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It had been maybe fifteen minutes since I woke up crying from the nightmare and latched onto Josh for dear life but now, even though I've calmed down, I didn't know how to unlatch myself. I was scared of him asking all the wrong questions but I was also terrified of him pulling away and saying he should leave and go to his own room. I didn't want him to leave but I also didn't want him to ask me anything.

I don't talk about Mom a lot, especially about what happened, solely because it brings up too many dark and painful memories, memories that I spent years struggling to move past. It was too hard so the best I could do was put all of Mom's memories in a box in my mind and lock it up. Of course, I still thought about her sometimes, about the happy moments I've shared with her, but what happened that night is something I never want to recount.

Josh's hold on me loosened up a bit and I sealed my eyes shut tightly, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt where my hands met behind his back. I was just waiting for him to say something.

He hesitated and waited for a few seconds before removing his hand from my head. "Poppy," he whispered.

I opened my eyes and forced my fingers to relax, letting go of his shirt before releasing a shaky breath.

"Poppy," he repeated.

Pulling away from him, I clenched and unclenched my jaw, staring at where our knees met. I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes, I was so blatantly embarrassed. I couldn't believe that just because I had a nightmare, I clung to him like that. I cried into his chest, I rumpled up his shirt, I... God!

We both remained quiet for a moment until I started picking at my nails, scooting away from him. "Sorry," I breathed out. I groaned softly, running a hand through my hair, trying not to pull at it. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Josh, I'm really sorry. If that made you uncomfortable or if... God, I'm so sorry." Forcing myself to look at him, I wanted to turn away the minute I did.

He watched me silently, his brows rising. "If that made me... uncomfortable? Really?"

It totally did.

"Fuck," I sighed, "I'm really sorry, Josh. Seriously."

"Poppy, you—" he cut himself short, taking in a slow breath, closing his eyes before meeting mine again. "You didn't make me uncomfortable."

I paused in confusion. "No?"

"No," he shook his head, "but you terrified me."

"I.. did?"

"You scared me, Poppy. I had no idea what just happened, I still don't really know."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Oh," was all I could say.

"I don't... I mean, are you okay?"

I nodded slowly. "It was just a nightmare."

"About your Mom." It wasn't a question, so I must have said something in my sleep again.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"Does this happen often? Do you get nightmares like this?"

"Sometimes," I admitted, pinching the bridge of my nose. "When I've been thinking about that night."

"That night?"

"The night she died," I answered, my breath getting caught in my throat. "Look, I don't want to..." I trailed off.

He nodded in clear understanding. "You don't have to. Do you want me to stay?"

Surprised, I stared at him. "Will you? If I ask?"

"Yeah," he replied, "I think I will even if you don't." He shuffled on his knees, fixing my pillow for me, and then nodded towards it. "Lay down. Go back to sleep."

I sat frozen for a minute before lying back down. He lay beside me on his back, stealing a glance at me. I rolled onto my side, watching him. "Josh."

He turned to me, humming in response.

"Thank you."

"For?"

I took in a small breath, closing my eyes. "For being the one who stayed."

I was already halfway back to sleep when I heard him whisper, "I'm not going anywhere, Poppy." And that was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.

The next morning when I woke up, I found the bed empty. My head was pounding a lot less than I expected it to but I still felt worn out and tired. I winced, resting my fist on my forehead. "I shouldn't have drank so much," I mumbled to myself. I heard a door open and sat up, startled, holding the covers tightly.

As Josh stepped into view, coming out of the bathroom, I felt myself relax and I let go of the covers, leaning against the headboard. He slowed down to a stop at the foot of the bed and rested one knee on the bed, watching me. "Morning," he said nonchalantly.

I guess he was better than I thought at pretending like nothing happened whenever something went wrong. "Morning," I responded, crossing my legs under me.

"You're okay?" he asked.

I nodded, gathering my hair and pulling it into a low ponytail, a few short strands falling out and framing my face. "You actually stayed," I pointed out.

He lifted a brow, a soft smile tugging at his lips. "Did you think I'd leave after you asked me not to?"

"I thought maybe you would have left after I fell asleep," I chuckled softly.

"Hmm. Did you want me to?"

"No," I answered quickly. Too quickly. I cringed, cursing myself before looking at him again.

He watched me in amusement and then nodded to himself, pulling his leg down. "Well, we have to check out soon. We sort of already skipped breakfast, but we can order some room service if you want to eat here before we leave or there are always cafés nearby. Our check out is in..." He checked his watch. "Forty-five minutes. Is that enough time for you to pack everything? I can help, if you want."

