I grunted as Asa took a step forward. “Watch yourself.” I wasn’t sure the warning was to the kid or to Asa, either way I could see this situation going even more into the toilet any second.

“I’ve been to jail, you little shit. More than once. So what else do you got?”

By now a couple of the other guys in the group started to see some reason and a couple of the regulars had made their way over to see what the ruckus was about. The odds were a little more even now, but the kid in the center of it all was glaring at Asa like he was his own personal archnemesis.

“I got this.” The kid grabbed his crotch and Asa took a threatening step forward, so I held out an arm to keep him back.

“You want me to call the cops?” I thought it was a fair question to ask considering the circumstances, but both Asa and the kid glared daggers at me. I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender and took a step back.

“Get. The. Fuck. Out.” Plain and simple; there was no mistaking that it was the last warning the blond southerner was going to give the group.

The guy’s friends were urging him to just let it go and telling him there was a bunch of different bars they could go to but the guy was in a deadlock with Asa and neither one of them wanted to give in. Finally the kid shook his friends off and pointed a finger at my friend.

“This isn’t over, ass**le.” He looked at his crew and barked, “Let’s roll,” like it had been his idea to vacate the property all along. He made sure he spit a mouthful of blood on the floor and knocked over a table on his way out.

Asa was practically vibrating with rage and his normally easygoing demeanor was lit up like an inferno. His eyes were glowing in his face and his hands were curled into iron fists. He looked like he was going to put his hand through a wall.

One of the regulars muttered, “I woulda punched him in the mouth,” as he meandered back to the bar and Asa let out a heavy sigh.

“Remember when I said doing the right thing is f**king hard? Prime example.” He reached up a hand and rubbed it across his face. “A while back I woulda just kicked the shit out of him, taken whatever he had in his wallet and probably his girl, and gone about my way. Or even more likely I woulda found someone to do the dirty work for me and had two sets of ass**les out for my blood when it was all over. Now I gotta think that if I do that kind of stuff Rome might get sued, I might go to jail or end up in a body bag, and that sucks.”

I agreed with him, so I didn’t say anything and just followed him back to the bar so I could pay for my beer and finally head home to take a shower.

“Well, sometimes the right thing is the wrong thing because if anyone deserves a punch in the face, it’s that guy.” And whoever it was that had used Poppy as a punching bag. I tossed a few bills down on the bar and slapped my hat back on my head. “I’ll catch you later, man.”

“Yeah and, Rowdy . . .” I stopped and looked back at him. “Your girl just needs to know that now she’s the one. Maybe you were confused when you were younger, maybe you were scared and locked on to the safe bet, but now you’re taking the chance and she just needs to know it’s on her. Nothing wrong with her being the one after as long as she’s the last one.”

“Damn. You’re good at this bartender advice thing.”

He laughed. “When all you make are mistakes you learn how to help other people avoid them. Thanks for having my back. I’m not used that.”

“Maybe you deserve more than you think, Opie.” He glowered at me and I laughed as I made my way outside and to my SUV.

The sun had gone down but it was still a gorgeous summer night that had just enough of a chill to it to speak to the fact fall was right around the corner. Time had been moving so fast ever since Salem hit town I didn’t even realize the balmy summer days were almost gone.

When I got home I stripped down and scrubbed off. My mind was a million miles away, jumping from the past to the present and buzzing around among everything that had happened in the last few months.

I was winding down for bed, watching TV, and working on a few sketches for work the next day when there was a knock on my door. I was surprised at the sound but not at all surprised to see the raven-haired beauty on the other side when I pulled the door open. I propped a shoulder on the doorjamb and lifted an eyebrow at her as Jimbo shot past me and headed right for his favorite spot on the couch.

“Thought you were gonna call.” I had told her to call me later.

She tilted her head back to look at me and slowly blinked those midnight eyes. “I didn’t really know what to say.”

“Why are you here, then?” Eventually we were going to have to have it out—down and dirty over this whole Poppy situation—but I knew it was still too raw and still too fresh to do it tonight. Salem had been just as surprised to see her sister as I was and I was sure she was worried out of her mind at the condition Poppy had shown up in.

She flipped some of her hair back like she liked to do and blinked up at me. It went right to my gut when she batted those long, feathery lashes at me. She told me in a quiet tone, “I don’t want to go to bed without you.”

Talk about a first that really held some water. She was the first and only girl I didn’t want to go to bed without as well.

She brushed past me and trailed her hand along my chest as she went. “I do have a request, though.”

I shut the door and watched her walk toward my bedroom like she had been doing it forever and it was the only place she wanted to be.

“What’s that?”

She looked at me over her shoulder and her smile was sex, surprise, and everything I ever wanted without knowing it. It also sent bolts of desire shooting hot and fast through my bloodstream.

“Put the cowboy hat back on.”

Well, hot damn. Time to saddle up.

