I have to ask the owners what kind of mattress this is. I think at least seventy percent of my problems would be solved if I could sleep like this every night.
Then again, her home also didn’t have a four-poster bed with lacy curtains, or a porthole window above the bed, or a magically stocked fridge, or a handsome guy who’d misplaced his shirt, so the mattress probably wasn’t theonlything that had given her a good night’s sleep. And the B&B also didn’t come with a cat that poked her in the face at 5:00 a.m., which, she had to admit, didn’t do wonders for keeping a good circadian rhythm.
Itispretty cute, though.
Stretching her arms and letting out a satisfied yawn, she pushed the covers back, guiltily noting the open boxes and cake crumbs scattered amongst the pillows. She had vague memories of dumping them onto the bed, stripping all her clothes off, and then climbing under the covers, and then vaguer-still memories of eatingsomethingfrom one of the boxes before she nodded off, unable to resist the heavenly scent contained within.
Peering into one of the boxes now, she spotted a cookie. The little tag on the box readWhite Chocolate, Raspberry, and Macadamia, and, well, that was good enough for her.
Fruit and nuts means it counts as breakfast, right?
In any case, Poppy had had a shitty time of it the past few days. A little indulgence was just what the doctor had ordered.
She picked it up and took a big bite, enjoying the cookie’s soft, buttery goodness, the sweet-and-savory combination of fruit and nuts, the way the white chocolate melted on her tongue. It was, quite frankly, the best cookie she’d ever eaten.
Sighing happily, Poppy stuck the cookie between her teeth while she slipped into the soft, fluffy robe to go with the slippers that she’d put on when she arrived, before taking another bite and taking a better look at the room.
The whole place was gorgeous, with purple being the obvious feature color, offset by whites and grays and the deep, rich brown of mahogany. It somehow managed to walk the fine line between traditional and modern, extravagant and minimalist. It was classy, rather than overstated – and, most importantly, it felt cozy and comfortable, like somewhere a person could happily live. She knew that the room was newly renovated, but it felt like it had been in use for generations. Clearly, the owners had put a lot of work into making a space that made people feel at home.
But the thing thatreallydrew her eye was the enormous window that dominated one of the walls, giving a panoramic view of the winter wonderland outside from its third-floor vantage point. A dark purple chaise longue sat along its bottom edge, and a pot of yellow and blue violets sat on the windowsill.
Outside, the snowy scenery burst with life. She watched, entranced, as a blue jay came in to land on a frosted viburnum, its wings shining in more shades of blue than she would’ve thought possible. The brilliant red berries hung suspended from the branch, their snowy caps making them look like they’d been dusted with powdered sugar.
The blue jay inspected the berries intently, before, apparently having decided that they were lacking, it took to its dazzling wings once more.
Poppy thought that she could spend her days lying on the chaise and looking at the view, and the vacation would be considered a success; however, she did think she’d regret it if she didn’t go out and explore the town at least a little bit.
And, of course, there was theotherattraction in Girdwood Springs…
Poppy felt her face heating up as she was suddenly hit by the full memory of what had happened in the kitchen last night.
She wasneverusually that forward with men. Certainly she’d never taken a bottle of milk that an attractive stranger had been drinking from, and then chugged it in some sort of attempt to get an indirect kiss from him.
And it had beenhismilk!Hermilk had presumably been in the fridge! She was a milk thief now! What kind of man would be impressed by that?!
“Gaaaahhh,” she groaned, taking an overly large bite of her cookie and almost choking.
Still,she thought, as she coughed and hacked,he didn’t seemcompletelyput off by my antics?
Really, it was all his fault – him and his hot nerd vibe. The man had hadinkon his fingers, for crying out loud! What was she supposed to do? How could she be expected to concentrate when his perfectly tousled hair was hanging down around those hypnotic, penetrating eyes?!
Maybe he’s in the kitchen right now,a little voice inside her head whispered.Maybe you could go and humiliate yourself some more.
Well, the second part of that was clearly terrible advice, and she chose to ignore it. But the first part…
Probably still a terrible idea,she told herself, even as she attempted to straighten out her bedhead.But fortune favors the brave.
If we’re going to justify our actions with clichés, how about better safe than sorry?the voice said with a sneer.
How about shut up?Poppy fired back.
Sure, this was probably going to backfire terribly. But she was done with playing things safe. She was only here for a few days, and then she would never see Max again. Maybe if she was lucky, he would be up for a little vacation fling.
The idea of anything she had with Max only being aflingsent a weird bolt of pain through her heart, and she stoppedmessing with her hair, surprised at herself. She’d never felt that way about anyone before, and certainly not about someone she barely knew.
But it was true. It hadn’t been a problem the few times in the past when she’d decided to have a fling, but the idea of just using Max for mutual short-term pleasure felt weirdly wrong.
Shaking her head at herself, she headed for the kitchen door. At the last moment, she realized that she was basically only wearing her robe and slippers – but, well, Max wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if he complained about people wandering around half-naked.
