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“She didn’t scream that loud.”
I ripped a croissant in two and hit him with a glare. “Adam, she screamed so high at one point that only dogs could hear her. And those dogs were in Europe.”
“At least we were outside?”
“You’d just gone for a run. God knows why you did that after showering—”
“I planned to go before, but, well, you were naked.”
“Not an excuse,” I said. “Because by the time you got back, I was hungry.”
“You could eat without me.”
“Not without anyone screaming at you like they’re thirteen-year-old girls meeting Taylor freakin’ Swift.”
He tilted his head to the side. “To be fair, she’s kinda hot.”
“That’s not the point here.”
He held out his hands. “It’s not my fault I’m a handsome, famous, rich hockey player.”
I blinked at him. “Unless someone held a gun to your head and made you be a handsome, famous, rich hockey player, then uh, yeah, it is.”
“I hate to agree with you, but you’re right. I chose everything but the handsome part. I got lucky with that.”
“Ugh. I’m going to follow sports from now on to make sure I never, ever find myself getting a wedding date over omelets again,” I muttered, then tore off a bite of croissant.
“I’m an excellent wedding date.”
I swallowed the pastry and dropped the final bite on my plate. “Since you got here, you’ve been fawned over by my father, my nephew, my brother-in-law to be, my sister, three cousins, and now a teenage girl I’ve never seen in my life.”
“To be fair,” Adam said, picking up his cup of coffee, “I’ve also been fawned over by you.”
“I don’t fawn over people. I’m not a fan of anything.”
“Except graphic t-shirts.”
“This is a tank top, and it’s more of a public service announcement.”
“It says ‘Not today, Satan.’”
“What part of “my mother is here” do you not understand?”
He choked on his coffee. Actually choked. He had to put down his mug and thump his fist against his chest.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to kill you,” I told him. “But it is payback for the bathroom thing this morning.”
“What bathroom thing?” the sharp question came from—go on, guess—my mother.
Adam coughed again, leaning away from her.
Pussy.
“He got out of the shower and left the floor soaking wet,” I lied smoothly, picking up the piece of croissant I’d discarded a second ago. “I almost died.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “There’s no need to be so dramatic, Poppy.”
“That’s what I said,” Adam managed to scratch out. “I caught her. She was fine. She wasn’t close to injury, never mind death.”
I sniffed. “That’s what you think.”
Mom’s dark blue eyes flitted between us. “Late breakfast?”
She was like a dog with a bone. A big, granite-made bone that needed diamond to chip it.
“Yes,” I said. “Adam had to work out, and we said we’d have breakfast together since I have to do wedding stuff the rest of the day.”
“Makes sense. Have you seen your sister? Or your father? He’s supposed to pick up your grandfather, and I have something to ask Rosie.”
“You know you can text her, right?”
“Poppy.”
“Mom.”
Adam glanced at me.
I leaned back in the seat so the letters on my shirt were fully visible.
Mom’s gaze dropped to it. “Must you wear such ridiculous shirts?”
“They’re cool and comfortable.” I folded my arms across my chest. “No, I haven’t seen either of them. If I do, I’ll let them know you’re looking for them.”
She nodded. “Good. I’m off to speak with the wedding planner. There’s an issue with the table plan.”
“Rosie did the table plan.”
“Well, I think the planner messed with it. I have to speak with her.”
The table plan was the one thing my sister refused to allow anyone to have any input in, so that conversation was going to go fucking fabulously.
“Well, all right,” I said wearily.
Mom turned her attention from me to Adam. After a second of silence, she said, “Can I expect to see you for lunch, Adam?”
He wiped the corner of his mouth with his napkin and sat up straight. “Absolutely. I’d love to get to know Poppy’s family a little more. You seem like a fascinating bunch.”
Excuse me. I need to go vomit.
Mom’s frustrated expression faltered. “And I can’t wait to hear more about the boyfriend I never knew she had.”
Fuck a duck dead.
“I don’t have to tell you everything, Mom.”
“We haven’t known each other that long,” Adam added before Mom could reply. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure I could come this weekend due to work obligations, so that’s probably why she never told you. I’m sure she didn’t want to upset you by changing everything at the last minute.”
Damn. He was good.
Almost too good.
As proven by the fact Mom’s eyes briefly narrowed at him before she shook it off. “That makes sense,” she said, lying through the skin of her damn teeth.
You know how I knew that?
She’d been too suspicious before. You just didn’t drop an idea because a hot guy grinned at you.