WHEN I WOKE UP Salem was gone and so was the dog. I figured she had run back to her own place to get ready for work and to check in on Poppy. There were a lot of awesome things that went along with being a tattoo artist. One of my favorites was that I didn’t have to be to work until noon if I didn’t want to be. I took my time getting ready for the day by meandering around the apartment and making myself some coffee. I had just finished getting dressed and was pulling on my boots when there was a knock on the door. I assumed that it was Salem like it had been last night and almost fell over when I pulled it open and saw the other Cruz sister standing there.

“Poppy?”

She looked up at me with her black-and-blue eyes and I wanted to throttle whoever it was that had hurt her.

“I was wondering if I could come in and talk to you really fast?”

That sounded like a terrible idea but I couldn’t think of a reason to say no to her, so I stepped aside and she entered my apartment, her eyes darting around like someone might jump out and attack her at any minute.

“I assume Salem knows you’re here since you know where I live.”

I closed the door and leaned back against it with my arms crossed over my chest. She nodded and twisted her hands together as she paced back and forth in front of me.

“I told her I had to talk to you one-on-one. I don’t think she was happy about it but she gave me your address and told me how to get here. She’s really crazy about you, you know?”

“I would rather not talk about my love life with you, Poppy. Why are you here?” I wasn’t sure if I meant here in Denver or here in my house, but she was welcome to answer for either one.

She moved her hair behind her ears in a way that was so similar to her sister but came across as timid and nervous and not sexy and confident like when Salem did it.

“I owe you an apology, Rowdy . . . and so much more.” She let her hands drop to her sides and she faced me steadily. “You were so nice to me and always tried so hard to save me from my own good intentions.”

“I thought I loved you.” It was the first time I had admitted out loud that there was a rock-solid chance I was wrong about that from the get-go.

“I know you did but you were the only one.”

I snorted and pushed off the door. “How did you know I was fooling myself?”

She tilted her head and a sad smile pulled at her mouth. “I lived in the same house as Salem and I have eyes. I saw the way you were with her. She brought you to life and I was there when she left and you latched on to me like a lifeline. I understood that you thought I was safe, that I was boring and never going to change, but come on, Rowdy, what girl wants to be a guy’s safe bet? You never tried to hold my hand or kiss me, not even when you started sleeping with every single girlfriend I had. The signs were pretty clear.”

I pushed my hands through my hair because I hadn’t gotten around to putting any goop in it yet.

“I followed you to college, Poppy. That had to mean something.” I didn’t know if I said it to convince her or myself of that fact.

She sighed and moved toward me a couple steps. “I was your security blanket and you were mine. You didn’t have anyone else to hold on to and I was scared to try and be someone else after trying so long to be the perfect daughter. Looking back, I should’ve fought you, should have told you to cut loose and go to art school like I’m sure Salem would have done, but I was selfish and I was scared.” She gripped my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there when I got pregnant, Rowdy. You were the only person that didn’t make me feel like I had committed an unforgivable sin.” I saw tears well up in her eyes. “Thank you for trying to protect me.”

I swore and pulled her to me so I could hug her. She needed someone to protect her still.

“Why did you go back home, Poppy? Why didn’t you go live life and find some kind of happiness for yourself? Why land right back where you started from?”

She was crying now, I could feel moisture seeping into my Meteors T-shirt. “I didn’t know how to do anything different. I didn’t know how to do anything. I was always just this little puppet, this perfect daughter honed in my father’s brimstone and fire. I went back to what felt doable and comfortable, and look what it got me.”

“Salem would have helped you out of it. Fuck, so would I if you had called me.” I squeezed her tighter as she started shaking with the force of her sobbing.

“I thought I deserved all of it. I thought it was my punishment for not doing the right things, for not being a good girl. I had sex before getting married and my baby didn’t make it. I thought everything was happening to show me I needed to be better and follow Dad’s orders even more strictly. I thought God hated me and this was the result. The first time Oliver smacked me I really, really thought I must not have atoned enough for my sins. I really, truly believed he was the kind of man I was supposed to be with—that is, what my life was supposed to look like.”

“Jesus, Poppy.” All I could do was shake my head. “We’re all sinners in some way or another. No one should have to bear that kind of burden.”

“My dad saw my face, he could see the bruises. I know that he knew what was happening and he never did anything to stop it or tried to intervene on my behalf. He’s a man of God and he stood by and let his child get beat at the hands of a man that was supposed to love her. I thought for a long time he must believe it was what I deserved as well.”

It was just more reason to hate the man that had forced Salem to run. “What turned it around for you?”

She pulled back and looked up at me all bruised and tearstained and I realized I did in fact love her with all of my heart, but it was in a very caring and very platonic way. She loved me like a brother, so it was only fitting that I loved her as a sister in return.

“A bunch of different things. But the fact that Salem found her way back to you and sounded happy, really truly happy in a way that has been missing since she left, was a big part of it. I realized that time could pass and that life could just keep moving forward for everyone no matter what might have happened in between. I’ve done my penance for any bad choices I might have made and it is my time to be free. I’m never going to be perfect and I’m not going to be punished for them ever again.”