Page 76 of Wild About You
“How did this get turned on me?” Leo asks. “Maverick’s married. Ask him.”
“Four years is a long time,” Mav says. “But I’m not sure anyone would compare after Kota.”
“Yeah, I hate to agree with the rookies, but I think they might be right.” Leo cocks his head to the side.
“You’ve all lost your minds,” Ash says. “Back me up, guys?”
“I’d never be in that position,” Jack says. “When I’m done with a girl, I’m done.”
“More like she’s done with you.” Declan elbows him.
“At least I’ve gone on a date recently.”
The guys turn on each other, playfully teasing one another and I just stand back and enjoy it. They don’t need to understand or even agree with it. I know I made the right decision for me because it brought me back to Piper.
24
IF THEY CAN’T BREAK YOU, IS IT EVEN TRUE LOVE?
PIPER
Monday morningI’m getting dressed for school when Tyler walks in through our adjoining bathroom.
“Is that new?” he asks, running a towel over his damp hair, shirtless, only a pair of sweats hanging from his hips. Basically, looking too good to be true.
“The skirt is.” I use a Sharpie to darken the worn spots on my favorite black heels.
He comes the rest of the way into my room and slides his hands around my waist. “Why are you coloring your shoes?”
“They’ve seen better days,” I say, and drop them to the floor. When I step into them, I’m closer to eye-level with him.
“Maybe you should have gotten new shoes yesterday too.”
“I had planned to,” I admit. “But I underestimated how much a new wardrobe would cost.”
“I have something for you.” He dangles my old bracelet in front of my face. “I thought you might want it back now.”
He clasps it around my wrist, and I hold it up to inspect it closer.
“God, I loved this bracelet.” I gave it to him the first time we were separated. I thought as long as he had it, I’d always have a reason to see him. It became tradition or superstition. Every time we were separated, I’d send it with him, insisting that he hang on to it until we were together again.
“We’re leaving for New York this afternoon and probably won’t be back until pretty late.”
“I can wait up.”
“Just be in my bed. I don’t care if you’re awake or not.” He stops and looks up at the ceiling. “That sounded creepy. What I meant to say is that all I want is to fall asleep and wake up next to you.”
There’s a small part of me that’s freaking out, worried this is all happening too fast, but it’s drowned out by the much larger part that is all too eager to jump back in headfirst.
“I’ll be there.” I hold my wrist against my chest.
Tyler gets dressed and then walks me downstairs where Everly is waiting in the kitchen.
“See you tomorrow, sis.” He grabs a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. “Try to stay out of trouble and call if you need help with your homework. I’ll get one of the guys to help.”
“I think I’ll just ask Piper,” she says.
I secretly love that all the guys are so invested in helping Everly with her schoolwork. She told me that Declan is good at helping her with memorization stuff, Ash loves to discuss history or current events, and Leo is good at anything with numbers. Even Jack, who I wouldn’t have pegged as an especially patient or nurturing guy, apparently pitches in when it’s business-related.
