But when she led us over to a table of men much younger than Mr. Pruitt, I had a sickening feeling this had nothing to do with her uncle. “Is he even here?”
“Who?” Poppy asked.
“Mr. Pruitt.”
She looked up at me. “Yeah. Of course. He probably just went to the bathroom or something. Dip me.”
“What?”
“Dip. Me.” She started leaning backward.
Fuck. I caught her before she fell onto the dance floor. “What are you doing right now?”
She pulled back up and started laughing. “You’re so funny, Matthew. You always make me laugh,” she said way too loudly for polite conversation.
“Poppy, what the hell is going on?”
She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Be cool. My ex is here. And now he’s staring at us and just…just be cool, Matthew.” She moved in a little closer to me, pressing her hips to mine.
For fuck’s sake. It was one thing to pretend for Mr. Pruitt. But making her ex jealous? Now I understood why she was so insistent on tonight. Definitely not part of the deal. “Poppy…”
She grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me.
Gag. I was pretty sure I threw up in my mouth a little. I turned my head away from her. “Cut it out. I’m not here to make your ex jealous. I’m here to convince your uncle that you’re ready to take over the company. Period.”
“Two birds, one stone.” She leaned in for another kiss.
I turned it into an awkward hug in the middle of the dance floor.
She started swaying to make it look like we were just a couple in love instead of strangers arguing. “Just kiss me,” she hissed.
“No.”
“Fine. Deal off.” She shoved my chest in a playful way like I’d just made another pretend joke. All just a show for her ex apparently. But her eyes were deadly serious.
Damn it. I caught her hand and pulled her to my chest. I could still taste Kennedy on my lips. I didn’t want to kiss Poppy again. I’d literally rather be doing anything else. A bath and chat with Nigel included. “Deal not off,” I said. Yet. “But you got it all wrong. You don’t make an ex jealous with sloppy kisses with someone new. You do it with dance moves. And it just so happens I’m a pretty great dancer. So let’s make him jealous of our sick moves.” I backed up, spun around, and pointed at her.
“What are you doing?” she said. “Don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“Don’t leave me hanging here,” I said and shimmied my shoulders.
She actually laughed. “You’re an idiot.”
I wasn’t going to stop until she joined in. I started doing the robot.
She grabbed my arm. “If I say deal back on, will you please stop?”
I nodded.
“Deal back on.”
I froze on the dance floor, my arm still dangling down in the perfect robot. I moved it just an inch.
She slapped my robot arm and then pulled me back in. “Sorry,” she said. “I just figured since you were here it wouldn’t hurt to rub it in my ex’s face that I’m so happy.”
“You know what will probably make you happy?”
She looked up at me. “Don’t tell me you moonlight as a therapist. I hate therapists.”
Yeah, me too. “No. But I do know that being in a real relationship is better than being in a fake one.”
“That’s the plan. We’ll grow on each other.”
I clenched my jaw. That wasn’t what was going to happen. It was hard enough to stand here with her, let alone thinking about being in a relationship with her. Please, Nigel. Do your thing.
“Ah, there he is.” She pointed over to Mr. Pruitt. “Let’s get him to believe we’re in love. He’s going to be thrilled. Look at me like you can’t see your life with anyone else.”
I tried to picture her like Kennedy. But I couldn’t. But the thought that Kennedy popped into my head made me smile.
“Perfect.” She looped her arm through mine and walked us over to her uncle.
“Poppy,” Mr. Pruitt said and leaned in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “And…Matthew. What is this?” He looked back and forth between us.
“We’re dating, Uncle Richard.” Poppy reached out like she was about to straighten my tie, but then remembered I wasn’t wearing one. She laughed and patted my chest.
“You’re dating…each other?” He lowered his eyebrows.
“That’s right. When I went to visit him the other day we got to talking. And talking. Talking at his office turned into dinner.” She shrugged like it had all happened without threats and bribery. “And we have so much in common. Plus, he’s such a finance whiz. I know you mentioned that a while ago.” She waved her hand through the air. “But I’d completely forgotten. He’s so smart. And I was telling him how I’m not so great with budgets and all that. He’s been kind of tutoring me on the side when we’re not busy canoodling.” She booped me on the nose. “Isn’t that right, sugar tits?” She batted her fake eyelashes at me.
Sugar tits? What the hell kind of nickname was that for a grown ass man?
Mr. Pruitt just stared at her. And then his scrutinizing gaze landed on me. “Is this true?”
Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was lie to Mr. Pruitt. But I was kind of in a sticky situation here. I just nodded.
“I thought you loved my daughter,” he said.
It felt like a slap in the face. “I do.” I shook my head. “I did.” A lump had formed in my throat and it wouldn’t go away. “She’s gone.”
“We really need to talk,” he said. He glanced at Poppy and then back at me. “In private.”
“Anything you need to say in front of my boyfriend you can say in front of me, Uncle Richard.” Poppy snuggled into my side like a leech.
“Very well.” Mr. Pruitt stared at me. “Then both of you come with me.” He turned around and walked toward a door marked Personnel Only.
We started to follow him.
“Sugar tits?” I whispered to Poppy. “Really?”
“I panicked. It was the first thing that popped into my head. And we’re stuck with it now, so just roll with it.”
I shook my head as we walked into the hotel kitchen. There were only a few people inside. Caterers refilling their trays with little desserts.
“Out,” Mr. Pruitt said to them.
One of them looked up. “But…”
“I said get out!” He picked up one of the half full trays and threw it against the wall.
The caterers scattered, running out of the kitchen.
I tried to bite my tongue, but I couldn’t. “You know who would have hated you talking to them like that?” I asked. “Brooklyn.”
Mr. Pruitt turned to me. “I don’t think you knew Brooklyn as well as you believe you did.”
What was that supposed to mean? I opened my mouth but Poppy grabbed my hand.
“Uncle Richard, you seem a little upset,” Poppy said.
A little upset? He just threw a bunch of miniature cheesecakes at a wall. If this was a little upset, I didn’t want to see what really upset was.