Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
He shakes his head, wiping the blood from his lip. “This is not your fault. I wanted him to have the first punch. I’m okay.”
All I can see is the blood pouring from his lip. “You’re not okay, you’re bleeding.”
He laughs. “I’m fine. Go back to work. I’m going to wait until the sheriff gets here.”
I put a hand to my chest. “I’m not going back to work while you go to jail. I’ll stay and tell them you were defending me.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not going to jail, Poppy. I’m the one that called the police.”
”But… but how did you know?” I put a hand to my head. “I’m so confused.”
Before he can explain, a cop car pulls in, and he nods at me, full of confidence. “Go on, I got this.”
I squeeze his arm. “This is my mess, Colter, I can’t just—“
He puts his hand on my chin and lifts it so I have to look at him. His brown eyes are pleading with me. “Please, go. I don’t want you involved.”
”Involved? I’m the reason you’re involved.”
He tilts his head to the side. “Trust me?”
I nod, and he gestures toward where the food truck is parked. “Go on. I’ll take care of this.”
Reluctantly, I walk away.
I try to focus on my job, but I keep waiting for Colter to come and tell me it’s over. When I see the cop car pull out and no Colter in sight, I know exactly where he is. He’s leaving, and he’s not even going to tell me bye.
Thankfully, business has slowed, and I leave Teresa again. As soon as I get around the side of the building, I see Colter climbing into his truck. I call his name and take off running to reach him before he pulls out.
I knock on his window and gesture to the door. He opens it and steps out. “Poppy, you okay?”
I point to his parked truck. “You were just going to leave?”
He nods. “Yeah, I figured I’d already disrupted your work enough today.”
I point to where Colter and Adam fought. “You going to tell me what that was all about?”
He just stares back at me.
I lift my shoulders. “Colter?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re not going to like it.”
I jut my chin at him. “Try me.”
He blows out a breath and then shoves his hand through his hair. “Fine. When you said someone said those things to you, I found out who it was. Then I got your schedule and waited for him to show up.”
Stunned, all I can do is stare back at him.
He puts his hands on his hips. “I’m not going to apologize for it.”
I can’t believe he did all this for me. I could just thank him and let him walk away, but there’s no way I can just let this go. “I don’t want you to apologize, but I do have one question.”
He tenses, and he’s probably expecting me to ask him how he knew who Adam was or how he knew where the truck would be today. Heck, I should probably ask those things, but instead I ask him the one thing I’ve wondered about since our last meeting. “Are you going to ask me out?”
His mouth drops. “You, uh, want me to ask you out?”
I don’t trust my voice, so I just nod my head.
He lets his hands fall from his hips, and his body tenses. “Poppy, would you go to dinner with me?”
”Tonight?” I ask him.
He nods.
”Yes.” I bite my lip, wondering how much he knows about me. “Do you know where I live?”
His eyes widen, but he nods his head. “Yeah, I do.”
It should probably freak me out, but instead there is a thrill that goes through me. Just the idea that Colter is sweetly stalking me makes me a little feral. “Okay, wanna pick me up at six?”
He nods.
I take a step away and walk backwards. “See you tonight, Colter.”
He stands watching me, speechless.
I have a hundred questions I want to ask him, but they’re going to have to wait until tonight. And then, I’m going to make sure I know everything I want to know about the man that just defended my honor like it was his right and privilege.
CHAPTER 8
COLTER
I’m sitting outside of Poppy’s apartment thinking of a thousand reasons why I should call this whole thing off.
Nothing is going to come of this date.
Right now, she thinks I’m a normal man that can do normal things. Eventually, she’s going to see the real me, and she’s not going to want anything to do with me.
I should save us both a lot of time and cancel on her now.
I’m staring out the front of my windshield, trying to decide what I should say to her when the passenger side door of my truck opens, and Poppy is standing there, smiling at me.