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“Maybe I’m tired of being seen as a little girl with a daddy everyone is afraid of. Nobody in Eden will touch me because they know who my father is. All the ranch hands are ordered to come and watch over me. Do you know how humiliating that is?”

He twisted his gaze from the road and stared at her again.

At that dark look, her nipples pebbled. The crease between his brows might as well be a whip to her senses for how much it turned her on.

“I just want to know what it feels like to be a woman. Tonight—”

“If I were a woman, I’d be much smarter!”

“—would have been my—”

“Do you know what that guy could have done to you?”

“—first time.” She could hardly force the words past her lips.

Colton went dead silent.

She held her breath, waiting for him to laugh at her being not only a twenty-six-year-old virgin, but as untouched as a saint. Only once had somebody made it past second base…before Forest had found him and ripped him off her.

Her throat burned in shame.

“If you ever do something that stupid again… If you ever put yourself in that much danger…” his stare blazed into hers with a fury that sent her reeling in her seat, “a spanking will be the least of your problems.”

The fighter in her leaped up like a scrappy ranch hand, ready to show him just how capable she was.

Her chin lifted on its own. “What if I do? What will my punishment be?”

“Goddammit, Meadow!” He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Darkness shrouded them. The clouds had rolled in, concealing the moon and casting everything in a heavy blanket of midnight.

But she could still see his cock pressing against his jeans.

She was inexperienced, but not stupid. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.

She wouldn’t go after some dangerous random guy again—because Colton would be the one taking her virginity. He just didn’t know it yet.

His chest heaved in contrast to his tone, which came out soft and gritty. “How is it possible that you’re a virgin? Look at you.”

She lifted a shaky hand to her eyes and scrubbed away the tears that gathered in the corners. “There was an…” Her voice fell. “Incident.”

He didn’t move. “Tell me.”

“Why should I?”

Still, the story tumbled out of her, unchecked, despite her will.

“There was a party. Back in tenth grade. I begged my father to let me go, even though older kids were throwing it. This one guy, he was a senior. Landon. Every girl in the school wanted him. He was the quarterback—of course. So stereotypical. He was gorgeous and had these bedroom eyes. He was smart too—slated for med school and a full ride to college.”

She paused, struggling as images of that night bombarded her.

“Go on.” Colton’s voice was soft, but not in a soothing way. It was deadly.

“Daddy agreed to let me go, but only if Forest drove me there and picked me up when it was over. He was home on leave, you see.”

He nodded for her to continue.

The words came out in a rush. “Landon never paid attention to me before. But that night, he was all over me. Telling me how beautiful I was. How he loved my long legs and…” She gulped. “He took me by the hand and led me into the bedroom. Said he wanted to show me his football trophies.” She issued a grating laugh. “Turns out the trophy was really in his pants.”