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What did she have to lose now?

He held out a hand to her. “What do you say?”

She smiled at him. “I’d love a ride tonight.”

She had little memory of getting out of Badlands since she was searching the place for Colton and that little slut who’d been draped over him all night. When Meadow’s escort led her outside, she let him take her hand and pull her toward a truck.

He threw her a big smile, and she smiled back. She wanted this. She did.

Colton’s face swam in front of her mind’s eye. Maybe if she pretended it was him, she could go through with it.

The guy—she realized she didn’t even know his name and he was about to be her first—pushed her up against the side of the truck and kissed her.

Notes of cheap beer and whiskey flooded her head. He did not taste like Colton.

He did not kiss like Colton.

He trapped her to the steel and plundered her lips while groping her breast. The hard, fumbling touch was nothing at all like Colton’s hands on her. And he didn’t make her feel the way Colton made her feel at the pond.

She freed her hand and pushed against his chest. He didn’t break the kiss and squeezed her breast a little too hard. Her cry came out muffled under his mouth.

When he ran his other hand down her side and plunged it between her legs, gripping her pussy hard enough to cause pain, she began to twist and struggle.

“Stop!” This was too much like that high school party. He might as well be Landon.

Only last time Forest had saved her. Now there was no Forest.

A roar echoed through the parking lot. The stomp of feet on pavement made her adrenaline churn faster through her body.

Suddenly, the guy was ripped off her. Meadow started to slide down the side of the truck. The meaty noise of Colton’s fists pummeling the guy he just ripped off her filled the air.

Meadow twisted her face away from the sight. When tough fingers cupped her jaw and turned her head, she met Colton’s furious glare.

“You must want another spanking.”

Chapter Eight

The minute Colton saw Meadow come into the bar, he set down his drink. It was impossible not to watch while she rubbed her sexy body all over that asshole on the dance floor.

He might have continued to do nothing. After all, the woman was grown. Despite what Forest asked of him, Meadow shouldn’t need looking after.

But when the guy took her outside, Colton peeled Gabby’s hands off him and went after her, ready to take matters into his own hands.

Now she was shaking like a leaf in a stiff mountain wind, looking up at him with those big, frightened eyes.

His chest heaved as he stared down at her beautiful, pale face. Goddamn her for taking risks.

On the ground behind him, the guy who’d laid his hands on her, and continued to grope her even after she yelled at him to stop, let out a pained moan.

Meadow tried to peer over Colton’s shoulder, but he gripped the dainty point of Meadow’s chin and held her firmly in place. “You don’t want to see that, Meadow.”

She let out a quiet whimper.

The sound set him in motion. Grasping her by the arm, he took off at a fast pace across the parking lot.

“Where is your vehicle?” he demanded.

“W-why?”