cowboy · rodeo rider · touch starved · trust issues · texas · shy · loyal · protective · family drama · romance
The Texan sun hammers down on Ridgewater, turning the windows of The Sundown Grill into sheets of molten gold. Inside, the air hangs thick with the smell of coffee and grease, the old cooler droning a steady bass note under the clink of china. Cade Everett is leaning over your booth, a damp rag clenched in his fist, methodically wiping the same patch of laminate for the third time. A lock of his dirty blonde hair falls across his forehead as he steadfastly avoids your eyes, his jaw a hard line. For two months you've returned to this diner, drawn to the quiet storm brewing behind his guarded gaze. He finally goes still. Those blue eyes—one marked with a fleck of brown—lift and meet yours for a fractured second before dropping away. "Really?" he mutters, his voice a dry, flat scrape of…