Page 14 of Hot Shot

“You got my favorite. I fucking love you.”

She chuckles, taking a seat next to me. “I fucking love you too.”

It’s so funny to hear her say things like that in that lovely proper accent of hers.

“Get it all cleaned up?” I pick up a glazed donut and take a normal, non-pornographic bite.

“I think so. You’ll have to explain the fence to your mother, but the boys shoveled out the char and logs and all, and everything else is packed back in the garage for now. Perhapssome of it we could go through for donations? Surely we don’t have to burnallof it, do we?”

I shrug. “I mean, we don’thaveto, but I’dloveto.”

“Did it make you feel better?”

“Immensely.”

“Well, then, whatever you wish,” she says in such a way that I’m certain she has plenty more to say.

I swallow a bite and set the donut on a little napkin. “Why do I feel like there’s abutcoming?”

She shakes her head. “No but. If burning his things makes you feel better, then that’s what we’ll do. So if youare, in fact, feeling better, then I suppose we should plan another bonfire.”

“I don’t know that I can claim I’mfeeling betterthis morning with the headache I have.”

“Well, you were very, very drunk.”

“I wassovery drunk. Like, burn your house down, your ex-boyfriend saw you naked drunk.”

She picks up a strawberry-iced donut with sprinkles and nods at my bathrobe. “Sorry I put you in that, of all things. You were just so very naked, and it was the first thing I came to.”

I look down at it, adjusting the neckline that had slipped a little. “I kind of like it better now that it’s all dirtied up by Wilder, don’t you?”

“When he was shielding you from his crew, I was sure he’d maul them like an animal if they moved any way but backward.”

A giggle slips out of me. “Oh, good, I do remember a little.”

“The way you looked at one another could have started several fresh fires—I broke out in a sweat just watching you. I’ve seen you and Wilder whip around intense energy before, but that was…whew.” She fans her face.

My face is flaming too. “Oh, I remember more than a little then.”

“Or when he scooped you up and carried you inside? In that uniform? Lord, Cass. He didn’t kiss you or anything, did he? Because he looked a little shaken when he came back out, if I’m honest.”

A host of sparrows takes off in my belly, swarming around in my chest. “No, he didn’t kiss me.”

She looks disappointed. “Hm. Shame.”

I laugh. “Thank God. That would have been a terrible idea.”

“Would it? Maybe a fling is just what you need?”

“If I was sure it could just be a fling, I’d agree. But Wilder and I have too much history for that.”

“Fair enough. But gosh, Cass—he quite literally growled at his crew when he ordered them to leave. I don’t think I’veeverheard Davis growl,” she notes on a laugh.

My smile fades. “Davis.” For a moment, I stare at nothing. “Do you remember when I used to be practicallypsychic? Take me to Vegas because I’m a lucky charm, always right on a hunch. I thought I knew. I wasso certainI knew what my future held, all the way to the end. And look how tragically wrong I was. Did I ever really know what would come? Or have I always been wrong? Have I been living my entire life by a broken compass?”

Jessa pushes my coffee toward me. “Those are very big questions on a hangover, darling. Drink this first.”

I sigh, pulling the paper cup closer. The cardboard ring comes loose, and I spin it around.

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