Poppy

"What are you doing here, Poppy?" I asked myself as I turned down Noah's driveway.

It was a long winding thing that shaded by trees on each side, and there was no house in sight. Jenny and Lydia told me he lived on several acres, passed down to him by his grandparents, but the longer I drove, the more I realized they had greatly undersold the size of this property. I should've realized how big it was when I discovered the waterfall and pool were his, but other thoughts had preoccupied me.

Those thoughts were the reason I was here now. It had been three days since Noah gave me the best orgasm I'd ever had, and the only one a man was responsible for. In the beginning Philip had been willing to use toys in the bedroom, but by the end, he usually finished first, then rolled over and told me to take care of myself. He didn't even stay to watch, getting out of bed to clean himself up and leaving me an unsatisfied mess.

So, I was used to being responsible for my own pleasure, and as good as that moment in the pool had been, I was convinced I could replicate it with my trusty vibrator and imagination. I managed a few pitiful orgasms—fleeting and fluttering. They were honestly worse than not coming at all because I now had something to compare them to. After three days of trying, the motor died in my favorite toy, and rather than order another one, I hopped in the car and decided it was time to get my bikini bottoms back.

But now that I was almost there, I was losing confidence. This was dumb. I could upgrade to a fancier model and not have to deal with Noah's surly attitude. The man didn't even like me. Did I really want to have sex with someone who was probably imagining strangling me while he did the deed? A tingle went through me...why did that not sound like the worst idea ever?

"Nope." I stomped on the brakes, throwing my body against the steering wheel hard enough to sound the horn. Rubbing the store spot, I put the car in reverse. I couldn't do this.

A tree crashed directly behind my car, and I screamed. Dust billowed up around it, and I jumped out of the car, running to the bumper to inspect the damage. Not a single scratch marred the shiny paint, but it was close.

"Poppy?"

Another scream—this one more of a yelp—and I spun around to find Noah walking out of the tree line with a chainsaw in his gloved hands. He put it down and used the edge of his t-shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead, and I forced my eyes away from the delicious sight of his tanned abs. I cleared my throat and remained quiet.

"Are you okay?" Noah asked, inspecting me first, then my car.

"Fine. Did you not hear my car?" Or the horn I honked?

"Can't hear a lot of anything over the chainsaw and the earplugs," he admitted, pulling them from his ears and pocketing them.

"Okay, well um, how long will it take to clear the road, because I need to get going?"

His lips screwed to the side. "Did you take a wrong turn?"

"Yeah, that's what I did. These roads out here aren't marked very well at all."

"Hmm."

Noah folded his arms over his chest and leaned against my car, making it dip beneath his weight. A single drop of sweat fell from the dark strand of hair falling over his forehead. It splattered onto his nose, but it didn't seem to bother him. I tried to imagine Philip in this state of disarray, and nothing came to mind. He was always put together and perfectly composed, and yet not once had he ever elicited the same kind of desire in me as Noah was right now.

"Hmm what?" I asked, snapping out of my lustful daze.

"I just don't think I can make the sign that says Hayes Farms any bigger. My grandfather hung it, so I can't say for sure, but I think it's about twenty feet wide."

"Twenty feet?" Noah nodded. Shit. "Huh, I never saw it, but I know how men like to exaggerate the size of things."

"Care to double check the accuracy of my measurements?"

Dear lord. My eyes lowered, and I swallowed. Jeans usually didn't give much away, but sweat had plastered the denim to his skin. A distinct outline was visible, and it was enough to tell me Noah Hayes didn't need to exaggerate a damn thing.

"Is that why you're here? Or maybe you came to get your bikini bottoms?"

"Do you have them?"

"On me?" The car bounced as Noah came off it, and he closed the space between us. "No. They're back at the house. In my bedroom."

"W-why?" I asked.

"Do you really want me to answer that honestly? Because I will, if you ask me to."

"Yes." My answer was a single, breathy syllable I'd never heard come out of my mouth before.

Noah pulled off his gloves and hooked his fingers in the loops of my shorts. "I've been wrapping them around my cock every night while I fuck my fist and think about how good you tasted on my tongue."

"Holy shit."

I wanted to lean into him, kiss him, pull him into the grass and ride him until I passed out. But this was too much. Until the day at the waterfall, I was sure he hated me, and now he was confessing the kind of dirty secrets I only read about in my romance novels. Sucking in a breath, I moved away from him.

His cocky demeanor wilted a fraction, concern crinkling the edges of his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"What is this, Noah?"

His features shifted, becoming more guarded, and far more like the man I'd met a week ago. "Hell if I know, Poppy. You're either fighting with me or looking at me like you want to fuck me, and after the other night, I decided with all the shit going on in my life, fucking sounded infinitely more fun than fighting."

All the shit going on in his life? That was the most vulnerable thing he'd ever said to me, and it was the first glimpse I'd had behind the impenetrable walls he'd built around him. While his blatant honesty about wanting me turned me on, I recognized it for what it was. A distraction.

"Why don't you like me?"

"I don't...dislike you, Poppy. You're just..." He backed away and scrubbed his hands through his hair. "You're the kind of woman I've tried to avoid my entire life. I have roots here. This is my home, and we have a legacy. You're untethered. Today the wind blew you to Birch Cove. Tomorrow, it might blow you somewhere else far, far away from here. You're basically a tourist."

An ache settled in my middle, one I couldn't identify, so I shoved it away. Noah wasn't wrong. The women in my family had always been wanderers, and I had tried to put down roots for Philip. Look at how well that turned out.

"You're not wrong, but that's no reason for us not to..." I motioned between the two of us. "Explore this thing between us."

His brow raised. "I'm listening."

"We both have itches that need scratching. Let's agree to scratch them. No strings attached. No feelings."

"You can do that? Most women say they can but catch feelings."

"Sure." I'd never actually tried, but how hard could it be? Jenny and Noah had successfully navigated a friends with benefits situation. "How about this? If I start to think I have feelings, I'll call it off. Same for you. Like that game we used to play as kid? Chicken? Deal?"

He stared at my outstretched hand so long I thought he was going to say no. Then he wrapped his hand around mine and shook it. "Deal."

"Awesome. When do we star—"

His lips on mine cut off my question. Looks like we were starting this now, and I didn't have any complaints.