It was like playing the drums today unlocked something she’d buried deep. It freed her music. Now, she wanted more. “Come on, Bash.” She pouted. “Please.”
He groaned as he slid from the booth. “Something tells me you can make anyone obey you.”
“Pretty much.”
They walked up to the stage where a binder sat on a stool. Flipping through it, they chose a song. Well, Wylder chose it.
“Rocketman?” Sebastian’s forehead creased.
“Love me some Elton.”
“I would not have guessed that.”
She turned to face him. “Just because the brothers who shall not be named are country stars doesn’t mean we have to be country fans.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”
“Believe it, babe.”
“Does anyone ever say no to you?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes, but they usually give in, eventually.” On the tiny stage was a single microphone, a stool, and a remote for the karaoke machine. Wylder pushed the stool out of their way.
She smiled at the mostly empty restaurant as if it was a giant crowd. “Hello. We are Bash and the Wyld Child. I’ll ask you in advance to please forgive us.”
She pointed the remote, finding their song, before setting the remote on the stool.
The music started, and Wylder shot Sebastian a grin. She’d always loved the stage, whether she was playing for thousands of people or only two. This time, she didn’t have her drum set to hide behind.
She stared at the screen as she started singing the words. But Sebastian didn’t join in. Looking sideways at him, she noticed the pallor of his cheeks. The man was nervous.
Reached toward him, she intertwined their fingers and pulled him closer.
Wylder did a weird hip move, trying to imitate how Becks acted on stage, and it seemed to put Sebastian at ease.
His voice joined hers, and he’d been right.
He was terrible.
And it was great.
Neither of them cared what the few people thought of them, of their singing. The further into the song they got, the more Sebastian loosened up. They danced together, laughing their way through the song.
It was a perfect few moments.
It didn’t matter that she barely knew Sebastian or that nothing between them could last. Both of them were only visitors in this town, in this life. Eventually, they’d move on from Nashville.
That didn’t make it any less fun.
The song ended, and some of the staff applauded.
Wylder leaned in to the mic. “Bash and the Wyld Child will be signing autographs from our booth.” She gave them a salute and pulled Sebastian from the stage. They collapsed into their booth in a fit of laughter.
“You’re good.” Sebastian shook his head like he couldn’t quite believe it.
She shrugged. “Being amazing is hungry business. What’s good here.” She flipped over the menu, her eyes zeroing in on the words. “They have a wing eating contest?” Her eyes snapped to Sebastian.
“I’ve never tried it. They only do it with their hottest wings. If you eat ten of them in a certain timeframe without reaching for a drink, you get free drinks for a month.”
“We’re doing it.”
“What? You did hear me say it was their hottest wings?”
“And?” She smirked. “Challenge accepted.”
Before Sebastian could protest more, the waitress reappeared. “What can I get you?”
Wylder wiggled her eyebrows at Sebastian. “We both want to do the wing eating contest.”
Surprise flickered across her face. “Sebastian never orders the hot wings.”
“Well, today he will.”
She left to go put in their order.
“What are you doing to me, Wylder?”
Wylder crossed her arms and sent him a playful smile. “Sometimes we need a little crazy in our lives.”
Thunder shook the restaurant, but no rain came yet. Wylder peered out the nearby window at the gray skies.
When the waitress returned with their wings, three other employees were with her. She set the two plates on the table.
Wylder licked her lips. She loved food that could burn her tongue off.
Their waitress held out a phone. “You have two minutes to eat, and remember, no drinks.”
Two minutes for ten wings? Piece of cake.
Wylder tucked a napkin into her shirt to use as a bib, and Sebastian laughed.
He wouldn’t be laughing soon, not when she beat him. Her competitive streak was a mile long. She would not lose this challenge.
Leaning forward, she readied herself.
Sebastian sat too casually, as if he didn’t care if he completed this.
The waitress started the timer. “Go!” She and the other employees cheered as Wylder and Sebastian dug in.
When Wylder tasted the first bit of barbecue sauce, she knew why this challenge was so hard. Her tongue burned, and she wanted a sip of her tea, but she kept going. After the first few wings, the burning worked its way down her throat and into her heart.
She chanced a glance at Sebastian who was gasping for breath.
An older woman now sang a Faith Hill song in front of the karaoke machine, providing the backdrop to the idiots who’d decided these wings were a good idea. Wylder… she was the idiot.
And she didn’t stop, couldn’t stop.
“Ten seconds,” the waitress called.
Wylder picked up her final wing, ripping the meat from it with her sauce-covered fingers and stuffing it into her mouth. As soon as she swallowed, the waitress slapped a palm on the table.
“Annnnd time!”
Wylder looked from Sebastian’s half full plate to her empty one before she grabbed her iced tea and chugged it.
Everyone stared at her in amazement and a bit of fear.
“We have a winner!” the waitress announced. “What’s your name, honey?”
“Wyld Child.” She smirked at the nickname and pulled her napkin free to clean the sauce from her face and hands.
A crash of thunder sounded outside, and she looked just in time to see the torrent of rain.
