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep, no.”

“You’re blushing so hard right now. It must’ve been amazing. I bet he can fuck like a god.”

“Can we change the subject please?”

She purses her lips, clearly annoyed that I won’t share more. “So he’s coming over again tonight? What’s that about?”

I fiddle with my straw. “He wants to see me again.”

“I got that. So are you dating? Are you, like, his girlfriend?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’re seeing each other? There’s no label on it. He wants to see where this goes.”

“So he’s not going to see other people?”

“We haven’t talked about that.”

“Doesn’t he have an away series coming up? Are you going to talk about it before he goes?” April looks concerned.

“If it comes up, I guess.”

I don’t like this turn in the conversation. I can totally understand why April is asking, though. I’ve always been a relationship kind of girl. I never did the hook-up thing, even in college. When I date someone, it’s only ever that one person.

Lance seems to be the exact opposite. As much as I’d like to believe he’s not going to be sleeping with other women while he’s away, I won’t know unless I ask. And I’m not sure exactly how to do that, because if the answer isn’t one I like it’s going to hurt.

···

It’s the middle of the week, and I should probably already be in bed, but Lance is currently stretched out on my couch—one leg on the floor, one propped up on the back of the seat—so I’m inclined to stay up. He’s wearing boxers, and only boxers. The position highlights the outline of his somewhat-hard penis. We’ve already had sex once. After I gave him a massage.

Well, I made it about halfway through the massage before he decided there were particular parts of his body that required my attention.

He was pretty excited when I offered my services in exchange for orgasms. I haven’t actually made it through a full-body massage since we struck that deal a few days ago, but he’s also far less tense, so he won’t have to see the team therapist as much, and that’s a positive.