Page 7 of Wilde Flame

Popping my eyes back open, I bit back a gasp, shocked.

Lilibeth is a virgin? Holy shit!

Ensley laughed. “I won’t let that happen. You should just tell Gatlin you need to pop your cherry. He’d totally be down for it.”

They both laughed…and I realized I was balling my fist. The idea of Gatlin with Lilibeth doing anything together didn’t sit right with me at all. I flexed my hand, telling myself to stop being stupid.

“Maybe I should just have a one-night stand. The last thing I want is to turn thirty and still be a virgin.” She sighed. “I can’t regret not giving myself to the few guys I’ve dated. They were all jerks. But at this point, I just feel like I must have a sign on my forehead that says, ‘Go ahead and cheat on me, I don’t care.’”

“Did they all cheat?”

Lilibeth rested her chin on her knee. “All but one. Do you know they all blamed me for not sleeping with them as the reason why they cheated? They have needs, don’t you know.”

Ensley grunted. “Fucking men. Like their hand doesn’t work just fine. They should have valued the fact that you were saving yourself.”

Lilibeth let out a long exhale. “When I was little, I used to dream about marrying a cowboy.”

Ensley chuckled.

“We’d live on a ranch and have two kids and two dogs. One little girl and one little boy, who’d follow their daddy all over the place, trying to be just like him. I even used to have this dumb dream where my cowboy would make love to me on his tractor.”

They both laughed, and when Ensley caught her breath, she asked, “A tractor?”

“I blame that song. She thinks my tractor’s sexy, or something like that.”

I was starting to feel guilty for eavesdropping on their very private conversation. I glanced around to see if I could possibly slip away and walk around to the front of the house.

“Now I’m trying to picture that, Lilibeth.”

They both chuckled again, before Lilibeth dropped her head back. “It’s just a silly dream. Unless my mystery cowboy lives in River Falls, I think I’m just going to end up with the two dogs. Maybe I’ll add in a cat…”

Ensley laced her arm with Lilibeth’s. “It’s not silly. We have to both believe we’ll find the one someday.”

They remained quiet for a few minutes. I swore the only thing I could hear was the snow falling. I hadn’t brought out my gloves, and my hands were now freezing.

“We’d better get in before they send someone searching for us,” Ensley said, standing. She reached down and helped Lilibeth up.

Turning to walk back into the house, Lilibeth said, “Ensley, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure! Ask away.”

“Why doesn’t Caden like me?”

Now I swore my heart froze in my chest.

“He likes you.”

Lilibeth laughed dryly. “If that’s how he treats people he likes, I’d hate to see what it’s like for the people he doesn’t. He’s always so grumpy around me.”

“Oh, man, Lilibeth. It’s not just you. And that particular conversation calls for a glass of wine and a whole lot more time.”

“Was it a woman?”

My sister was quiet for a few moments. “Yeah. It was a woman. And if she ever sets foot in River Falls again, I’m going to kick her ass.”

“That bad, huh?”

Ensley snorted. “Yeah, that bad.”