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“Sam?” Poppy’s eyes were bigger than I’d ever seen them as she gripped my hand. “What do you—”
She was cut off by a clearly drunk man stumbling into her. I pulled her behind me as I all but bared my teeth at the man. “Watch it.”
“You watch it, asshole!” The drunk guy flipped me off and knocked into me on his way to the bar.
Poppy wrestled her way back around and jabbed her finger at the guy. “Don’t call him an asshole, asshole!”
Before the guy could say anything else, his friends were there, dragging him away with apologetic looks. I looked down at Poppy and grinned. She was a bulldog for us and always had been. I knew that if that guy’s friends hadn’t dragged him away, Poppy would’ve gladly tried to fight him for me.
“You’re cute.”
Still glaring after the guy, Poppy grunted. “What an asshole.”
“Beautiful, actually.”
Her eyes lifted to mine and she smiled, surprising me. “No one calls me beautiful.”
My chest tightened and I found I was losing the battle to keep my thoughts and hands to myself. I stroked my knuckles over her cheek. “Then we’ve all been fucking fools.”
27
***Poppy***
Ididn’tknowwhatwas happening. My heart was racing and I felt like I had stuck my finger in a power outlet. Sam was different. His touch, his words, the looks, they were all heavy with something I’d never seen in him. He’d never flirted with me or touched me the way he was that night. It was creating a storm inside me.
“We should get back to our dates.” I bit my lip and forced my eyes away from his. “We’re being so rude.”
Sam held both sides of my waist and directed me toward our booth. When he spoke, his lips lightly brushed the shell of my ear. “You know me, Poppy. Do you think I care about being rude?”
I shivered and put my hands over his. “I know you don’t. You’re borderline terrible.”
He chuckled and the sound vibrated through me. “Just borderline? That’s too bad.”
I slipped away from him and into our booth, missing his hands instantly. As soon as he was next to me, though, he rested his hand on my thigh and I nervously put mine over his. I glanced up, hoping it wasn’t obvious that there was something happening between us, and froze. “Where’d they go?”
Sam looked up and shrugged before looking back at me. “Bathroom?”
Our waitress appeared with two plates full of food and a grin on her face. “Here you guys go.”
I noticed that even Morgan and Joey’s drinks were gone. “Um. Did you see where our dates went?”
The woman’s grin faded. “I thought you two were the couple. The other two folks left together…”
Sam laughed. “Good for them.”
I thought about it and shrugged. “I agree.”
“Okay…” The waitress hesitated before looking at our food. “Will you two be staying?”
“Yep. We’ll be staying.” I took my hand off of Sam’s to grab my fork. “This food looks too good to pass up. Especially just because we got ditched. Worse things have happened.”
Sam’s hand tightened on my thigh. “This is a date I can get behind now.”
The waitress made a sweet sound. “That’s so cute. You two look adorable together.”
I hurried to shove food into my mouth to avoid having to answer. I waved to her with my fork and focused on not choking. There were too many feelings happening in my body to take that kind of chance. Plus, if Sam was going to hug me from behind I didn’t want it to have to be during a lifesaving measure. Not that I should’ve wanted him to hug me from behind at all…
After the waitress left, Sam and I ate in peace. He kept his hand on my thigh and I fought the desire to spread my legs for him. I was burning up, so aware of every spot that he touched, but I was trying to convince myself that I was reading things wrong. I wasn’t sure how that would be possible, all things considered, but if I gave in to the thought that Sam wanted me when he didn’t, I’d have to leave the state.
