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I held the door open as she walked past me and into our room, glancing up at me on the way, laughing softly. "What?" I asked, following her and closing the door behind me.

"Nothing. You just seemed so annoyed when that old couple stopped our elevator and joined us," she snorted.

Rolling my eyes, I stopped at the TV cabinet where I left my wallet and took my watch off with it as well. "Of course, I was annoyed. I was kissing you and someone interrupted us."

"If that annoys you so much, you should get used to it."

"Oh, really? Why's that?" I lifted a brow, facing her and leaning against the cabinet behind me.

"Because," she sighed, sitting at the foot of the bed, tossing her purse to me. I caught it, placing it beside my wallet. "We're not allowed to do that kind of stuff at the office either."

I frowned in confusion, "So? We just won't do anything like that at work."

She watched me in amusement, leaning back on her hands. "You sure?"

"Yeah," I shrugged nonchalantly. We stared at each other for a moment and every second that passed, the longer I looked at her, the more uncertain I started to feel about the words that just so idiotically poured out of my mouth a few moments ago.

Poppy stood up slowly and walked over to me, stopping barely an inch away. She tilted her chin up daringly, her brows rising in a challenge. She leaned in closer to me, tempting me with a kiss. "Are you sure?" she asked again.

I didn't reply because I was afraid to even breathe while being this close to her. The moment I did, the scent of her perfume hit me and it was enough to send my heart pounding and blood warming, a rush of heat, honestly, going straight to my dick. "Suddenly, no," I answered, my voice coming out more strained than usual.

She grinned and came up, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek before going back to the bed. She hitched her dress up and pulled one foot up, working to unbuckle her heels. "You tell me, Josh, is getting caught in the office worth the risk?" she asked teasingly.

"It's tempting," I cleared my throat, taking a step forward and kneeling in front of her, working on the heels for her while she struggled to keep her dress out of the way. She stared down at me, holding her dress up as I slid her heels off, setting them away. "It sounds fun," I admitted, meeting her gaze.

"What does? Getting fired?"

I smiled to myself, glancing down and removing her other heel. "No. Stealing kisses at work," I answered, looking back up at her.

"Ah, does it now?"

"Ah, yes it does," I replied, smugly.

She nodded in amusement. I went up higher on my knees, resting my hands on the bed beside her thighs. She chuckled softly, leaning forward and taking my face in her hands. "You're cute," she grinned.

"Not the word I would have preferred but okay," I chuckled.

"Oh, what would you have preferred then?" she laughed.

"Not sure," I replied, "I haven't had a lot of..."

Poppy wasn't my girlfriend, so that wouldn't be the right word... but then what would? She looked at me knowingly and then nodded slightly, understanding me without me even having to say it. "Girls who call you cute," she grinned.

"Something like that, yes," I laughed.

She leaned forward a bit, resting her elbow on her knee and holding her chin in the palm of her hand. "Can I ask how many girlfriends you've had? It's okay if you don't want to say."

"Well, I had one girlfriend in high school. Not too serious, a little high school fling that was dragged out for no reason. And then I had one serious girlfriend in college."

"What happened? It didn't work out? Not that I'm glad it didn't," she said, mumbling the last bit under her breath.

"She cheated on me," I told her.

She stared at me for a beat. "She did?"

I nodded. "I found out when I walked into my friend's apartment and found her roaming around wearing his clothes."

Her lips parted and her eyes went a little wide in surprise. She cleared her throat, "Well um, I'm really sorry that happened to you."

I shrugged, "More for you."

She laughed, leaning forward, putting her hands on my shoulders before nodding slowly. "Yes, more for me indeed."

I stole a kiss before she pulled away, her hold on me tightening before I pulled away. Standing back up, I moved to my suitcase. "You want to take the bathroom first?" I offered.

She nodded but didn't move from her spot and continued to watch me as I fished out my sweatpants and a black v-neck to wear to sleep.

As I unbuttoned my sleeves, I chuckled, looking at her. "Are you waiting for a show?"

"Absolutely. Magic Mike style," she grinned.

I shook my head, smiling, and started unbuttoning the shirt I had on.

"Oh," she sang, leaning a bit to the side to get a better look.

I laughed and stopped, leaving my unbuttoned shirt on instead of taking it off. "Go into the bathroom, get changed," I told her.

"Are you shy?" she sang, standing up and walking over, grabbing her own clothes as I unbuckled my belt, sliding it through the belt loops, taking it off.

I haven't been called shy since I was maybe in middle school. It might have even been elementary.

"I'm not shy," I scoffed, staring down at her while I wrapped my belt around my knuckles.

"You are a little bit," she smirked, her eyes falling down to the belt around my hand before she brushed past me and slipped into the bathroom.

