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After his reaction when she calledthat had been onme under the skin endlessly I knew he had cared deeply for Poppy, and that in her usual way my sister had let my dad’s decisions function as her own What I didn’t knoas if he was still hung up on her, and still pining away for so that had never even had a chance His youthful infatuation following him into adulthood seemed unlikely after so much time But if that was the case, then no matter howI just knee’d have together, there was no way I was fighting host of my sister to have it I had too much pride and valuedto compete with his idea of first love, not when the person was very ral part of my life

I’d tried to pull the answers out of Poppy the other day, but she was skittish and had blown past the topic like it didn’ton with her She toldup on me after only a few minutes of conversation That wasn’t like her and it amped my concern for her up ten notches

I watched Rowdy carefully as he set the papers he had in his hand on the counter and walked around to the side I was on He didn’t stop walking until he was right in front of ed me in with an arm on either side of my hips His head dipped down a little so that ere eye to eye, and I swore I could drown in that blue ocean of his gaze forever His blond hair was lighter than normal without all the junk he usually put in it to style it up in that pompadour he wore, and the way it fell across his forehead made him look like that little boy who’d always ers itched to reach up and push it away They itched to touch him in any way he would allow

He leaned a little closer to me and I felt his breath move the bloodred hair at hteen, had the world atpro football I offered her everything and she told me she considered me her brother She looked me dead in the eye and told h because your parents wouldn’t approve because they knehere I cauy for her"

I felt his chest expand and his breath hitch as dark blue clouds shadowed his hot stare His lips touched lasses didn’t fog up froetting turned on, I also felt like everything inside of me where my heart and hope lived had turned into stone

Rowdy asked Poppy to marry him? That was the first I had ever heard of that and I felt like it was life changing They were both so young I always assus for my little sister had been much more complex than I remembered or believed them to be

"You asked her to marry you?" I wanted to shove hirab my sweet little puppy and run all the way to someplace where Rowdy St James was lost back inaway inside ofI thought I knew about love and ripped it apart from the inside out The pieces of my heart were so tiny when she was done with me I didn’t bother to look for them So no, Salem I am not still in love with Poppy She broke me and I haven’t bothered to try and love anyone since"

I couldn’t take it anymore I put both of my hands on the center of his chest and shoved him away from me I felt like I needed to escape, like his words were building a cage around all the grandiose ideas I had been follohen I left Vegas

"She never told me We talked all the ti asked her tohim that there was so much more to us now that ere older disappear into smoke I felt like he had just pulled a quarterback sneak and I was on the defense looking like an idiot while he ran the ball into the end zone I never would have come here, never would have made myself at home if I had known just how barbed the ties were that held hilare at hiasped in surprise because he had followed ripped my upper arms and hauled me up onto et to back away just because you don’t like what’s hiding in the dark once the light you’re shining hits it"

"Why didn’t she tell me?" The words hispered and I couldn’t look away froers twitched to get that blond lock of hair off of his forehead or maybe smack him across his handsome face

"That part of the story is hers to tell"

"That’s why you quit school, why you stopped playing ball? She turned you down and you ran away froative and he pulled ether Instantly I regretted not putting on a bra as the tips of each breast got excited being so close to all the hard heat of hihtly around the hard flex of his biceps