The Wild Side (Forever Wild #4) (3 page)

“You don’t get to see too many stars in the city,” Wes said as we walked home from the bar.

I looked up in the night sky. “No, you really don’t.” I turned toward him. “But if you could see the stars, is there anything you would wish for?”

His gaze returned to mine and slowly he moved his hand down until he locked it with mine. I was still buzzed after another round of drinks at the bar and wasn’t in any mood to object to hand holding, so I accepted and interlaced out fingers.

“There are a lot of things I’d wish for ...” he replied.

“That
’s a copout answer.” I swung our hands back and forth.

“Fine, then what would you wish for?”
he asked.

I stopped and turned toward him. “For you to kiss me.”

He came to a halt and laughed, slowly facing me. He grabbed my other hand and pulled me closer to him. “You don’t need to wish for that one to have it come true.”

“Then kiss me, Wes,” I whispered, leaning up on my tippy toes.

He brought his fingers underneath my chin, tipping it up toward him until he brought his lips gently to mine. I was expecting a sweet, soft kiss, but instead he put his hand at the back of my head, pulling my hair and deepening our kiss. He nipped at my bottom lip, which caused me to gasp, and as soon as my mouth was open, his tongue met mine. His kiss so delicious I wanted to taste every part of him.

“Get a room!” s
omeone yelled from across the street.

Wes broke the kiss slightly and then left another small peck on my lips. “I think that sounds like a great idea, don’t you?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I whispered into his lips.

We turned and practically ran back to my apartment. B
y the time we were in the entryway door, Wes’s hands found their way around my waist and his tongue traced a line on my earlobe.

“Mmmm, Wes,” I moaned.

“Do you like that?” He nipped at my earlobe before leaving small kisses down my neck as we made our way to the door to my apartment.

“Mmmmhmmm.” I couldn’t even form words. The only thing I could think about
was where his hands were going to go next.

I fumbled with my keys
, trying to concentrate on getting them in the door when all I could think about Wes’s lips. But finally I was able to push the door open. As soon as I did, Wes pushed me the rest of the way through and shut the door behind us, wrapping his arms around me and forcing me to face him.

“Ahem.” A loud, throat-
clearing huff came from behind me and I jumped backward, turning around and prying my lips away from Wes.

Paige was sitting on the
couch with two other girls, their mouths gaping open like they’d never seen two people making out before. Well, actually, I don’t think they’d ever seen me with a guy before. It was, after all, Paige’s North Shore princess co-workers: Lissa and Tessa, who could have been matching Barbie twins with their wavy blonde hair, orange tans, and fake boobs.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I didn’t know you’d be here ...”

“Inventory night. We didn’t get out until late. Sorry, I guess I should have sent a text and let you know so we didn’t have to interrupt anything,” Paige said, taking a big gulp of wine from her oversized glass.

“You two can join us if you want,” Tessa said, her eyes roaming over Wes.

“You know, I’m kind of tired. It’s been a long day. Probably going to go to bed soon.” I raised my arms over my head and did the biggest fake yawn that I could. I was a terrible actress though and Paige smiled, shaking her head.

“Oh, well if your
friend needs someone to share a cab home with, me and Tess have no problem sharing one,” Lissa said, giving Wes a flirty smile and tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

“Thanks for the offer, ladies, but I’ll be staying here tonight,” Wes said with every bit of southern charm oozing from his words.

Lissa and Tessa’s eyes practically bugged from their heads and I couldn’t help but smirk with self-satisfaction. “And on that note, I think we’re going to go to bed. Goodnight, ladies.”

Paige was the only one to even wave. Lissa and Tessa just polished off their glasses of wine as we walked
past them into our room and shut the door behind us.

Once we got inside I had to cover my mouth to stifle my giggles and Wes plopped on the bed, pulling off his shoes. “Man, those girls were something else. I love getting a rise out of these uppity Chicago women.”

