Page 42 of Wilde About You

"Well shit, now I'm third in line behind horses and pizza."

"Yes, but you're definitely a solid third." I opened my pack and dug out my jeans. New voices floated up from downstairs. A young girl's giggle and excited chatter followed. I looked at Colin. "Your niece? I can't wait to meet her."

"Guess there went that solid third position."

I dressed in a hurry. There was still so much crap hanging over my head, but I had a new boyfriend, the kind who would have made all my teenage friends swoon, and he had horses and dirt bikes and lived on a ranch, so I let all the shitty stuff go for now. On top of that, I felt very safe at the ranch. I hadn't heard or seen anything from J.J. Gregor in a few days. It was almost easy to forget the photo existed. With no phone, I'd had no contact from my boss, but that was fine. I was quitting that stupid job. I needed to move on. I just had to decide whether I'd sell the photo or even release it at all. I was sure I could get seven figures for it from some gossipy news site. That would set me up, and I could take my time looking for a better job.

Colin and I changed into jeans. I didn't have the cool riding boots I had in Iceland, but those were fur lined and would have been too hot here. Sneakers would have to do. I could hear Colin's niece, Rio, in a lively debate with her grandfather about her new hair color.

"You look like a cartoon character," Finn said as we came down the stairs. A flash of pink caught my eye. A slender teenage girl with a long brown ponytail with neon pink highlights and pink cowboy boots was standing in the living room with her hands on her hips.

"You're just too old. You're from those ancient days where women wore big puffy hairsprayed helmets, and the colors were all from a box of Loreal. I forgot, Gramps, did they have cars back in your day or were people still driving in horse carts?"

A beautiful woman wearing black jeans and a white blouse came out from the kitchen looking somewhat out of place in the Wilde household but also completely at ease. "Rio, enough of that." She spotted us, and a bright white smile crossed her face. "Colin, I heard you were back at the ranch." She smiled at me. "I'm Indi. Jameson told me he met you at the apartment. I'm going to assume it wasn't you who gave him the cut, but he wouldn't tell me where he got it."

I walked straight over to shake her hand. "I'm Sadie, and he got it helping me out of a jam. All the brothers jumped in to help, and I'm forever grateful to them." I turned to Rio and shook her hand, too. "I think the pink works."

"See, Gramps," she said in a told-you-so tone.

Finn's white hair puffed up over the top of his easy chair. "She's just being polite," he said back without looking at any of us. "Colin, where's that damn pizza?"

"After we ride," Colin said.

Rio walked over. "Now I want to bleach my hair white and cut it really short. Indi?" She gave her a pleading look.

Indi smiled. "While it does look gorgeous on Sadie, you'll want to at least sleep on a decision like that. You were only just telling me that you like having your hair long for a change."

I reached up and pulled at my short locks. "Yeah, this is sort of irreversible. It's easier to wash, but I'm not too sure it was the right decision. Besides, your ponytail is so thick and pretty. I'd love to have your hair."

Rio smiled, and my comment seemed to help give her pause about short white hair. She looked at my jeans. "Are you riding?" she asked.

I looked at Colin.

"We're riding, but you're going to be in the arena," he answered. "We're going out on a trail ride."

"Well shit, I mean shoot." She smiled innocently at Indi. "I want to go on a trail ride."

"Nope," a deep voice said from behind. Zander, the biggest and oldest of the Wilde brothers walked in wearing worn-out boots and faded jeans. "You've got to work on your stops and turns."

Rio blew a loud raspberry, then turned to me. "You know how in those old black and white movies—" She turned toward Finn who was still busy scrolling channels. "You know, Gramps, like when you went to the movies," she said extra loudly though it didn't seem as if Finn had any hearing problems. She turned back to me. "Well, you know how in those movies the school teachers were always super mean and looked evil? That's my riding teacher." She waved with a flourish at Zander.

"Yep, that's me." Zander pulled out a stick of gum and unwrapped it.

"Yum, can I have one?" Rio asked.

"What mean school teacher hands out chewing gum? Let's go before I change my mind about this riding lesson altogether."

Colin and I saddled two sweet horses, Ranger and Toby. He told me they were fairly new to the ranch. It seemed when people no longer wanted to care for their horses, they sent them to Finn for a forever home. It seemed like such a contradiction from everything I'd ever heard Ace say about the Wildes and especially Finn Wilde. I climbed up on Ranger, a stocky buckskin, and Colin took the reins on Toby, a retired racehorse who had a lot more attitude. Past the barn, Zander was on a big black horse showing Rio how to back her horse up in a straight line. The teen looked bored to be learning such a mundane skill.

Colin and I both caught her eye roll and laughed. "I remember having that eye roll down to an art," I said. "But never directly in front of my dad. That would earn me a week's grounding."

Ranger was slow and plodding, but Toby had a much quicker step. Colin knew how to handle him well, and he looked damn good on top of a horse. Ranger and I followed as he led us along a narrow dirt trail with overgrown fields on each side. Occasionally, we'd pass a trail leading through the landscape that had been obviously plowed by the tires of dirt bikes.

The trail finally widened enough for me to prod Ranger forward to come up side by side with Colin and Toby. Toby flicked his tail at us as we passed.

"I think he still remembers his days on the track," I said. "Doesn't want anyone to pass him. Your dad is cool, mellow," I said as I came up next to him.

Colin laughed. "Mellow, never heard that word used to describe my old man."