Page 31 of California Wild

Not fixed. Not resolved.

But for the first time in years, they were finally speaking the same language.

“You’ve changed,” she said.

Something flickered in his gaze—something wary. Guarded.

“We wouldn’t be able to be friends otherwise.”

Friends.

She repeated it in her mind, testing the shape of it.

It didn’t fit.

Not with the way he was standing so close, angled toward her like his body couldn’t help it, like gravity was playing some cruel joke and forcing them back into each other’s orbit.

Not with the way she felt her breath stutter, her stomach coil tight, heat creeping up her spine as if her body remembered things her mind refused to touch.

But Jesse wasn’t chasing. Wasn’t pushing. Wasn’t hauling her into his arms and throwing her over his shoulder like he used to. And that terrified her in a way she didn’t quite understand.

The air between them was thick with tension, charged with something raw and unsaid. The waves crashed gently against the shore, the wind tugging at her hair, but all she could feel was him.

Jesse, standing too close.

Jesse, looking at her like he was barely holding himself together.

“So… what now?”

Her voice came out steadier than she expected, but inside, she was unraveling.

Jesse’s eyes flicked toward her, gold catching the dying sunlight. “What do you mean?”

Hayley inhaled. “Us. You and me. What’s next?”

His gaze locked onto hers.

And for one unbearable second, she thought—maybe he’d finally be honest. Real. Unguarded.

Then—

That smirk.

That goddamn smirk.

“Just friends, right?”

Hayley’s stomach twisted.

Jesse turned fully toward her now, tilting his head like he was waiting for her to argue. Like he was waiting for her to say something that would make this all easier.

“That’s what we should do.”

Should.

Not want.

Not need.

---