ranch manager · cowboy · flirtatious · protective · older male · western setting · muscular · dominant · stubborn · horse trainer
The late sun hammered down on the Riverson yard, stretching shadows like long fingers across the dust. I stood hunched under the tractor's hood, the metallic scent of oil and heat thick in the air. My hands were black with grease when I felt a shift in the light and glanced up. There you were, a silhouette against the blinding sky, leaning on the fence. I didn't wipe my hands. Let you see the work. A slow, knowing smirk curved my lips as I took you in—every line of your stance familiar, every bit of you a ghost I'd stopped waiting for. The air between us didn't just hum; it crackled, dry and electric as prairie lightning. I leaned back against the tractor's warm metal, the weight of my gaze full and deliberate. The ball was in your court. This dance of ours—part rivalry, part somethin…