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bathed her in kisses as his whole body wagged with his excitement. Poppy was still laughing with relief when she looked up to find Felix standing in the doorway.
    He watched her, his hands shoved deep into his jean’s pockets, a deep frown creasing his forehead. A thin, nervous smile began to form making Poppy realize just how brittle she felt. Felix glanced at the piles of bags surrounding her. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were shopping. Did you leave anything for the other customers?”
    Poppy snorted. Leave it to Felix to find a way to lighten the mood. “A couple odds and ends.” She shrugged.
    Her heart pounded as Felix stepped into the room and walked around the foot of the bed to inspect her purchases. He peeked in the bags, although the blank look on his face told her he really didn’t care about what she bought. He was gearing up to have a conversation—one that she wasn’t ready to have.
    Standing, Poppy brushed some loose fur off her shirt and pants. “I was thinking about making steak tonight for dinner.”
    Felix nodded, letting her know he’d heard her. Leaning a shoulder against the bedpost, his eyes followed her around the room as she finished putting everything away.
    “I had lunch with Piper. It sounds like Tate is in a mood again. I swear he has PMS more often than a woman.”
    “Poppy.”
    “Macy’s was having an awesome sale. You should see this skirt I found. It’s so cute. I think I can put together at least five outfits with it.”
    “Poppy.”
    “After dinner I was thinking maybe we can take Bo on a walk. We could take that trail that leads to the creek we found last week. It was beautiful there, don’t you think?”
    “Poppy, sit down!” Felix barked. Poppy snapped her mouth shut and froze in the middle of hanging a pair of pants on the rod. Shoving aside the empty bags, Felix sat at the edge of the bed and indicated with his hand for her to follow.
    Reluctantly, she crossed the room to sit beside him. Avoiding eye contact, Poppy scratched her nail over the minute ridges created by the woven cotton in her jeans.
    “Last night wasn’t okay. I mean, it was great, but what you did after? That wasn’t okay.”
    Okay, so he was just going to jump right in there. Poppy hanged her head. “I know.”
    “I know you know,” Felix said, angling his body toward hers. “My problem is why. See, I’ve been trying to work it out all day. I thought you were playing a game, until I realized that you weren’t coming back. I spent all day replaying what happened—every minute detail—and do you know what I came up with?”
    Poppy shook her head. She honestly had no clue what was going on in his head, except to say that he was more than a little bit pissed.
    “You were punishing me.” Poppy’s head snapped up and her eyes grew wide. Felix nodded. “That’s what I thought. Was that your idea of setting me straight for spending time with my friends? Because if it is, then we have a problem. I love you, Poppy, but I’m not going to let you try to control me.”
    “This isn’t about control,” Poppy snarled, offended that he would even consider that a possibility. She was the least controlling person she knew. “And this isn’t about you spending time with your friends. If you want to hang out with the guys, go ahead, be my guest. I won’t stop you. I do have a problem with you lying to me, though.”
    To his credit, Felix didn’t try to deny it. Holding her gaze steady, he took her hand and laced their fingers together. “I’m sorry I lied to you. Trust me when I say that it won’t happen again.”
    He was so earnest that Poppy struggled to understand what he was promising exactly. Was he trying to tell her that whatever he was doing yesterday was a one-time deal and she didn’t need to worry about it happening again, or was he only referring to the part about playing golf? Honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
    Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.
    Her