Scoring Wilder

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Liam and I hadn't made it out of bed yet when his cell phone rang the next morning. It wasn't early, nearly eleven o'clock, but since I wasn't going to practice we took advantage of the free time. Let’s just say that by that point I felt thoroughly orgasmed-out. I think that’s what you feel like when you hit nirvana. So yeah, Dalai Lama, I’m onto you.

  We were watching morning TV and eating breakfast when he reached over to answer the buzzing phone. He mouthed "Penn" to me, so I nodded and kept right on eating. Sorry, but nobody's more important than blueberry pancakes.

  "What’s up?— she's okay, I know Becca was worrying, but she got stitches and she's healing up—she already called the police, but I'm going to force her to move in with me—no it's the perfect time, asshat, thanks for your support— yeah, she's right here, hold on."

  He held the phone out for me, "Penn asked for you."

  I scrunched my brows together, but took the phone nonetheless. What would Penn need to say that he couldn't just tell Liam?

  "Hey Penn," I said, holding the phone up to my ear and continuing to cut my pancakes with my free hand. Priorities.

  "Kinsley, I'm glad you're feeling better."

  I smiled. "Me too. You should see the other guy though."

  Penn laughed. "Oh yeah, did you give him a shiner?"

  "Yup. No worries."

  "Good to know I shouldn't mess with you—but hey, I wanted to ask for your help with Becca."

  He piqued my interest and I glanced toward Liam to see if he knew what Penn was talking about. He shrugged.

  "Sure, of course. What do you need?"

  "Well, I'm sort of concocting this elaborate plan to ask her to be my girlfriend."

  I laughed. "Aren't you guys past that? You've been dating for as long as Liam and I have."

  Penn groaned, "Yes, but it's complicated. You know she turned me down when I asked her a few weeks ago. She was scared we were moving too fast and that I needed to work some stuff out—which I did."

  "So now?"

  "So now I want to add the title and make it elaborate and showy so that if she turns me down she’ll feel terrible."

  I couldn't stop laughing. "Soooo, you're basically guilting her into being your girlfriend."

  "Hey—whatever gets the job done," he quipped.

  "Well definitely count me in then."

  "All right, I'm thinking about doing it this weekend."

  "As in two days from now?"

  He chuckled. "Is that a bad idea?"

  I toyed with my fork. "No. We just have to be creative and quick. Or have you already thought of something?"

  "I want to do something on the beach with roses and candles. I know it's super cheesy, but I want to make it over the top so that she'll remember it."

  I was so happy for Becca. So happy that she found someone like Penn who wanted to go through all this trouble just for her.

  "All right, Liam and I will do whatever you want… I can't wait to see Becca's reaction."

  He laughed. "She's going to flip. I know it."

  "Okay well, I'm going back to my breakfast, but I'll talk it over with Liam and let you know if we come up with any good ideas."

  "Sounds good, thanks Kins, and hope you feel better."

  I hung up and I handed the phone back to Liam.

  "Did you hear most of that?"

  He smiled and leaned forward to kiss my cheek. "Let's make Penn buy her a yacht so we can use it whenever we want," he joked.

  "Yes! I'll tell him she only accepts 40’ boats as gifts."

  We spent the rest of the morning concocting plans on how to trap Penn into getting Becca really awesome toys. We decided a helicopter with the four of our faces on the side would really make her want to say yes to him.

  …

  Sadly, Penn shot down all of our extravagant ideas with phrases like "you guys are ridiculous", "No, we don't need to buy a house in Hawaii so that Becca will date me", and “stop calling me or I’ll turn my phone off”. Liam and I chalked it up to poor judgment on his part. I guess romantic roses and candles on the beach would have to cut it.

  All day Saturday we were running around doing his bidding. We picked up chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of Dom Perignon. We drove around looking for the perfect rose petals because they couldn't just be red. Becca also loved yellow roses, so Penn thought we had to get both red and yellow petals. High maintenance couple alert.

  On the way home I could feel Liam glance over to watch me every now and then. It made my skin flush to feel his gaze on me, but I never gave into the urge to meet his eyes. He seemed even more serious about us since the incident with the paparazzi. He'd asked me that morning if I'd thought anymore about moving in with him. We'd even discussed it with Coach Davis on Friday. She was wary about me moving in with him so soon, but she'd agreed that the security at the house wasn't up to par for someone with as much media coverage as I was getting. It was probably safer for the girls living in the house, as well as myself, if I thought about moving somewhere a bit more secure.

  The more I let the idea linger in my mind over the last two days, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and do it. I’d seen different versions of Liam, but there were still so many that I wanted to know and learn. I wanted the midnight-snack Liam with the disheveled hair. I wanted the lazy Saturday Liam that never changed out of his sweats, but looked freaking adorable anyway. The hot bastard. The only reason I hesitated was because of Becca and Emily. It was so easy to see each other when I could literally shout across our bathroom to get Emily’s attention, and Becca was in my room more than I was. I didn't want to drift away from them or the rest of the girls on my team.

  My thoughts were interrupted when we pulled up outside Liam's house. I’d have time to make a decision later. We carried everything inside and then went to find Penn who was running around like a wild man. You would have thought he was asking her to marry him at this point.