“And you do it so well.” I sat down on the bed next to him, tracing the line of his bicep. “You do a lot of things very well ...” I leaned forward and nibbled slightly on his ear and then ran my lips down his jawline, wanting so desperately to finish what we started.

He let out a breathy
laugh. “Darlin’, do you think that’s really such a great idea with those girls out in the living room?”

I pulled back. “You don’t want to make them jealous?”

He took my hands in his, bringing them to his lips briefly. “If I’m with you, I don’t want it to be because we’re making anyone jealous. I want it to be because you actually want to be with me. Not the guy you woke up next to in Vegas or the guy you brought home to Chicago for a divorce, but the guy who you wake up to every morning and has poured his heart out to you every day and told you how badly he wants to be with you.”

“You have a way with words that is undeniably sexy. And I’m not just saying that because I’m kind of drunk.”

“Yeah. My publicist wife is good at her job.”

I
t seemed like forever until either of us spoke and it wasn’t until Wes smiled. “I guess wishing on stars did work for something.”

I raised my eyebrow. “And what is that?”

“You got your kiss, didn’t you?”

I leaned forward and placed the lightest kiss on his lips. “I guess I did. Maybe the city stars aren’t so bad after all.”

“Maybe they aren’t.”

He traced my jawline. “But I really do think we should probably call it a night. We both have work tomorrow.”

I nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

“Goodnight, darlin’.”

“Goodnight, Wes.”

My sister, Melanie, was a sophomore at Central College. She was always the studious one who preferred to spend her weekends with a book or working at the local coffee shop. Then she met a guy named John at a fraternity party and I’d never seen her happier.

He was the exact opposite, at least on the outside. While she was the petite, studious girl, he was tall, tattooed, and muscular, and partied like a typical college fraternity boy. Which made them the perfect match. He was there when my sister needed him the most and I’d always like him for that. He also finally got her to break out of her shell and scored her a fake ID, so I definitely liked him even more.

“So, it’s going to be your sister, some Alpha Mu, and Wes here for the weekend?” Paige stared at me with her eyes so wide I swore they were frozen that way.

“Mel and John should just be here for the night. I think they said they were going to John’s parents’ tomorrow. But it should be fine. I have the blow-up mattress they can sleep on in the living room.” I tried to be pleasant with Paige, but some days it was harder than others.

“And what are you telling her about Wes? That you just happened to have a new southern boyfriend who is spending the night? Or are you telling her the truth?”

“I’ve told her that he was my new boyfriend. John stayed over there when I went to visit, so she won’t make a big deal about Wes being here. It’s not like I’m some sixteen-year-old girl sneaking in her boyfriend and bribing her little sister with chocolate not to tell Mom.”

Paige blew a strand of hair out of her face and followed me into the living room. Never mind that I had spent the last hour picking up every random thing that we had l
aying around the apartment, while she just followed me and hounded me with questions. “So, are you saying you want me to stay somewhere else for the night or go with you ... or?”

I picked up a throw blanket and tossed it on the couch. “I don’t know, Paige, and frankly I don’t give a damn. Do what you want, okay?”

“Whoa.” She put her hands out. “Where the hell is this anger coming from?”

“Look, we’ve lived together long enough that you should realized I’m stressed the fuck out about everything right now. Between this new job offer, Wes, my sister coming
, and just ... just ... ugh!” I flopped down on the couch and tilted my head back, pressing it against the wall.

Paige took the seat next to me and put her head on my shoulder. “Hey, I know I’m a bitch and I’m sorry for rubbing salt in the wounds. I’m just trying to ask legitimate questions. You know me. I’m brutally honest. And you’ve always been able to put up with my shit. That’s why I wanted to live with you
more than anyone else in the house.”

I lifted my head up and Paige did the same as I turned to look at her. “You actually wanted to live with me? You didn’t just ask because you were desperate for a roommate?”

