Five

ARE YOU REAL?

“DID YOU TELL HIM?” POPPY asked as we bounded up the stairs to our shared room. “Did you tell him you’re still as pure as the driven snow?”

I spun around and shook my head. “No, not yet. And I’m not pure in thought, just untouched.”

“How untouched?” Poppy returned with wide eyes.

“Bases wise,” I said as I pushed through the door and began to unbutton my shirt. “One guy got his hand under my bra for about three seconds.”

“Oh, my God. I don’t even think that counts,” she answered in awe. “You’re like Snow White. I’m bettin’ the seven dwarves saw more of her body than any man has seen of you.”

I snorted, then grabbed a towel from the pile inside the armoire. Our bedroom was decorated with log pine everything. Pine bed, nightstands, and a pine rocking chair that sat next to a big bay window. “I’ll have you know, that in my head, I could teach a porn star a few things.”

Poppy crawled onto the bed and curled her arms around her legs, smiling like a loon. “Wait until Cali hears how much of a Wallflower you really are. She’ll have to give up her title as reignin’ president.”

“I think she lost that title when Devin took her on the dinin’ room table, don’t you?”

“You have a point,” she laughed. “So, when are you gonna tell him?”

“As soon as we’re alone again.”

I looked out the window to see if Bo was still talking to Troy. I caught a glimpse of him as he turned and headed up the front steps.

“He’s on his way up,” I rushed out. “I need to take a shower and make sure the pig poo is gone.”

Ripping open the bathroom door, I turned on the shower then stripped out of my bra and panties. When the water was warm enough, I stepped in and grabbed my shampoo. I’d just lathered my hair into a soapy ball, when I heard the bathroom door shut behind Poppy.

“What do you think Bo’s reaction will be when he finds out I’m a virgin? I hope he doesn’t keep his distance, thinkin’ I’m not ready.”

There was silence for a moment, then the shower door ripped open, and I gasped, turning around to ask Poppy what the heck she was doing. Instead of finding her peering in at me, I met gray eyes rimmed with long dark lashes, and I froze. I started to cover my breasts in embarrassment, but his eyes shot to mine, and I stopped. The look on his face was possessive, as if he owned every inch of my body, speaking without words not to cover what he deemed his. All the books I’d read, dreaming of the day a man would possess me physically, hadn’t prepared me for the moment a man saw me fully naked. I was terrified he’d find me lacking.

I lowered my eyes and waited for him to say something. In my periphery, I saw the towel he’d been wearing drop to the floor, and then his bare feet stepped inside. The silence was killing me, so I began to raise my eyes. My attention stopped at the apex between his thighs, and I took a step back. I’d seen enough images on Google to know Bo was larger than most men. Suddenly, the thought of having something that large in an area so small scared the crap out of me.

Peeling my eyes off his cock, I took in the hard lines of his body for the first time, licking my lips as my mouth ran dry. He was beautiful. Far more beautiful than described in books. His skin was kissed by the sun, pulled taut over muscles that bulged naturally at rest. His legs were long and heavily muscled, his abs chiseled like a Roman statue, and his chest was so defined it could inspire flowery poetry of mythological gods.

He was simply magnificent. And I was scared to death.

“I’m a virgin,” I whispered nervously, my voice shaking. “No man has ever touched me, so I don’t know what I’m doin’.”

When he didn’t answer, I raised my eyes from his body and found his were closed, his nostrils flared as if he were fighting for control.

“You’re angry with me?” I asked, puzzled.

Gray eyes popped open, and he moved instantly, pinning me against the wall. “Are you real?” he asked in a guttural tone.

“I . . . I don’t understand?”

“I’ve spent most of my life wonderin’ if I was cursed. Yet here you stand, a promise of somethin’ beautiful that belongs only to me. Are. You. Real?”

In that instant of brutal honesty, I saw not only hope but also fear written across his face. The little boy who had lost so much needed reassurance that I wouldn’t vanish like his mother did.

Raising my shaking hand, I ran the tip of my finger across his bottom lip. “I’ve spent my whole life dreamin’ of a man who’d be worthy of my trust. A man I could give myself to without hesitation. Are you real?”

Bo covered my mouth with his own the moment the words were spoken, wrapping his strong arms around my back. I arched into him, eager to feel the scratch of his chest hair on my sensitive nipples. With a growl, he broke from my mouth, running his tongue down my neck, then further down my chest until he captured a pebbled nipple in his warm mouth, and began to drive me wild with a pulsing need. I’d never felt this white-hot sensation, and my legs buckled in response. I realized then, in that moment, that the dreams I had about being taken by Bo didn’t do reality justice. Not in the slightest.