  "Penn, seriously, everything will work out," I said just as my phone buzzed. I glanced down to see a text from Becca.

  Becca: Freaking out a bit. Penn’s been acting weird all day. He still hasn't called, but he just texted me and told me a limo was waiting for me outside. That's good, right?

  Kinsley: Yes! No worrying!!!

  I dropped my phone back down and we hustled down to the beach so we could relieve Penn of his duties. He went to shower and left Liam and me to light all the candles. No big deal, right? Wrong. Who thought candles on a beach was romantic? There’s this mysterious force at the beach that never stops. Locals refer to it as wind, and it majorly fucked up our plan.

  So there we were unable to light a single candle while we also attempted to protect the entire setup before Becca showed up. This was actually much harder than expected considering the seagulls assumed the rose petals were some kind of food. They kept swooping down and stealing petals, almost taking me out in the process and pooping on at least three of the unlit candles. Sorry Becca, hope you like your romance with a side of bird flu.

  "You know we should at least get one of these strawberries," I pointed out.

  Liam chuckled. "We can make chocolate covered strawberries, babe."

  My brows perked up. "You have the supplies?"

  "Strawberries, chocolate, and Kinsley— yes," he winked. I shivered at the thought of melted chocolate and Liam in the same vicinity.

  I was still attempting to light the first candle just as Penn came back down to the beach.

  "She's five minutes away! You guys have to go!" he said, hurrying us along. In a flurry of movements, we picked up the extra lighters and trash and ran up onto Liam's porch without explaining the fatal flaw in his plan. He’d figure it out soon enough.

  “WAIT! THEY AREN’T LIT,” he yelled.

  Liam glanced over toward me with a wicked smile. “Run!”

  We weren't planning on watching the entire thing, but I had to see Becca’s reaction when she stepped outside.
>
  "I don't want to watch for long. It feels like we're invading their privacy," Liam said, sitting down next to me on the porch.

  "I agree."

  Liam’s hand stroked my leg and goose bumps bloomed beneath his touch. If he kept it up, we’d miss the entire thing.

  "Oh, she's here!" Liam said, pointing to where Becca was exiting the back of Penn's house. I could barely see her through the tall shrubbery that outlined Liam’s porch. She was wearing the blue dress and she looked absolutely stunning. The sunset silhouetted her from behind and her bright blonde hair shone against the vibrant backdrop. She'd slipped her shoes off so she could walk in the sand, and the second she saw the sight before her, her hands flew to her mouth and she froze. Tears burned the corners of my eyes as I watched her step closer to the ring of unlit, poopy candles.

  Liam's arm stretched across my shoulders and he swept the tear from my cheek without saying a word. Penn was talking to Becca, but we couldn't hear what he was saying. I assumed he was telling her how much she meant to him. Then he paused his speech and Becca threw herself into his arms. I had to fight the urge to cheer for them. They were finally getting their happy ending and I knew they both deserved it.

  "I'd assume that was a yes, don't you think?" Liam asked.

  Penn and Becca were kissing, his arm was slung low around her waist, pulling her against him with fierce intensity. It was our time to leave.

  "I think so," I said with a giant smile.

  Liam mirrored my smile and then pulled me through the back door into his house.

  "What about those chocolate covered strawberries now?" he asked as I finished off my glass of champagne.

  "How about we skip the strawberries?" I asked with a suggestive gaze.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I felt the wind rushing past me as I pushed myself to pick up the pace. I was beating my previous times, but it wasn't good enough. My sprints needed to be faster and my skills had to be perfectly honed if I expected to make it onto the Olympic team.

  I'd been training every day, harder than I had in my entire life, and I knew I had a fighting chance at getting an invitation for tryouts. There wasn't a woman in America training harder than I was. Becca would join me on most days, and we'd push each other past our limits. Everything had fallen into a routine. She was staying at Penn's house in Malibu more and more often, and I was leaving my things at Liam's house whenever I stayed there. We'd drive to practice together, stay after to continue training, and then head back to Malibu afterward. Liam and Penn would get home around the same time and we'd cook dinner, hanging out together a few times every week.

  I hadn't officially decided to move in with him, but it seemed like eventually I'd wake up one morning and all of my crap would be at his house. Liam thought he was being sly, transitioning various things slowly so that I couldn’t protest. One day he'd cleared out half of his closet. The next, I had a few drawers in the bathroom to leave all of my stuff. Tomorrow, I’d have monogrammed towels and he’d say “Oh, weird how did those get there?”

  I wasn’t finding the energy to fight him about it anymore. I’d start school in a few weeks and we’d have even less time together, so it made sense for us to live together. I think I just liked making him work for it a little bit. And yeah, the day I came home to find a slew of various make-up and every type of shower essential possible, I knew I was milking this cow for all it was worth. Shhh.

  "All right!" Becca yelled, "I'm exhausted, that's enough for today."

