Page 30 of Poppy Kisses (Return to Coal Haven #3)

Chapter Seventeen

Jensen

Auggie helped me finish folding the towels. “She really wants me to go on your date night?”

“Why wouldn’t she want you, bud?” I played it cool and started on the shirts, but I willed Poppy to wake up soon. She had said we’d head out by eleven and it was after ten. She’d stayed out late with Clover last night.

He shrugged and put a haphazardly folded towel on the pile. “Dunno. Mom said dates are for two people.”

I paused midfold of a washcloth. “When did you talk to your mom about dating?”

I hadn’t told Hassie about the marriage yet.

I honestly didn’t know if I could trust her, but I didn’t want Auggie to feel like he had to lie to her—in the event she actually called.

It’d been months since we’d heard from her.

Part of me hoped that she’d stay away for a little over a year and then I wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Her parents had moved after we married, and she only had some casual friends left.

“She was going on a date the last time she called,” he said. “I asked to go along.”

That Hassie was dating wasn’t a surprise. I had barely moved my things out of our house when she posted a photo of her and some bronc rider she’d been partying with for years.

The old tug of hurt and flare of anger were weaker than normal.

Auggie grabbed another towel. “You said you weren’t really dating Poppy. It’s part of a deal.”

“We’re not and it is.” We’re not really doing a lot of stuff we’re doing, and I didn’t want to quit. “I haven’t talked to your mom yet about Poppy.”

His expression perked up. “You talked to Mom?”

“No, bud. She hasn’t called for a while.”

His little shoulders fell. “Oh.”

Goddamn, how much would getting let down by some important adults in his life affect him?

The door to Poppy’s bedroom opened and she burst out, her hair as wild as her eyes. “Sorry! I just need to brush my teeth and then it’s lake time.”

The disappointment was wiped out of his expression. “Can we bring the pail and shovel?”

“Absolutely,” she said before shutting the door behind her.

I glanced at the time and relief puffed inside of me. She was cutting it close, but she was up and we would be leaving.

Poppy wasn’t in the bathroom long, and she flew into the kitchen. “So I didn’t pack snacks last night because I didn’t want to wake you up, and I wanted to ask— Are we going to eat lunch first or wait and have an early dinner?” She looked between me and Auggie.

“Lake first,” Auggie said, grinning.

“You got it, my dude.” She ping-ponged through the kitchen, loading a lunch bag with pouches of snacks, fruits, and veggies. Then she filled water bottles and stole from my stash of juice boxes. I had to hide them, or Auggie would drown himself in juice. Auggie and I finished folding.

“Whew,” she said. “We have time to put laundry away and then it’s eleven. Right on the dot.”

“Yeah!” Auggie grabbed an armload of towels and sprinted upstairs.

“I’m so sorry,” Poppy whispered loudly. “I had an alarm set, but it was for evening, not morning.”

“I thought you were sleeping one off.” I should’ve given her the benefit of the doubt, but old habits died hard.

She frowned. “I didn’t have more than one drink. My sisters are not a wild crowd.”

I held my hands up. “Sorry. It’s just…history.” I gathered towels for my downstairs bathroom. The weight of her gaze was on me. When I came out of the bathroom, she was in the same spot in the kitchen, her lips in a troubled line.

“Did she sleep one off a lot when Auggie was waiting on her?” she asked.

“Does a horse have four legs?” The tension from earlier threatened to form again.

I made sure Auggie hadn’t returned before I continued.

“We divorced when he was five. But I left six months before that. He needed constant vigilance, and that infringed on her time. Then the first few years after our divorce, she’d try taking him for a weekend, but by then he was walking.

And running. And…yeah. He was stood up a lot by his mother. ”

Her lips parted and sympathy filled her face. I’d allow it. For Auggie. But I wouldn’t tell her how many times I’d waited, the pathetic husband hoping for some scraps of attention from his wife.

Small footsteps pounded down the stairs.

“I’m ready!” Auggie was in shorts and his feet were bare.

Poppy’s fraught expression vanished. She aimed a bright smile toward him. “I am, too, but your dad’s not in shorts.” She blinked innocently at me. “Do you have sandals for wading?”

It wasn’t even June. “The water’s going to be frigid.”

She laughed. “We’re not skinny-dipping.”

“What’s that?” Auggie asked, curiosity filling his voice.

I cocked a brow and bit back a shit-eating grin. “Yeah, Poppy. What is it?”

“I—uh…” She gulped. “I’m not the parent, so I shouldn’t—”

“No, really.” I stifled a laugh and pretended to think. “Skinny-dipping? Not sure I know what that is.”

She narrowed her eyes at me before sliding her gaze to Auggie. “It’s when you go swimming with no clothes on.”

“Naked?” Auggie asked, scandalized but also interested.

Poppy nodded. “Nothing on.”

