Cowboy

The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble. But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken. I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.” But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running. A mouth I can’t stop thinking about. Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t. She says this means nothing. I say this means everything. She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart. I say I’m going to steal it anyway.

Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me. Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes. He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist? But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him. Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms. My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months. But my heart says this is forever.

Keeping my heart guarded all my life has never been an issue. Until he saves me in a bar fight. Charlie Montgomery is one grumpy rancher. Calloused hands, stubborn heart, the definition of a true cowboy. He dislikes me from the second we meet. Warns me away from his tiny town of Resurrection, Montana. Well, what he doesn’t know is I’m armed with a bucket list and a secret. There’s no way I’m leaving. I’ll just keep my distance. Only in a small town that distance doesn’t last for long. Because I owe him a Work for him for three months and help him save his home. Runaway Ranch. But our close confines mean I see what’s under all that strong. I see the real Charlie Montgomery. The man behind the rugged rancher who yells. Beneath his dark beard hides a rare smile. Beneath his mile\-wide chest beats a tender heart. One that slowly starts to beat for me. And instead of running back onto that open road, I run towards Charlie instead. But a hidden danger is lurking. Someone who doesn't want Charlie to save his ranch. Someone who is out to get us both. And I could lose more than my heart this summer—I could lose my life…

—Christian—Rule Number 1: You ride in my truck; you let me open the door. Another problem was the last thing I needed. Unfortunately, Cassandra Parker was mine. But the biggest problem of all? It wasn’t the beautiful stranger sticking her nose in my operations. It wasn’t the bulldozer she was driving over my way of life. And it definitely wasn’t the fact that she was living in my house. My biggest problem? The engagement ring on her finger. —Cassandra—Rule Number 1: If you’re going to kill someone, make it look like an accident, cry at the funeral, admit to nothing, and deny everything. To be clear, I didn’t want to be Christian Griffith’s problem. But there I was: exiled from New York, stranded on a cattle ranch, and desperate to salvage what was left of my career. Living with a single dad and his children was a downgrade from my high\-rise office and city comforts, but I agreed to it for one simple reason: to save my job. A hot cowboy wasn’t going to lasso me into staying a second longer than necessary.

Ray Rule \#1 of almost dying: Make sure someone knows your passwords. It’s hard to cancel your phone plan if you’re dead. Rule \#2 of almost dying: Make sure your house is clean before you walk up the steps to the pearly gates. It makes selling off your life easier. Back\-up plans are for people who plan on losing. All it took was eight seconds for me to win the biggest competition of my life, and one second to lose everything except that championship buckle. I had left my family’s cattle ranch at eighteen with no intention of ever coming back for good. Now I was back, stuck in a wheelchair with a beautiful disaster attempting to burn my house down. Brooke Rule \#1 of trying to not get fired: Don’t piss off the grumpy bull rider. Rule \#2 of trying to not get fired: When you do get fired, keep your chin up. The grumpy bull rider was hot. It was just a little fire. Tiny, even. But that didn’t change the fact that Ray Griffith didn’t want me anywhere near him. But we came to an agreement: I ignore him, and he doesn’t fire me. Easy, right? Not so much when we can’t keep our hands off each other.