“Of course I wanted to live with your crazy ass. You’re funny, you’re motivated, and you pick up after yourself. You’re the ideal roommate. You’re also the ideal wife.” She patted my knee. “That’s the reason that Wes stays around.”

I laughed. “Since when did you get on Team Wes?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess after a while he kind of grew on me. Especially as I’ve watched him with you. He isn’t like other guys. He didn’t come in here and try and change you or try and hide his relationship with you. He seems to genuinely love you for you.”

I scooted
back, putting my hands out. “Whoa, whoa. Who said anything about love here? I know I didn’t.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “Oh, puh-lease, please don’t pull that bullshit with me. Just because I haven’t had a serious relationship in years and I’ve had more stepmoms than I’ve had cars, doesn’t mean I don’t know love when I see it. You need to just drop this whole divorce thing an
d see where it goes with you two. Just give it a try. What’s the worst that could happen? You’d still get the divorce, it may just be months or years later.”

I hated to admit it, but she was right and I couldn’t think of a good argument to come back at her with. Luckily I was saved by the door when Wes opened it, walking in and smiling.

“Hey, ladies, am I interrupting something?” He was in a pair of jogging shorts and a T-shirt. The personal trainer gig was actually working out pretty well for him and half of Mrs. Flowers’ friends were now calling him up. At least, I hoped they actually were calling him for work outs and not to try and get their cougar hands on him.

“Nothing at all,” Paige said, looking at me with a small smile on her face. “I was just saying that I was thinking about maybe going to my parents
’ for the weekend. Giving you all some time with her sister and ... alone.”

Paige
didn’t do the whole subtle thing, but I wasn’t exactly sure what she was trying to pull either, so I just went with it. “Yep. It looks like it’s just me and you after Melanie and John leave.”

Wes nodded. “All right. That works.” He took a few steps into the living room, heading toward the bathroom. “But I hope y’all don’t mind, I need to get a quick shower in. Don’t want to meet new people and smell like the gym.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Melanie texted me and said they won’t be here for another hour or so.”

“All right. I won’t take long.” With that Wes turned and went into the bedroom, grabbing a few things before walking to the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

Paige smacked my arm.

“Ow!” I punched pinched her boob and she flinched. “What was that for, bitch?”

Paige pointed toward the bathroom. “Because I can. You should be thanking me that I’m going to my parents’ this weekend, so you can have a love fest with your Alabama Slammer.”

“Well, not while my sister is here.”

Paige stood up and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “You said it yourself that she wasn’t staying all weekend. Just make sure that her and her boyfriend don’t sleep or fuck in my bed.”

“Gross, like I’d let them do that.”
I wrinkled my nose.

“Remember when I lived with
Rina Delvecio in that apartment across from the chem lab? Her boyfriend and his fraternity brothers used to always crash at our place and I would always find some random half-naked dude in my bed.” Paige shook her head, sticking out her tongue.

I stood up, making sure I made eye contact with her so she knew that I was serious. “Look, you know I’m not Rina. I have way more respect for you than that. Melanie and John will sleep out here on the air mattress tonight and they are going to his parents
’ in the morning.” I smiled, putting my hand on her shoulder. “And if me and Wes need a new place to have sex, we’ll just use your desk chair.”

Like clockwork, a knock came at the door
. Paige was already out of the apartment so it was just me and Wes sitting on the couch.

“That must be Melanie.” I leaped off the couch and ran to the door, opening it to see my little sister standing there with a huge smile on her face.

Melanie and I were the complete opposites in every way, shape, and form. While I was taller, bustier, curvier, and blonde, with a loud mouth, Melanie was petite with curly brown hair and a complete introvert. Sometimes I wondered if we actually came from the same womb.

“Hey, lady!” I wrapped her in my arms for a big hug and then let her go
, looking over her shoulder. “Where is man candy?”

