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“I’m going to drive you home.”

“Why don’t we take your truck?”

He couldn’t risk another scene in his truck like the last. The memory of yanking her across that console and spanking her bare ass was too damn fresh in his mind to take any chances.

She dug in her heels, trying to drag him to a stop. He whipped around, his chest hot and tight with anger and lust and something he never wanted to think about. A feeling that he’d only experienced that one time when he saw what was about to happen to his best friend.

Fear.

Locking his arms around Meadow’s waist, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her, kicking and shrieking, to the end of the parking lot. There, he spotted the black truck with the Gracey Ranch brand logo on the side.

When he set her on her feet, he might have been a little too rough, but she was a tough woman, despite all her childish behavior.

“Give me the keys.”

She jerked her jaw up a notch. “No way.”

He braced a palm on the truck and leaned close enough to her that he caught her scent—the perfume she wore and that tang of female. And sweat that probably came from almost being forced against her will for a second time in her life.

His lips hovered even closer to hers. He detected her quick inhalation of breath but did not kiss her.

He would not.

“Give me the keys. Now.”

“Frisk me for them.”

His gut tumbled with desire he refused to acknowledge further. “You have no idea what you’re asking for, little girl.”

Those words got her. She dug in the front of her jeans and thrust a key fob at him. He took them and walked her to the passenger door, forcing her in.

They drove halfway to the ranch before he realized how wonderful the silence was.

If Meadow Gracey wasn’t talking, she must be fuming with anger.

He swung his gaze to her and found sparks glittering in her eyes.

“You can’t ignore me forever, Colton.”

“Try me.”

“I’m not a little girl.”

“Then quit acting like one.”

She remained silent the rest of the trip. At the ranch she jumped out of the truck, and he leaped after her to take her by the arm.

She attempted to shake him off. Darkness closed in on them, making him even more aware of her standing so close.

Fucking hell, he wanted her.

Her plump lips called to him. The urge to claim them for his own and wipe away any trace of the man who’d been forcing himself on her shook him to the core.

Her lips parted on a soft puff of air.

“I can walk to the house by myself.” Despite her strong words, her voice wobbled.

“I’m making sure you actually go inside. And lock the door.”