Page 33 of Bucked By Love

I squeeze the steering wheel. “Look, I just think you’re getting worked up about?—”

“Stop the truck,” she says suddenly.

“Claire—”

But she’s already whipping off her seatbelt. She opens the car door and I swear, hitting the breaks fast. The car is still rolling when she gets out, hits the ground, and slams the door shut behind her.

Goddammit. I park the truck and hop out.

“The hell are you doing?”

“Walking!” Claire snaps.

She walks with quick, furious steps along the side of the road.

“Claire! Stop!”

She’s lost her mind. It’s miles back home. This isn’t a safe road to walk, no matter the time of day. But she doesn’t stop. She doesn’t even turn.

Alright, she wants to do this the hard way…

I go into the back of my truck. “Last warning!” I tell her.

She lets out a noise that sounds like a growl. Her hands dive into her hair and she pulls hard. “Go fuck yourself!”

Okay. So that’s how it’s going to be.

I pull a ring of rope out from the back. Lasso is a funny thing. I’ve been roping since I was a kid. It looks hard, but it’s not—it’s mostly about not thinking so much about it. Seeing your target. Feeling the rope. And knowing in your bones that you’re going to catch it.

I loop the rope and toss it. It flies around Claire. I hook it and it snags around her middle, pulling her back like a fish on the line.

She fights like a mad cat. I pull her back to me and we tumble to the ground. I taste the grit of earth and she swipes at me, catching my neck with her nails. I get my legs around her, pinning her down, and wind the rope around her arms.

“Leave me alone!” she snarls. Her eyes flash. She twists like a wild animal.

I grip the rope on her arms and hoist her up. She squirms as I carry her back to the truck. She’s easier like this when she’s not scratching the hell out of me, at least. I sit her in the passenger seat, walk around the truck, and get in the driver’s seat.

I reach over her to buckle her in.

“I’m taking you home,” I tell her. “Then I’ll leave you alone all you want.”

Her hair is tangled up. I taste dirt. The truck rumbles, and that’s the only sound between us. We ride in silence all the way back to the ranch.

I punch in the code. The gate swings open. I drive her up the gravel driveway to her house, but stop short. I don’t need her Daddy to see me carrying Claire like a hostage.

I look at her. She’s looking straight ahead. I expect to see that same, dark-eyed fury, but I don’t. Instead, she seems strangely calm. Settled.

“I’m gonna let you out now,” I tell her.

She says nothing.

I pop the knot off. I untangle it from her arms and her middle. She rubs her thumb over her wrists.

A twist in my gut. “You okay?”

She looks down at her shirt. “You made me lose a button, you idiot.”

Claire gets out of the truck, slamming the door behind her.

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