Michael (Wild Men #8)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Emery

“Is it weird that I hate myself just a little?”

“Why would you hate yourself?” Alyssa sits across from me in our booth at Lucky Cowboy. “You asked for what you wanted. And he said yes. So you’re on the same page.”

I take a sip of beer from the ice-cold mug the server places in front of me.

Okay, I take several sips before I have the courage to be honest with my bestie.

“I may have claimed to be on that page with him, but my heart is a little further into the book.”

Alyssa narrows her pretty brown eyes. “How many pages in?”

“Like a bunch of chapters.”

She stares at me as she slowly pulls her blond hair back into a ponytail and ties it with the elastic that was wrapped around her slender wrist. Then she leans closer and whispers, “Are you saying you caught feelings for your Maine fisherman?”

“Shh.” I clap my hand over her mouth .

She pulls my hand away and laughs. “I’m joking. It’s obvious you’re crushing on him hard.”

“More than just in bed.”

“I get it. But he sounds like he may feel the same.”

“He doesn’t.”

I’ve never felt surer of anything in my life. Michael was so quick—too quick—to agree to my casual proposal.

“Were you testing him when you suggested no strings?”

“No!” I wasn’t. “Well, maybe I was. But not consciously.”

“And he invited you to dinner with his family tonight?”

“Yep.”

That was a surprise, I’ll admit. The fastest way to having strings is to get tight with a person’s loved ones. Or to see them as a common enemy. Either way, Michael invited me into his inner circle, and that’s an invitation I sense he doesn’t dole out on the regular.

“Keep me posted.” Alyssa taps her phone. “Send texts from dinner. Preferably with photos attached.”

I laugh. “I’m probably going to be busy trying not to make an ass of myself. You know how bad I come off at formal gatherings.”

“I’m sure this one will be laid back.”

“Maybe.”

“Just be yourself. Have fun. You’re so lovable.”

“You think so because you’ve known me since we were in middle school.”

“Well, if the Wilds don’t agree with me, fuck ‘em.”

I take far too long debating with Alyssa on what to wear to dinner, so when Michael texts that he’s outside my cabin, I’m half-dressed, and my hair is undone and a mess.

Not a good start .

I toss on a pink and purple maxi dress that reaches the floor, step into a pair of cream sandals, and head for the door with a scrunchie in one hand and the other hand wrapped around my ponytail.

I grapple with the front door handle with my scrunchie-laden hand, not wanting to drop my ponytail. I fling open the door using my elbow.

My other hand’s still got my hair in an iron grip, and I’m so busy concentrating on pulling the scrunchie around my ponytail that I forget to be nervous about the man standing on my doorstep.

“Hey.”

I look up and smile. Michael’s hands are in his black pants pockets, his stance is wide and solid, and his eyes linger on mine for a beat too long to be casual.

“Hey!” I say.

I let my gaze wander from his ruggedly handsome face down to his navy t-shirt that stretches across his muscled chest. By the time I lock eyes with him again, I have butterflies in my stomach.

“You look beautiful,” he says softly.

“Thank you.” I struggle to complete my ponytail, but it’s not coming easy.

The damn scrunchie won’t go around my hair a third time. I clench my jaw with the effort.

Michael’s expression relaxes. “You okay? That looks tricky.”

“It is.” I’m breaking into a sweat as I pull on the fabric as hard as I can and finally manage to complete tying back my thick hair. “All set. Now you can tug on my ponytail,” I joke awkwardly.

The dumb joke sounds far more flirtatious coming out of my mouth than it did inside my head, and I cringe.

Michael gives me one of his rare grins .

Or at least I’ve determined they’re rare.

Maybe it’s just with me that he’s grumpy. He could be a regular Santa Claus with his family. Not with Ayden from what I gathered. But anyway, I digress.

“Do y’all have family dinners often?” I successfully exit through the open door and lock up the cabin without making a further fool of myself.

Michael rolls his broad shoulders. “Seems like it.”

We start walking toward the main house, and I enjoy the extra light of the summer sky. It’s especially warm out tonight, and I’m glad I opted for a sleeveless dress.

“There’s been a big meal or barbecue every night I’ve been here so far.”

“Wow. That sounds fun.”

“I’m not used to it,” he admits. “Back home, now that my brother’s in L.A., it’s just me and my mom.”

“Are you two close?”

“Yeah, we’re tight. I live over her garage, so we see each other every day. We fight as often also.” His tone has a hint of humor in it.

