Great. Now he’s shirtless, and I’m bleeding, and there’s no denying what we’ve done. He dabs my eyes with the fabric, and I can smell him.
He smells so good; it’s not fair.
“Silvie, can you go down below and get some ice from the freezer?”
Silvie nods, immediately disappearing in the cabin. Cal follows her.
Oh no. They’re going to talk about what we’ve done.
I try sitting up again, but Dayton supports me the entire time, and I hate that I don’t hate it. He lifts me up to help me walk toward the seating area at the back, where I set the food down.
“Is it just your head?” he asks.
I nod. Once I’m seated on the bench, he slides in next to me. Juniper and Josie slide into the other side.
“Do you want some water, Sum?”
I nod. Juniper digs in the built-in ice chest and hands me a cold bottle. I take a sip before daring to look at their faces.
They’re both attempting a neutral expression. But I know them well enough to know their minds are swirling with questions and theories about why the hell Dayton is suddenly acting concerned and taking care of me.
Cal and Silvie finally return with ice in a cup. Dayton takesit, wrapping it up in his shirt and pressing it gently to my eyebrow. I take the compress from him, my cheeks so warm that I’m sure I look sunburnt.
“I feel much better. Thank you.”
He waits for a few more seconds, eyes scanning over my entire frame from head to toe before he gets up.
“Call me if she starts feeling lightheaded or dizzy,” he says to the girls before walking back toward the front of the boat, Cal on his heels.
Silvie slides into the space he just vacated, eyes wide. “What the hell just happened?”
Okay, I have four choices. Either deny, deflect, gaslight, or confess.
I sigh, noting the looks of curiosity and confusion. Josie pops a grape into her mouth, smiling as she chews.
“So, uh, we thought that guy kind of hated your guts.”
“I haven’t known you that long yet, but, uh, you’ve only ever talked shit about him ninety-nine percent of the time.” Silvie refills her glass, leaning back against the bench.
I can tell by the interest shining in their eyes that I’m not getting out of this without some kind of explanation. Finally, I remove the cold compress from my head and lean forward, placing my forearms on the table.
“So, he might not hate me quite as much as I previously thought.”
Silvie gaps. Juniper snorts, shaking her head.
Josie leans forward, her gaze intense on my face. “Spill.”
I get distracted when I see the tan, muscled shoulders reeling in the sail. The sun is shining on his glowing skin, and suddenly, I’m transported back to the image of his shoulders under my fingers when I was riding him this morning.
“Oh my gosh. You had sex, didn’t you?” Josie blurts out.
I jerk my head back to the girls, right as Silvie gasps. Juniperis stunned into silence for a moment, and I attempt to stutter out a denial.
“We—okay—so what happened was?—”
“You nasty bitch! I didn’t know you had it in you!” Silvie scoots closer, and the other girls lean in.
“Tell us everything!”
