Page 31 of Wilde Hearts

“Still as carefree as he ever was?”

“Indeed, he is. I swear, nothing bothers him. He’s also a crazy flirt.”

Colt smiled, then took the last bite of his sandwich. “He isn’t dating anyone seriously or anything?”

“Gatlin?” I laughed. “I think it would have to take a special kind of woman to put up with my younger brother. He has a big heart, but he’s also like Peter Pan.”

“Peter Pan?”

“Never grows up. Never takes anything too seriously. He just lets life roll off his back.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

I gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I don’t know if it is or not. That’s just not how I live my life.”

We sat for a few moments in silence before he asked, “When did you start having panic attacks?”

Rolling my eyes, I replied, “That’s something new. Like I mentioned, it’s only happened one other time.” I lifted my gaze to look at him. “You seemed to be pretty familiar with what to do. Do you get them?”

He shook his head. “No, the, um…the daughter of the rancher I worked for used to get them a lot.”

An instant rush of jealousy hit me, stealing my breath. All I could do was nod, since I couldn’t seem to find my voice.

“She was only twelve when she got her first one. The ranch hands learned early on how to help her if she ever had one around any of us.”

“How old is she now?”

“Twenty-eight.”

I nodded again, and couldn’t help but wonder if anything had ever happened between them. “What’s her name?”

“Lori. Her father, the owner of the ranch, is Judd Murray. Super-nice guy and treated his employees like family.”

“You must have really loved it there to stay as long as you did.”

His eyes met mine, and I could tell he wanted to say something, but we were interrupted by the same young man who’d brought our food out earlier.

“Here is your to-go order.”

Colt smiled. “Thanks again.”

When he looked back at me, I tried like hell to ignore the way my heartbeat sped up. Or how my body reacted to that stupid smile still. It used to melt me on the spot, and if I wasn’t careful, it would again.

Quickly pulling my gaze away from Colt, I stood. “I guess we should get back to the hospital.”

“Pip, can you wait just one second?”

I slowly sat back down. Colt’s eyes turned darker as he met my gaze. “I need you to know something.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I held it. I had no idea what he was about to tell me…but something told me I didn’t want to know.

“I meant what I said earlier. I never stopped loving you, Ensley. Every time I tried to move on with someone, all I could see when I looked at them was you.”

I wasn’t about to admit to him I felt the same way.

I lifted my chin. “Is that supposed to make me feel good? To know that you…what? Just closed your eyes while you fucked them and pretended it was me?”

Colt glanced around to see if anyone was listening, then looked back at me. “Really, Ensley?”