Page 141 of Stay Wild Darlin’

Poppy

I choked on my own thoughts.

He . . . loved . . . me? That couldn’t be possible.

No—scratch that—it was very possible. We lived together. Slept tangled in each other every night. Fucked every moment we could steal one. I was very much in love with Dalton Culpepper myself.

In that moment, with Cora between us, the arena screaming behind us, and him staring at me like I was the only thing that existed in his world—everything rushed in too fast. Every fear. Every question. Every stupid defense mechanism I’d ever built pounded into place.

Instead of saying it back, I leaned into him, sliding my arms around his shoulders as I whispered the one thing that came out on instinct.

“Thank you,” I breathed into his shoulder.

Like a damn idiot, I said thank you to his I love you.

The second it left my lips, I wanted to take it back, but I couldn’t because Beau, Harleigh, Fable, and Papa Banks were surrounding us.

Either Dalton didn’t notice or he didn’t care because instead of pulling back or freezing or asking why the hell I didn’t say it back, he pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Thank you for being here,” he whispered.

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else,” I murmured, trying to steady the lump in my throat. Trying not to crumble under the weight of how good he always was to me, even when I couldn’t meet him in the moment.

Cora, still in his arms, reached out and grabbed both sides of his face with her tiny hands.

“Da,” she said, so clear and confident it stopped my heart.

I jerked my head up. “Oh my god. Did she say Da? Did anyone hear that?”

I spun around, eyes wide, scanning my friends because I needed a witness, but they blinked at me as if I’d suddenly grown a second head.

Dalton’s eyes locked with mine, wide and soft and full of that same disbelief that I felt in my chest.

And then⁠—

“Da-da,” she said again, voice even stronger this time as she tapped his cheek with her open palm.

Dalton’s mouth fell open. His arms tightened instinctively around her.

“She said Da-da.” Fable was the first one to completely lose it. “Say it again, Cora-belle. Who is this?” She pointed dramatically to Dalton.

Cora didn’t miss a beat.

“Da-da,” she said again, clear as day.

That was it.

We all lost it.

Squeals, laughter, gasps—everyone started clapping and cheering like we’d won another championship. Harleigh smacked the top of her thighs, Beau let out a loud whistle, and I think even Mr. Banks got misty-eyed before pretending it was dust.

Cora looked right at me and said, “Ma.”

Every sound around us died on impact.

Silence fell across the back of the chutes like someone had slammed the brakes on time.

Utter fucking silence.