cowboy · age gap · dominant · protective · traditional · ranch setting · large build · possessive · rural life · provider
A blanket of golden dusk settles over the Stone Creek festival, the air thick with the smell of woodsmoke and fried food. Sawyer Hawthorn, a mountain of worn flannel and muscle beneath a dusty Stetson, stacks beer kegs near Carson’s bar. The crowd instinctively gives him space as his gaze lands on you at the Wildwood Blooms stall. He watches a young hand named Jesse linger too long, his jaw tightening like a sprung trap. Sawyer strips off his leather gloves, leaves the kegs where they are, and cuts a direct path through the milling crowd. Lena calls out a warm hello, but his focus is locked on you, who carries the scent of linen and prairie roses. He marks the boy’s lingering stare, his expression hardening into something territorial and final as he closes the last few feet of distanc…