She glanced down the hall and as if he was expecting me, there sauntered her boyfriend: John, or John Boy as his fraternity brothers called him. And there was a reason tha
t I called him man candy. He may have been my little sister’s boyfriend and almost two years younger than me, but the guy was hot. Like really hot. He was around 6’5”, all muscle with brown spiky hair, a chin dimple, and a killer smile. He was the kind of guy that I would have expected to shatter her heart in a million pieces, but instead he was the guy who put her heart back together. More than that he stuck with her through cancer. And I absolutely loved him for that.

“Hey, Valerie.” He gave me a large smile. “I heard I’ve got some competition with a new man in your life.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess y’all probably want to meet Wes,” I said and stepped inside with Melanie and John following close behind as I shut the door behind us.

“Y’all?” Melanie crossed her arms, looking from me to Wes as he stood up from the couch.

“Hi, y’all must be Melanie and John. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Wes walked over and shook Melanie’s hand and then gave John a firmer handshake.

Melanie gave me a coy smile. “Oh, now I see where the y’all came from. You didn’t tell me he was a southerner. Where does one find a southern guy in Chicago?”

Luckily Wes was quicker than me to answer. “Doesn’t every love story always start with a few too many drinks and a southern man calling a girl darlin’?” Wes smiled and put his arm around me, laying on the southern charm.

John shook his head. “You are going to get so much shit now, Val, for all of it you gave to me and Melanie.”

I put my hands up. “Hey, I was nice. I supported you two.”

“Yeah,
supported by endlessly giving grief about my new boyfriend like I was some little kid with a crush. Now it’s payback time.” Melanie poked me in the side.

“What
, are we in middle school again?” I poked her back.

“If there is going to be a girl fight, do me and Wes need to move some furniture or get out some Vaseli
ne? I don’t know how this works.” John asked.

I rolled my eyes. “There will be no girl fighting. We need to catch a cab for dinner if we want to make the game on time.”

“Aw, just when it was getting good, too.” Wes squeezed my side.

“Aren’t you two just the cutest. I can’t wait until the wedding an
d I get to be the maid of honor,” Melanie teased.

I sucked in a deep breath and was glad that she turned her attention to John and hoped she didn’t notice. Wes squeezed my side again as if to say
it’s okay
, but I was nervous as hell. It was going to slip at some point. I would end up telling her everything. I wasn’t good at keeping secrets and I wasn’t sure that Wes was a secret I wanted to keep.

***

We hit up a pub that was near the United Center. Since it was a game night it was pretty much packed, but we were able to get into a booth after only a fifteen-minute wait. Ever since I got back from Vegas I hadn’t been talking to Melanie as much, mainly because I was afraid of spilling everything about Wes, so now that I had her in front of me I was rambling like an idiot about everything else I could think of that didn’t involve him.

“So, basically Pam and Abbi want to start their own publicity firm and they
want me to join in with them. It’s a great opportunity, I’m just hoping my clients go with me. If they don’t, I’m pretty much screwed. Now I’m kind of hoping I didn’t make a huge mistake in saying yes.”

Melanie took a large gulp of her d
rink, setting back on the table, looking at me like I just told her she smelled like shit. “Are you serious right now? You’re the girl that always tells me to go for everything and this sounds like a great opportunity for you.”

“That’s exactly what I told her,” Wes chimed in.

“Take it from me, man, the Wilder girls are very hard-headed and once they have their mind set to something it’s pretty hard to change it, but they do come around ... eventually,” John said and put his arm around Melanie pulling her close to his side.

“That’s one way to put it,” Wes said.

I turned toward Wes. “Are you trying to say that I’m a bitch? Didn’t we already have this discussion, multiple times?”

Melanie laughed. “You two already sound like a married couple. How long have you been together?”

I froze. I wasn’t the best at keeping a poker face and didn’t even know how to respond to her. But Wes was there to answer, with the truth.

“I actually met her in Vegas.” He grinned and put his arm around me. “Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas, I guess.”

“I’ve actually never been there,” John said, taking a drink of his beer. “Some of my buddies wanted to go for Spring Break, but ... I decided to take a pass.”