“I live down the street from my parents,” I say. “It’s always made me feel safe.”

We’ve reached the lawn of the main house, and all I see are people.

Men, women, kids. And dogs.

I recognize Luke and his twin brothers, Cooper and Chase. I stare hard at the dark-haired man chatting with them.

“Is that…”

“Declan Wild? Yep.”

“The hockey legend?”

“One and the same.” He points at a handsome blond guy and another dark-haired one. “Those two are football players. Colton and Dylan Wild. ”

“Wow. I recognize them too. So many athletes in your family. I didn’t make the connection with the ranch name.”

“Declan, his wife, and their baby daughter live on the property. They built their own house here. Dylan and Colton grew up in Montana and have homes here in the off-season.”

Now I feel even more out of my element than I did. Michael’s family is not just huge and cohesive; it’s also successful and wealthy and…famous.

“Come on, and I’ll introduce you around.”

Michael puts his hand on the small of my back and gently guides me forward.

And ready or not, I’m officially initiated into the Wild clan.

Ayden is here with his wife Bella, who is lovely and friendly and takes me under her wing right away.

She’s a singer-songwriter out in Los Angeles, and she’s taking some time to enjoy being a mother right now. She introduces me to Savannah, Leleila, and Mia Wild. Mia is Declan’s wife, Savannah is married to Declan’s baby brother Cameron, and Leleila is the wife of Brayden, the fourth brother of Wild Ranch, although he and Leleila and their twin girls live in a neighboring town on Big River Ranch.

All the women are so welcoming, and they invite me to a girls’ night out they’re having. Leleila and I click right away. We’re both Montana girls who love the mountains.

“That’s amazing you’re an artist,” I tell her. “I can’t draw or paint to save my life.”

“What do you do?” she asks me.

I fidget uncomfortably. “I’m in between things at the moment.”

She nods like she understands, and something makes me tell them all the truth.

“I got passed over for a promotion at the advertising company I’ve worked at forever, and I sort of walked out. ”

“I’m sorry,” Leleila says. “You must be reeling.”

“Pretty much,” I admit. “I just had this plan, you know? And now…”

I trail off, but Leleila nods like she understands.

“I was a psych student a while back,” she says. “Until I failed my dissertation. Best thing that ever happened to me.”

I stare at her. “Really?”

“Really. I was forced to listen to my heart and figure out what I truly loved to do.”

Huh .

“That’s a very glass-half-full way of approaching your life,” I tell her.

“I wasn’t that way in the moment, of course.” She laughs. “I was devastated. But hindsight has a way of making things make sense. You know?”

I hope she’s right. I’ve been so caught up in the shitty things that have happened recently I haven’t taken the time to try and understand where I should go from here.

“The only thing I’ve come up with is I need a fresh start,” I say. “So I booked a stay at Wild Ranch. I’m giving myself a vacation, which sounds so impractical but…”

“But sometimes impulsive choices are the best choices,” Bella finishes for me. “Because you’re doing something for yourself. It may not make sense, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

Savannah nods, her green eyes flashing with emotion. “I definitely second that.”

Without thinking about it, I look past them to Michael. He’s hanging with Declan and Luke, playing cornhole.

Like he can feel me looking, he glances up.

When we lock eyes from across the yard, he winks.

And I melt.

I can’t help but smile and give him a little wave back .

His normally stern expression relaxes with a ghost of a smile.

“Oh my God! Did Michael Wild just smile?” Bella widens her eyes at me like I’ve spun gold.

I shake my head. “That’s not his big smile. I love when he just lets go and actually smiles, you know?”

Bella touches my arm gently. “Emery, Michael never smiles. Not since he lost his dad. I can count on one hand the number of times he isn’t flat-out frowning or glaring. If you’ve actually seen different smiles from him, he must have really let you in.”

I don’t know that he has, but it feels good to know that he trusts me even a little.

“It took a lot out of him to lose his dad, didn’t it?” I ask Bella.

I don’t mean to gossip, but Bella clearly loves Michael like a brother, and I don’t know how to help someone who’s in trauma. Maybe she can be of assistance.

She nods, her eyes filling with sadness. “Ayden wishes Michael would stop going out on the water. But Michael loves it too much to stop. It’s a big issue in their family, to be honest.”

When he talked about his profession, I got the feeling Michael loves the feeling of being close to his dad as much as he loves the actual fishing part of the job. Maybe that’s where his cross lies.