Page 28 of Cruel Expectations

Forcing her to go home for her own good was one thing, but he never should have laid a hand on her.

He clenched his fist against the feel of her warm, ripe flesh beneath his hand. Christ, her skin was so silky. Her body was fucking alive in a way that he hadn’t known in too goddamn long.

When Colton approached, he heard him coming from yards away. Neither spoke for a moment as he moved to stand next to Hunter.

He swallowed against the volcanic gravel in his throat. “I spanked Ivy.”

His friend said nothing. Long seconds passed, and then Hunter turned his head to look at Colton. A smile played around his lips.

He narrowed his eye at Colton. “You fucking knew I would. How?”

“Because you and I are too alike—and so are those sisters.”

“She’s a fucking hellion. But she does it in a way that makes you think she’s royalty acting bad.”

“Yeah, that’s the Gracey women for ya.” He pushed out a sigh that sounded less impatient and more appreciative.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do now that I touched her? You should send me packing. In fact, I’ll do it myself. I’ll go tonight.” He turned from the fence.

“You’re gonna let one woman send you running?”

He squared up. “I’m not running.”

Colton stared at him. “Good. Because I need you around here. We’ve made the place safer, but the ranch doesn’t have all the measures of protection it needs. I thought you made a commitment to helping.”

He looked his friend over. “You’re not even going to tell me off for teaching the boss’s daughter a lesson? I thought you were in charge around here now.”

He chuckled. “Would a lecture do any good? I know better than anyone how damn difficult a Gracey woman can be.”

He ground his teeth. “She’s the most frustrating woman I’ve ever met. She’s smart in some ways—I’d even call her savvy—but how she survived in Europe without being abducted by sex traffickers, I don’t fucking know.”

The sound of Webb on the guitar filtered across the field to them. Up above, the sky had grown black, and stars popped out, winking against the midnight velvet.

He sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll try to stay away from her.”

Colton clapped him on the shoulder, his hand the anchor in the storm he needed to stay the course.

“You can try to stay away from her. But I’ve seen how you look at her too.”

His head snapped around.

Colton patted him on the back. “Have fun with that, bro.”

Chapter Seven

Ivy stormed through the house, reaching with every long stride for the refuge of her bedroom.

As a kid, she got good at running these halls to get away from her siblings in a game of tag. In her teenage years, she perfected tiptoeing around any creaky floorboards when she snuck in after curfew. Not that her father would have ever noticed. Nobody cared enough to discipline her after their mother passed. Instead of giving her any direction in life, they told her to go be Ivy.

Now she just wanted escape—period.

She rushed into her room and whirled to slam the door behind her, but Meadow was there, hand braced against the door.

Her sister wasn’t going to let her get out of telling her what happened with Hunter back at the saloon. She flopped down on her bed.

“Do you know what that man did?” she demanded before Meadow could even open her mouth.

Meadow’s blue eyes were so close to their mother’s that her gaze scrambled Ivy’s thoughts. Forest and their father had brown.

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