Just like that, the pressure to come up with some way to top last night’s romantic picnic disappeared, replaced by warm thoughts of simply spending time with the woman he was quickly falling for.
Sam grinned.
Sounds like a plan, he texted back. What time do you want me there and do I need to bring anything?
CHAPTER FIVE
Poppy was so lost in the thoughts swirling through her head that she almost missed the knock at the door. A glance at the clock on the stove told her it was exactly five o’clock, which was when they’d agreed Sam would show up for dinner. Something told her that he was the kind of man who liked to be on time.
“Hold on,” she called. “Be right there.”
She gave the creamy chicken alfredo another stir before turning down the heat to let it simmer and topping it with a glass lid. After checking to make sure the garlic bread wasn’t burning, she then quickly made her way across the living room, running her hands down her dress as she went.
Poppy was rarely concerned about stuff like making an impression on a guy. With the majority of men dismissing her because she was a nerd, she’d gotten used to not caring what any of them thought of her. Or at least she’s told herself that. But she could admit that with Sam, it was different. They’d only known each other a few days, but she already liked him. A lot. And she wanted him to like her as much.
She paused at the door to take a peek out the peephole, just to be safe. The sight of Sam standing there in a button-down and jeans took her breath away. The man was yummy beyond description.
How the hell had she gotten so lucky to have someone like him move in across the hall from her? She was pretty sure another guy had lived there before Sam, but for the life of her, Poppy couldn’t remember what he looked like.
“Hey, there,” Poppy said, a smile tugging the corners of her lips up as she opened the door and stepped back to let him in. “Right on time.”
Sam stood there for a second, blatantly taking her all in. And yeah, she definitely liked the hungry expression that crossed his face when his eyes caught a look at the length of leg exposed by her boho dress. Still, even with all the heat, she couldn’t help but notice that his eyes quickly snapped up and locked with hers after a few seconds. Seriously, did they make them like this anymore?
It was only after Sam stepped inside that she noticed the wine and flowers in his hands. She almost said something about him not needing to bring anything for the dinner, but then her eyes locked on the bouquet and all rational thoughts deserted her. No one had ever brought her flowers before. She never actually expected them, assuming it was an old-fashioned thing that nobody did anymore. But when she recognized the bright red poppies floating in with a nest of baby’s breath, she damn near swooned.
He’d brought her poppies?
Holy cupcakes with sprinkles!
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered, reaching out to take them from him. “Let me put these in water.”
Crap, what was she going to put them in? She didn’t even own a vase.
Poppy ended up using a glass pitcher that Nyla had brought over once for a margarita party and ended up leaving behind when the both of them had gotten too blitzed to think straight.
“I’m not a connoisseur of wine, but the woman at the store promised this chardonnay was a good choice,” he said as she put the flowers on the table.
“I’ll have to take her opinion then,” Poppy said with a laugh. “I know almost nothing about wine beyond white goes with chicken and red goes with beef. Though it’s possible I might have that backwards.”
He flashed her a grin. “Well, whatever we’re having, it smells delicious.”
Poppy got him working on opening the wine while she checked the food. The lightly seasoned garlic bread was done and immediately went into a wicker basket with a microwave-warmed dishtowel in it—a trick her mom taught her to keep it fresh. Then she took the lid off the alfredo to let it thicken up before turning her attention to the angel hair pasta, which had cooked as quickly as she’d expected.
“There’s salad in the fridge if you want to put it on the table,” she said, carrying the pasta over to the sink to drain it. “I have a couple different kinds of dressings in there, too, since I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
For the next few minutes, they moved around each other in the kitchen without a single misstep. Like they’d done it before a hundred times. When they finally sat down at the small table in the open area between the kitchen and living room, Sam raised his wine glass in a toast.
“Thank you for making dinner,” he said with a smile. “I was trying to come up with an idea of where we should go tonight when you texted me with the invite. It was the perfect suggestion.”
She gently touched her glass to his. “I’m glad you were cool with it. I would have been okay with going out somewhere again, but thought a low-key evening at home would be fun, too.”
He took a bite of chicken and pasta, letting out an audible moan of appreciation, making Poppy smile. While she loved to cook, part of the reason she’d wanted to make dinner was to see him enjoy it.
“How was work this morning?” she asked as she speared a tomato with her fork.
“Not bad,” Sam said after finishing the bite he’d just taken. “We just had to sit through a short briefing. I spent most of the morning hanging out with my Teammates getting ribbed about having a new girlfriend they didn’t know anything about.”
Something warm bubbled up in her chest then, and it took Poppy a few moments to figure out what it was. At first, she assumed it was simply the fact that he’d told his Teammates about her. Then it struck her that he’d referred to her as his girlfriend. The word bounced around in her head for a while, generating emotions she couldn’t remember ever feeling. But that was probably because she’d never been anyone’s girlfriend before. Someone’s date, yes. A friend with benefits, yes. But not a real girlfriend.
“So, you told them about me, huh?” Poppy grinned. “Only good things I hope.”
“As if there’s anything bad I could come up with,” he said with a chuckle. “I told them that I’d met someone beautiful and intelligent. Their only comment was that if you were so intelligent why would you be going out with me.”
As they ate, Sam went into more detail about his friends and Poppy couldn’t help laughing more than a few times as he repeated what he’d told them about her, and their playful teasing in return. She and Nyla were close, but other than that, she’d never had any friendship like the kind Sam described with his buddies.
“It sounds like you and your Teammates are really close,” she said, sipping her wine.
He smiled, helping himself to chicken and pasta. “That obvious, huh? But yeah, they’re more like brothers than Teammates really. The bonds you develop with the people you work with are one of the things I love most about being in the Navy. I saw that with my dad and his Teammates, so it was a big part of why I joined.”
She twirled some pasta around her fork. “Your dad was in the Navy, too? Was he a machinist mate like you?”
Sam hesitated for a moment, and she wondered if she’d touched on a sore subject, but then he grinned. “Yeah, he did the same thing as me. Retired less than a year ago from Coronado actually.”