August sends me a text, letting me know that he’s here. It only took him about fifteen minutes to get to my house and I still don’t feel prepared to see him. I glance at myself in the mirror in the hallway before heading downstairs to let him in. As my feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I look around, straining my ears against the silence in an attempt to make sure that the downstairs is clear.
Before I slipped away to my room for the night, my mom said that she would be in the den watching her shows while Benjamin was doing some work stuff in his office. I don’t see either of them and I quietly shuffle my bare feet across the hardwood floor as I head over to the front door.
As I pull open the door, a rush of cold air comes in, but my body feels warm as I see August standing there, leaning against the doorway with his damp hair a tousled mess on top of his head. His soft hazel eyes find mine, a smile creeping onto his lips as his eyes scan my outfit, which happens to be an oversized hoodie and pair of fuzzy pajama pants.
“Hey you,” he says quietly, stepping toward me as I pull the door open farther for him to step in. “I like your pants.” He chuckles, pointing at the white-colored stars on the dark blue material.
“Shut up,” I mutter, grabbing his arm as I pull him deeper into the foyer. I quietly close the door behind him, my hand still around his wrist as I lead him toward the stairway. “I don’t want my mom to see you.”
“See who?” My mom’s voice breaks through the silence as she walks into the foyer from the kitchen. Her eyes find August before meeting my gaze. I widen mine, my heart hammering in my chest as the air leaves my lungs. “Who is this?”
August beams, pulling his arm from my grip as he steps toward my mom, holding his hand out to shake hers. “August Whitley. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Ah, August,” she says, her voice soft, a smile touching her lips as she glances at me. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh, have you?” His voice oozes confidence as he looks at me from the corner of his eye. “I hope good things.”
I shift my weight nervously on my feet as my mother assesses August. This cannot be happening right now. I can’t believe she just blatantly lied to him, but it almost feels as if it were a jab to me. I’ve mentioned the bare minimum about him after I told her that he knows about the pregnancy. She tried to be understanding, but I could tell there was a part of her that didn’t like the fact that we weren’t together.
“I’d like to sit down and have a conversation with you sometime,” she tells him, her voice sweet but there’s an underlying coldness in her tone. “I need to know your intentions with my daughter and now my grandchild.”
My stomach sinks and a wave of nausea washes over me. I swear, if the floor could open up and swallow me whole right now, I would feel a lot better. I quickly step to August, grabbing his wrist again as I begin to lead him up the stairs with me.
“Another time, Mother.” My voice is strained but I stare at her, my eyes wide as I silently plead for her to just let it go. “He’s here to help me study and then I need to try and get some sleep.”
“Very well.” She nods as she looks back at August. “Next time.”
August smiles at her, completely unaffected by her subtle intimidation. “It was nice meeting you,” he tells her, oozing charm, and I want to punch him in the chest. My mother disappears down the hall and my feet move quickly as I pull August along behind me, leading him into my room before shutting the door behind him.
“She seems nice,” he says as he walks deeper into my room, his eyes scanning my space. I watch him carefully as he walks over to my bed and drops down onto the mattress. “Next time when I’m here and she wants to talk, let me talk to her, Poppy. I need her to know that I have nothing but good intentions behind what’s going on between us.”
My heart pounds erratically in my chest, my throat constricting around the emotion that builds inside me. These damn pregnancy hormones are seriously getting so annoying. The tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I swallow back the emotions and nod, before sitting down on the bed next to him.
“Fine,” I agree, grabbing my binder and the paper that I thought I had lost that has my notes. “You can talk to her, but now you’re going to help me study.”
August chuckles, the sound rumbling in his chest as it warms my body. Pulling my feet onto the bed, I tuck them underneath me and hand August the paper as he begins to look over it. He told me he wasn’t good at math, but as soon as he begins to explain things, I can tell he wasn’t being fully honest.
He breaks down the methods to solving the problems, explaining them in a way that makes more sense to me and I’m so grateful he showed up. If he wasn’t here teaching me this stuff, I’m pretty positive I would be failing the test tomorrow. We fall into a comfortable silence as I work on some of the practice problems that he finds in my book for me.
After finishing them, I hand the paper back to him, his fingertips brushing against mine as he takes it from me. His eyes scan the problems and I watch the way his eyes move, studying his features. He has a face that is almost perfect, except for a small scar just above his eyebrow. I trail my eyes down his perfectly straight nose and sharp jawline.
