Page 54 of Spurred On

There had to be a decent man in Dallas. Somewhere.

***

Dad promised to go to the Stud Ranch and collect Sidney’s things for her, which was a mercy, because she couldn’t bear to see Cody again.

Even though she’d been able to tell him off, to boot him from her life, it was a lot tougher than she imagined to actually walk away.

It was a good thing to remember, should she ever run into him again, how addictive he was. She’d spent years telling herself she was absolutely over him, and all it took was a simple kiss and she tumbled into his web again.

And all that falderal he’d fed her about how they had something special—no doubt that was a line he fed all of his women.

It was better this way. It was.

But for some reason, she dreamed of him every night and woke up remembering the taste of his kiss, the heat of his body, and the curve of his smile.

The whole weekend had been a disaster . . . except for one thing. To her delight, a few weeks after the debacle, Hanna called to tell her she’d broken off that hideous engagement with Zack and was now dating Logan. Even better, Logan’s company had bought the recipe to Dad’s chili to use in their restaurants, which had provided enough money to bail her father out with the bank . . . and then some.

That was all wonderful, but the thing Sidney loved the most was that Hanna was now working as an artist for Logan’s company, which brought her sister to Dallas. It was really nice to see her more often, though they both worried about their father, taking care of their ailing mother in that big ranch house all alone.

Sidney even played around with the idea of moving back.

And she would have, if Cody hadn’t been there. No doubt she could get a job at Bubba’s or the FoodWay or something. It couldn’t pay much less than her current stint as a bikini barista. Also, how long could a woman work as a bikini barista anyway? She wasn’t getting any younger.

All in all, the future looked pretty dismal.

She refused to believe it was because Cody wouldn’t be a part of it.

It didn’t help matters when Hanna and Logan got engaged several months later.

Not that Sidney wasn’t delighted for Hanna. She was. Her sister deserved to be happy. And Logan made her happy. It was so obvious, watching them together. They were made for each other.

When Hanna invited her to dinner to meet Logan’s family, she agreed at once, and not just because it was an opportunity to escape the boredom of her life, but because she really wanted to meet them. They would be family soon.

She never expected they were gazillionaires. Or close enough.

As Sidney drove up the long driveway at the address Hanna had given her, she had to wonder if she was at the wrong house. It was an enormous estate with manicured landscaping. The house was practically a mansion, but somehow had a homey, welcoming vibe.

The vibe continued when the door was opened my Mr. Wilder himself, Logan’s stepfather. He pulled Sidney into a warm hug. “Well hello there,” he boomed. “You must be Sidney.”

“Yes sir, I am,” she said, handing over the bottle of cheapo wine she’d brought. She felt silly about it now. They probably had a wine cellar or some shit, but she’d been raised to bring a hostess gift when she was invited somewhere, and that was all she could afford.

But Mr. Wilder, or Sam, as he insisted she call him, was gracious about it and accepted the craptastic bargain bottle with a beaming smile, as though she’d just gifted him with a vintage bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé. “Thank you. Thank you. Come on in, won’t you?”

He led her through a beautiful foyer covered with slate rock—with a fountain for Christ’s sake—past a gorgeous curved staircase with polished wood and wrought iron bars and into a huge rumpus room at the back of the house.

She was hit by a cacophony of laughter and jibes as she stepped into the room. If she’d thought the wealthy Wilders were snobs, she was wrong. At the moment, one of the brothers was making fart sounds on his elbow, which in turn made the younger sister break out in peals of giggles.

Hanna had warned her about the Wilders. Including Logan, there were five children. Rafe was the oldest—Sidney easily picked him out of the crowd because he was glowering at the hubbub with a reluctant smile on his face—and Ben and Brandon were the twin brothers. Those three were Sam Wilder’s sons. Louisa, who was only eight, was a product of Sam’s marriage to Diane, Logan’s mother.

Though they were a blended family, one would never know. They seemed very much a unit. It was clear they adored one another.

Hanna saw her and sprang to her feet. “Sidney!” she called.

And that easily, all the laughter stopped. Every head came around and every gaze locked on her.

She felt like a canapé at a velociraptor party.

Especially when they all stood and swarmed her.