An idea came to her. “Can we get our bill? We need to go.”
“Dear,” the waitress smiled. “You won the challenge. It’s all on the house.”
“Perfect.” She slid from the booth. “Thank you so much. We really must be going.”
Sebastian followed her without being asked. “How did you do that?”
She shrugged. “Hot sauce is like me. Always causing trouble. So, in a way, we were meant to be together.”
“You and hot sauce?”
She nodded. “The perfect match.” They stopped at the door, looking out into the down pour. “Do you know what else is a perfect match?”
He only stared at her.
“Come on.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. The rain hit them in sheets, soaking their clothes within seconds. Wylder stopped in the middle of the parking lot and turned to Sebastian. Their moment at the music festival had been so perfect, but now, here, it was more. They weren’t strangers dancing in the rain.
Not now.
They didn’t know each other much, but they would.
Wylder rose up on her toes. “Rain,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his. “And kisses.”
Chapter 6
Bash: Did I just hear Beckett Anderson caterwauling in the hall? Is he okay?
Wylder almost fell off the couch laughing.
“You all right there, Wylds?” Becks arched a brow at her from his seat beside her. They were waiting for the rest of the band to show up for another recording session, and she wasn’t looking forward to hours and hours of waiting for Becks to finish work.
Wylder cleared her throat. “Yeah, sure. Just a funny video on Tik Toc.”
“Let me see.” He reached for her phone.
“No, why don’t you go finish warming up your voice in the booth so you don
’t disturb people?”
“Disturb?” His voice went all squeaky. “You know I have fans, right? Lots of them.”
“And they’re all dying for you to finish this new album.” She shooed him into the recording booth with his producer.
“Don’t disappear on me again Wylds, I have reservations for us for dinner. Just you and me, like old times. Steak club, Nashville style.”
“Steak club is not a thing, Becks.” She typed on her phone only half listening to him.
“Lies!”
Wylder: Yeah that was him. He doesn’t realize he sounds like a dying bird when he’s warming up.
Bash: Luke is stuck on the same verse like a broken record. He insists he’ll get it right soon, but if I hear him sing it one more time, I’m going to throw him through a wall. Want to ditch them?
Wylder was already walking for the door.
Wylder: Yes please! Meet me in the lobby in 2?
She shoved her phone in her back pocket and ran right into Nari.
“Woah, Wylder.” Nari stepped out of her way.
“Sorry, Nars!” Wylder called over her shoulder, heading for the elevator.
“Where are you going so fast?”
“Anywhere but here. Tell Becks I went to play in traffic, but I’ll be back for Steak Club!”
“Wylder! You know he—”
But Wylder slipped through the elevator doors just before they closed. For the last week, she’d been a good girl, following her brother around, enjoying the moments between his responsibilities when they actually got to hang like old times. Well, almost like old times. It was the waiting for those moments that was slowly killing her. All she could think about was Bash and the two kisses they’d shared in the rain. Two. Wylder was getting good at this flirting in the rain thing.
“We have to hurry.” Sebastian grabbed her hand the moment the elevator doors opened. “Luke sent his security team to find me.” They jogged through the fancy lobby and dashed into the busy Nashville streets. The recording studio was located in Music City, the part of Nashville where all the music industry stuff happened. Wylder had spent most of her time in Nashville either on this street or at home with Becks and Nicky in their fancy new house.
“Where should we run away to this time?” Bash asked as they ducked down a side alley full of back door entries to bars that weren’t open yet.
“Did he really send security guards to bring you back?”
“Luke says he values my opinion and won’t give his final approval on a track until I’ve heard it. It was nice way back when he was genuine about it. Now it’s gotten weird. Like I’m some kind of good luck charm he likes to keep around. They won’t look too hard for me.”
“That’s sorta sweet.”
“He’s a good kid, but fame…”
“Yeah, fame.” Wylder took his hand as they turned on the next street at the other end of the alley.
“I think it’s your turn,” Sebastian said, squeezing her hand.
“My turn for what?”
“Last time I took you to my favorite place for lunch, now it’s your turn to decide what we do—and my little Wyld Child, you have a lot to live up to.”
“Hey, no fair, I don’t know anything about Nashville.”
“Well, there’s the Grand Ol’ Opry.” Sebastian offered hesitantly.
“No way. Nothing music related.” Wylder shook her head. “We’re forgetting our famous siblings today.”
“Okay, there’s the river front and the river boats. Shopping at Germantown, Art galleries, the Christmas Village, pub crawls, bus tour—”
“Wait, back up.” Wylder stopped him. “Did you say Christmas Village?”
“Yeah, that was me grasping at straws though. It’s mostly for kids and families.”
“And they’re open in the summer? Like you can buy say, a Christmas tree there?”
“Yeah, they have everything you need for Christmas decorating, and there’s tons of great food there too.”
“Oh, that’s where we’re going.” Wylder pulled up her Uber app to order a car.
“We can walk there, it’s only a few blocks.”
“Perfect.” Wylder tucked her phone in her back pocket, glad she remembered to bring her purse with her. She had some shopping to do on Becks’ black Amex she never used.
