“It must have been cool growing up with a dad in the Navy,” she said.
He poured a little more wine into her glass and then his own. “I guess that in the beginning—when I was a little kid—it was like that. I mean, my dad wore a uniform, like some superhero in the movies or a comic book. But as I got older, what really stuck with me was the sense of camaraderie I saw between my dad and his Teammates. He’d do anything for them and vice versa. I knew deep down that the guys my father worked with would be there for my family and me as much as they were for him, and always will be. That realization stuck with me.”
Poppy compared that to how she’d grown up. As a mechanic, her dad had worn a uniform of sorts, and to the people who needed their cars fixed, he was definitely a superhero. But while he’d occasionally had coworkers over for dinner or to watch a game on their big TV, it had never felt like any kind of extended family. They were merely coworkers.
“That sounds amazing,” she said. “But having him deploy had to suck, I guess.”
“Yeah, it did.” Sam frowned down at his plate. “Dad was away frequently when I was a kid. Floats could last anywhere from six to nine months at a time, and those happened every couple years. But there were also special mission deployments. Those weren’t as long, but they happened all the time. In between those, there were training exercises, many of them no-notice. I got used to seeing my dad at breakfast and then coming home from school to have my mom tell me he had to go somewhere.”
It was her turn to frown. “That must have been hard.”
She realized how much she’d overlooked what it was like to have her dad at home when she was little. It was something she’d taken for granted.
Sam pushed his empty plate and salad bowl back a little from the edge of the table. “I won’t lie. Sometimes, it seriously sucked. When you’re a kid, especially a young teenager, there are times you just need your dad there to talk to, you know? Then there were birthdays, Christmas, and the football game when you played in the state finals. But he couldn’t be there for a lot of those.”
Poppy came to another realization then that sometimes, people didn’t realize just how difficult it was for the military families. She definitely wouldn’t have been as strong as Sam obviously was as a kid.
The corner of Sam’s mouth edged up. “But we dealt with it as a family. My mom is the rock of the family. She kept it together for me, my brothers, and sister. Truthfully, she’s the real superhero, which is something my dad would agree with.”
Poppy blinked. “You have siblings? I didn’t know that! Why didn’t you say anything before now?”
He chuckled. “It’s not like I was trying to hide it, even if they are huge pains in my ass most of the time. Madison is the baby of the family. She’s fifteen going on thirty, and scarily similar to my mother. Kayden and Ashton are twins. They’re almost seventeen going on five. I love them to death, but wouldn’t leave them alone in an empty tool shed for more than ten minutes because they’d find a way to blow it up.”
Poppy laughed. She’d always wanted a brother or sister, but she was an only child. “They sound like a handful. I hope I can meet them sometime.”
“Oh, you will,” Sam promised. “As a matter of fact, my parents are holding a cookout at their house next Saturday. A bunch of people from my Team will be there, along with my sister and brothers. If you’re cool with it, I’d love for you to come, too. We don’t have to stay long, but I’d really like to introduce you to my parents.”
Poppy sat, fork dangling loosely in one hand, praying her mouth wasn’t hanging open like a carp. He wanted her to meet his parents. She couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do!
“I’d love to go to the cookout with you,” she said softly, fighting the urge to giggle. Instead, she focused on gathering up the empty plates littering the table, looking over at Sam carefully so he wouldn’t realize how incredibly excited she was about something he likely thought of as trivial.
Then again, when Poppy saw the size of the smile that crossed Sam’s face at her answer as he helped her clean the table, she started thinking maybe he was as thrilled at the possibilities as she was.
CHAPTER SIX
“You made tiramisu?” Sam asked, his eyes open wide like it was Christmas morning and he’d just walked downstairs to see all the presents under the tree. And it was adorable.
Poppy laughed as she set down two plates on the coffee table, the square of cocoa powder covered cake on Sam’s dish twice the side of hers. “I should probably fib and say I made it, but I picked it up at the bakery. Every time I try to make tiramisu, it comes out more like a thick pudding than a cake.”
Beside her on the couch, Sam took a bite, rolling his eyes in pleasure. “You’re talking to a guy who eats every meal out of a takeout bag or from a microwavable container. You could have fed me beef jerky and Twinkies and still come out ahead.”
Poppy laughed again, wondering for about the fiftieth time how she’d been so lucky to stumble over Sam. Being with him was so easy and fun.
“I wish you would have mentioned that before,” she said with a fake groan of disappointment. “I walked right past the rack of Slim Jim at the store. Think of all the time I could have saved making dinner.”
He took another big bite of cake. “Slim Jim alfredo with pasta? That could work. You might want to lay claim to the credit now before someone else figures it out.”
Poppy snorted so hard she almost choked on the creamy, cheesy goodness of the tiramisu filling. She didn’t complain as Sam soothingly rubbed her back with his big hand. Yeah, it was nice.
As they ate dessert, the conversation turned into a random listing of their favorite supermarket junk food, which then somehow became a friendly debate where they attempted to convince each other that one particular favorite was better than the other.
“Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies are fudgy chocolate, covered with chocolate icing, sprinkled with dayglow colored chocolate chips,” she stated firmly. “There is actually no way you can get more chocolate per square inch anywhere in the universe—not legally anyway. I win. Period. The end.”
Sam let out a snort. “Please!”
He’d long since finished his piece of cake and some of hers, too, then slid both plates to the far end of the coffee table, like he felt they might need the space soon. She could only hope.
“Hostess Powdered Mini Donuts are junk food royalty,” he added in a serious voice, like he was arguing his case in front of the Supreme Court. “They’re soft, yummy, and covered with enough sugar to jumpstart a herd of narcoleptic elephants. It’s also been scientifically proven that you can’t eat just one, so there is absolutely no guilt when you eat the entire bag for breakfast.”
Poppy laughed so much it hurt, and before she knew it, she was climbing onto Sam’s lap, not sure if it was his idea or hers. She pulled the hem of her boho-print dress up to mid-thigh so it was easier to straddle his legs.
“You’re amazing,” she said softly, her body warming from the heat in his gaze. “You know that?”
“I think that’s my line,” he whispered, one hand sliding up her exposed leg, the warm tips of his fingers tracing fire from mid-calf all the way to her waist. She sighed and leaned into his touch. She’d been waiting for this all evening. She’d needed it since last night when he’d left after getting her all warmed up.