“You’re so fuckin’ soft,” Bo growled against my skin. “I could bury myself inside you and never come up for air.”

My clit began to throb, impatient for what I’d withheld from it the past twenty-five years. I instinctively rubbed my center on his leg as he continued his assault, moaning with a need I’d never experienced, didn’t understand. Bo raised his head at the sound and pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m not takin’ you the first time in a shower.”

The pressure for release was so great that I whimpered at the thought of waiting another minute. “You can’t leave me like this,” I cried out.

His eyes grew stormy as I begged for release, and he dropped to his knees. “Spread your legs for me,” he ordered. I complied without hesitation, anxious to feel his touch, and he covered my core with his mouth. My head hit the wall as lightning spiraled through my body. When he lifted my leg over his shoulder and continued his attack on my body, I grabbed his hair and held on.

Within moments, the lightning turned into a blazing-hot fire, followed by a burst of stars behind my eyes, and an orgasm rocked my body. My mouth opened, but no sound escaped, then a deep keening moan rose from my depths, and I fell off the precipice into mindless bliss.

 

 

Sienna slumped into Bo’s arms as he stood, and he crushed her to his chest, the gift she’d saved for him still rioting in his mind. She was his reward for having survived the first twenty-eight years of his bitter existence, and he planned to savor each day of it for the gift that it was.

It hit him how close he’d come to walking away from her, and he began to shake with anger. “I could have lost you because I was stubborn,” he hissed.

Sienna wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He tightened his hold on her, then leaned down and kissed the silky skin on her neck.

He tasted soap mixed with her salty skin and moved her under the water, grabbing the body wash resting on the shelf.

“Let’s get you clean,” he murmured thickly, his own arousal affecting his voice.

He flipped the top off the soap, but Sienna snatched it from him before he could pour the liquid into his hand.

“Not yet,” she whispered, then leaned in and kissed his chest. “I’ve dreamt about doin’ this all week.” Her warm hand wrapped around his cock, and he grit his teeth for control.

Her mouth began to blaze a trail down his stomach, nipping and kissing his abs experimentally, and his head fell back with a groan. When she kneeled and cupped his balls, and her tongue rimmed his sensitive head, he hissed and grabbed her hair for control.

“Open your mouth,” he ordered between clenched teeth.

Her eyes flashed with excitement, then hooded as she opened her pink lips and took him inside her wet, warm mouth.

He sucked a breath deep into his lungs, tightening his muscles to keep from exploding down her throat when she took him all the way to the back of her throat on her first attempt. His shaft was too long for her to take all of him, so he grabbed her hand and wrapped it around the base, showing her what he needed. Her inexperience on how to please a man only made him harder.

She was a quick study—which had him fighting for control within seconds. She experimented with her technique as he surged his hips forward, moaning her own approval when he tugged roughly on her hair.

He refused to come in her mouth, so when he felt the burn deep within his balls, he pulled her off him then wrapped his hand around his cock. Sienna stayed on her knees as he ran his hand up and down his shaft, her breath coming hard as she watched him jack off.

“Touch yourself,” he ordered. She didn’t hesitate to reach down and sink her fingers into her slick heat.

When her head fell back and she moaned, Bo barked out a grunt as his seed pumped from his body onto her chest. He shuddered with his release, pumping his cock three more times until he was empty, then he reached down and pulled Sienna from the shower floor. Her eyes were glazed, her lips red from using them on his cock. She was sex personified. It was a sight he’d never forget as long as he lived.

“I gave you my cock since you seemed to need it, but I don’t want you on your knees again. The next time you want me in your mouth, it’s on a bed where I can taste your sweet pussy at the same time. Do you understand?”

She slumped into him and nodded. “You can wash me now.”

Bo chuckled. She was back to bossy.

“If I can’t kneel to take you, does that mean you can’t either?”

“Nope. If I want to taste your heat, I’ll do it kneeling in the kitchen if I have a mind to.” She shuddered at his response, and he made a note to take her in his kitchen while she cooked for him as soon as he could.

After squirting a handful of soap into his hand, Bo turned her around so he could start with her back.