“Poppy?” August’s voice breaks through my staring and I snap my gaze back to his. A storm brews in his irises and a heat creeps up my neck, spreading across my cheeks as a ghost of a smile plays on his lips. “Did you hear a word I said or were you too distracted?”
I swallow hard over the emotion lodged in my throat and shake my head. “Sorry,” I croak out, my voice hoarse. “I was just zoning out.”
He chuckles softly, his eyes still glued to mine. “I said you got all of them right. I think you have it down and should have no problem with your test tomorrow, as long as you follow the method I taught you.”
“Thanks, August,” I tell him softly, not fully trusting my voice with the way he’s staring at me. “Seriously, you have no idea. I was pretty positive I was going to fail tomorrow, but thanks to you, I feel like I can do it.”
“Don’t ever doubt yourself, Poppy,” he breathes, his voice barely audible as he reaches out to brush a strand of hair away from my face. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met and I don’t think there’s anything that can stop you from achieving greatness.”
A nervous laugh falls from my lips, my skin tingling from where his fingertips brushed against my skin. “If one of us is going to achieve greatness, it’s definitely going to be you.”
“Stop,” he commands, his voice stern as he shifts on the bed, scooting closer as he closes the distance between us. His hands find the sides of my face, gently cupping my cheeks as his eyes bounce back and forth between mine. “Look at everything you’ve done so far in life, Poppy. You’re graduating in, like, three months and that’s a whole-ass year early. You’re determined and driven, a woman who doesn’t need anyone.”
“Yeah, right,” I roll my eyes, ignoring the warmth building in the pit of my stomach as he strokes the sides of my face. Fuck these hormones and fuck him for making me feel right now. “I’m so strong and independent, living at my parents’ house.”
“You’re here so you can save money and finish your degree, right?” He pauses for a moment, his eyes trained on mine. “Move in with me and let me take care of you.”
“Absolutely not,” I growl at him, my eyebrows pinching together. “I am more than capable of taking care of myself.”
August’s lips curl upward. “That’s exactly what I mean,” he breathes, his gaze dropping down to my lips. “A strong and independent woman who doesn’t need a man. And fuck, it’s sexy as hell.”
I swallow roughly over the lump that forms in my throat and find myself closing the space between us as August brings his face down to mine. He stops, his breath warm on my lips, smelling faintly like candy.
“Fuck, Poppy.” He inhales sharply. “I’m going to kiss you and if you don’t want me to, now is your chance to stop—”
My lips crash into his, silencing him with my mouth. August groans, his body relaxing as he holds the sides of my face, his lips moving against mine. He feels just like I remember, tender and gentle, as our mouths melt together. His tongue slides along the seam of mine, parting them as he slips inside.
Opening my mouth wider, I let him in as he deepens the kiss, his tongue sliding against mine before tangling together. He breathes me in and I let him drain the oxygen from my lungs as he kisses me senseless. This is purely lust driving, thanks to these stupid hormones and the things that August Whitley does to my body. I don’t fight against the moment, letting him sweep me away as I wrap my arms around the back of his neck.
The sound of a door closing down the hallway breaks through the silence and interrupts my lust-driven haze. Abruptly, I pull away from him, my hands falling from his neck. August releases the sides of my face, a smile touching his plump lips as his eyes focus on mine.
“We can’t do this, August,” I breathe, my chest heaving as I struggle to come up for air. My head is still swimming from the lack of oxygen and drunk on the taste of his tongue. “We’re friends and nothing more.”
August tilts his head to the side with a crooked grin on his face. “Friends that just so happen to be having a baby together…”
My jaw clenches and my body tingles from his touch, still riding the high of feeling his lips against mine again. “Friends. That’s the keyword, baby or not.”
“And I wasn’t lying when I said that I will be the best friend you’ve ever had.”
I’m already fighting a losing battle, but I can’t give in to his charm, to the thrill and the lust of feeling him close to me. This can’t happen. I can’t let this happen. I have to keep him at arm’s length, while still having him around so he’s involved. How the hell am I going to do this for the rest of my life, because we’re tethered together by a child that will never let that string fray.
“I have an appointment in two days. Come with me?”
August’s face softens and the smile on his lips is like a blow directly to my chest.
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
