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I clear my throat, unsure whether her description of me is meant as a dig or a compliment. “Can I ask when your birthday is?”

“Oh, Nanna didn’t tell you when it was? Shock horror.”

“I thought about asking her, but it’s the kind of thing a boyfriend should know, don’t you think?”

“A real boyfriend. Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me when it is?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious,” I lie.

“November 5th.”

“So you’re a Scorpio.”

My comment has her rearing back slightly. “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who’s into astrology.”

I lift one shoulder. “My grandmother’s birthday was on the 8th. When her eyesight started to go, she used to get me to read her daily horoscope.”

Poppy places a hand over her chest. “That’s sweet. How old is your grandmother?”

“She was eighty-one when she passed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She was a great woman, and I miss her terribly.”

“Has she been gone long?”

“A few years,” I reply, before changing the subject. I don’t want to talk about it. “Have you given any more thought to my proposal?”

“I’m not letting you pay off my mortgage, Bennett.”

I probably shouldn’t enjoy the way my name rolls off her tongue as much as I do, yet here I am staring at her plump lips, blindsided by the sudden urge to lean across the table and kiss her. The thought hits me out of nowhere, and I’m not sure what to do with it.

I clear my throat again, and drag my attention back to the conversation, shoving the ridiculous thought aside. “Hear me out. I’ve been where you are⁠—”

“Drowning in debt?” she cuts in. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Nolan call you both trust-fund babies?”

“I meant my last year of law school. I know how gruelling those final exams can be.”

“With everything going on in my life right now, uni is kicking my arse,” she admits.

“That’s why you should consider my proposal. I pay off your mortgage so you can quit at least one job and focus on graduating.”

“And what do you get out of it?” she asks.

“If you let me finish, I’ll tell you. Once you graduate, you come and work for my firm. We garnish a small percentage of your wages until the debt’s repaid.”

I don’t need or want her money; I simply want to help her. But I know this woman well enough to know she’d never accept my charity willingly.

“Why would you do that for me?”

“Because I promised your grandmother I’d look after you when she was gone. I’m a man of my word.”

Her eyes narrow. “Ninety percent of what you told Nanna was a lie, so that’s a moot point, don’t you think?”