  I finished my sprint, running past the net and exhaling a heavy breath. I rested my hands atop my head as I started my cool down. We didn't have long before we had to head home and get ready. Liam and Penn were taking us out for Mexican food to celebrate the end of summer. All of our schedules would get crazier in the next few weeks. I’d either start school as planned or I’d hopefully receive my letter for the USA Soccer Association any day inviting me Olympic tryouts. Fingers crossed. And maybe my toes, elbows, eyelashes, and legs, too.

  “I’m going to eat every single taquito they have on the premises,” Becca declared as we headed off the field.

  “That’s disgusting.”

  She scowled at me. “Don’t you dare judge me. I’m starving.”

  “Taquitos are gross. Let’s order like ten plates of nachos.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  …

  The next two weeks passed as if time was moving at 4x speed. Everything beyond soccer, Liam, my friends, and family fell completely by the wayside. I forgot what TV was, I hadn’t cracked my laptop open, and I swear there were cobwebs surrounding my makeup and high heels.

  But I loved every second of it. I loved training alongside Liam after we both finished our team practices. He pushed me to become better, and I tried to do the same for him. I’d finally made the final transition to move in with him and I loved coming home to his house every day. I couldn’t feel the exact moments when our relationship began growing into something more, but one night as we laid in bed recounting our days and cuddling around one another, I realized that this was it.

  He was it.

  I buried my face against his chest and I kept my thoughts to myself. After all, we’d only been together four months and I was still nineteen… a baby in the eyes of most people.

  Early the next morning, I woke up to my phone vibrating on the nightstand beside Liam’s bed. I rolled over and reached blindly for the traitorous device, hoping in vain that my spidey senses would kick in. Nope, nothing. I had to actually blink my eyes open like a real person.

  Emily’s named flashed across the screen and I groaned before answering.

  “Emily? What’s up?” I asked with a sleepy voice. Why the hell was she calling me so early? I’d see her at practice in an hour anyway.

  “KINSLEY! You got a letter!” She squealed into the speaker so loudly that Liam shifted in his sleep next to me.

  “What are you talking about? My mom sends me stuff all the time. Just bring it to—”

  “No! Kinsley, you got the letter. It’s from the USA Soccer Association. I haven’t opened it, but it’s a thick packet and I know it’s your invitation!”

  That sentence woke me up as if I’d just downed five espresso shots. My mouth fell open and my fingers loosened around the sleek phone. In slow motion I watched it clatter to the hardwood floor.

  “Kinsley! Kinsley?!” Emily called through the speaker.

  “HOLY SHIT!” I screamed, and jumped out of bed.

  “What? Kinsley, what’s going on?” Liam shot up, rubbing his eyes and trying to piece together the strange wakeup call. I was too busy dancing around his room to care that I woke him up.

  “Liam! I got a letter this morning from the USA Soccer Association! Emily called—”

  “Yeah… I’m still here by the way.” I heard her muffled voice through the speaker of my phone and started laughing.

  I ran back over and grabbed the phone. “Ah! Will you bring the letter to practice, Emily? I’ll open it there.”

  “Okay. I’m so happy for you! I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  “Thanks Em,” I hung up, dropped my phone on the bedside table, and slowly turned to Liam.

  He was sitting there shirtless with the comforter bunched around his waist. His hair was sticking in every direction, but his smile caught my breath.

  “You did it,” he murmured with a scratchy voice.

  I mashed my lips together to quell my emotions. “I don’t know if it’s actually the letter. It could be something else.”

  He dipped his head and gave me a little smirk. “Babe, you did it. They don’t bother sending letters of rejection. If you got a packet, it’s an invitation.”

  “Liam…”

  His smile widened, and he tossed the blankets off his body before reaching for me. His fingertips caught my waist and I squealed as he pulled my body onto his.

  “You’re amazing,” he whispered into my ear as he pinned my body to his.

  I pro
pped my hands on his chest so that I could look up at him. The smile he was wearing was so genuine that I had to suck in a quick breath.

  “So amazing that I probably can’t date you anymore.”

  “Mmm…” he murmured, pulling me closer so that I could feel the rumbling in his chest. “Are you going to trade up?” he asked before placing a kiss right behind my ear.

  Hah.

  I tried to think of a single person that I could trade up to… let’s see… there was… nope. No one. Liam was it. He was the person at the end of the day made me laugh the loudest and swoon the longest. He kept me on my toes and I liked hanging out with him— chatting, working out, and cooking dinner just as much as I enjoyed having rockin’-out-of-this-world sex. No really, I’m talking about some primo horizontal tango action.

  There was no trading up.

  I’d scored Liam Wilder.

  I let my body collapse onto his and smiled into the warmth of his neck. “On second thought, I think I’ll stay right here.”

  He laughed before wrapping his arms around me. “I’m so proud of you, Kins.”

  “It doesn’t feel real,” I whispered into his neck.

  He was quiet for a moment, and then finally he answered, “She believed she could so she did.” He was reminding me of the ink inscribed over my ribcage. Ink that I stared at every morning as I resolved to work harder than I had the day before, to push myself past my limits, because in the back of my mind I thought that maybe I was just crazy enough to reach my dream.

  And today, in that very moment, I realized that all of the work had actually paid off.

  “I did it.”