Page 18 of Poppy Kisses (Return to Coal Haven #3)

Laughter bubbled out of me. “Why, yes. With the power plant as a backdrop?” Nelson Lake was a cooling reservoir for the plant, making it a warm body of water that drew a crowd all year. It was pretty, but maybe not a wedding setting unless the theme was rural industrial.

“Sakakawea, then?”

“Yep. At the resort by Twelve Mile Bay.”

I toed the floorboards to rock the swing. He gazed at the property, leaning his elbows on the railing. I got a front-row view of his ass, and it was amazing. Round and firm, I just wanted to walk by and swat it. My hand would probably sting and—

He looked at me over his shoulder, and I jerked my gaze up.

“What else do you want for the wedding?”

I swallowed hard. The guy I was marrying was asking me what I wanted for my wedding. Quivers ran through my belly worse than when we’d had the audience of my dad, aunt, and uncle. “Umm… What about you?”

“Like I said, I’ve been through it once already.”

And he didn’t want to think about the perfection he’d had? Or…was there something else? He’d thought the sun rose and set only to make Hassie even prettier than she already was. “You already got your dream wedding?”

He chuffed and gazed back out across the drive to the shop and the rolling hills behind it. “At the time, I might’ve thought so.”

“Was a horse a bridesmaid?” Oops. I hadn’t meant for the cattiness to slip out.

“Close. There was a horse-drawn carriage. A friend of hers had drafts, and that’s how we rolled.” His tone was back to neutral. His wedding had to be the happiest day of his life, second only to Auggie’s birth, but no one would know from the sound of it.

“Sounds fun. Country chic style?”

“Yep. Auggie likes to look through the pictures. Maybe he’ll show you sometime.”

Maybe, but hopefully he wouldn’t. I didn’t need to see how blissed-out Jensen was over his real bride. I didn’t care to witness the hearts in his eyes cemented for eternity in photos, and definitely not right before our wedding or when he was married to me.

Still, I didn’t want him to have to grit through our day. “It’s like a party we’re throwing together. What’s something you want?”

He pushed off the railing, and I lost the sight that would taunt me at night when I also remembered how solid he was next to me with his arm around my shoulders.

He draped a hand around the back of his neck. “I said I don’t need—”

“Neither of us needs anything other than to get married. Might as well make it fun. What do you want?”

I tried not to squirm under his stare. I couldn’t read his expression. “You don’t want to wear a tux. What else?”

“I get two decisions?” he asked lightly, but I heard the surprise.

“It’s the dog, isn’t it? You want her to be the ring bearer.”

Luna panted from her spot in the fading sun at the end of the deck.

His eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed. Jensen had no business getting that much sexier as an adult. “Now that you mention it, I don’t want a fleet of attendants.”

“One or none?”

“You’d really be okay with none?”

The swing hinges squeaked lightly as I rocked. “It’s either all the sisters or none of them, honestly. None makes it easier.”

His expression turned contemplative. “I always envisioned just a bride and a groom. Simple. Elegant. But not fancy.”

“What was your wedding like?” I almost said first one, but it felt wrong. Technically correct, but he wasn’t mine. He wouldn’t be, even as my husband.

He crossed his arms and stared into the distance, giving me his profile. “Big. I swear everyone we ever met was invited. There were horses, a decked-out horse trailer to haul us around instead of a limo. That’s what the horses pulled.”

“Wasn’t that dangerous?”

“They went slow.” He worked his jaw. “It was…an event. Epic. People talked about it for years.”

“Wow.” Should I plan more? Our wedding would look like a kiddie rehearsal. It wasn’t a competition, but did he want more?

His gaze pierced me. “It was chaotic, Poppy.”

“You got more than you bargained for?”

“You could say that.” He scuffed the toe of his boot against the porch boards.

It was the only western item he wore, but he’d done that in school.

He was a ranch kid, only it hadn’t been his identity.

Perhaps that was why we’d found ourselves doing so many of the sports together, forming our own competition.

“But no to the dog being a ring bearer. I love the girl, but she’d eat it. ”

“Ha! True. I’m highly suspicious she ate cow shit the other day.”

“She one hundred percent did.”

I giggled and he grinned, open and unjaded. My heart flipped right over.

I might have a crush on my fiancé.

Alarm spurred me inside. I could not have those thoughts around him. It’d seem more…pathetic. “I should probably get to bed. Night.” I darted into the house.

“Poppy.” He was right behind me. “You okay? Was it something I said?”

“No,” I said lightly.

“You’re lying.”

I frowned, irritated that he called me out on my shit. I stopped before I got to the hallway nook. “No, I’m not.”

“What’d I do?”

Fine. If he wanted to push it… “You’ve been flirting.”

His brow creased. “I didn’t mean to.”

Oh. Ouch. The tangle of my conflicted emotions pushed against my chest walls. “Of course you didn’t.”