I blinked in confusion to myself, glancing at the belt before turning around to look at the direction she went in.

A... belt. Huh.

My brows rose as I put the belt in my suitcase before shrugging off my shirt, folding it up. I slid the pants off, replacing them with my sweatpants before I pulled on the black v-neck. Normally, at home, I wouldn't sleep wearing a shirt but I didn't think I should have done that as of now in front of Poppy. While waiting for her to come out of the bathroom, I spent a quick two minutes on my laptop, quickly adding everything from tonight from a technical point of view into my notes.

If only we were allowed to write about kisses that aren't supposed to happen.

The door opened a few minutes later and she came and sat beside me in bed just as I put my laptop away. She flicked the lights off since our lamps were still on and padded over while letting her hair out of the bun it was in, running her fingers through it and taming it down.

My eyes drifted down to her legs as she sat on the bed. I glanced up at her face before looking back at her legs.

She doesn't usually sleep in a pair of shorts as far as I knew but tonight she had on a bigger t-shirt that I'm so sure was either somebody else's or from the men's section, with a pair of shorts that were hardly visible under the t-shirt. She slapped my arm lightly. "Quit it."

"I am trying," I mumbled, looking up at her.

She slid her legs under the covers and rolled onto her side, staring at me. I lay down as well, facing her and we both were silent for a long time before she reached over, wiping my cheek. "You have a wish. Here."

I stuck my hand out, blowing the eyelash away without really wishing for anything because the one thing I'd been craving for the longest time, I had, and that was Ms. Poppy Valentine right here.

After another pause, she spoke up again. "You asked about my Mom earlier."

I hummed, nodding.

"You're one of the only people who has ever actually asked. Thank you for acting like you care," she chuckled softly.

"I'm not acting. I do care, Poppy. If it hurts you, I care."

She gave me a gentle smile that made me realize how happy it made me to make her smile. She sighed softly, "She died in a car accident. Because of me."

"Poppy—"

"It really was my fault, Josh."

I stared at her, not wanting to say anything that would make her shut me out or close herself off when she was telling me something so private about herself.

"My Mom was the most amazing person I've ever known, she held our family together and that's why it all fell apart after she was gone." She took in a shaky breath, "One night, when we were at home, Jack and my Dad were in the living room and I was with her in the kitchen while she made dinner. And she had to run out to the store and I didn't want her to go without me. I was a stupid, clingy little kid who couldn't stand going anywhere without her Mom or stand her Mom going anywhere without her. I didn't budge, so she ended up taking me with her."

She groaned softly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And we went to the grocery store, bought everything we needed. And I annoyed the fucking hell out of her and I forced her to buy me candy and ice cream and this and that," she said, her voice getting softer with each word, each word becoming a whisper. She took in a shaky breath before continuing and staring down at where her hand rested on the bedsheet. She closed her eyes, a look of regret flickering across her face.

"Poppy," I whispered, grabbing her hand.

"We left the store," she cleared her throat, "and I had an ice cream in my hand and I was running way ahead of her as we walked on the sidewalk. And she kept telling me to slow down and I wasn't listening," she sniffled. "And when we were supposed to wait for the red light to cross the street, I didn't pay attention like she always taught me to. I didn't look both ways like she always taught me to, I didn't—" Her voice broke off and she had to pause to catch her breath and calm herself down but her exhale came out as a suppressed sob and I felt my heart break for her.

"I ran," she whispered, mostly to herself. "Without thinking, I was so fucking stupid and I just ran. And I made it across the street just fine when I shouldn't have," she sniffled, shaking her head, crying again. "But she ran after me when she shouldn't have. And I heard her. I heard her screaming my name. And I turned around and watched, I watched as she sprinted after me." She shook her head, frowning, more tears streaming down her face. "But she didn't make it."

I moved forward and put an arm around her waist, pulling her into me.

Her hand instinctively formed a tight fist around my shirt. "She didn't make it, Josh," she sobbed.

I kept both arms around her, moving one hand to the back of her head while she buried herself into my chest, only crying harder. I kissed the top of her head, letting her cry despite feeling torn between being there as she let it out or getting her to stop crying.

"It was my fault," she mumbled, "I should have listened. I should... I should have..." She shook her head.

"Poppy, it wasn't your fault," I told her and I meant every word. "Listen to me, Poppy," I whispered, "it wasn't your fault. It was an accident and you were just a little girl. Poppy." Pulling back, I saw her sniffle a bit as she began to bring a stop to her tears and tried to calm down, taking in deep and uneven breaths. "It wasn't your fault," I reminded her, holding her teary gaze. "It wasn't, I promise. And this time, I do know what I'm talking about."

She leaned forward, hugging me tightly again.

"It wasn't your fault," I repeated against her forehead before placing a kiss there. "I promise, it wasn't."

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