“No,” she lied. “And even if he did, I’d still be asking. He’s promised to hand over his phone and disconnect for the remaining weeks.”
“This goes against the contract we have with the streamer.”
“That’s what I told her,” Jack said, and Poppy shot him a death glare.
“All he needs to do is sign the same NDA as we did, with a stipulation that anything he knows of the show from the already aired episodes he can’t share, and there shouldn’t be a problem. Right?”
Steve hemmed and hawed, and Poppy used the only weapon she had.
“I’ve only asked you for one thing in my life and you couldn’t give me that.” It had been a DNA test to prove she was his, but he’d never responded to her request. “This is the only thing I’ll ever ask of you again.”
“I’ll make it happen. Now, if you could hand Jack the phone so we can figure this out?”
And before she could think of what to say, the words, “Thanks, Steve,” came tumbling out. Two words she’d never thought she’d ever say together, but there they were.
“You have to be kidding,” Jack said as he climbed in his car and disappeared around the corner, likely heading for his office, where he was going to spend the rest of the morning forcing a legal team to come up with an ironclad NDA.
Unsure how to handle the complicated and contrasting emotions knotted in her stomach, she turned to head back to the pool house when she nearly ran into a warm, wall of muscle and yummy man parts.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said so quietly his voice nearly got lost in the early morning breeze.
“I know. I wanted to.”
“Why?”
“Because Miles looked so happy when we told him he could stay, and I didn’t want to take that away from him. Especially after the lashing you took from Brian.”
He took a step closer, eating up all the space between them. “Is that the only reason?”
Poppy wanted to say no, but that would be a lie. And if there was one thing she hated more than cowards, it was liars. And she refused to be either. No matter how embarrassing her answer would be.
“No.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and the simplecontact loosened the emotional ball in her belly. “You want to tell me why you’d ask a man who you clearly have a complicated history with for a favor?”
“Because asking him for a favor would hurt less than watching you miss out on spending time with your nephew.” And here came the difficult part. “People tend to repeat what they can’t repair. I might not be able to fix my own family, but maybe I can be a small part of fixing yours.”
This time when he reached out, he cupped her cheek and held her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. In his world. “What happened to your family, Angel?”
“Too much to talk about so early in the morning. Especially when the emotions are right at the surface, too raw to deconstruct.”
“I know the feeling,” he said, and for some reason she didn’t think he was talking about their families anymore.
DIARY ROOM:
Poppy: Guilty? Why would I look guilty?
Producer: You flushed just now when I asked what you and Decker did last night.
Poppy: We didn’t do anything except nearly kill someone because of your genius no-phones policy. As for Miles, I think he will be a good, calming addition to the crew.
Producer: Can you say that again but to the camera?
Poppy: Which part?
Producer: Why don’t you tell America how you feel about Decker.
Poppy: How I feel about Decker? I feel like he’s a good man and good friend. That’s it.
