Page 61 of Wilde Flame

I turned to see little Katie with her hand up as high as it could go.

I smiled. “A worthy opponent, I see. And the only one brave enough to take me on.”

We moved toward the end of the table, where my mother stood. When I glanced up, I saw Lilibeth smiling. I winked, and her cheeks turned pink. Fuck, if she wasn’t the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. The way my body reacted to her comment about the brownies had caught me off guard, but in a good way. I was thankful my brother had shown up when he had.

I dragged my gaze off of her and focused on Katie.

“You ready for this?” I asked, in my most serious voice.

“I was born ready!” she replied. The room erupted into laughter.

“Are you both ready?” Mom called out with a huge smile.

“Ready!” Katie cried with a fist pump. It took everything I had not to laugh. She was a little firecracker, reminding me of a younger Emeline.

“Get set! Go!”

Katie took off like she had mini jets on her hands. I thought I’d have to go slow, give her a fighting chance, but I’d clearly underestimated my competition—and she took full advantage.

“Shit!” I mumbled, when she swiftly jumped ahead.

“Watch your language, Caden Wilde!” Mom warned.

I quickly caught up to Katie, then one of my balls fell off the table. It took me a hot second to find it, and by the time I got going again, Katie was already at the end of her side, jumping for joy. The clear winner.

“Katie is our winner!” my mother cried, as cheers erupted.

Gatlin hit me on the back and slowly shook his head. “You got beat by a six-year-old, dude.”

Rolling my eyes, I retorted, “You play against her. She’s fast.”

A few more couples played the game before it was time for Lilibeth. She was paired up with Gatlin.

“Are you ready to get your butt beat?” she asked my brother.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he replied, and Lilibeth laughed.

They got ready, and before my mother blew the obnoxious whistle she’d somehow found between rounds twenty minutes ago, my brother pointed to Lilibeth and winked.

“Ready, sweetheart?”

She held out her hand and flexed it a few times. “I’m more than ready, cowboy.”

It took everything I had not to walk over and smack my brother. I was annoyed he was flirting with Lilibeth, and I knew I had no right to be. I was the one who wasn’t interested in anything more, so it wasn’t fair that I wanted to strangle my own brother for teasing her.

I watched as they stayed neck and neck throughout their game, with every single female cheering on Lilibeth, while the guys yelled for Gatlin to pick up the speed.

“This is harder than it looks!” Gatlin shouted back, losing his concentration and dropping a ball. “Fucking hell!”

“Gatlin! Language!” my mother and Emeline said in unison.

Lilibeth caught her last ball and started to jump up and down. “I won! I won!”

Emeline and Katie both wrapped their arms around her.

“You were the tie-breaker!” Emeline said, then turned to my brother and added, “Ha! Girls won!”

Gatlin rolled his eyes, then smiled at Lilibeth. “I had no idea you were going to be so good.”