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“Yep. And here’s for the one you sold.” She handed Poppy two sheets of paper. “You just need to sign this top one confirming receipt of money and then fill out the other one for— Oh, that’s nice!” She took the frame Poppy had brought out, scrutinizing the colored pencil artwork. “Very sexy. ”

“It’s a prickly pear,” Poppy said, cheeks turning red for the zillionth time that morning.

She’d drawn it after working on her secret drawings of Rai, trying to justify the time in the studio with something she could sell.

Apparently her hormones had stuck around for the cactus.

“You know how it is. We met in steerage, it asked me to draw it like one of my French girls…” She bent to the papers, signing the top one and setting it aside before starting on the second.

Heather laughed. “You’re supposed to wait until after I give you the money to sign that I’ve given you the money.”

“Are you going to not give me the money?”

Heather counted out five bills onto the table in response.

Poppy frowned at them. They were all twenties. “What about your ten percent?”

“Taken care of.” Heather grinned.

“Wow. That’s…”

Heather waved a dismissive hand in the air. “You know how it is. Some customers are suckers.”

“It sounds most generous to me,” Rai said, his voice sullen.

“Generous, sucker, potayto, potahto.” Heather laughed again.

“Why is it always vegetables?” Rai muttered.

With a flourish, Poppy signed the second form and handed it over. “They’re fruits,” Poppy said, pointing at the picture. “The purple parts are the fruit. Have you ever had prickly pear jam?”

“I have not.” He was still pouting, but he had leaned back in his seat to glare at his coffee instead of Heather.

Poppy clenched her thighs. Rai’s sulky face was unreasonably cute. “There’s a gift shop next door that sells some. It’s pretty good. Almost guava-ish, but not as strong.”

Heather stood. “And that’s my cue to stop being a third wheel. I’ll get a label printed and hang this later today.” She paused and turned back. “Have you considered submitting your work to some of the bigger galleries in town?”

“They wouldn’t want this sort of thing. It’s just drawings, not gallery-type art.”

“But you paint, too, right? That’s what you told me, that you work in oils.”

“Sometimes.” Poppy sighed, thinking guiltily of the barely started painting on her easel. “I don’t really have a body of work, is the problem. And I want to paint more, but a girl’s gotta eat.”

Heather sighed. “Yeah. Story of every artist’s life, I guess. Well, think about it. ”

Poppy thanked her again and tucked the money in her purse before she was tempted to spend it on a pastry.

Though now she could almost certainly afford condoms in addition to the COVID tests she needed—she hadn’t bought any recently, so she didn’t know how much they cost anymore, but there had to be at least one option for less than ten bucks, right?

She glanced at Rai. Would it be awkward to go shopping for condoms together?

She envisioned asking him what size he took and snorted at the thought. Definitely too awkward.

“What is funny?” Rai tilted his head to peer at her.

“Oh, just thinking about…a thing.” Poppy swirled her coffee cup around. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you… How long are you in town?”

“I must leave when the rains end.”

She blinked involuntarily. “So, like, September? That’s a long time to be selling toilet paper.”

“It is a very important assignment,” he said. “I must not simply close a sale but open a relationship if I want to build a long-term, successful enterprise.” His voice was a bit monotonous, as if he were reciting something he’d read.

Poppy laughed. “They brainwash you with that inspirational quote at the last company retreat?”

“Yes,” he said quickly. “My brain is very clean.”

“So, um, you’re interested in opening relationships?” Poppy took a deep breath and reached out, watching her fingers curl around his. Why was her heart racing? This shouldn’t feel so hard.

“Yes,” he said confidently. “It is my job.”

“What about not in your job?”

Rai was silent for a long moment, and Poppy raised her eyes to his, the butterflies in her stomach raging like they were on PCP.

He was staring at her like he had no idea what she meant, like she hadn’t just said almost flat out do you want a relationship with me?

And okay, so maybe she should just say it all the way flat out, but her tongue failed her, and she awkwardly took her hand back.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at him. “I… You just got a whole fistful of drama last night, and I’m putting you on the spot.”

But then his hand was on hers again, fingers cool and strong. “I do not mind being on the spot.”

“So you’re not gonna run screaming for the hills?” She gave him a guarded smile .

“I will not run,” he avowed, bringing her hand to his lips for another of those should-be-illegal knuckle kisses.

“Are you sure? Because you don’t have to—”

“Of course I do not have to,” he interrupted, face annoyed. “I do nothing simply because I must. If I do a thing, or say a thing, it is because it is what I wish to do. If I wished to run, I would run.” He looked at their hands, weaving his fingers decisively through hers. “I wish to be with you.”

Poppy stared at him, at his stormy expression, then laughed. “Well, that’s refreshing. I mean, kind of large with the privilege. We all do things because we have to.”

“Not I,” he said fiercely, and then he suddenly brought her hand to his chest, pressing it flat against his shirt. “Can you not feel the way my heart beats for you? Poppy, I…I choose you!”

She stared at him for a long moment, and then she started to laugh again. “I’m not a Pokémon,” she managed to say through her mirth.

“You are perfect,” he said. “And I will protect you.”

But oh, looking at the expression on his face, feeling his heartbeat under her fingers, Poppy suddenly realized that with Rai in town for weeks, with him saying he wanted a relationship, wishing to be with her, choosing her, the real danger wasn’t anything he could protect her from, or anything a condom would stop.

She was in danger of falling in love with this man she barely knew.

And nothing could protect her from that. Nothing at all.