I shook my head, sliding out of bed. "I'll pack everything, thank you. And for breakfast, let's stop by a café. Um, any word from Jamieson? Are they still here?"

"No, actually. They checked out early and went to the other hotel because they wanted to go around the city to take some more pictures, so it's just us. I'll be in my room, then. I'll pack too and then we can leave, yeah?"

"Yeah, sounds good." I walked around the bed, stopping in front of him, running my hands over the sides of my legs. I was still wearing the clothes I wore out last night. I remembered it all, damn it. Leaving the bar, everything he said on the way here, all the playful flirting, waking up from the goddamn nightmare. All of it. But I guess we're both silently agreeing not to bring any of it up.

He stepped forward and brought up a hand, placing the back of it on my forehead.

I stared at him, a bit lost.

"You started burning up a little in your sleep last night after... after you woke up in the middle of the night."

"I did, huh?"

He nodded, "You did." He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and then gave it a little tug. I swatted his hand away and he let out a laugh. "I'll get going then," he said, walking backward, away from me. "See you in a bit."

"See ya," I mumbled with a small smile. He let himself out as I fell back on the bed the moment he laughed. I sighed loudly, putting a hand over my racing heart.

What is he doing to me? Later, later. Think about it later.

Quick enough, I freshened up and changed into my clothes for today, grabbing a red corset crop top that had a pattern that was barely visible, going over the material underneath, made with lace. With that, I grabbed a pair of black pants that fitted nicely and flared out a bit at the bottom.

Once I was dressed and my toiletries were all packed, I tucked the bag into my suitcase and strapped everything in before zipping it up. I took a quick look around and put whatever was still lying there into my purse. I pulled my purse across my body and pulled the suitcase down with a huff before grabbing the room keys, pocketing them so I could give them to the front desk downstairs.

I pulled the door open, a little startled to see Josh just standing there, waiting to knock. I took a small step back, chuckling, "Hey."

He smiled, taking my suitcase for me. "Let's go?"

I nodded slowly and then followed him downstairs where we checked out together and then hailed a cab. "Should we skip breakfast? We can eat after we've checked in. Otherwise, we'll be carrying our luggage around," I pointed out.

"If you're not hungry, then sure."

So, we told the driver to drop us off at Westview Hotel, where we'd be staying for the rest of the trip. Climbing out of the cab, Josh took out our bags from the trunk but I took mine as we walked in together, heading to the front desk.

Despite last night, I was excited about our plans for today. Once again, I chose the spot and I decided that today, we'd be going to the Audubon Nature Institute to walk through the zoo and aquarium.

Growing up, I absolutely loved aquariums, my parents would take Jack and me all the time. Of course, that stopped once Mom passed because Dad gave up on us.

I was looking forward to visiting the aquarium and zoo today. After that, we'd take the Steamboat Natchez cruise which had dinner included, and I was looking forward to dinner as we floated across the water with jazz music playing.

At the front desk, Josh and I went to different employees, asking for the keys to our rooms. "Your name, please?" the man smiled at me.

"Poppy Valentine," I replied.

He typed into the computer for a minute and then took out a key card, holding it out for me. "Welcome to Westview Hotel, enjoy your stay, Ms. Valentine."

"Thank you," I grinned back, taking the keycard and pocketing it. I let the next person step up to the table but stopped when I realized Josh was still talking to the employee, more like arguing, actually. I hesitantly stepped up, standing beside him. "Is everything okay?" I questioned.

He sighed, pulling up his sleeves to his elbows. I stole another look at his clothes as he did so.

He had on a gray sweater today with a pair of low-rise jeans that did his body wonders, especially his butt. And the sweater made him look so adorably charming. It made me want to kiss him. "Poppy?"

I snapped out of my daze, my eyes meeting his. "Yeah?"

He stared at me, his lips twitching. "Not the time," he whispered.

"Not the time," I nodded and then cleared my throat, "what's wrong?"

He shrugged, sliding his hands off the table. "They must have made a mistake."

"What mistake?"

"Apparently, there's no room booked under my name. Nor do they have any other rooms available, the only rooms they have are with separate beds."

I shrugged, "So just take one of those."

He turned to me. "They want to charge me extra for the other bed even if I don't use it. Plus, I'll have to pay for it out of my own pocket," he mumbled. "And we both know Lydia won't be paying me back."

"Mr. Nilsen?" We both faced the desk. The employee I just spoke to mumbled something to the woman in front of us before going back to his computer. "We've just double-checked and it turns out you do have a room booked here."

"There you go," I said.

"With Ms. Valentine," the lady smiled.

I blinked, standing still. "What?"

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