👑💪👑 A death threat. A fake boyfriend. And roping lessons that are definitely against the rules... Someone's threatening me, and my overprotective father hired the most inconvenient solution possible—Rhodes Foster. Six-foot-three of solid muscle, sarcasm, and enough cowboy swagger to make my knees weak. The problem? I run a pageant coaching business. Clients will panic if they know I need protection. Rhodes' solution? Pretend we're dating. Now he's living in my guest room, charming pageant moms at tea parties, and teaching me to rope for my star student's Miss Teen Texas talent. Every lesson means his body pressed behind mine, his hands on my hips, his mouth at my ear. I'm supposed to be in control. Poised. Perfect. But around Rhodes? I'm coming undone. I've protected senators and CEOs. None of them made my heart slam against my ribs like Presley Danforth in her designer heels and that killer smile. She thinks the fake relationship is just cover. That the touches are for show. That when I kiss her, it's only to sell the story. She's wrong. Every time she looks up at me during roping lessons—flushed, frustrated, beautiful—I want to back her against the barn wall and prove exactly how real this is. Someone wants to hurt her. They'll go through me first. And when this case is over? I'm keeping her. This cowboy's done pretending. CONTENT INFORMATION 💋 Scorching fake relationship with a guaranteed HEA! 🤠 Grumpy cowboy bodyguard meets sunshine pageant coach in small-town Texas 🔥 Forced proximity, only-one-bed, protective alpha with a dirty mouth and dirtier thoughts 💪 Former Marine hero—dry wit, calloused hands, zero patience for threats ✨ Perfectionist heroine learning that losing control feels really, really good ⚠️ Stalker suspense with multiple suspects (never underestimate pageant moms) 🪢 Light BDSM/rope play 🎯 creative uses for lassos, creative definitions of "necessary" kissing, and a hero who goes from fake to forever In Valor Springs, Texas, the only thing hotter than the summer sun is what happens when a pageant coach learns to rope her bodyguard. ****************************************************************** SERIES Meet the heroes of Lone Star Security. Cowboy bodyguards forged under the Texas sun. Dangerous when they have to be, gentle when it counts, these ranch-bred alphas wear Stetsons over steel and carry more scars than they’ll admit. They don’t do anything halfway. Instead, they do sunup to sundown, with dust on their boots and love in their hearts. These protectors will ride through hell and high water to prove worthy of the women they love. Start 2026 with a bang. This January, these bodyguards discover the best part of falling in love is breaking protocol for a kiss worth the risk.