Page 36 of Bucked By Love

She shakes her head. “No.”

This is a version of Claire I’m not used to. A docile, soft version.

The urge to take care of her runs so deep, it rewrites my damn DNA.

I’m in no rush. I take my time wrapping the rope around her arms, lacing it through, and wrapping again. I’m far more used to roping up horses than ladies, but Claire doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, each loop seems to put her deeper and deeper in some kind of trace.

By time I get all the way up to her elbows, the intensity has vanished from her face. She looks relaxed. Peaceful. I pull the final knot through and then sit down beside her.

We stay like that for…I don’t know how long. Just sitting. Staring up at Calypso. Side my side in silence. Our legs touch and I can see the steady, slow, rise and fall of her chest. The way someone breaths when they’re sleeping.

I don’t know what sent Claire into her frenzy. I don’t ask. When she’s ready to tell me, she’ll tell me. Until then, I’ll give her what she needs.

Silence. Peace. Company.

When Claire speaks up, her voice sounds clear again. “I have my dressage show tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Don’t. I won’t be able to think straight if you’re watching.”

“Alright.”

Another pass of silence. We let the crickets do the talking for us.

“I’ve never had sex,” Claire said suddenly. “Have you?”

It’s out of nowhere, and my tongue tangles for a moment.

I answer honestly. “No.”

“I think we should.” She says it, calm as anything. Like our chemistry is a math equation, and she’s found the solution, and that’s that.

I can’t say anything. She might be the one bound, but I’m the one all tied up in knots.

The crickets sing. The horses shuffle around in their pens.

Claire looks down at her wrists. “You can untie me now.”

I ignore the beating of my own heart as I get down in front of her. She extends her arms and I unlace the rope from her body. She shakes free of the last loop and gets to her feet.

She’s a woman reborn. Caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly.

She fixes her hair. “Goodnight, Ransom.”

“G’night.”

I watch Claire leave. Then I plop back down and start winding the rope around itself, making tight loops so I can put it away and hang it up.

I need something to do with my hands. Something to take my mind off of Claire’s proposal.

Calypso watches me with raised eyebrows, and I swear, the horse is judging me.

“Hush,” I tell her, and she huffs.

30

CLAIRE

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