Going Wild (The Wild Ones Book 2)(60)

“Could you stop standing on the unstable bridge that might drop you those thirty feet so I can breathe, please?”

Her grin grows as she walks toward me, and I snatch her to me the second she’s in reach, holding her so close that she mocks a suffocating noise.

I barely loosen my hold, and she squirms away, laughing a little as she turns and leans her head against my chest.

“We don’t let the state do much for us, so we do most repairs on roads and such on our own.”

“That explains why the roads are so shitty around here,” I say before I can stop myself, not realizing how much of a douche I sound like until it’s too late.

She shrugs. “We’re not high maintenance. But this bridge needs more skill. It’s only a year old, and as you can tell, it looks a hundred.”

My eyebrows go up. Only a year?

“Two Nickels fixed it last time,” she says as though that explains everything. “Anyway, I thought maybe you could build the new bridge with all your fancy engineering information and wood skills.”

She turns and faces me, and I stare down at her like she’s a puzzle.

“Only those who really love Tomahawk take the time to help out with something that benefits everyone and not just themselves,” she goes on, shrugging one shoulder.

My fingers go to her hair, and I tilt her head back as I grin and kiss her lips. She’s trying to give me something. Something special. Something that money can’t buy.

She’s giving me the key to respect from a town that holds its outsiders at arm’s length.

The key to hopefully shutting Chester Perkins right the hell up.

And a chance to leave my mark on Tomahawk doing something I love to do.

She’s trusting me with something that clearly means a lot to her and this town.

“Don’t worry. People don’t sue if it doesn’t work. We just block the roads so no one can drive through if the bridge messes up. But it’s cool if you’re worried and don’t want to risk it.”

I’ve never built a bridge before, but this is a small section, and I can do the research. And I can also call a lawyer to draw up iron-clad waivers so that I don’t risk getting sued.

“I’ll do it,” I tell her, watching as that smile transforms her face.

My thumb brushes her cheek, and suddenly I realize why I’ve been freaking out. I guess it would have been obvious to anyone who knew the constant stirring of unexplainable and mostly conflicting emotions before. Someone who knew what it was like to feel excited and full of dread all at once.

I’m in love with Kylie Malone.

And she’s just spending time with me to ‘see how it goes.’ No wonder I’m acting like a fucking lunatic.

I don’t even realize she’s taking her boots off until she pushes away so she can stack them off to the side.

“What’re you—”

“Okay. Now we can jump,” she says, confusing the hell out of me.

“What?” I ask, just as she takes off running, laughing manically as she leaps off the unstable bridge.

My heart thunders out of my chest as I stumble to a halt at the edge before I even realize I’ve chased her. I look down at the long drop where she’s emerging, her head coming breaking the water’s surface already.

“That shower did you a lot of good,” I call down to her.

“Couldn’t resist. Your face was priceless!” she calls out, her voice barely carrying up the steep area. The bridge literally hangs over the uneven ground. Maybe fifteen feet long.

One side has a drop of five feet. Kylie jumped off the side that might as well be a fucking cliff. I really shouldn’t be surprised.

“You coming in? Hold your arms crossed over your chest or anchored at your sides. And close your legs!”

“That water is really cold,” I remind her.

“Oh, it’s fucking frigid as hell,” she agrees, swimming backwards as she grins up at me.

“Hell isn’t particularly known for its frigidness,” I retort dryly, staring down and wondering if I’m really about to do this.

Shit.

Without thinking too much about it, I kick my shoes off and pull my shirt over my head, then toss my pants to the ground.

Then…I take the leap.

My stomach climbs up my throat as the sensation of falling has me flailing my arms. I swear the water slams into my arms hard enough to bruise them, hence the reason she told me to hold them to my sides. Thank fuck my legs stay closed.

And that water is as cold as I used to be.

But Kylie laughing as my teeth chatter and my balls try to burrow their way into my body makes it worth it. No. No, it really doesn’t, but I won’t tell her that.

We both swim to the bank, freezing for no good reason, as we hike up the hill full of twigs that have a mission to destroy our feet.