Literally. Lost. Her. Mind. It was somewhere back in the lake, snagged on one of the tree branches that had been witness to her moment of insanity.
Oh my God oh my God oh my God.
A mantra stuck on repeat, it exploded in her mind, making her wince and hang her head. She’d caved to Boone’s charms in record time. Seriously, the fastest surrender in the history of surrendering. And she hadn’t just caved and settled for a hot and heavy make-out session. She’d had sex with Boone. In the lake!
And it had been the best sex of her life.
She groaned. God, if anyone had wandered by or dove off the dock for a swim, they would have seen them.
Her. Poppy Fairbanks. Screwing Boone Avery in the lake like she was a horny teenager with no impulse control.
Cheeks stinging, she splashed cold water on them to cool herself down, but it was no use. She couldn’t forget the touch and feel of him. The way the veins in his neck bulged as he held her and sank deep inside her body. Or how his eyes darkened, and his hands were big enough to cup her ass and hold her steady while he slid in and out. While he filled her so completely, it brought tears to her eyes because it had been so long since she’d felt anything close to what had just happened. Just the thought of it made the ache between her legs pulse and throb.
Again.
“What have you done?” she whispered, avoiding her reflection because she couldn’t take the guilt and fear.
Just then, the bathroom door swung open, and she barely had time to recover and stand aside as Link let himself in, then locked it behind him. Confused and ashamed, she could only watch him in silence.
“We need to talk.” He was dead serious. Poppy’s heart fell. She cursed silently because she’d told him all the sad details of her history with Boone a few weeks ago, over four bottles of wine and a Love Actually/The Notebook moviefest.
“I don’t know if I can, though,” she replied dully. “Not right now.”
“You don’t understand, Poppy. I need to talk about this, and you’re the only one who knows about her. Even then, you don’t know the details. Hell, I didn’t know the details until earlier. I can’t…” He ran his hands through his hair, mouth set tight, eyes narrowed and dark. “Wait. What are you talking about?”
She glanced up sharply. “This isn’t about Boone?”
His eyes narrowed even more. “No. You want to talk about Boone?”
“I just told you I don’t want to discuss it.”
He watched her for a few moments and then slowly nodded. “Oh, we’re going to talk about him, mate. I saw him follow you to the boathouse. But right now, it’s my turn, and I’m pretty sure my problem is way bigger than yours.”
“I doubt that,” she muttered.
Link leaned against the sink and blew out a long breath that puffed up his cheeks. “I’ll go first, and then you can have at her. Then we can discuss whose problem is biggest.” Link shoved his hands into the pockets of his jean shorts. He was shirtless, like all the men, and in the muted light, his tattoos lent a dangerous air. He was agitated. Poppy was more than happy to focus on him and not herself.
“Remember when I told you a while back that I’d met someone on that dating app thing you and Molly insisted I try?”
She nodded. “You said you met a woman in the city, but that it didn’t work out.”
“I lied.”
“You lied.” She frowned. “About meeting the woman or about it not working out?”
“She’s incredible, this lady. I’ve never met anyone like her, and I’ve been seeing her off and on for a couple of months now. She said her name was Elena and that she was from the city, but she lied about her name and about where she’s from, though I suppose I wasn’t forthcoming either. It was nice to be with someone who had no idea who I am.”
“Is that who you were with last night?” She watched him intently. Something was up. Link looked almost as confused and upset as she was.
“I wasn’t with anyone last night.” He swore. “I haven’t been with another woman other than her. And I had no idea she lived in this town until after the parade. I knew nothing about her, really, until today.”
“So she’s here? At this party?”
“She was. I tried to talk