“Yeah, that’d be cold. I’ll be in the car!” He sprinted outside, forgetting his shoes. I’d grab them when I left.

She shot me a dirty look. “Thanks for throwing me under the bus.”

I let my laughter free. “The look on your face was worth it.”

“I almost told him that I can’t be getting naked around his dad.”

I closed the distance between us. She tipped her head back to look up at me.

I liked having her attention on me, just like I could get used to the security of her keeping her word.

“You can get naked around me all you want.” I dropped my head farther.

Our lips were inches apart. “Just remember the rules and that Auggie’s bedtime is nine in the summer. ”

I got even closer. A puff of her minty breath hit my chin.

I could claim her mouth so easily. A quick kiss, or hell, a long one.

Auggie wouldn’t be back inside. But I’d been thinking about her naked and sprawled on the couch.

How her mouth had dropped open as I plowed into her. The way she took me and called my name.

Her pupils widened. Good. She was thinking the same thing.

Just as she swayed forward, I grabbed the insulated cooler she packed. “Last one to the pickup is a rotten egg.” I raced outside.

“You play dirty, Hollis!”

With Poppy, I couldn’t help myself. If that was what it took to get that hot look in her eyes, then I’d do it every day.

* * *

I hadn’t dated since my divorce. The loneliness sucked, and so did jacking off by myself when I just wanted to go to the bar and find someone to fuck. But I refused to leave Auggie with some stranger and then I hadn’t wanted him to think I was more interested in my social life than him.

Now, seeing Poppy and my son splashing around in the water, giggling and screeching about the temperature, was reassuring.

I’d made the right decision for me and Auggie.

I had to wait until I was comfortable enough with someone, and it had helped that there were no expectations. To Auggie, she was my friend.

They high-kneed out of the water, their feet bare.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch.” Poppy stopped at her sandals and stuffed her feet in. “Those rocks are sharp.”

Auggie had brought his water shoes, but he’d taken them off for solidarity.

He picked up the frisbee. “Go long, Dad.”

I jogged away, and he tossed the neon yellow disc. It curved right back into the water.

“Oh no.” Poppy had a teasing note in her voice. “It’s your turn to get it.”

“Yeah, Dad. It’s your turn.” Auggie propped his hands on his hips like my mom would when she expected me to do something.

Poppy grinned like she thought I wouldn’t get my feet wet with cold water.

I held eye contact while I shucked each shoe and peeled my socks off. She was practically vibrating with energy by the time I trotted to the shoreline. The frisbee was rocking on the gentle waves and getting carried farther out.

Frigid water licked at my feet, then my shins. It was refreshing, but since Poppy was watching, I refused to give her the satisfaction of a squeal. She’d been frolicking in the waves a couple of times already.

“Go, Dad!” Auggie jumped up and down.

I spun and let the frisbee fly, purposely overshooting him. He jumped for it, then spun and ran. That was when I picked up my pace.

“Whoa,” Poppy said, turning toward me. “A little long—” She screeched as I charged her.

Rocks bit into my feet, but gleeful laughter burst out of me. She hadn’t seen me in time, and I wrapped my arms around her waist. I swung her into the air and curved around to head for the water.

She started wiggling, half laughing and half screaming. “No— No! Jensen, you can’t. We’re supposed to go out to eat.” She kicked her legs.

I ran into the water until the chilly line licked my knees. “We can run home so you can change.”

“Don’t you dare!”

What was it about her issuing challenges? She made me want to play. I pretended to drop her.

She cried out and clung to me, laughing. “You’re so mean.”

I turned toward the shore. Auggie was jogging back with the frisbee in his hands, a big smile on his face.

“What do you think, bud?” I lifted her up and down, more as an excuse for her to cling to me tighter. “Should I dunk her?”

“Tell him no, Auggie.” Her body shook with her laughter. “Tell him he’d be really mean if he dunked me.”

“Tell her that she deserves it,” I said.

He grinned and danced back and forth, enjoying the show but torn on how to answer.

“She’s naughty.” I tilted my head toward her.

“You like when I’m naughty,” she said only loud enough for me to hear.

“Don’t fucking stop,” I growled back at her.

Auggie giggled. “Don’t do it, Dad.”

“Maybe you need a dunk,” she joked. She still had her hands clasped around my neck.

I waded for the shore. “If I keep holding you, I will.”

I set her down so her feet were out of the water.

She turned to me and ran her lower lip between her teeth. “You’re always getting me wet, Hollis.”

The lust could’ve choked me. We were out in the open, and my son was watching. “I can dry you off again. With my tongue.”

A blush tinged her cheeks. I was rewarded with a sultry smile before she turned away. “My turn to catch the frisbee.”

She ran off. I stayed where I was, both to watch her ass and because my son’s skill with a frisbee would land me in the bay again.