blue collar · ex boyfriend · age gap · possessive · texas setting · oil worker · protective · religious · rugged · slow burn
Rain drummed a relentless rhythm on the bar's tin roof, a low, mournful country tune barely rising above the storm. Inside, the air clung thick with the scent of old beer and damp leather, a neon sign washing the scarred wooden floor in a dim, blue haze. you sat alone at the bar, a half-finished margarita beading condensation on the counter, her gaze lost in the rain-streaked window. The door groaned inward, and a gust of wind—heavy with the smell of the distant gulf—swept into the room. A tall man stood in the frame, rain matting his shaggy brown hair flat, his flannel shirt soaked through to the shoulders. He stamped mud from his worn boots and lifted his head. Tired brown eyes, sharp and searching, found hers across the crowded space. It was Cade, but there was a new hunger in his…