Scoring Wilder

The more I let the idea linger in my mind over the last two days, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and do it. I’d seen different versions of Liam, but there were still so many that I wanted to know and learn. I wanted the midnight-snack Liam with the disheveled hair. I wanted the lazy Saturday Liam that never 846/890

changed out of his sweats, but looked freaking adorable anyway. The hot bastard. The only reason I hesitated was because of Becca and Emily. It was so easy to see each other when I could literally shout across our bathroom to get Emily’s attention, and Becca was in my room more than I was. I didn't want to drift away from them or the rest of the girls on my team.

My thoughts were interrupted when we pulled up outside Liam's house. I’d have time to make a decision later. We carried everything inside and then went to find Pe

You would have thought he was asking her to marry him at this point.

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"Pe

Becca: Freaking out a bit. Pe

Kinsley: Yes! No worrying!!!

I dropped my phone back down and we hustled down to the beach so we could re-lieve Pe

No big deal, right? Wrong. Who thought candles on a beach was romantic? There’s this mysterious force at the beach that never stops. Locals refer to it as wind, and it majorly fucked up our plan.

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So there we were unable to light a single candle while we also attempted to protect the entire setup before Becca showed up. This was actually much harder than expected considering the seagulls assumed the rose petals were some kind of food. They kept swooping down and stealing petals, almost taking me out in the process and pooping on at least three of the unlit candles. Sorry Becca, hope you like your romance with a side of bird flu.

"You know we should at least get one of these strawberries," I pointed out.

Liam chuckled. "We can make chocolate covered strawberries, babe."

My brows perked up. "You have the supplies?"

"Strawberries, chocolate, and Kinsley—

yes," he winked. I shivered at the thought of 849/890

melted chocolate and Liam in the same vicinity.

I was still attempting to light the first candle just as Pe

"She's five minutes away! You guys have to go!" he said, hurrying us along. In a flurry of movements, we picked up the extra lighters and trash and ran up onto Liam's porch without explaining the fatal flaw in his plan.

He’d figure it out soon enough.

“WAIT! THEY AREN’T LIT,” he yelled.

Liam glanced over toward me with a wicked smile. “Run!”

We weren't pla

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"I don't want to watch for long. It feels like we're invading their privacy," Liam said, sitting down next to me on the porch.

"I agree."

Liam’s hand stroked my leg and goose bumps bloomed beneath his touch. If he kept it up, we’d miss the entire thing.

"Oh, she's here!" Liam said, pointing to where Becca was exiting the back of Pe

she froze. Tears burned the corners of my eyes as I watched her step closer to the ring of unlit, poopy candles.

Liam's

arm

stretched

across

my

shoulders and he swept the tear from my cheek without saying a word. Pe

"I'd assume that was a yes, don't you think?" Liam asked.

Pe

against him with fierce intensity. It was our time to leave.

"I think so," I said with a giant smile.

Liam mirrored my smile and then pulled me through the back door into his house.

"What about those chocolate covered strawberries now?" he asked as I finished off my glass of champagne.

"How about we skip the strawberries?" I asked with a suggestive gaze.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I felt the wind rushing past me as I pushed myself to pick up the pace. I was beating my previous times, but it wasn't good enough.

My sprints needed to be faster and my skills had to be perfectly honed if I expected to make it onto the Olympic team.

I'd been training every day, harder than I had in my entire life, and I knew I had a fighting chance at getting an invitation for tryouts. There wasn't a woman in America training harder than I was. Becca would join me on most days, and we'd push each other past our limits. Everything had fallen into a routine. She was staying at Pe

stay after to continue training, and then head back to Malibu afterward. Liam and Pe

I hadn't officially decided to move in with him, but it seemed like eventually I'd wake up one morning and all of my crap would be at his house. Liam thought he was being sly, transitioning various things slowly so that I couldn’t protest. One day he'd cleared out half of his closet. The next, I had a few drawers in the bathroom to leave all of my stuff. Tomorrow, I’d have monogrammed towels and he’d say “Oh, weird how did those get there?”

I wasn’t finding the energy to fight him about it anymore. I’d start school in a few 855/890

weeks and we’d have even less time together, so it made sense for us to live together. I think I just liked making him work for it a little bit. And yeah, the day I came home to find a slew of various make-up and every type of shower essential possible, I knew I was milking this cow for all it was worth.

Shhh.

"All right!" Becca yelled, "I'm exhausted, that's enough for today."

I finished my sprint, ru

either start school as pla

“I’m going to eat every single taquito they have on the premises,” Becca declared as we headed off the field.

“That’s disgusting.”

She scowled at me. “Don’t you dare judge me. I’m starving.”

“Taquitos are gross. Let’s order like ten plates of nachos.”