“Put your hands on the wall,” Bo ordered. Sienna complied immediately. He rewarded her with a nip to her shoulder.

“I don’t understand the difference. Why can’t I, but you can?” she asked as he began to knead the muscles in her shoulders.

“Because your body was meant to be worshiped, not the other way around.”

To explain his meaning, Bo ran his hand down her stomach, through the sexy thatch of curls covering her heat to her silken folds, then rolled her clit with his thumb until she arched her back into him. He surged his fingers deep inside her, grunting low at how tight she was, as his other hand wrapped around her breast.

“Do you get it yet?” he whispered. “Mine to touch. Mine to taste. Mine to fuck until you’re breathless . . . Mine to worship.”

She whimpered she understood, then her knees buckled as she reached for her climax, so he pinched her nipple hard until she exploded around his fingers.

Grabbing her hair, Bo pulled her head back and took her mouth as she rode out her climax. He moaned into her mouth as her taste overwhelmed his senses. She tasted like sex, like the most exquisite liquor money could buy. She also tasted like hope and forgiveness. But mostly, she tasted like home.

“I need to get back,” Bo said hoarsely as she recovered. “All the men, except two, have taken off. Devin’s headed this way to help until Natasha gets back.”

Sienna turned in his arms and rested her forehead in his neck, still panting from her orgasm. “And I need to get a change of clothes to Natasha.”

Bo cupped her ass and pulled her to him. He was hard again, aching to slip inside her heat. He knew until he did, she wouldn’t truly belong to him.

“Tonight,” he said—sucking in a breath when she rubbed against him—“you’re mine.”

Sienna tipped her head back and looked at him with hooded eyes. When she licked her mouth, he claimed her lips, pouring his need for her into the kiss, showing her without words how much he wanted her.

“Be good,” he mumbled against her lips, then kissed the tip of her nose and left the shower, looking back once to wink at his Wallflower.

 

 

A knock on the bedroom door pulled my attention away from the window. Bo had left after our shower to help Troy and Brantley with the chores, and I was watching him work. I was still a riot of emotions as I stood there drinking in the sight of him. The strongest being hot and bothered. What had transpired in the shower left me wanting, for lack of a better word, greedy for more of what Bo could teach me.

Poppy opened the door before I could reach it and poked her head inside. “I figured the coast was clear since Bo was outside. So . . . how did it go?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m still a virgin.”

“Did you tell him?”

“In a roundabout way . . . I thought he was you when he came into the bathroom, and I asked him what he thought his reaction would be to my bein’ a virgin.”

Poppy’s eyes grew wide, then she threw her head back and laughed. “What did he say?”

“Nothin’. He ripped the shower door open and then let it be known how much he liked the idea that I was unsoiled by another man. I guess bein’ a virgin is a bonus for some men.”

Poppy’s eyes dulled suddenly, and her face fell, pulling into a mask of anger. “Men are such hypocrites,” she spit out. “They screw anything with two legs, but they want to marry virgins. How are there supposed to be any left if they can’t keep their you know whats in their pants?”

Her abrupt change in attitude caught me off guard. “You don’t have to sleep with a man if you don’t want to. It’s just as much our responsibility to check our behavior as it is theirs.”

“Even when they throw out pretty lines of love and happily ever after? Isn’t that what’s happenin’ between you and Bo? You want him, so anything he says that sounds like a lifelong commitment has you ready to give up somethin’ you’ve held sacred for twenty-five years.”

I’d never seen Poppy like this. Her anger was palpable.

“Why are you so angry? Earlier you were all for me losin’ my virginity,” I questioned. “Wasn’t it you who called me a ‘sad little hymen lover’?”

Her eyes flared for a brief moment, then her bottom lip began to tremble. “I thought Blake was like Bo,” she cried out. “I thought I’d found the man who’d be my happily ever after, but he lied. I’d saved myself like you have, and he took that from me on a bed of lies. While I was dreamin’ of a white picket fence with two point five children, he was screwin’ anything with two legs.”

When she burst into tears, I followed suit. Her heartache filled the room as much as her anger. I wanted to find this Blake and cut off his third leg for using my friend that way. But she needed something to calm her down, not revenge on an appendage, so I ran to my bag and pulled out my bottle of green magic fairy potion and handed it to her. “Take a really good swig.”

She took the bottle, then wiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand. “I hate cryin’,” she said as she unscrewed the top. “And I swore I’d never cry over a man again.”

