Wilder (The Wild Ones 3)

Piper’s head comes up from the town gazebo as though she’s heard or sensed us, and her eyes lock onto mine.

In that instant, I do something I’ll never hear the end of once the guys get wind of it.

Wild Ones Tip #340

We don’t always do stupid things. We save our stupid for special occasions. Usually. Sometimes. Sort of.

Chapter 13

PIPER

*******

It’s official. I’m pathetic.

I figured out which road they’d be coming in on, and what time they normally get back. Now I’m at the town gazebo, freezing my ass off, pretending that I’m absorbed in some crime novel that is really just a borrowed jacket to hide my dirty book, and checking the road every time I hear a car.

I feel like a stalker.

I look desperate.

I did everything I could to lure him into making the first move during those three days before the trip.

I gave up pride, dignity, and all but sprawled out naked in front of him.

Nope.

Nada.

Not even a kiss.

“If he goes back looking like that, Kylie is going to kill us all!” I hear a familiar grouch shouting.

George Malone is a scary guy who shouts a lot, I’ve learned.

My heart races. My stomach tightens. My toes curl in my shoes.

It’s not because of George. It’s because if George is here, then that means…

My head snaps up, and as if there are magnets that immediately drag my eyes to him, I find Kai Wilder without ever seeing another person.

His eyes are already on me, and a smile spreads across my face before I can help myself.

He stops abruptly, and he stares with zero expression on his face as I wave.

In the next instant, he suddenly sprints as if he’s chasing his escape. My waving hand pauses in the air, and I start feeling incredibly stupid when the rest of the Wild Ones glance between me and the fleeing Wilder, who practically boulders through anyone who gets in his way.

My hand slowly comes down, and my smile falls completely. What the hell just happened?

Did I look like a stalker?

Surely not.

Even if I did, it wasn’t stalkery enough for him to race in the other direction. It’s not like I’m begging him to put babies inside me or something.

Feeling incredibly awkward as the guys keep looking from me to Kai’s disappearing back, I turn and hurriedly walk out of the gazebo, feeling as stupid as one person possibly can.

This town is always staring at me, but no one, outside of the “Wild Ones” has ever spoken to me. Other than that one weird lady who ran up to me, asked me if I was dating Kai, and then ran like hell was on her heels when I told her we were just friends.

Today, all eyes are on me like I’m cloaked in rejection’s obvious shame.

I feel like a fool.

Why did he run like that?

Was five days enough to clear his head to the point he wants nothing to do with me?

Have I been more of a douchebag than I realized?

I’m starting to wonder if I’m not single by choice but single because my mouth is a loose train wreck that scares men away.

It certainly doesn’t lure them in.

Kai liked me more before we started talking…

This is why I don’t date. I’m stuck with all the reasons it went wrong right as I finally start liking a guy. Clearly the problem is with me and not with—

“Hey, you’re that new chick who’s staying up in Wilder territory, right?” a random guy on the sidewalk asks me as he blocks my path and grins down at me.

I’m so caught off guard that it takes me a second to realize my mouth is moving but words aren’t coming out.

“You’re cute. Can I buy you a drink?” he asks.

Straight to the point. See? Guys like me better when I don’t speak.

“I’m actually just on my way home,” I tell him as kindly as I can.

His smile falls, and he turns and walks away abruptly.

I make it ten steps before another guy stops me. “Heaven lost one of its angels, but their loss is Tomahawk’s gain. What’s your name?” he asks, propping up.

Somehow, I feel like this entire town already knows my name, and this all feels a little like forced flirting at a really inconvenient moment.

“It’s carved on the third table from the back at the diner. See if you can guess which one it is,” I say with a fuck-off smile as I walk by him, my smile falling immediately.

Now I feel like an ass.

I just want out of here and back in—

Another body blocks my path, and I look up at a very bearded man who is smiling so broadly and happily down at me. “I was hoping you and Kai wouldn’t work out so I could finally introduce myself. My name’s Jim. You want to grab a bite sometime?”