Page 105 of Wild Then Wed
Ridge side-eyes her, suspicious. “Like what?”
Her lips curve into something that looks like a dare. “Like we take a drink every time you mention hooking up with someone.”
A few people laugh. Ridge groans.
Boone snorts from the other side of the room. “Some of us have places to be, Mills.”
Ridge flips him off without looking. “Don’t be jealous just ’cause your peak make-out location was probably a high school janitor’s closet.”
“Actually,” Lark chimes in, “it was the back of Lucille. And it was very romantic.”
Boone grins like he’s proud. “Had a blanket and everything.”
Hudson, still new to the pace of this whole group, raises his hand. “Wait—I wanna know which one was the lie.”
Ridge leans forward, elbows on the table. “Guess.”
Sage squints at him. “The states. There’s no way you know all fifty states in alphabetical order. I don’t even think you know all the statesnotin alphabetical order.”
“Alabama, Alaska, Arizona…” Ridge starts, rattling them off like he’s got them filed somewhere underparty tricksin his brain.
Sage’s jaw drops somewhere around Florida. “What thehell, Ridge?”
He just shrugs, smug. “Miss Young’s third-grade class. Locked in forever.”
Boone groans. “Unfortunately, I can confirm the goat tattoo on his ass is real.”
Miller turns slowly toward Ridge, eyes narrowed, nose scrunched, like she’s trying to decide whether or not to hit him with her wineglass. “Why?”
“I lost a dare.”
“That’s not a good enough reason.”
“It wasareason,” Ridge says, totally unbothered.
Lark squints at him. “Wait—so the lie was the rodeo queen?”
“Yep,” Ridge says, popping thep. “I made out with her in the Bluebell parking lot, not Dairy Queen’s.”
Lark’s whole body jerks upright. “Inmyparking lot? Ew, Ridge!”
Ridge laughs, leaning back in his chair. “Relax. It was forever ago.”
Everyone breaks into some version of laughter—Boone shaking his head, Hudson full-on cackling, Sage muttering something under her breath.
Everyone’s laughing—except Miller, who’s watching Ridge with the kind of expression that could level a grown man. Calm,unreadable, and just sharp enough to draw blood if you get too close.
Ridge must feel it too, because he glances her way and clears his throat. “Sawyer’s up.”
Wren scoffs beside me. “Wow. Way to put the new guy on the spot. Hejustgot here!”
“He’s about to be my fake brother-in-law,” Ridge says, raising a brow. “I can do whatever I want.”
I shake my head, smiling, and take another sip of water. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
Wren furrows her brow, trying to figure out if I’m serious or not, but then she shrugs and leans back in her chair. “All right, mystery man. Let’s hear it.”
I glance around the table, taking in the half-empty glasses, the slow rhythm of forks scraping against dessert plates, the easy kind of laughter that only comes when the wine’s kicked in and everyone’s just full enough to let their guards down. There’s a hum to the room, warm and unhurried, like we’ve all silently agreed not to rush the night. And somehow, in the middle of it, I’m here—folded into the noise, not quite an outsider. It’s strange, that feeling. Of being welcome somewhere you don’t technically belong. But tonight, no one seems to notice. Or maybe they do—and they’re choosing to let me in anyway. And that feels like something worth holding onto.
