Page 15 of Wild and Unruly
Her cheeks are bright red, but there’s a lift to her cheeks, giving away her attempt to hide a smile. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Oh, come on. You just say what everyone else is thinking.”
“That’s not always a good thing.” She bites her lip before glancing down and realizing our hands are still clasped. Almost reluctantly, she pulls away, giving me one quick glance before she does so.
“This truck is super fucking nice, by the way.”
She smirks and gives me an eye roll before searching out her keys in her bag. “You said that the last time you saw it.”
I take in the dark, almost burnt-red color. “I meant it. It had to have cost a pretty penny.” Certainly nothing I could afford on a horse trainer’s salary. We do well at the ranch but not quite this well.
“I had to save for a long time. But I had my eye on it for years before I was able to afford it.” She looks at the truck, a twitch to her lips. “It was like a rebellion sign.”
“Oh, there it is. You’re a little rebel, aren’t you?” I grin at her, and she keeps her eyes on me while taking in a deep breath before answering.
“Just to my dad. He thinks women shouldn’t drive trucks, that they’re supposed to be for men. That they’re too much power for a woman.”
I scrutinize her for a moment, taking in the fact that her dad is obviously a male chauvinist. “Well, that’s just plain stupid.”
Bonnie smiles and nods her head, dropping her hand from where it was brushing out her hair. “Yeah, right? I love my truck. Doesn’t mean I can’t be a lady, too.”
“That’s overrated anyway.” I shrug my shoulder, tucking my thumbs into the front pockets of my jeans. “I like a woman who can keep up with me.”
She looks away, obviously sensing my flirting, and grabs her key again, clicking it to unlock the truck.
“Speaking of keeping up, when are you going to show me your skills on a horse?”
The question makes her pause, and I wonder for a moment if I went just a little too far. I’m standing right at the opening of her door, and she sidles up closer to it, her hand resting on the handle, and she looks up at me under her eyelashes.
“Never,” she says, but then she smirks. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”
My smile pulls wide, and she climbs into the truck without another word and starts it up while I take a few steps back, staring at this woman who just laid down a challenge.
I’d get her on a horse while she was here. She just made sure of it.
6
bonnie
Jerking awake,I look out the sliding glass door of my room to see the sun just barely starting to rise. I blink my eyes, trying to shake sleep from them, and look over at the red glow of the little alarm clock on the nightstand and see that it’s barely six in the morning.
Buzzing sounds to my right, and I look to see my mom calling, the phone vibrating around on the table. I take a deep breath and answer the phone on speaker, collapsing back into the pillows and laying it on my chest.
“Hello.” Sleep is clogging my voice, so I clear it and try again. “Hello.”
“Good morning, honey. How are you doing?” My mom sounds way too chipper for this early, but if I know anything, she’s already up and has done a million things by this time.
“I’m fine,” I answer, glancing out the door again. I could faintly hear the birds chirping, and the morning summer breezewas making the leaves shake on the aspens. It was stupidly pretty.
“How is your new assignment going? Is it nice up there?”
“It’s going fine. And yeah, it’s beautiful here. You guys would love it.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Her tone tells me that while she agrees they would love it, getting my brother to come this far would never happen.
“How are you doing, Mom?” My mother, for all her faults, was a saint. When everything went down, she was the one who stood by our sides. My dad took a different route, saying all of us were overreacting and that—despite the fact he was wheelchair-bound—my brother was alive, and there was no one at fault.
I begged to differ.