His brow furrowed. “Poppy, talk to me. Do you want me to flirt with you?”

“No, that’s absurd.”

You know who’d look even better in a dress? Hassie.

You know who has the prettiest eye color in the world? Hassie.

You know which woman I’d rather be married to?

He’d never said that last one, but I could extrapolate. I needed to get away from him and his broad shoulders and those searching, caring eyes. I was mistaking his feelings for genuine affection. We were friends. We had never been more than friends, and we never would be, wedding vows or not.

I made another attempt for the bedroom, but he rushed to block me, standing in the opening. “Can you talk to me?”

“There’s nothing to say.” I backed up. I’d sleep in the office upstairs if he pushed me. “It’s getting late.”

“Bullshit.”

I glared at him and tried ducking around him. “Jensen.”

“Poppy.” He scooted over and blocked me.

He wouldn’t let me out of this... A smile played along his lips like he was just waiting for me to take the bait and race him around the island.

“Not everything’s a game, Jensen.”

Finally, his smile broke out, and my stupid belly flipped. “No, that’s absurd.” He echoed my earlier answer. “But if I catch you, you have to be honest.”

“Do not.”

His eyes lit. Damn. I would race him and he knew it.

Then I’d better not let him catch me. I sprinted to my left, going for the island.

Laughter broke out of him and he raced around the other side.

He was fast, and he was toying with me. I spun just as he rounded the end and dashed in the other direction.

I slowed, pretending like I was doing it so I didn’t slide and crash into the oven and fridge.

He was almost on me when I whirled again and put on my thrusters.

My heart was in my throat, but I was almost free of the island when Jensen leaped over it, hip sliding on it like it was a race car. He landed in front of me, and I ran smack into his hard chest. He wrapped his strong arms around me.

“That’s cheating!” I sounded like I was ten again, but I didn’t care. His body was solid and warm and his face was inches from mine.

“Was not.” The words came out a rasp, and we both stilled. His gaze dipped to my lips. “You never could stand it when I came out on top.”

“It’s not that. You were a dick about it.”

“Probably,” he murmured. “I’m not anymore, but I do like being on top.”

Awareness of every inch that was smashed against him crept in. The band of his arms. The way his chest pressed against me with every breath. I wanted to drink him in. I couldn’t. “I like to be on top too,” I murmured.

A lazy grin spread across his face. “Now I know you’re telling the truth.”

His smile faded, and his attention was back on my lips. He dipped his head. My heart stopped. His warm lips brushed against mine. My knees wobbled, and I might’ve gone down if he wasn’t holding me.

He deepened the kiss, opening slightly. I answered, and when he gently licked his tongue out, tasting me, I invited him in.

Flattening my hands on his chest, I felt the vibration of his small groan.

I was caught between wanting to rub my palms all over his head, stuff them in his hair, or hook them around his neck and hang.

This guy could kiss. He was stroking and sensual and he’d learned—

He’d learned from his ex. His high school sweetheart. The woman he married.

I jerked back. His eyelids slid open, confusion ripe in his blue-gray irises.

“We can’t do this.” I backed up a step and his hold loosened, letting me go. “You’re not…” My type? Into me? Over your ex?

The disturbing conclusion was that he was my type. I liked him. I wanted him. If we didn’t have a five-foot, bleached-blonde piece of baggage between us who was the mother of his kid, I’d be all over this. I’d be hauling him to bed instead of trying to outrun him in his own home.

“I’m not what?” he asked. I was going to retreat another step, but his gaze was searching. “Talk to me, Poppy. Please.”

The please did me in. “I’ve known you most of my life.

” When he nodded, I nodded. He was listening, and I’d forge ahead, hoping he didn’t want to break the deal when I was done.

“That whole time, Jensen, you were all about Hassie. You compared me to her in a way that made me feel like she was better, she was prettier, she was more desirable. Then you married her—and if I was still around, I would’ve been happy for you.

Of all people, I knew how much you were into her.

And I know you’re not married anymore, but the thing is, I’ve never known you not to be into her.

Where there was Jensen Hollis, there was his obsession with Hassie Heart. ”

Color leached from his face. “I’m not that guy anymore.”

I didn’t know that. I poked my chest with a finger.

“But this girl? Remembers. The competitive part of me remembers that there was one game I’d never win and that was the comparison game with Hassie.

You made sure I knew I’d never live up to her.

I’d never be as pretty, and you’d never like me like you liked her.

We might’ve been just kids, but that shit stuck with me.

For years, Jensen, you compared me to her, and I lost every single time.

It was a game I couldn’t win, and it’s one I’ve quit playing. ”

With that, I walked around him. No running. No sprinting. He wanted the truth and he got it. I should feel lighter, but I didn’t. Sadness perched on my shoulders.

Just before I shut the bedroom door, his words reached me. “I lost that game too.”