Love Me Forever - Juliana Stone Page 0,27
to her, but she didn’t want anything to do with me. In fact, she told me to forget about her. Said that the two of us would never work out and that she’d only been looking for a bit of fun.” He looked indignant and pissed. “She was using me for sex.”
“Men do it all the time,” Poppy retorted, wondering if Boone had used her or if it was the other way around.
“She’s a hell of a lot more than that, and fuck if I know what to do about it.”
“Who is it?” Curiosity got the best of Poppy, and she couldn’t help but ask. “Do I know her?”
“Damn right you do, mate. It’s your lover boy’s mother. Elise Avery.”
Poppy’s mouth fell open in shock. “You and Elise? But she’s…she’s…”
“Don’t bother with the age thing, because I don’t care.”
Poppy frowned. “That’s not what I was going to say. Elise, her…her husband died just a few months ago. I guess I’m surprised is all.”
Link swore and glanced away. “I want her,” he said roughly. “More than I’ve ever wanted anyone, and fuck if I know how to deal with this kind of rejection. She didn’t even want to talk about it.” His voice grew heated. “What am I going to do?”
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Well, now that I bloody well know who she is and where she lives, I want to do whatever I can to make her realize she’s wrong.” He sighed. “Without venturing into creepy stalker territory.”
“Then why are you asking me when it seems like you’ve made up your mind?”
“I guess I just needed an ear. Her reaction threw me for a loop. Women don’t generally toss me off like that.” He paused. “Am I crazy to feel this strongly about a woman I hardly know?”
“No,” she responded gently. “The heart doesn’t care about that stuff.”
“Right,” he said slowly. “I’ll give her some space, but damned if I’m going to let her wait for long. What about you?”
“What about me?” Uncomfortable that the focus was back on her, she picked at an invisible piece of lint and shrugged.
“What the hell were you and lover boy doing out behind the boathouse? And don’t say nothing, because I’m looking in the mirror and I can see the imprint of his hand on yer arse.”
Shit. Poppy adjusted her bathing suit bottoms and slumped forward in defeat. After a moment, she whispered, “We had sex.”
“What was that, mate?”
Poppy looked straight into Link’s eyes and wailed, “Boone and I… We…”
“You shagged him back there?” A grin broke open on Link’s face. Poppy didn’t much care for it.
“We were in the water…behind some trees and…” She closed her eyes and took a moment.
“And?”
“Yeah, we shagged. Are you happy now?”
“Good.”
“Good?” Poppy was incredulous. “How is that good?”
Link chuckled. “Well, first off, your situation is a lot worse than mine, so that makes me feel great. And secondly, you’ve got cobwebs growing between your legs. It’s about time someone put that ghost to rest and gave you a proper shagging.”
No one on the planet talked to her the way Link did, and yet she appreciated how blunt he was. There was no tiptoeing around when he was in the picture.
“I’m glad you find my predicament so amusing.” Her bottom lip trembled, and Link scooped her into a hug.
“Don’t worry, little bird. This is a good thing, yeah?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, sniffling into his shoulder. “I don’t want to get hurt again.”
He dropped a kiss on top of her head and let her go. “But that’s the thing about life. Nothing worth anything comes without a price.” He winked. “You still have a lot of feelings for this man, and from what little I’ve seen, he’s treading into the deep end here. He might have been a bastard back in the day, but you can’t keep dwelling on the past. If he’s the thing you need in your life, that one thing that truly makes you feel alive, then you need to act on it without fear of consequences. If you don’t…”
“If I don’t…?” Did she want him to finish?
“You’ll never know what it feels like to banish the ghosts from your past.”
“But what if this was just sex? What if he blows me off like he did last time?”
Link’s eyes darkened. “Then he’s a bloody fool. But at least you know you put yourself out there, and there’s no shame in that. And I don’t think anyone else stands a chance of