“I warn you though, they have a huge ferris wheel there, and I kind of have a thing for ferris wheels. If I see one, I have to ride it. It’s a rule.”
“What a random place Nashville is.” Wylder laughed. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve followed my brother around Music Town, gone hiking up to a waterfall in the middle of the Tennessee jungle, ate atomic fire wings, and now we’re talking ferris wheels and Christmas trees.”
“So the hot wings weren’t a walk in the park for you like it seemed?” Sebastian gave her a side eye.
"Uh, no, I was dying. Why do you think I dragged you out into the rain? I needed to put the fire out.”
“And here I thought you were just looking for an excuse to kiss me.”
“It was like ninety percent emergency fire situation and ten percent wanting a repeat of that first night.”
“Only ten?” Sebastian frowned in mock horror as they walked down the tourist filled street. “I think you underestimate me, or I seriously need to up my game.”
“I think you underestimate the hotness of those wings.”
“When you said Christmas Village you really meant it, didn’t you?” Wylder scratched her head, unsure where she wanted to go first.
“I think we have to start with fudge.” Sebastian pointed to an igloo-shaped store with a Santa sleigh on top. “It’s a rule.”
“Fudge? They have fudge?” Wylder grabbed his hand. “Show me.” She walked with Sebastian through a crowd of kids and parents waiting to ride the train through Santa’s Village. Santa drove the train dressed in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. “Lord, where are we? This place is hilarious.” Wylder’s eyes went in fifty different directions at once.
“Fudge.” Sebastian held a door open for her, and a cool wave of air conditioning hit her along with the scent of something heavenly.
“Wow, I had no idea there were so many flavors of fudge!” She gazed at the display of everything from rocky road to caramel and orange sherbet flavored fudge. “Do you cater?” Wylder asked the lady behind the counter.
“Yes, we do, actually. When is your event?” The lady handed her a brochure and a business card.
“It’s soon, but I’m not sure on the dates yet.”
“Just call us a minimum of three days in advance, and we can accommodate most orders.”
“Excellent, Becks will love this! Can I get a pound of the chocolate peanut butter fudge, please?” She turned to Sebastian. “What are you getting?”
“I can’t have a taste of yours? You bought a pound,” he teased.
“Probably not. I don’t share food.”
“In that case, I’ll take a slice of the strawberry PB&J, please.”
“Oh, that sounds good. Can I have a bite?”
“You expect me to share, but you won’t share yours?” Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not exactly fair.”
“I might be persuaded to work out some kind of fudge exchange program.”
“Deal, but then you have to tell me what kind of event you’re planning that needs a catered fudge bar.”
Wylder and Sebastian went back outside and sat on the edge of a fountain to watch the kids on the train. “Okay, so my brother is a goof. He’s a lovable goof, but he tends to get his way. He’s on some Christmas in July kick right now. He wants to have a huge celebration with all of our friends and Nashville family before he has to head back out on tour. He won’t get to spend Christmas with Nicky at home, so I think he’s trying to make up for it with this big idea of his.”
“That’s… kind of adorable,” Sebastian said, sneaking a bite of her fudge.
“I’m going to need to taste your PB&J now, you lit
tle thief.” Wylder stuck her tiny plastic spoon into his slice of strawberry fudge. “That looks amazing, I should have gotten some of that too.”
“So, Becks is planning a Christmas in July party, and you need to find a gift?”
“Oh, no, that would be too easy. Becks, bless him, has all these grand ideas, but he couldn’t pull off a party to save his life. My brother is not a doer. That’s why I had to come check this place out.”
“Oh we can get everything you need here. After we finish loading up on sugar, we’ll get an iced coffee at that tiki hut kiosk over there, and then we’ll go find you a tree.”
“I like the way you think.” Wylder took a big bite of peanut butter fudge. “This is so freaking good, but I’m going to be sick.”
“That’s why we need large iced coffees.” Sebastian took her box of fudge and put it in the bag for later.
After they had their coffees in hand, Sebastian led her to the most gigantic Christmas decoration store she’d ever seen. And the crazy thing was, it wasn’t even cheesy. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but these are gorgeous!” Wylder made her way through the store, gazing at tree after tree, decorated to the hilt in beautiful lights, fat, glittery ribbons and one-of-a-kind ornaments. “Which one should I get?”
“You want to buy the whole thing as is?”
“Yes.” Wylder turned a corner, and her eyes landed on a twelve-foot, fresh-cut pine tree. Wine red ornaments and vintage silk ribbons with gold accents adorned its boughs, and a beautiful blown-glass star sat on top. “That one.” She walked around it.
“Can I help you with something?” a sales girl dressed as an elf asked.
“Yes, I want to buy this tree.”
“The ornament kit you mean?”
“No, everything.”
“Everything?” The girl looked surprised. “Most people just want to buy an ornament or two this time of year.”
“I want this tree—a fresh one I mean—at my house for an upcoming event I haven’t planned yet. Can I buy it, and you keep it here till I need it?”
“Yes. You said you’re having an event?”
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