“You’ll feel better in a minute,” I promised, pushing the bottle of Absinthe toward her mouth. “Trust me.”

She looked skeptical but took a long pull on the bottle.

Then she choked on the green fire.

Then she went in for another swig.

“Good, right?”

Her eyes seemed to soften as the Absinthe worked its magic, and her mouth tugged into a grin. “Amazin’,” she breathed out. “You’re right. I feel like I could take on the world.”

When she tried to take another sip, I pulled the bottle from her hand. “We have to head to the hospital and cook dinner,” I explained as I screwed on the top and put the bottle back in my bag. “I can’t have you loopy.”

“I forgot about that. What should we cook?”

“We’ll worry about that in a minute. I want to know why you never told me about Blake. I just thought he was a guy you dated for a short time.”

“I don’t know,” she sighed, moving to sit on the bed. “I guess I didn’t want to admit I’d been an idiot.”

“So he cheated on you?”

She looked down and began to play with a thread that had loosened itself from the quilt.

“Poppy?”

She sighed. “I caught him about a week after you and I met, with his ex-girlfriend. It was the typical trope; I stopped by his apartment and found him in bed with her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, honey?” I asked softly.

She shrugged. I could feel the wall she’d built around her heart as if it were a tangible object.

“Jesus, you build walls just like Cali does,” I pointed out.

Poppy nodded. “It’s probably why I never told you.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Well, it’s not like I’ve been completely honest with you.”

“That’s true,” she sighed. “I don’t know why you didn’t share your virgin status with us. It’s not like we would have judged you.”

I looked at my hands to avoid her prying eyes. “That’s not the only thing I haven’t told you.”

“What else is there?” she asked softly.

Not once since I found out about my mother’s affair had I told anyone the truth. I guess in a way I thought if I didn’t speak the words, then the truth about my father was just a lie I could ignore.

“My mother had an affair twenty-six years ago. My father isn’t Stephan Miller.”

Poppy blinked. “Then who’s your father?”

I shrugged. “My mother never told me. She said it was a guy who worked at her gym. That’s all I know.”

“Do you want to know?”

I nodded then shrugged again. “I was always the odd man out in my family. After my dad left, it got worse, so I let it go. It’s not like I’m ten and need a father figure in my life.”

Poppy nodded. She knew better than anyone what it was like to be fatherless. “We’re two peas in a pod keeping stuff hidden. But I’m done bein’ closed off, startin’ today. You and Cali have taught me that there’s strength in admittin’ your shortcomin’s.”

“Wallflowers don’t have shortcomin’s,” I snorted. “We just see the world differently. And because of that, we need a certain type of man.”

“You mean a blind man who’s unable to see our faults?”

“Nope. We need heroes. Only the best type of men will do for Wallflowers like us.”

“I need a hero, huh?”

A twinkle of humor had returned to her eyes.

“You’re gonna start singing that damn song, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she deadpanned. “But now that you mention it . . .”

I slapped my hand over her mouth and dragged her off the bed. “Let’s go see what Natasha has in the kitchen before you break the glass with your voice.”

“I’m not that bad,” she groused.

“You aren’t that good, either,” I laughed, dragging her toward the stairs.

The kitchen was located on the first floor just off the massive dining room. Like the rest of the ranch house, the downstairs was decorated with a western flare. Bronze sculptures of cowboys riding horses and bulls graced end tables and sofa tables around the great hall. The walls were covered in a log veneer, filled with family photos, giving the space warmth and a sense of home.

We headed to the back of the house where the kitchen was located and stopped dead in our tracks. Where the rest of the house was warm and inviting, the kitchen was stark and efficient. It was a chef’s dream, filled with high-end stainless steel appliances, every innovative gadget a cook could dream of, with granite countertops in a warm taupe.

But no matter how efficient the kitchen seemed, it wouldn’t help me. I sucked at cooking.

“Please, tell me you can cook?” I asked. “My culinary skills are limited to Lean Cuisine and microwave popcorn.”

Poppy’s head shook rapidly. “I can make sandwiches and soup like a pro, though.”

I moved to the oversized, Sub-Zero refrigerator and opened the door. Inside was a huge plate of hamburger patties Natasha had already formed.

“Looks like hamburgers were on the menu tonight.”

“Then we’re set. Men deem grills as their territory, so all we have to do is handle the condiments.”

I looked at the clock. “We have three hours before we have to light the grill, so let’s grab some clothes and head to the hospital.”

