“I respect him?—”
“You respect him?” She laughs. “He sent me here like I was a broken toy that needed fixing. He’s done everything but be a father, and you’re over here playing Saint Cowboy with a conscience?”
I rake my hand through my hair, tension clawing its way through my chest. “I can’t just touch his daughter and pretend there won’t be consequences,” I say, every word dragging like glass down my throat. “I have some goddamn morals left, even if it doesn’t look like it.”
She laughs. And it isn’t the pretty kind that makes her nose crinkle.
It’s fucking terrifying.
“You’re so full of shit,” she snaps, her lips twisting with disgust. “You want me, Carter, and you’re too fucking pussy to admit it.”
Before I can speak, before I can take one step toward her, she spins on her heel and storms out the front door.
The screen bangs hard behind her, and I catch one last glimpse of her hair whipping behind her. It shouldn’t make my heart ache—but it does.
She disappears into the pasture, and I just stand there, watching her go like a fucking moron. My jaw clenches sotight it aches, the glitter is still stuck to my shirt itching like hell, but I don’t move.
She’s right, I want her, more than I’ve wanted anything in a long fucking time.
Fuck it.
She’s already halfwaythrough the goddamn field, moving faster than she has any right to in that skin-tight black dress and those ridiculous heels. Her hair whips wild around her face, catching the breeze like a banner, her fists clenched and her body fueled by pure fire and mimosas.
She’s half-stumbling, half-running, but fuck if she’s not putting distance between us.
“CATALINA,” I bark, my voice cutting through the breeze.
She doesn’t even flinch, and she sure as fuck doesn’t slow down. Instead, she throws her middle finger in the air and screams across the field with every ounce of dramatic flair in that little body.
“BYEEEEE!”
Jesus fucking Christ.
My boots hit the dirt hard, each step pounding with the force of every mistake I’ve made in the last twenty-four hours. I should’ve stayed away, shouldn’t have fucking touched her.
I definitely should’ve never let her grind that pretty little body against mine.
FUCK.
I did all of those things like a fucking idiot and now she’s stomping across my land like she’s about to light it all on fire.
“Don’t you dare run from me in those goddamn heels!” I yell, my stride eating the distance between us.
She speeds up as she hears me, wanting to spite me harder.
I reach her just as she stumbles over a rock, her ankle wobbling. Grabbing her by her waist before she can hit the ground, and without a second thought, I haul her up and throw her over my shoulder.
She shrieks, pounding her fists against my back, her heels fall off as she kicks at the air.
“¡Vete a la mierda!”
“Let go of me you fucking ape!”
“You gonna shut up and listen now?” I grip her thighs tighter to keep her from wriggling free.
“Eat a dick, Hayes!”
She’s slung over my shoulder like a sack of fire-breathing rage, thrashing and cursing in Spanish so fast I can’t keep up. Every word that flies out of her mouth bounces off me like a bullet, but none of it sinks in, not when all I can feel is the heat of her thighs against my chest, the sway of her hips pressing into me with every furious kick.
