Page 101 of Wild As Her

He squats beside me, quiet for a second. Then, without asking, he gently takes the wrench from my hand. Our fingers brush. My breath hitches.

"Jack—"

"Let me help,” he says softly.

He adjusts the wrench, twists it once, twice, and the bolt gives way with a satisfying click.

I stare at him. "Show-off."

He smiles, but it fades when he sees my face. "You okay?"

I look away. "Fine."

"You're not."

"I don’t need you to fix me, too."

He sets the wrench down carefully and leans back on his heels. "What happened?"

He knows. Somehow Jack just always knows. And that’s part of why Jack has always had my heart. Even when he doesn’t deserve it.

"I was just talking to Ollie today about my mom and how she never supports me. It got to me. It’s dumb. I let her get in my head. How she thinks that I’m wasting my time and that this ranch isn’t worth saving. And that I’m not built for this kind of life."

He nods slowly. "I used to believe that about myself. That I wasn’t built for anything good."

I glance at him, surprised. "What do you mean?"

He exhales. "My dad was mean. Mean in ways that stuck to your skin. Anytime he caught me hanging out with you or Ollie, he'd lose it."

My stomach twists and drops. "Lose it how?"

He finally looks at me. And the look in his eyes is something I’ll never forget.

"He’d beat the hell out of me, Wilder. Every time. Didn’t matter if we were just riding horses near your pasture or fixing a fence. If I was near you, I got it twice as bad. You know how it was between my dad and your parents."

I cover my mouth with my hand, horror booming in my chest. "Jack... I didn’t know." I reach out and clasp his hand. Iwant to go back and find that boy who was abused and hug him and hold him. I hate that anything like this happened to Jack. That’s why he left. He left to save me. To protect me. God, I hate this. He had to reject me, he didn’t have a choice. My chest feels so heavy.

"I never wanted you to know. But it was worth it."

I drop my hand. "How could it possibly have been worth it?"

He gives me a smile, soft and broken and beautiful. "Because when I was with you, I didn’t feel like trash. Your grandparents... your grandpa taught me things. Told me I was smart. Worth something. Your grandma made me cookies and never looked at me like I didn’t belong."

He stands and pulls me with him onto a bale of hay, and I swing my legs onto his lap, leaning in towards him. He runs his hands up and down my calves as if he’s soothing himself by touching me.

He swallows hard and looks around. "This ranch felt like home when nowhere else did. I miss them. Probably not like you do seeing as they were your family, but... I do. In some ways, they were like family to me, too."

I feel the ache rise in my throat, thick and sharp. “I didn’t realize that meant so much to you. I’m glad you had that. I miss them too. Every day."

He shifts a little closer, voice low. "They believed in you, Cami. And so do I. You can do amazing things with this place."

I blink up at him, heart hammering. "What do you mean?"

He doesn’t hesitate. "You're going to turn it into your B&B. You're going to make this place shine again. And I want to help you however you need my help."

Something twists in my chest, and I wrinkle my brow, confused. "Like business partners?"

His face falls. Just a flicker. But I see it.

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