Ten minutes later, we were in Poppy’s car heading toward town. We found the hospital and parked, then asked reception where ICU was. We found Natasha sitting on a couch, watching the afternoon news.

“How’s Boris?” I asked, handing her the bag we’d packed.

“Orderin’ the nurses around,” she chuckled.

“He’s that alert?” I asked, surprised.

She bobbled her head. “I should say, when he’s coherent he’s orderin’ them around. But that’s a good sign in my book. Means he has no intention of leavin’ me.”

The waiting room door opened on a whoosh of air and a man walked in, then stopped dead in his tracks. We looked up at him, and he stared back at the three of us, then said, “Need coffee,” before heading to the kitchen area set up for visitors. He was medium height, decent looking, and had tattoos peeking out from under his shirt sleeve. I watched him walk into the kitchen, then turned my attention back to Natasha.

“When are they doin’ the bypass?” Poppy asked.

“Not soon enough for me. I want him fixed now, but they’re waitin’ to see if he’s stable through the night.”

“Well, just know that Poppy, Bo, and I will make sure the ranch keeps goin’ ‘til you can get back. Our good friend is comin’ up to help as well, so you’re in good hands.”

Natasha’s brows pulled in confusion. “Why is your friend comin’?”

I looked at Poppy then back at Natasha. “Your seasonal workers took off, and they’re short help.”

Natasha closed her eyes, then cussed softly. “Of all the times for this to happen. We can’t afford to lose a day of work,” she bit out. “Is there no loyalty anymore? No sense of honor? In my day, we would have rallied around a family goin’ through this. But not today.”

I grabbed her hand. “Poppy and I were plannin’ to stay the whole week, so you have us.”

“You need muscle,” she replied, standing up. “I need to run an ad in the paper.”

“There’s no rush. Bo and Troy have it covered for now,” Poppy said.

“Excuse me,” the man from the kitchen called out. “I didn’t mean to overhear, but I’m lookin’ for work.”

Natasha turned and looked at him. “You from around here, Mr. . . .You seem familiar to me.”

“Clint Black,” he stated putting out his hand. “And no, ma’am. I’m passin’ through on my way from Florida. I lost my job, so I’m headin’ north hopin’ to find somethin’ permanent. Got an aunt the county over whose been hospitalized with a broken hip. I stopped in to see her.”

“You don’t say. How do you feel about shovelin’ manure?”

He shrugged. “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.”

Natasha snorted, and Clint looked at me and winked.

I blinked at his behavior.

“Can you follow the girls back now?”

“Yes, ma’am. I just finished visitin’ with my aunt.”

“Good. Payday is Friday. We take out taxes, so I’ll need your social security number and a forwarding address for when you move on. We can settle all the paperwork when I get back.”

“Appreciate it, ma’am. Workin’ on your ranch is exactly where I need to be right now.”

“You can call me Natasha. None of that ma’am stuff. You’ll make me feel old.”

Clint smiled, then turned to Poppy and me. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Um, sure. We’re parked in the front. You can follow us down,” I replied.

We hugged Natasha then left. Clint followed us to the parking lot, climbing into a truck, and then waited for us to lead him back to the ranch.

“Clint seemed nice,” Poppy stated.

“He winked at me.”

She snorted. “He’ll stop flirtin’ the minute Bo catches on.”

“Am I supposed to tell Bo about that?”

“About the man winkin’?”

I chewed on my lip. “I’m not exactly sure how this works.”

“How what works?”

“This whole relationship thing.”

Poppy thought about it a minute. “My experience is limited, but what I know about Bo, I’d say no. If you tell him about every man who winks at you or stares at your boobs, he’ll develop a permanent eye twitch.”

She had a point.

“You’re a wise grasshopper,” I chuckled.

Poppy’s phone began to ring, so I picked it up. “It’s Cali.” I swiped ‘Answer’ then put it on speaker. “Miss us already?”

“Bo Strawn drove all the way up to the ranch, and you didn’t call me?”

Whoopsie. “We’ve been kinda busy.”

“Wallflower code specifically states that if a man drives through the night to declare his feelin’s, you must inform all party members.”

“I’m thinkin’ there’s a codebook out there I don’t know about,” I mumbled under my breath.

“You can apologize when I get there,” Cali announced.

“You’re comin’ with Devin?”

“He enticed me to come.”

“The hell I did,” Devin growled.

“. . . He asked me to come.”

