Page 31 of Wild

I had no idea what could’ve gotten into him since this afternoon.

“Yeah, Rob’s great on the grill,” Boyd said to me, then looked pointedly at Audrey. “Let me tell you something, though, darlin’. There will be nobody stripping for my bride but me.”

“No strippers,” Colton agreed, his voice a deep velvet right by my ear. He set a baked potato on my plate as he did so. For someone who seemed disgruntled, he was also being very attentive.

I didn’t get it.

“Relax, boys.” I held up my hand. “I did not hire a stripper to come out to the ranch.”

“Tell me you didn’t hire one, period,” Colton warned.

“I didn’t hire one, period.” I rolled my eyes. “Now, stop. I’m terrible at keeping secrets when I get excited, and I don’t want to give it away.”

“Hmm,” Audrey said, but she was sweet enough to let it drop. She’d probably already figured it out. She was a smart woman, my sister.

10

COLTON

I fucking hated surprises.I knew it made me a control freak, but in my line of work, surprises meant someone could get killed. We drilled and drilled, so we never had surprises.

Over ten years in the military, and one pint-sized woman ruined it all. At least it wasn’t life or death, unless some guy looked overlong at my mate in that sundress. Still, watching Marina bubble with excitement over her plans for the evening made it impossible for me to complain. She was so fucking adorable. Her happiness would be contagious if I wasn’t so sick with need for her and trying to keep my hands off her.

And the ranch hands away. Johnny was close to her age and would be on her like bees to a flower. I knew I was being insane, but I didn’t want any of the guys to think they had a chance, and that had meant sticking close to her through dinner. There was no doubt they could scent me on her, but I hadn’t marked her. She was still fair game, if they fucking dared.

The hottest female on the planet had just been in my bed. I should have zero complaints. But I’d just resolved not to touch her for a fucking year. I’d made it two hours. I wasn’t sure if I could make it. Then I thought of Boyd’s bet. The fucker.

I might not be able to touch her, but letting her go out on the town without my protection was an impossibility. That was never going to fucking happen.

When we heard the crunch of gravel out on the drive, and Johnny appeared in the kitchen saying there was a limo out front, the first words out of my mouth were, “Oh, hell no.”

“Excuse me?” Marina demanded, putting her hands on her hips and lifting a defiant face up to mine. It made me want to fold her over the table, pull up that short dress spank her until she squealed. And she’d like it, too. Of course, in that fantasy of mine, we’d be alone in the kitchen, and it would end with me pleasuring her in every possible way with her sprawled out on the center island.

Fuck—I had to stop thinking with my dick!

“A limo?” Audrey popped out of her chair and ran for the front door. Marina followed.

I cleared my throat, looking to Boyd for help. I knew he couldn’t possibly want that giant black stretch limo taking his female away from him for the night, especially when they were getting married tomorrow.

Boyd and I had a brief and silent conversation across the table. It may have been a while since I’d seen him, but we had clearly melded minds because he stood up and strode down the hall to the front door announcing, “Only way you two ladies get in that limo is if we come, too.”

I followed.

Marina turned to face me on the porch and rolled her eyes. “You can’t. It’s a bachelorette party! Forwomen.No strippers. Just fun. Come on, we have to take the bride out on the town. It’s tradition.”

It was a pretty summer night, the weather calm in comparison to the night before. At least I didn’t have to worry about that, although storms blew in on summer evenings often enough. It wasn’t just last night that was a stark reminder of that, but my parents had been killed in the canyon during a storm. Boyd had barely made it out.

Fuck, I was losing my shit. Since when did I worry about theweather?

A couple other ladies had climbed out of the limo, made those high-pitched squeals of feminine happiness and had hustled Audrey inside to put a rhinestone-bedazzled “Bride” tee and a tiara on her. Boyd and I stared from the front porch.

Fucking ridiculous, this human tradition. And we’d just said we were going with them. Yeah, I was officially insane.

“I’m so winning that fifty bucks,” Boyd murmured, then slapped me on the back before hopping in the back of the limo.

The women were inside laughing and prepping except for Marina. It seemed she was letting Audrey have fun with her girlfriends. She stuck her head in the open door. “Seriously? The kitchen table’s still covered with food. You’re just going to leave it all?”

Boyd shrugged. “Rob’s not coming. He’ll take care of it.”