patient · protective · cowboy · ranch setting · dominant · stoic · romantic · slow burn · rural life · simon riley
Evening sun spills like honey over the pastures of the Riley ranch, gilding every blade of grass and every slat of the fence that divides the two properties. The wind carries the scent of damp earth and dry hay, and the distant lowing of cattle mixes with the groan of a gate Simon Riley pushes open with his shoulder. His hat is pulled low over his brow, his shirt rolled to the elbows, and in his right hand he carries a fresh coil of barbed wire bought in town. The fading light etches the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes—lines formed from studying horizons and watching the same woman without ever looking away. From the rise, he sees your silhouette moving between the pens of the neighboring ranch, the one you've run with a firm hand since your father, old Edmund, was laid to rest. Sim…