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He cursed and reached out to grip the back of my neck. He tugged me into his chest and hugged me. I thought I could feel his hands shake where they rested on my back. “It’s just been a long week. I’m not upset with you.”
“You promise?” I pulled back to look at him and was taken aback by the hard look on his face. “Sam?”
He stared at me for a moment longer and then stepped back into his house, letting me go to rub his face. “Sorry, Poppy. I’m just exhausted. Ignore me, okay? There’s nothing wrong except that this client is a pain in the ass and I can’t catch a good night’s sleep.”
I didn’t believe him. There was something going on with him, but I wasn’t sure what it was and I didn’t know how to bring it up. I was terrible at talking things out and explaining my feelings, so I couldn’t expect him to do it whenever I wanted him to. “Should we cancel tomorrow night?”
He shook his head. “Nope. We’re still on for our double date. The guy I found for you is great and he’s excited to meet you.”
I could still feel the spot he’d touched at the back of my neck and I couldn’t help reaching back to put my hand over it. Bogie whined at my feet and nudged my leg, trying to remind me that it was his snack time, but I didn’t want to walk away from Sam. “Okay. Well, do you—”
His phone rang from inside the house and he swore. “Sorry, Poppy. I’ve got to get that. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”
I stood there after he closed the door, staring at it, feeling the distinct burn of tears at the back of my eyes. Groaning to myself, I looked down at Bogie and shook my head. I wasn’t going to cry. I had no reason to cry. Everything was fine.
25
***Poppy***
ThemomentSamshowedup at the bar, I felt my blood pressure climb higher than it should’ve. I heard the little sigh of pleasure Morgan made and wanted to leave. I’d never enjoyed listening to women swoon over my best friends, but hearing it while knowing there was something weird between me and Sam was like nails on a chalkboard.
Of course Morgan was instantly hot for Sam. Anyone would be. And of course he’d shown up looking and smelling like a model. I wanted to rip my tongue out to keep it from unrolling across the table at his feet like a bad cartoon.
Instead of his normal jeans and a T-shirt, Sam was in a pair of black jeans with a button-down shirt that hugged his wide shoulders and biceps. The green in his shirt matched his eyes perfectly and his curls were freshly washed, leaving a trail of the apple-scented shampoo he swore he didn’t use in his wake. He’d rolled his sleeves up and was showing off the forearms I’d drunkenly told him were hot. When he caught me looking at them, I jerked my face away from him, just to have my gaze land on the man behind him.
That’s when I knew Sam hadn’t tried to set me up on a date at all. The man following Sam to our table was none other than his cousin, Joey. Joey was handsome, sure, but he was five years younger than us and had driven me crazy our whole lives. Sam knew I couldn’t stand Joey, and the fact that he’d brought him as my date made it clear that he had no interest in me having a date that night.
“You must be Morgan. I’m Sam. Nice to meet you.” Sam held out his hand and shook Morgan’s hand before sliding into the booth next to me and motioning to Joey. “And this is my cousin, Joey. Joey, Morgan.”
I narrowed my eyes at Sam and leaned in closer to whisper at him. “You’re supposed to sit next to your date.”
He shrugged. “I’m already here. It’s fine.”
Joey eyed me from across the table. “I never thought I’d see the day when Sammy would set me up on a date with his precious best friend, Poppy. Are you surprised to see me, babe?”
I forced a smile, unwilling to blow up in front of Morgan. “I am very surprised.”
Morgan was trying her best to catch up. “So, I’m the only stranger?”
“You’re not a stranger, Morgan.” I laughed awkwardly and nudged Sam. “You’ve seen Sam around, right?”
She nodded, her perfect curls—that I just realized matched Sam’s perfect curls—bouncing. “Yeah. I think we have the same grocery shopping day. I always see you while I’m buying my groceries for the week.”
The curl thing was getting under my skin. If Mom thought Sam and I would have kids with beautiful curls, she would’ve shoved me out of the way for a chance to see the kids Sam and Morgan would make. I put my hands in my lap and squeezed my fingers together. What was my chant again? Everything was fine? Everything did not feel fine. I felt so out of sorts that I wanted to scream. At Sam, for some reason.
The waitress came and took our drink orders before leaving us in silence again. Joey quickly stepped in to fill it, talking to Morgan when he saw that I hadn’t forgiven him since the time he crashed my truck into a swamp.
Sam watched them chatting and glanced over at me. “You wore your hair down.”
I pulled it over my shoulder and tried to fight the urge to make sure it wasn’t flying everywhere. “Yep.”
“Pretty.” He ran his eyes over my face and then turned back to Morgan and Joey. “Did Joey tell you he’s an expert sailor?”
I tuned out Morgan and Joey while focusing on Sam. He’d never called me pretty before. Had I heard him wrong? I reached over and tapped his leg under the table. “What did you say?”
He ignored me until I patted his leg hard enough to make a sound. Only then did he reach under the table and grab my hand, holding it still. “You should go out on his boat with him. It’s a beauty. He can’t drive worth shit, so I was terrified the first time I went out with him on the boat, but the man can sail.”
I twisted my hand, annoyed at him for ignoring me, but when my palm was flat against his, he interlocked our fingers like we’d been doing it our whole lives. Holding my hand against his thigh, his thumb drew a lazy circle over the top of my hand and I was left tingling from head to toe.
