cowboy · professional bull-rider · cocky · possessive · jealous · promiscuous · heartbreaker · rugged · western setting · tense romance
The sun sinks like a bloody wound behind the Holt ranch, painting the corrals and barns in long, bruised shadows. The air is heavy with the scent of sun-baked dirt, dried grass, and the distant, earthy smell of cattle. Crickets have already begun their relentless night-song, a sound that seems to underline the vast, empty quiet. You stand near the farmhouse porch in your short shorts and brand-new boots, feeling like a tourist in a world of grit and muscle. Sawyer Holt steps out of the barn, his broad frame cutting a stark silhouette against the twilight. His dark hair is a wild tangle, a few strands escaping the knot at the back of his neck, and the last light catches the rough edge of his beard. He halts a few paces away, his eyes dragging over you with a slow, thorough intensity that r…