Taters whined again, then sat—on top of Decker’s foot. If he could have crawled into his arms the dog would have.
“You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but I wish you would,” she said, not wanting to push him.
Decker was quiet for a long time and then he said, “A layer for a layer.”
Poppy didn’t want to share any more with him tonight, but she had this intense need to find out what was going on with him. “You first.”
He chuckled. “Ever since my dad had his stroke, I’ve had a problem controlling my anxiety. I had it under control, but it’s gotten worse since things between Brian and me have become more strained.”
“And Taters?”
“He’s like a big therapy blanket. He knows when the anxiety is about to get out of control and uses pressure points or distraction techniques to help calm me.”
Poppy couldn’t imagine a big, strong guy like Decker struggling with anxiety. Then again wasn’t that part of the misconception with mental health, that people placed judgments and stereotypes?
Poppy thought back to their night, and what she’d said to him outside the workshop about him being a distraction. “I’msorry if I added to your stress. I wasn’t very nice in the way I said what I said.”
He cupped her cheek, and a warm tingle heated under his touch. “I didn’t tell you this so you’d stop being honest with me. I told you because you asked. Was what you said the truth?”
While Poppy wanted to deny it and say that no, she couldn’t afford a distraction. She stood by everything she said. Even if she didn’t like it. “It was the truth.”
He didn’t seem to like that answer, but he accepted it. “Then you have nothing to apologize for. Now, layer for a layer. Earlier you said that no set can ever be completely safe. What did you mean by that?”
A chill overtook Poppy’s body, just like it did whenever she thought about that night.
“Last year, I went to check on one of my renos and surprised two looters. They zip-tied me and locked me in the closet. I couldn’t get out until Kiki came the next day and found me.”
“Did they hurt you?” he asked, and she was surprised at the level of protectiveness that jolted through his voice.
“More my pride and dignity than anything. You think you know how to defend yourself, but, in the moment, it all flies out the window. Ever since then I’ve never come to a set alone. But tonight when I heard Miles, then saw you…”
“You thought I was a burglar.”
She nodded her head. Two strong arms came around her and pulled her snug into a warm wall of strength. Before Poppy could talk herself out of it, she embraced Decker back. It was as if two people who were desperate for human connection had found their missing pieces.
She clasped her hands at the base of his back and buried her nose into his neck, as he buried his into her hair and they stood like that for a long, desperate moment. She ran her fingers up his back and he ran his down her spine. He moved even closer and her heart leapt.
Her other body parts? They reacted in an inappropriate way for a jobsite. But instead of pulling away she went with it.
“I’m sorry about Holly. I know how much faith you put in her.”
“I guess her fiancé found the video and called off the wedding. He threatened to sell the tape, so she released it before he could benefit from the moment.”
“That’s terrible,” she said into his neck.
He pulled her tighter. “It is what it is.”
“She could have at least included you in the problem.” His answer was a complacent grunt. “You’re a better man that I thought, and I’m sorry I misjudged you.”
“Good enough of a man to admit that we would have ended up kissing on our first date.”
She looked up at him and laughed. “Dream on. I don’t kiss on the first date. Plus, you didn’t even know it was a date.”
“Angel, that was a date and we both know it. Just like we both know that this thing between us is more than a distraction.”
Poppy swallowed hard. “How can you be sure?” Because for as sure as she was that she couldn’t successfully juggle a distraction and this house reno, she was certain this was a distraction. Even though he didn’t mean to, he attracted chaos like the moon and the tide.
“This.”