“Aw and stay here with my little
sister instead,” I said in a baby voice.

“Hey, she’s invited with me whenever she wants to go someplace. I’ll never hold her back. She knows that.”

“I always knew that I liked you, John.” I raised my glass.

“Bullshit.” He winked at me.

“Oh come on! I’ve always been on Team John! You can’t give me that.”

Melanie laughed. “Yeah, team-making-sure-that-Mom-knew-about-him-before-I-was-ready-to-tell-her. Does she know about your new boyfriend
, by the way? Or should I call her and tell her that you have a new man in your life and it’s time that she should make a trip to Chicago and meet him?” Melanie pulled her phone out of her purse.

“NO!”
I yelled louder than I intended to and noticed that a few people who were sitting at the tables next to us actually glanced over.

“Whoa.” Melanie set her phone down. “Calm down, killer. I won’t call her.”

“You must feel like shit right about now, dude. Sorry about that,” John said, looking at Wes. Wes kept his eyes on me. “I think it comes with the territory of being with a Wilder girl.”

“I thought I
heard the name Wilder,” an all-too-familiar voice said. I tried not to wince as I turned and saw the devilish smirk of Max Green.

“Hello, Max, I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said with as much pleasantness as I could muster. He was still a client, but I really didn’t want to see him. Especially not with Wes there or my sister. And I really didn’t expect to see him at a pub and not when he was dressed down. Or as dressed down as Max could be in a button-down shirt and dark wash jeans.

“Yes, I was just meeting some friends and I thought I recognized your laugh, so I thought I’d at least come and say hi.”

Melanie kicked me under the table and I knew she wanted me to make introductions
, and probably wanted to know who the hell the nicely dressed hottie was. “Oh, excuse me, this is my sister, Melanie, and her boyfriend, John, and of course you know Wes. Guys, this is my client and friend Max Green.”

Max waved in their directions. “Pleasure meeting you, Melanie and John. And always a pleasure to see you, Wesley.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Maxwell,” Wes said, really drawling out his accent. It took everything I had to keep from rolling my eyes.

“Valerie, I don’t mean to impose, but what are you doing on this side of town?” Max asked, crossing one arm over the other and resting his chin on his fist as if he was listening intently to me. Like I was about to give him the secret to life.

“Melanie and John are in town for a Blackhawks game and invited us to go with, so that’s why we’re here,” I answered.

“I hope you don’t find me rude, but may I ask where your seats are?” Max raised an eyebrow.

John shook his head, emptying his glass before setting it down on the table. “Somewhere way up in the nosebleed section. Probably why my buddy wanted to get rid of them.”

Max pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Well
, that won’t work. Let me just send a message to my assistant.” He typed a few buttons on his phone. “Okay, it’s done.” He looked up and placed his phone back in his pocket. “Just give my name and tell them it’s for my publicist, Valerie Wilder, and you’ll be let into my executive suite for the game.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?” John’s jaw practically dropped to the table.

Max smiled. “It’s the least I can do for my favorite publicist.” He looked back at me. “I guess I’ll let you and your family get back to your dinner and you’ll give me a call on Monday so we can set up something to talk about plans with your new company?”

“Sounds great,” I said
, trying not to smile too hard. I didn’t know where the niceness was coming from. Max was never this generous and never went out of his way to see me in public. Could this be jealousy over Wes?

“Hey, thanks a lot
, man.” John reached across the table and shook Max’s hand.

“It’s no problem, really.” Max was speaking to John but I could see his stare was fixed
on Wes, like he was winning at something. They stared at each other for a long hard moment. Like they had an entire conversation, but no one knew what it was.

“Have fun tonight, Valerie.” Max leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek, really rubbing it in
, and then left the table.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Melanie said.

“And completely fucking awesome,” John added.

“That’s one way to put it
...” Wes mumbled.

I sucked in a deep breath. Having two men in my life was getting more and more interesting.