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Back Walk on the Wilder Side Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. Epilogue
  43. Excerpt from Wilder With You
  44. Also by Serena Bell
  45. Acknowledgments
  46. About the Author

“Please don’t, Brody. She’s been through way more than enough. I’m asking you not to make this complicated for her. Just, put a nice neat ending on it. Closure. Tell her you had a really good time but you know she’s got a life in Boston. You’ve known Rachel her whole life, Brody. She wants it all. The white wedding dress and the suburban house and the Ivy League husband. She needs things nice and organized and steady. Predictable. She needs to keep things neat. Let her go back there and live in her sublet with her friend Louisa and take her librarian job. Let her meet a guy who’ll take good care of her and make it easy for her.”

A guy who’ll take good care of her and make it easy for her.

I can almost see it. The kind of guy Connor means. They meet at a party with some friends. Or maybe an event connected to the library. A library fundraiser. He’s there in dress pants and a button-down shirt, and he chats with her about books they’ve both read. He asks her out to a nice restaurant and drives her around in his Prius, and he lets dates three, four, and five pass without putting the moves on her because he wants to make sure they’re really comfortable with each other first.

“And you’re—” Connor rakes a hand through his hair. “You’re not—”

He stops.

“I’m not that guy,” I say, so he doesn’t have to.

He scowls. “Jesus, Brody, I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

This is Connor. My best friend. The guy who has been with me through thick and thin. The guy who knows—who should know—that I would never do anything to hurt his sister. Who should see that I am fiercely loyal and totally faithful and trying so fucking hard to turn this ship around and make myself into the kind of man who deserves a woman like Rachel.

And if he can’t see it?

Maybe it’s not there.

Maybe all the people who didn’t think I had it in me to take care of the people they loved—my dad, Gabe, Zoë…

Maybe they were onto something.

34

Rachel

I travel with the pack of Wilders, waiting for Brody to come back. I’ve got Justin back in the Björn, and he’s dozing with his little cheek pressed against my chest. He’s warm and heavy and I think I’ll implode from the cuteness.

Finally Brody comes back, alone, with his head down. Damn, that can’t be good. The Wilders apparently think we need space, because they immediately drift away, citing all the other places they need to be—main stage, food booths, home.

“Hey,” I say to Brody, when they’re gone. “Everything okay? Ish?”