Page 9 of Wildly Inappropriate

She peers around the jean skirt she is examining so I can see the skeptical look plastered on her face. “What?” I ask. “We teamed up and saved Bryn and Jameson’s relationship. That’s it. Jameson still owes me for that, by the way.”

“Didn’t you end up with an amazing job opportunity out of that whole ordeal?”

“Yes. But he had nothing to do with it. Don’t take this future boon away from me, El.”

“Normal people don’t say boon, Lila. You’ve got to stop throwing historical-romance words into your everyday conversations.”

I wave my hand, dismissing her opinion on the subject. “Back to my problem. I don’t want to just date around. I don’t want to move to a new town and have to start from scratch finding a boyfriend. The plan is to get married and live happily ever after. I can’t do that if I’m single. As you know, you have the highest chance of finding your spouse in college. If not, the next years—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve given me your old-fashioned dating sermon before, Lila,” Elise cuts in. “And while it seems logical in theory, I think you’re missing the important part.” Elise stands to grab a stack of dresses out of her closet before sitting back down between her piles. “You can’t force yourself to fall in love, and you certainly can’t force someone to fall in love with you.”

“I understand that. But that’s why I’ve got my list of potential dates prioritized based on three factors: if they’re planning to stay in Colorado after graduation, their previous interest in long-term relationships, and our general relationship as of now.”

“And Mark is at the top of your list?”

“Yup! He’s staying in Denver after graduation, he’s talked about dating some girl during undergrad for three years, and we got along well when we were in a group last semester.” I lift a finger as I say each of the three points in Mark’s favor.

“You’ve literally never mentioned him before today. Are you even attracted to him?”

“Just because I’ve never considered him before doesn’t mean I might not start to find him attractive if I get to know him better,” I reason.

“But could it ever be bang-you-on-the-counter-of-his-hotel-room-in-Vegas levels of attraction?” Elise asks.

At the mention of my night together with JT in Vegas, my brain pulls up the montage of memories from that fateful night. Of JT’s hands gripping my hips to find the perfect angle as I sit on his bathroom counter. Of the two of us twisted up in the sheets of his bed. Of his thick cock hard and heavy as I suck it into my mouth. Of us repeatedly declaring our unending dislike for one another, even as every cell in my body screamed at me to find a way to be closer to him.

It was the best night of my life with the one person who makes me want to pull my hair out every time we’re in the same room. Though, when JT pulled my hair, it was…very different.Verydifferent.

“You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?” Elise asks, pulling me out of my head.

“Ugh. Yes. How can I not? And that’s not fair. No, Mark doesn’t currently give off counter-fucking vibes, but he also doesn’t give off complete-asshole vibes, which is likely a better foundation for a loving relationship.”

“I just don’t think you should give up on JT. For as much romance as you read, it really feels like you’re letting yourself fall into a miscommunication trope. You guys made out in Phoenix!”

“You realize how delusional you sound right now, don’t you?” I ask. “What about me waiting for him to show up to an early breakfast the next morning so we could talk about it like adults sounds like miscommunication?”

“You left him a note, Lila. A handwritten note. And you put it on his pillow as you slipped out of his room after he fell asleep.”

“He was in the middle of a tournament! Of course I left so he could sleep. And, yeah. My phone was dead by that point. I left him a note asking him to meet me for breakfast the next morning at six, or to at least shoot me a text so I knew he wasn’t going to make it. He did neither.”

“Which suggests he didn’t get the note. That guy is a notorious people-pleaser. He’s not going to ghost his best friend’s little sister after hooking up with her.”

“He does if they agree to go back to hating each other afterward. Plus, he’s never been that guy with me. It’s like he enjoys pissing me off.”

“Oh, kinda like you enjoy pissing him off? Or do you not recall your evil plan to, and I quote, ‘make that asshole hard all through Thanksgiving dinner’ by wearing your fuck-me boots?”

“Fine. I do like pissing him off. It’s fun. And he deserves it. He’s the worst. And it was the only way I could get him to stop treating me like a 14-year-old.”

“Well, based on what you told me about what happened in Vegas and then again in the hallway in Phoenix, I can confidently say that the man does not think of you as a little kid.”

“And!” I say, continuing my rant about our time in Vegas from earlier, not really caring if Elise is keeping up at this point—she’s heard it all before. “Sunday morning when we had breakfast with Bryn and Jameson—which hedidshow up for—I asked him what happened yesterday morning and he said, ‘You’ve been around long enough to know what happened, Lila. I’m not proud of it, but it—’”

“‘—is how it is.’” Elise finishes the last part of the quote with me. Okay, I may have talked about this one too many times.

“Ugh.” I flop back onto Elise’s bed with a dramatic sigh, thinking through my options. She’s right. Mark isn’t the best choice. I have been in four classes with him throughout my master’s in engineering program and have felt nothing but baseline friendliness toward him. Exactly zero sparks or hints of attraction felt. I guess I could just wait until I get to Wild Bluffs to find a guy to date.

I sit up quickly, causing Elise to drop the pair of leggings she is folding. “Okay, change of plans. No dates for tomorrow night.”

“No. What will I ever do? All I wanted was a date,” Elise deadpans.

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