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Rowan swung open the front door just as Poppy appeared at the top of the steps in the smallest pair of pajamas I’d ever seen.
“Theo,” she said and smiled.
Her shorts ended just below her ass and were loose enough I could see the creamy skin of her inner thighs as she walked down the stairs. Her thin top left little to the imagination. She shuddered when she reached the bottom of the steps and hugged herself, but not before I saw the outline of her pert nipples.
“Crap on a cracker, y’all must be freezing. Head to the kitchen. It’s so hot back there I had to change.”
I tried not to look at her ass as she walked past us, but I still dropped my boots on the wood floor before placing them on the doormat to dry.
Rowan stifled a giggle and held out her hand. “Give me your coat. I’ll toss it in the dryer.”
“That’d be great,” I said, peeling off my thick winter jacket and handing it to her. The entryway had several puddles where the ice had dripped from us. “I’ll grab a paper towel and clean this up.”
“Thanks.” She headed upstairs with our coats while I tried to brace myself for the smoke show in the kitchen.
“Sorry to leave you out there,” Poppy said when I walked in. “It was colder than a witch’s tit by the door.”
“I, um, need to clean up some water,” I said, turning my back to Poppy and tugging off half a roll of paper towels.
“Do you need a mop?” she asked as I practically ran from the kitchen.
“I’m good,” I yelled. I wasn’t. I needed to leave before I did something stupid, like lift Poppy onto that stainless-steel table and pull off those little shorts with my teeth.
“Fuck,” I breathed, hitting my forehead against the front door.
“Don’t worry,” Rowan said, starting down the stairs. “I brought her a sweater. I don’t want to see my sister’s nips any more than you do. But for different reasons, obviously.”
I could feel my face growing red, so I started wiping the water from the floor. As I finished cleaning up, Rowan’s words sank in. Did she understand my reasons for not wanting to see so much of Poppy? Cal knew I hadn’t been with anyone since committing to the straightedge lifestyle a few years back. I guess he’d told Rowan. Or maybe Poppy had. I’d never discussed my decision to abstain from sex, but I figured Poppy knew enough to interpret the Xs on my hands. What other reason could I possibly have for not asking her out yet? Anyone with eyes could see I was attracted to her. I balled up the soggy paper towels and squeezed them so hard I dripped water on the floor again. I was in for one hell of a wet dream tonight.
When I returned to the kitchen after cleaning up the hallway a second time, Poppy was wearing a thin gray sweater andhumming as she put the finishing touches on a miniature cake. My dick throbbed to life in my jeans. Nope, the sweater didn’t help. If anything, it made me imagine how it would feel to slip it off.
“Do you want coffee?” Rowan asked. “I don’t usually drink caffeine this late, but I’m freezing.”
“Sure,” I said, looking around the kitchen for a place to sit while I got my body under control, but finding none.
“Sorry, there’s no place to rest your ass in here,” Poppy said, with a sigh. “We need a bigger space. We saw a shop on Main that would be ideal. Aiden even drew up a design, but Rowan is too chickenshit to pull the trigger.”
“I think you meant fiscally responsible,” Rowan said, dumping scoops of ground coffee into the machine on the counter.
I leaned on the table by Poppy. Why? Because I liked to test myself sometimes. Maybe torture myself a little. “Aiden had a busy week.”
“Oh yeah?” she said, gripping an icing bag. It shouldn’t look sexual, but as I watched her talented hands at work, my jeans got tighter. “What’s he been doing other than helping us and bothering Lauren at Karma every morning? He said his business slowed in January.”
“You don’t know about the house on Maple?” I asked, doing my best to calm my body. Rowan’s shoulders bunched around her ears.
“What house on Maple?” Poppy asked, putting down the icing bag, thank fuck.
I glanced at Rowan and waited for her to say something. Poppy glared at her sister who kept fiddling with the coffee maker like it was a delicate espresso machine and not a standard Mr. Coffee drip brew.
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Poppy snapped.
“Aiden is buying the Jenkins’s house on Maple. He wants Theo to rent it from him until he’s ready to flip it,” Rowan said in one breath.
“That’s awesome,” Poppy said, smiling at me. “You’ll be right around the corner.”
I shook my head.
The smile dropped from her face. “Unless you found something else?”