Our gazes bounce up to the roof where Benson and Killian give us an awkward wave.
“Fucking really?” I groan.
Benson shoves at Killian, who laughs as he hops off the roof, landing in a crouch beside Hale. Benson lands beside him, and they both help Hale to his feet as they walk off.
My gaze returns to Liam, who is grinning at me.
“Why?” I ask, mostly because I can’t help myself. “You don’t even know me.”
He steps closer, tipping my head back by my chin. “I tried to live my life for eight months after you left. I didn’t want to go out with my fake friends. I didn’t want to talk to my shitty family. I didn’t want to date girls who weren’t you. For eight solid months, I moped around aimlessly. The only people who bothered to call or stop by were just doing so to borrow something or ask for a favor. On the ninth month, I called a realtor to sell my house. On the tenth month, I started looking at other homes to buy. Nothing felt right until I looked at Tomahawk.”
He blows out a breath, and my eyes flutter shut when he brushes his lips over mine. He pulls back just barely before whispering to me.
“I’m going to know you better than anyone ever has. I never forgot you, Kylie Malone. I tried so fucking hard, but I couldn’t get you out of my head. And now I’m done trying.”
He backs away, and my breath comes out shakily as I watch him smirk at me.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” I tell him on a sigh.
“I do, actually. I’m going to prove to you that I’m not going anywhere, and I’m going to tame a Wild One,” he adds, the last part said jokingly, even if it is totally cheesy.
“You don’t tame a Wild One,” Hale says loudly, then grunts like he just got hit.
Both of us look over to where the bushes are shaking. I roll my eyes.
Hale stands, and Killian shakes his head. “You can’t tame a Wild One,” Hale says again to Liam, grinning. “You just go wild.”
To this, Liam waggles his eyebrows at me.
I walk away, gun still on my shoulder by some miracle, and move alongside the lake.
How the hell am I going to keep my family from killing Liam when they find out the beardless city boy getting all the single lady attention is here for me?
Speaking of single lady attention…
That will stop.
Tonight.
I will so cut someone.
Just then, I hear Real Wild Child blasting from Penny’s cabin, and a small smile curves my lips as howls fill the air, Killian and Hale included.
I howl too, watching as Liam’s eyebrows quirk in my direction.
The howls from above draw his attention as a helicopter soars over us, and people start jumping out, wings—yes, they have synthetic wings—spread as they glide down over the boat that is zipping down the lake.
The fliers coast into the boat like they’ve done it a thousand times, and the boat cuts a sharp one-eighty, racing back to catch the next group.
Liam’s eyes widen, watching it all as several surfboards zip by with motors driving them forward.
More howls erupt, and Killian and Hale grow more enthusiastic with their own responding howls.
Benson just laughs and watches the show.
Hale runs to me, and I jump up, grabbing the tree branch, until I can toss my legs up and sit on top of his shoulders, carefully keeping my dress from dropping over his face, because the perv will mock my really old Garfield undies.
Really glad I stopped things before Liam saw my unfortunately embarrassing, but super comfy and broken-in underwear.
I howl louder, and the Malones respond as they zip by on their jet skis. The ones being pulled on the water-skis start spinning and flipping, using the wakes as their own little waves. A lot of wetsuits are out there right now.
A hover boat blasts by, spinning a one-eighty and driving back toward us.
Hale drops me to the ground, and I shove the gun to his chest before I race to the end of the dock, jumping into the hover boat as my dad laughs as gasses us away. Two seconds later, I turn around to see Eric hit his donut just right, slinging up water all over Hale and Killian, who only howl louder.
Liam is watching me with a small smile as I turn my attention back to the front. All the while, the Wild Ones’ theme song blasts on, always putting us in the best possible mood. It’s like our high school fight song, without the high school or the sports and stuff.
I probably shouldn’t ever say that reasoning aloud.
Dad cuts the boat again, and we dodge a set of Wilders who are on the motorized surfboards. I slap hands with Kai when he gets close enough, and he shoots back across the water, turning back again.
I stand up, gripping onto the back of Dad’s seat as we head into the thick of it. The chopper hovers overhead again, and two girls drop down on tactical lines—one of which is barely thirteen.