Poppy

Two mornings. That was the sum total of mornings I'd spent in my house since purchasing it, and sadly, it was also the sum total of mornings I'd woken with a pounding headache and dry mouth. I sat up and placed my fingers against my forehead, feeling grateful when the room didn't spin, but as I made my way to the kitchen, I realized the pounding wasn't just in my head. It was coming from my front porch.

Course correcting, I opened the front door and nearly fell out. Maybe I was still dreaming? Or the headache wasn't from a hangover. I'd hit my head last night. Surely, that was the only thing that would explain what I saw.

A nearly completed new front porch stretched before me. Noah hammered a nail into the last step, then dropped the tool, and wiped his forearm across his gleaming forehead, disheveling his dark hair and pulling up the hem up of the raggedy white t-shirt he wore. Judging by the deep tan tone of his abs, I suspected he didn't normally wear a shirt while working outside, and the one he wore now was out of some displaced need to be respectful. My lady bits, which had been sound asleep until this moment, woke up and protested, shouting they had never asked to be respected.

He grimaced and pulled the edge of his t-shirt to his forehead and dragged it down his face. I grabbed the edge of the door to remain upright as I devoured the golden body on display, my eyes circling his nipples while I imagined it was my tongue tracing the dark outline of his areola.

"Lord," I breathed out, trying to get a hold of myself.

There was absolutely no reason for me to be this turned on right now. Not over a shirtless man when I'd seen hundreds in my lifetime. My head hurt. I just woke up. And I didn't even like this man. Even if he did look like walking sin, and... I squinted hard to bring a fuzzy memory from last night into focus. Had we danced?

Noah's head snapped up, and he immediately rushed to me, pulling open the screen door and pausing in front of me. "Poppy. You're awake."

"Didn't that door used to squeak when it opened?" I asked, letting him ease me back into the house and onto a couch.

"I put some WD-40 on it. Here ya go."

He held out a glass of cold water and 4 ibuprofen. God bless him for that. I took his offering and downed the pills in a single gulp, chasing them with the water and pinching my eyes closed against the brief burst of pain the cold liquid caused. When it subsided, I peeled them open and jerked back when I found Noah still hovering in front of me, the same worried expression on his face.

"What time is it?"

"About noon."

"Noon? What time did you start working on my porch?" I held up a hand. "Better question. Why are you working on my porch?"

Relief replaced the worry. He asked gently, "What do you remember about last night?"

"I remember us arguing in the road over that dump step, and I said it was on my list. Not sure how that translated into you fixing it for me." Poppy. Why are you antagonizing the man for doing something nice? Stop it.

Noah seemed to think the same thing. His jaw clenched, but he didn't snap back. Instead, in a voice a little firmer than before, he said, "After that. Do you remember going out with Lydia?"

That's right. "Angie's. You were there with Luke—" That vein in Noah's jaw was really bulging now. "And another woman. I asked Luke to dance, and I... I don't remember much after that."

The couch sagged under my weight as I scooted back onto the cushions. My head felt so heavy, and despite the summer heat outside, it was cold in the living room. Noah picked up the beige, chunky-knit blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over me, letting his roughened palms skim over my bare shoulders as he pulled away. I shivered, and not from the chill.

"The other woman was my friend, Jenny. I sent her a message that you're awake, and she's going to stop by to check on you. Luke, too. We think—" He exhaled raggedly and shoved a hand through his drying hair. "We think someone put something in your drink at the bar. One of the tourists."

"Well, hell." I snuggled into the blanket. Already the ibuprofen was working its magic, or maybe it was Noah. He was kind of nice to be around when he wasn't being a dick. "That explains it."

Noah frowned. "That's it. You're not upset?"

"Of course I'm upset." I'd probably be really upset later when everything didn't hurt, and my mouth didn't feel like I had been sucking on cotton balls. But right now, I was grateful they'd been there. "Y'all got me out of there safely, right?"

"Right, but—"

"Then I'm glad, and I hope Luke catches the bastard. But from experience, he probably won't."

"What do you mean from experience? Poppy? Poppy?"

Noah's aggravated demands faded away as sleep claimed me again, and the next time I woke up, the smiling faces of Jenny and Lydia greeted me. Only a dull echo of my headache remained, and soft afternoon light filled the room. With a yawn, I sat up and stretched.

"I hate to break it to you, Lydia, but I don't think I'll be going out again any time soon."

