Wilder (The Wild Ones 3)

“Benson, knock her up! We keep getting stiffer competition! At this rate, Kylie and Liam are even going to beat you. You can’t keep those jack rabbits out of each other’s pants for five minutes! Time’s a wastin’!” Penny says, turning all her attention to Benson.

“Benson loves my vagina. He’s not going to cave to your demands!” Lilah shouts back, as Sally’s wide eyes bounce like a ping pong ball from person to person.

Benson sips his beer, not engaging, as he clamps an arm around Lilah’s waist to keep her put, since, as usual, she’s sitting in his lap.

He smiles around the rim of his beer when Lilah snuggles up against him like she appreciates the fact he doesn’t ever take Penny’s side.

“Why are you so cruel to an old woman? Can’t you see I need this win?” Penny harps.

“I’m going to start lacing your food with weed until you calm down,” Greta tells Penny with a smile, as though she’s a genius for coming up with that. “Or lose interest.”

“You dirty cheat! Don’t you dare!”

From there, this argument digresses into spitfire insults, dredged up past competitions, and…I don’t really know what else.

I get distracted again by Kai. He looks damn good even when he’s doing something as simple as rolling his sleeves up.

“Ever considered doing a Wild Ones calendar?” Sally asks, twirling her wedding ring on her finger as she stares with a little shame at the flock of shameless men. “Asking for a friend.”

“You’re married,” Reese reminds her.

I almost want to accuse her of purposely selecting a happily married woman to shadow her. Though, I can only guess what her motives would be.

“Yeah, married women got eyes too. It’s hard not to look, but it’s easy not to touch. Anyway, I said I was asking for a friend. My friend would purchase ten calendars—one for each room of her house,” Sally says distractedly.

Killian is shirtless as he does push-ups on the ground.

Some of the Malones are shirtless or have their shirt undone like Kai.

“Shirts get in the way if they’re buttoned up,” Nila tells her, as though she’s figured out what has our attention and is explaining the functional purpose of half-naked, sexy men. “And ewwwwww! How can you drool over them like that?”

Killian darts a glare toward the back of Nila’s head after she makes that comment, but he looks away before she returns her attention to the field.

There are at least twenty round pieces of wood supporting one block of wood that is standing straight up, ready to be split into firewood.

There are a lot of competitors—almost all the Wild One males. And Deacon—a non Wild One. Benson and Liam are two of the few who apparently didn’t make the finals.

The semi-finals were last month…

Each competitor is standing between two rows each. Surely they’re not going to try to split wood one-handed on each side. That’s impossible. It also seems inefficient.

“What’s the purpose of this?” I ask. “And why are the semi-finals so far ahead of the finals?”

“People need firewood, since most people around here still have wood-burning fireplaces as a main source of heat,” Benson tells me, gesturing toward it with his beer bottle. “Not everyone can cut their own anymore, so this competition puts out a lot of firewood people can use without feeling like a burden. After five rounds spread out over five days between, along with the extra firewood from the last collection, it supplies those in need, while also giving someone bragging rights. It’s a Tomahawk thing.”

He smiles to himself, reminding me how much he loves this town.

I admit, I fall a little more in love with it every day. It feels more like home than the home where I spent most of my life. Even on the weird days.

“The calendar thing would give those in need some extra cash. Just sayin’,” Sally states absently, tilting her head when Jared Malone sheds his shirt. “Okay, now I feel like I’m looking too hard, and that makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong.”

With a regretful sigh, she turns her attention to Reese.

“I don’t know how you’re single and not looking. I wonder if you’ve forgotten how to use your vagina. What’s happened to you? I used to respect you so much more,” she tells my sister, who glares at her like she’s a traitor.

I almost feel a little replaced, but I’m glad Reese has someone looking after her in my absence. She doesn’t like being alone.

Sally’s husband travels a lot for work, so she’s a good fit for Reese.

Lilah darts a curious look to Reese, but she jerks her head away the second my sister turns back around.

See? Uncomfortably awkward and tense.

“I don’t get how all these guys are single,” Sally goes on.

“Don’t worry. It’ll make more sense by the end of the competition,” Krysta Nickel states in a bored tone, eyeing Deacon’s back as he steps up to his row of wood. “What I don’t get is why I’m still single when I’ve made it abundantly clear I’ll do whatever that beautiful, gentle man asks.”