“Jesus,” Devin sighed.

“. . . He ordered me to come. Said I’d end up dead without his supervision,” she groused.

“That’s not all I said.”

“I can’t repeat the rest,” she whispered. “And they don’t need to know about our sleepin’ habits.”

“Baby, there’s no sleepin’ involved in what I said.”

Cali gasped.

Poppy and I snorted.

Devin chuckled low.

“Ignore Devil, I certainly do when he’s not bein’ a gentleman.”

They were like an old married couple after less than a week.

“How soon ‘til you arrive?” I asked.

“We’ll be there in thirty. We just stopped to top off the tank,” Devin replied.

“Got it,” I returned. “We just pulled into the ranch. See you then.”

Bo was in the corral with Troy and Brantley when we pulled up. He was manning some sort of an enclosure with a cow inside. When I climbed out of the car, he turned and smiled at me. The effect was heart-stopping.

“Pinch me,” I mumbled

“You’re droolin’,” Poppy chuckled.

“Give me a hundred years, and I’ll stop.”

“Lordy, you’re gonna be worse than Cali.”

I shrugged. If I ended up as happy as Cali, she could rib me as much as she wanted.

“Is that the boss man I need to talk to?” Clint asked from beside me, making me jump. I’d forgotten about him.

I turned and looked at him. He was staring down at me with a wolfish grin.

Hmm.

A piercing whistle broke through the air, and my eyes shot to Bo.

He crooked his finger at me.

Hmm again.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, heading for Bo. “I’ve been summoned.”

I dodged cow patties as I made my way over to Bo. He kept his eyes trained on me as I approached, with his warrior’s mask in place.

“You crooked—I mean called?” I snipped.

Bo raised an arrogant brow. “Climb up here,” he ordered.

“Why?”

“Climb. Up. Here,” he repeated low.

I wanted to say no because he had a funny look on his face, but dammitalltohell, I obeyed.

Once I reached the top, I started to snap at him for calling me over like a dog, but Bo snagged me around the neck and claimed my mouth roughly, cutting off my retort.

“Who’s the guy?” he whispered against my lips.

Holy cow! Poppy was right. Bo clocked the guy’s flirting from fifty paces.

“Natasha hired him when she found out all the men disappeared.”

“For what?”

“Natasha said somethin’ about shovelin’ manure.”

Bo loosened his grip on my neck, then ran his hand down my back so he could pull me closer. “I can still taste you,” he whispered low. “Best fuckin’ taste in the world.”

“Oh, my God,” I whooshed out.

“Plan on tastin’ even more tonight.”

“You’re tryin’ to kill—”

“Then I’m gonna bury myself so deep—”

I slapped my hand over his mouth.

“I’m gonna go chop condiments now. I’ll be in the house if you need me.”

His eyes crinkled at the side, and he kissed my palm.

“You’re a very bad man,” I whispered, then tried to move out of his arms. He snatched me back and kissed me soundly again.

“Now you can leave.”

“You’re also a very bossy man.”

He grinned.

“Bossy and naughty.”

He grinned bigger, and my foot slipped from the effect.

“Turn that thing off,” I huffed, then climbed down and headed back to Poppy and Clint.

“He wanted me to tell you to start in the barn,” I lied.

Clint looked back at Bo, then down at me. “I take it that’s your man.”

“Yep.”

“I’ll get to work,” he mumbled, then turned on his heel and left.

“Told ya Bo would handle it,” Poppy chuckled.

I looked back at Bo, shielding my eyes from the sun. “He’s a very naughty man. You wouldn’t believe the things he said to me.”

“Nope, no way. I don’t want to hear it,” she snapped, backing up. “Just keep all the good stuff to yourself. I can’t look at Devin now, what with Cali and her ‘no recovery time needed’ comment. In fact, I’m writin’ a new Wallflower code. A non-disclosure code. You break it, and it’s an automatic divorce.”

I bit my lip. I couldn’t lie to save my life. I may not have slept with Bo yet, but his recovery time in the shower was remarkable, and I knew she’d read between the lines.

She narrowed her eyes. “Not him, too?”

My eyes widened. Apparently, I couldn’t lie through facial expressions either.

“You both suck,” she groused, then turned to leave. “First time out of the gate and both of you land Superman.”

“Poppy, come back,” I called out.

She flipped me off.

I sighed and went to follow her. Looked like it was time for more green magic fairy potion.