525 Cherry Blossom Ln. (Cherry Falls Romance)

“And you’re an idiot! And for your information, I’m not a virgin. I discovered I love sex. I just gave my virginity to Lincoln Locke and I wouldn’t leave his bed to get in yours for a million dollars and I loathe him!” I snap.

I turn back around to see everyone in the restaurant either laughing or trying to avoid my gaze and it hits me what I’ve just done. I close my eyes while cursing under my breath. When I open them back up, the first face I see is Lincoln Locke, who is standing over by the bar where Wren and Caleb are.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I take a deep breath and stomp out.

The fallout of this isn’t going to be fun, but I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Damn it.

4

Linc

I watch Jodie stomp out, her back straight and her head held high. Her long black hair is flowing in waves down her back and she’s in a little white dress that hugs her curves. The dress completely covers her and falls just above her knees, but it’s sexier than anything I’ve ever seen on a woman. I hear Caleb laugh behind me, but I ignore him.

Deke stands up and I walk over to the weasel.

“Linc, don’t do anything stupid,” Sheriff Larson calls from behind me, but the warning falls on deaf ears, because I’ve already made it to Deke, and there’s only one thing on my mind—and being rational is not it.

“Damn it, Linc. You could have told me you had popped her cher—”

Before he can finish, my fist is slamming into his face. Blood spouts from his nose, and he falls back against his chair, causing it to slide loudly against the tiled floor. The weight of Deke falling against the chair, upends it. When it falls on its side, Deke drops to the floor, holding his nose, his eyes wide.

“Sheriff, you know where to find me if this dipshit tries to press charges.”

“He won’t,” the sheriff replies, but I don’t think Deke is that smart.

“Linc, what about that job?” Caleb, the owner of the Fireside Bar and Grill, calls out. He’s been trying to get me to leave the Reef for a while. I don’t see me ever leaving Daphne in the lurch but getting a few extra hours wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“I’ll think it over and let you know,” I promise, not turning around.

I make it outside just in time to see Jodie pulling out of the parking lot. I smile when I remember how she threw her wine in Deke’s face and then told him how she loved sex, before announcing she gave me her virginity to everyone in the damn place. She was gorgeous. The one thing I didn’t like was how she announced she couldn’t stand me. Fuck, the word she said was loathe. I don’t like that, and I really don’t know how to fight it.

I don’t know why I want to.

But for some reason, I do.

I walk over to my Jeep and hop inside, feeling more than a little disgusted with myself. Well, I’m alternating between that and being irritated at Jodie Jones for making me feel that way. One thing about it, after tonight, the hot as fuck night we shared will be broadcasted all over the place. Maybe that should piss me off, but it doesn’t.

I spend the ride home thinking over the whole situation. My gut instinct was to go to Jodie and try to sort things out between us. Was she really a virgin? Jesus. She couldn’t be, could she? Then, I remember the trace of blood on my sheets. Fuck. If she was a virgin, that would explain why she was so pissed the next morning.

Maybe she didn’t know the score after all. Maybe she thought it was more than just a hookup.

The more I think about it, though, I decide the best thing I can do is stay away. I can’t fix what happened between us, and it’s clear the two of us don’t mix. I need to steer away from her. She isn’t like the other women I’ve fooled around with. I thought she knew the game, knew what we were doing. After tonight, I’m not so sure. No woman I’ve dealt with would have reacted to that asshole like that. She’s way over-emotional. I don’t like that she hates me, but as much as I want to change it, I figure I can’t. I’m not the kind of man that a woman like Jodie would be satisfied with, and she’s not my kind of woman, either.

It’s for the best that it ends like it has, with Jodie hating me. We’ll both move on, put our one night together behind us and it will be fine.

Better than fine.

It will go back to normal, and Jodie Jones will be nothing but a distant memory. That thought makes me smile for the first time since seeing Jodie at the gas station. If anything, this whole experience has taught me that I need to be more careful when taking a woman up on what she offers. Clearly, I misread Jodie completely, which sucks, because I would have loved having more of her.