Ignite (Wildwood 1)

Delilah waved her hand, an irritated scowl on her face. She stood in the open doorway of the BFD office, wearing a tiny pair of black booty shorts and a hot pink bra top, her long hair pulled up into a perfect bun. In other words, Delilah looked pretty amazing. She must’ve just finished with a dance class. “Whatever. Wear something cute. No, make that something sexy. We’re going to that new bar-restaurant place out by the lake.”

“What new restaurant?” Oh, wait. Delilah was talking about that one place, the two-story building with the bar on the top floor and the restaurant on the bottom. It had recently come under new ownership and they’d spent the entire winter remodeling it. They’d had their grand reopening just last week. “I shouldn’t go there,” Harper said before Delilah could say anything else. “They’re the enemy.”

“Please. They’re trying to pull in a totally different crowd and you know it.” Delilah rested her hands on her hips, emphasizing just how slender she was, making Harper more than a little bit jealous. “Think of it this way—you could totally spy on them and report back to your grandma. All while picking up hot single men.”

Harper made a face. Picking up supposedly hot single men was the last thing she wanted to do. She already had one. Sort of. It had been days since she’d seen West. Tate’s engine was still on that fire up near Sacramento and they’d left almost a week ago, which meant that West still hadn’t gotten a day off. And he went out on every single call that the Wildwood station received. The other station on the outskirts of town where Holden worked was down an engine too. In other words, West was really busy.

She missed him. A lot. And now here was Delilah, who knew full well she had a thing—what else could she call it?—with West, trying to get her to go out on a manhunt?

It made no sense.

“I don’t want to pick up hot single men,” Harper said, watching as Delilah stepped into the office and shut the door behind her. Good, privacy so she could say what was really holding her up. “I’m sort of seeing West, remember?”

“It’s that sort of seeing him line that makes me question it.” Delilah flopped down in the chair on the other side of the desk. “We should just forget those Gallagher men ever existed, I swear. They’re so stupid they couldn’t see the truth if it came up and smacked them in the face.”

Uh-oh. “What’s going on?” Harper asked gently. Yeah, she hadn’t seen West in a few days and that was frustrating, but at least she knew they were on the same page.

Well. She was fairly certain they were on the same page.

Were they?

God, she hated feeling so doubtful. She didn’t want anything serious and she believed West felt the same way. But then she’d catch herself thinking . . . commitment-type thoughts. And those were pointless so she’d banish them.

Only to have them come back full force when West texted her something sweet or when he sent her a photo of the cat he rescued from a tree. That had happened earlier today, the pretty tabby cat looking ready to leap out of his arms as West grinned for the camera.

Yeah. He didn’t make things easy, not that she was surprised. She always knew West was the best kind of complicated.

“Lane.” Delilah blew out a harsh breath and rolled her eyes. She said his name like it was a bad word. “He came by the studio earlier.”

“Okay. And?” Harper prodded.

“And I was all alone. I had a half-hour lunch break before the next class came and for some weird reason, no one else was in the studio. Trust me, that never happens. There are always girls hanging around.” Delilah slowly shook her head. “So we started flirting. I told him he should bring me lunch next time he stopped by and he said he didn’t know what I liked.”

Well, that didn’t sound so awful to Harper.

“And then I told him he knew exactly what I liked.” Delilah sent her a pointed look. “He played dumb and told me he had no idea what I was talking about.”

“Maybe he didn’t?” Harper suggested. “Sometimes men are completely clueless.” And that was the God’s honest truth.

“Trust me, he knew. He had to know I was referring to him! If not, he’s an idiot. I swear to God, he acts like I terrify him most of the time.” The disgust in Delilah’s voice was clear.

“I think you might,” Harper said, making Delilah laugh. “I’m serious. Poor guy probably didn’t know what hit him, what with you coming at him strong.”

“I don’t know why he has to act like we can’t

even flirt with each other. He’s always hands-off, all the time,” Delilah said irritably. “I’m giving up on him, I swear. Tonight, we’re going out and having fun and meeting new guys. Wren is in. I talked to her on the way here.”

“But what about—”

“No buts. No protests. I don’t care if you’re banging West, you’re coming out with us tonight.” Delilah stood. “Besides, who knows how long this thing will last. They don’t know the meaning of the word commitment.”

Harper couldn’t get over how casually Delilah had said she was banging West, like it was no big deal. It was a huge deal to her. She didn’t just bang guys. She’d had a thing for West for years.

But if she was being truthful, that’s exactly what she was doing. Banging West. Not that they’d done much banging, what with him being stuck at the station working overtime.

“Hey, don’t project your issues with Lane onto my relationship with West,” Harper said, tempted to wag her finger at her friend. Seriously, the last thing she needed was Delilah putting doubts in her head. She was pretty good at that on her own.

“You’re right; I’m sorry.” Delilah shrugged, not looking very sorry at all. “I’m sexually frustrated. It tends to make me snippy. And overdramatic.”