Wylde (Arizona Vengeance 7)

“So how did it go with the hot redhead after Erik and Blue’s wedding?” Kane asks, giving me a lecherous grin. “Did you score one for the team if you know what I mean?”

I shake my head. “Yeah… I know what you mean and no, I didn’t score one for the team.”

“What?” he exclaims with exaggerated surprise. “You mean the team’s playboy… the man himself who goes by nothing but the moniker Wylde… struck out?”

“Can’t strike out if you don’t attempt to play,” I say with a wink. “Let’s just say she’s not the type of woman you hookup with.”

Kane’s expression clouds with confusion. “Look, dude… I get we’ve only known each other for a few months and all, but I had the distinct impression not only from you, but also from pretty much everyone on this team, you don’t do anything but hookups. This girl that special?”

I shrug. “I have no clue what she is other than intriguing. Maybe she’s just a challenge for all I know. I’m just rolling with it.”

Kane regards me before giving me a smirk. “Famous last words.”

“Look,” I say, holding my arms out. “I’m not looking for anything serious. This might not be a one-night stand, but it’s definitely not a relationship or anything. We’ve only been on one date.”

“And you’re taking her to Dax and Regan’s wedding this weekend?” he prompts.

“Yup,” I tell him.

He seems to consider this. “And have you been with anyone else since you met her?”

That question strikes me, sucking the cockiness right out of my expression. “Well… no.”

“And why is that?” he drawls, looking superior and as if he has me all figured out.

I roll my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s not like I screw a different woman every night, Kane. In fact, I’ve been known to go two, sometimes three, whole days without fucking a woman.”

“And yet, it’s been at least five days since you first met her and three days since the wedding?” he replies, and I wince at the way he’s just called me out.

I play it off with a half shrug. “Just because I’m not interested in fucking someone else doesn’t mean I want this chick on a permanent basis.”

Because I don’t.

And yet… even as I just used the word “chick”—a term I’ve used in conjunction with women for years—I realize how inappropriate it is to think of Clarke in that way.

She’s way more than just some “chick,” deserving far better than that from me. It’s a moment of growth for me, and I immediately feel the pressing need to correct that. “I didn’t mean to call her a chick.”

Kane cocks an eyebrow.

“What I mean,” I drawl, trying to explain this to him in a way even I might understand, “is she’s an intriguing woman whom I’m not only attracted to, but also actually interested in getting to know a bit better. That’s all.”

He opens his mouth and I can tell by the expression on his face it’s to say something smart ass, but he’s distracted by his phone ringing. When he pulls it from his pocket, a smile lights up on his face.

Ignoring me, he taps the screen to connect the call, but rather than putting it up to his ear, he focuses on the screen.

Must be FaceTime.

Holding the phone out a bit, his smile turns even brighter when the call fully connects and he can see the person calling. “Hey, Noodle,” he exclaims, sheer happiness in his tone. “About damn time you called.”

Noodle?

“Whatever,” a distinctly young and female voice chides back with a laugh. “You could have called me anytime.”

Now I’m curious. I walk around the coffee table where we’d been stacking the cardboard boxes to peek shamelessly over Kane’s shoulder.

Holy shit.

Noodle is an absolute hottie. Caramel-brown hair that gets lighter as it falls down away from her face, parted down the middle and hanging over both shoulders, suntanned skin, and blue eyes. I can’t see much of the background as she’s holding her phone close to her face, but what a face it is.

Kane throws his thumb over his shoulder, knowing I’m right behind him. “That’s my teammate, Wylde.”

Smiling, I wave from over his shoulder. “Hi, Noodle.”

She snorts, white teeth flashing. “It’s actually Mollie. Nice to meet you.”

“Back at you,” I say, then add on with a wink, “Noodle.”

I move away to give them face-to-face privacy but have no intention of leaving the room. Grabbing another box to deconstruct, I hear Mollie say, “For Christ’s sake, Kane… will you stop calling me Noodle? It’s the most ridiculous thing ever.”

I wonder who this woman is. Kane doesn’t have a sister, just two younger brothers back home in California.

He also doesn’t have a serious girlfriend, as we’ve had those conversations over the last couple months since he joined the team.

Whoever she is, she’s important because his reaction to her just couldn’t be tamed.