Page 142 of Wild As Her

He nods, “Yeah, it’ll be nice to have them.”

The music dips again, another slow track echoing across the water.

“Want to dance, Wilder?”

I spin, heart stuttering.

Jack’s back.

And this time, he doesn’t wait for me to answer. He just pulls me in again, slower, closer, his body pressed to mine like he belongs there.

“We already danced,” I whisper.

“This is a second chance dance.”

“Thought you didn’t believe in those.”

“I didn’t,” he says. “But I do now.”

My heart slams against my ribs. And I’m about to say something—something dangerous, somethingreal, when Beau and Jenna walk by again, still holding hands.

Jack mutters, “Jesus.”

Then adds, “You know what this means, right?”

“What?”

“You and me aren’t the most scandalous thing happening anymore.”

I laugh, soft and startled. “We never were.”

He tilts his head. “Maybe not. But we were always the real thing.”

And suddenly the air shifts. The mood changes. He’s not teasing anymore.

“Cami,” he says, voice barely above a whisper. “You don’t have to pretend you’re not feeling this.”

I look up at him. “It’s not about that. It’s about all the ways this could go wrong.”

His hands tighten on my waist. “Then let it go wrong. Let it be messy. But don’t walk away from it.”

Emotion swells in my throat.

The firelight dances over his face, catching in the flecks of green in his eyes, and I think,this is how it happens. This is how girls fall in love with cowboys. In the middle of a party, with music playing and the scent of summer on the breeze, and the boy you’ve always loved holding you like he’d burn down the world to keep you safe.

I don’t know how long we stand there like that, maybe a minute, maybe a lifetime.

Eventually, Maggie shouts, “Jack and Cami, you’re up next for karaoke!”

We both groan.

“I am not singing,” I say.

“Oh, youare,” she calls back, waving the mic in one hand and her drink in the other. “And if you don’t, I’m gonna get Weston to sing ‘Pink Pony Club’ again, and weallremember what happened last time.”

Jack sighs, tugging me toward the stage. “Come on, Wilder. Let’s show ‘em what we’ve got.”

I dig my heels in. “Absolutely not. I draw the line at public humiliation.”

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