Noah

"Do you think we should stop and get some beer? Maybe some wine coolers?"

"Wine coolers?" I slowed the truck to maneuver around a deep hole in the dirt road that wound through my property. Tree limbs and rocks littered the narrow path, making the ride bumpy and reminding me it had been too long since I'd been out here. "Since when do you drink wine coolers? And I think four twelve packs is enough unless you plan on being hung over the rest of the weekend. I don't know why you even got that many?"

Luke shrugged and propped his elbow on the edge of his open window. "You've been in such a shit mood lately, I thought about bringing the hard liquor. Whatever it takes to get the stick out of your ass."

Leather groaned under my palm as I squeezed the steering wheel and twisted. He wasn't wrong. After a year of being generally unsociable, I didn't think I could a lot worse in the grumpiness department, but I had spent the last week proving myself wrong. I should never have treated Poppy the way I had, especially in the name of protecting myself. It wasn't like the woman moved to Birch Cove with the intention of putting me in a tailspin. That was all on me, and since my friends had clearly adopted her, I had to learn to live with her for as long as she stayed.

"Is that how you do your community policing these days? Liquor up the locals and hope it solves their problems?"

"It's a little more complicated than that," Luke replied. "You also talk them into spending the day at their family's waterfall because I don't know of a better cure for troubles than that place."

I grinned. Another point for Luke speaking truth. There had been very few times in my life that coming out here didn't solve my problems, or at least make them bearable for a few hours. The day CPS dropped Beth and me off at our grandparent's house, Pop took us out here and told us the water was magic. Whenever we needed a little help, we could come out here, tell it all our problems, and we would find the solution.

"Is that—" I leaned over the wheel and squinted into the sun. "Jenny's car?"

"Oh, look. I think it is."

"Luke."

"What? Come on, I didn't think you'd come if you knew I invited the girls. Not after last weekend."

"I don't have a problem with Jenny," I mumbled, shutting off the engine and jumping out before Luke could make more excuses.

A week ago, I would have enjoyed the idea of spending an afternoon in the sun and water with Jenny. She was funny and smart and usually drama free. Lydia was a wild card. I liked her feisty attitude and honesty, but I had a suspicion something had happened between her and Luke in the past. Depending on the day, things could get a little tense when those two were together.

Their voices drifted through the trees, and I could see Jenny spreading a blanket on the ground in our favorite spot. "Told you!" she called out.

"Where is everyone?"

Mid-step, I froze. That southern twang could only belong to one woman, and I'd been foolish to think Lydia and Jenny wouldn't have dragged her out here. Luke wouldn't look me in the eye and made a show out of carrying the cooler.

"Technically, this is private property, but we have an in."

"Whose property?"

Poppy stood on the largest set of rocks that jutted out over the swimming hole. Her back faced me. Once again, she wore a pair of tiny cut-off shorts, this time short enough the curves of her ass cheeks hung past the fringes. Her long red hair brushed the top of her back pockets as she tilted her head back to look up at the waterfall, and I found myself desperate for her to turn around so I could get a glimpse at the rest of her outfit. And her face.

"Mine." I was answering her question, but the single, growled word felt like a claim. It was ridiculous and caveman-like, but in that moment, I understood what it felt like to be so possessed by a woman that you became feral.

Poppy spun around. I tensed, knowing she was moving too fast on those slippery rocks, and as soon as our eyes locked, her feet shot out from under her, pitching her backward into the water. Her strangled yelp pierced my heart, and I ran past Jenny, tossing my hat to the ground and diving into the pool without hesitation.

Eyes open, I spotted her easily. The water was crystal clear, and Poppy was a flame against the pool's bottom. Relief expanded my lungs like a full breath of air. She didn't look hurt, but she wasn't swimming toward the surface, either. She tugged on something, and I saw that her t-shirt had somehow snagged between two rocks.

Tapping her arm, I pointed at the shirt. She nodded and let it go, allowing me to try, but after a few seconds, I realized I couldn't get enough leverage to yank it free. Lungs aching, I mouthed at her, "Take it off."

Her green eyes bulged. She shook her head and pulled on the shirt again. Each yank was weaker than the last, and when her lashes fluttered closed, I hissed, releasing a stream of bubbles into the water and the last bit of reserve air I had. I peeled her shirt over her head, hooked my arm around her waist, and pushed off the bottom of the pool the moment she was free. She coughed weakly against my chest as our heads broke the surface.

Luke grabbed her by the armpits and hoisted her onto the rock she'd fallen from. I climbed up beside her, elbowing him out of the way and grabbing her by the chin. Every one of her freckles stood out in vivid relief against her icy, pale skin, but her eyes were clear and open, and she drew in ragged gulps of air as I inspected her.

"What the hell happened?" Lydia asked.

Jenny went into nurse mode. "Did you hit your head? Is that why it took so long for you to come back up?"

Water rushed down my shoulders as I pushed my hands through my hair, wringing out the dark strands. Anger mounted with every passing second, but I tamped it down. I wasn't angry with Poppy. High-stress situations often skewed our logic, and the simplest of solutions stayed out of reach. No, I was angry at how helpless these situations made me feel. What if I hadn't been here?

"My shirt got caught."

Poppy exhaled and glanced down at her body, drawing my eyes where she looked. My lungs constricted, and it felt like I was under the water again, unable to breathe as I took in what she was wearing. Her full breasts strained against two strips of blue-green fabric that did little more than cover her nipples, and it didn't do that well. While not see through, the damp material became opaque, revealing the darker skin around her hardened nipples.

My gaze snagged on a droplet rolling between the exposed flesh between her breasts. It slipped over her soft flesh, slid past her belly button, and stopped at the waistband of her shorts. Shorts that had sunk lower on her hips with the weight of water and revealed the tall sides of her swimsuit bottoms. I was no expert on swimwear, but I was a man. I knew exactly what style of bottoms those were, and once she had those shorts off, I was going to have to spend the rest of my day in the water to hide what she did to me.

"Here you go," Luke said, pressing a beer into her hand. He tossed me one with a wink. "I think we could all use a drink after that."

"Here, here," Lydia cheered, popping the top off her can and downing it.

I set the beer can in the middle of my lap in case I lost the battle with my cock's attempts to rise. The cold metal through my shorts helped a bit. This was absurd. I wasn't fourteen, but this woman did things to me.

"You're okay?" I asked as the others moved off to finish setting up. "I can take you home if you're not up to spending the rest of the afternoon out here."

"So eager to get rid of me already?" She took a long sip of her drink and waited for me to take the bait.

It would be easy to pick another fight with her, and maybe—just maybe—she did it for the same reasons I did. Because if we weren't fighting, we were going to end up fucking. I opened my beer and made a choice. "Did the fall injure your head? I said I would take you home. That's not getting rid of you. That's tempting fate."

And in case she didn't catch my drift, I traced the circle of skin between the metal ring holding her top together. Her nipples instantly tightened, and goosebumps erupted on her skin. Then I guzzled my beer and jumped back into the blue, embracing the shock of cold to my system and reconciling myself with the fact that I would be in this pool for the rest of the damn day.