Jenny snickered, while Lydia pouted. "That's okay. I don't think any of us are going to go out for a little while. Luke's got the whole place on lockdown until they find out who pulled that stunt last night."

"Mind if I give you a quick checkup?" Jenny asked. When I nodded, she moved closer with a bag and pulled out a few tools. While she checked my pulse and pupils, she started talking. "I wouldn't call it a stunt, Lydia. If Poppy had come alone, she wouldn't have been so lucky."

"I know. I don't mean to trivialize it. It's just so damn frustrating that we can't even go out into our own town without worrying about being drugged and raped. That's why I don't go up to the ski lodges, and now they're bringing that shit down here."

Jenny snapped her bag shut and sat back on her knees. "It's everywhere. Don't think it's just the tourists."

"You too, huh?" She nodded, and I added, "When I was in college, I went to a frat party. Thankfully, I had my big sister there. She dragged me away as soon as she noticed the effects. Never found the asshole."

She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Makes me hate men sometimes. It's why I stick to the ones I know. You didn't happen to mention that it had happened to you before when you talked to Noah earlier, did you?"

"Not in detail, but I brought it up when he wanted to know why I wasn't more upset." I crossed my legs on the couch and tapped my fingers over my thigh. It was an old habit I used to soothe myself when I was a kid. "It's not that I wasn't upset. I'll probably freak out about it later, but I'm just so relieved nothing happened."

"You don't have to explain yourself. Shock is great at protecting us from the pain. Until it doesn't. But that explains Noah's bad attitude when we pulled up."

Lydia covered her mouth, her eyes going wide above her hand. "Man grunted at us when we walked up. He's taking out some serious frustration on his power tools."

"Is he still out there?"

"No. He told Luke to go away when he showed up and you were still sleeping. I think they went over to Noah's so he could get a shower. They'll be back."

I put my hands over my face. "Why? The man doesn't even like me. He fixed my whole dang porch this morning."

"He did more than that," Jenny said, tilting her head to the side. "He spent the night here."

"He what?"

"One thing you'll learn about Noah Hayes is that he's a protector, and once you're in his circle, you're in."

I didn't want to be in his circle. Did I? He was grumpy, rude, and bossy. But, dear lord, he was fine to look at, and if what Jenny said was true, he hadn't left me to fend for myself when it mattered most. Not to mention how tender he had been this morning, even when I was the one being a grump.

"Y'all," I groaned, putting my feet on the floor. "I'm going to get kicked out of this town before I've been here a week. In two days, I flashed the town's golden boy, called the cops on him, and then got drugged at a bar."

Lydia waved her hand. "Honey. The things this town has seen. We may be small, but that's basically a Monday night right there."

"Wait. You flashed Noah?" Jenny's eyes sparkled. "Now I'm starting to understand a lot more."

"No." I waggled my finger at her. "It wasn't on purpose, and I didn't know he was seeing anyone. And... and that doesn't matter because it wasn't on purpose," I half shrieked. Why did I mention that? I really liked Jenny, and now she was going to think I was some man stealing whore.

"There is nothing going on between me and Noah." She shrugged. "Sometimes we scratch each other's itches, and that man knows how to scratch an itch, if you know what I mean."

Her brows waggled, and I tried not to think about the exact itches I would be happy to let Noah scratch. After years of dealing with Phil's half-assed attempts at making love, my skin was practically on fire with need, but my brain was happy to remind me Noah Hayes should be the last man I considered tending to them.

"Funny," Jenny said, as if reading my mind, "Noah hasn't had any itches to scratch in quite some time. Not until, oh, maybe the last day or so."

"Is anyone hungry? Boy, I sure am."

Jenny and Lydia burst into belly laughs. I ignored them and went to my room to change. When I returned, they were still giggling occasionally and wiping mascara streaks from their cheeks. Warmth washed through me as I watched them, even if their laughter was at my expense. It said a lot about them as individuals that they'd taken the time out of their day to come and check on me.

"What's that goofy look for?" Lydia asked.

"Just wanted to say thank you. You didn't have to come check on me."

They shared a look and then walked to me and looped their arms through mine. "Girl. Lydia already told me she decided you were her new best friend yesterday, and that tells me all I need to know. Noah isn't the only one with an inner circle. Welcome to ours. Whether you wanted in or not."

I grinned. I didn't even have to think about that one. In. I definitely wanted in.