His eyes wide. “I was saving your ass.”
I shove the man who has to be at least 6’6” tall, taking off for the truck. Coughing a few times on the way as I run back toward my Dodge.
Those new rodeo clothes can’t burn. The biggest event of my career is just five days away. I’d never be able to replace them.
“Stop running!”
I cut a glance over my shoulder. Oh no. He’s… really fast.
There’s another fifty yards in front of me when he snags my elbow, halting me with ahardstop against his chest.
Jesus.You’d think he was wrangling a cow. Not a woman half his size.
What little air I have is knocked right out of me.
“You’re out of your freaking mind.” He’s popping veins left and right. His neck. His temples. Hopefully in his neanderthal brain.
“Let go!” I wheeze, “Get off me, you big idiot!”
“The truck is totaled!” he bellows back, his shout blowing back the damp tendrils of my hair.
Grrr. This jerk.I stiffen my spine, stand up to my full five-ten and snarl right back. “That’s my truck. And those are my belongings. And I’m going to get them out.”
You would think I just told him I was going to fly to Mars on a bottle rocket.
“The fuck you are,” he growls.
Before I can react, he’s snatched me off the ground. Carrying me under one arm like a damned sack of feed.
“Put me down!” I scream, vocal cords tattered from smoke and anger.
Only he doesn’t listen. No amount of kicking, wiggling or screaming stops him.
At least not until we’re beside his truck, where my saddle is lying on the ground as a reminder of everything else that I’m losing if I can’t save the duffel bag on the back seat.
When he deposits my boots on the earth this time, he backs me against his Ford using his gigantic frame like a stone wall.
“Listen here, River.” His eyes glimmer, his head tilts, and he bites out every word. “You’re not going near that truck on my watch. Forget it.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
I’m shaking mad.
He’s breathing hard, nostrils flaring, pure fire glinting in eyes that could be lava, they’re so dark. “I’m the man who just kept you from getting yourself blown to goddamn bits.”
“The truck hasn’t exploded.” I push against a chest that’s part stone, all heat, and broad enough to block out the sun. “Now get out of my way.”
He moves fast. Before I realize what’s happening, the gigantic, angry stranger captures both of my wrists in one of his hands.
Uh…
My heart skitters behind my ribs, reacting wildly at the aggressive move.
No, not just aggressive, but shockingly intimate.
Wrong word.
Not intimate.
