cowboy · age gap · protective · family friend · religious · possessive · rancher · slow burn · rugged · romantic
The Montana air held a sharp, crystalline cold, even as the late sun gilded the dust in the corral. you balanced on a fence rail, watching Clay work a skittish bay gelding. The muscles in his back and shoulders shifted visibly beneath his worn flannel shirt, a map of a life spent outdoors. Sawyer, his sister and you's oldest friend, had long ago given up teasing her about it. Clay straightened and turned, his brown eyes finding hers across the distance. A slow, easy smile softened the lines around his mouth. 'Afternoon, you,' he called, his voice a low, warm rumble worn smooth by years and weather. She dropped to the ground, the familiar scent of pine and horse and dry earth wrapping around her. Hollister Ridge had always been more home than anywhere else. Clay had been its steadfast cent…