January's Cowboy Slade

Some fights aren’t about winning. They’re about who can hold out the longest.

I learned early on that it’s safer to be a problem than a disappointment. Around Mustang Mountain, my last name comes with expectations I never asked for and a reputation I stopped caring about years ago. People decide who I am before they know a thing about me, and I let them.
Morgan Carter doesn’t play by those rules. She looks at me like I’m something to be tested, and my body reacts before my brain can catch up. She stands too close and holds my gaze like she knows exactly what she’s doing.
We clash because neither of us knows how to back down. She stands her ground like she’s daring me to cross a line, and I hate how often I picture it, how easily my mind goes there, and how hard it is to pretend I don’t want to feel her push back.
I don’t trust her, and I don’t trust what she’s uncovering beneath this mountain. I trust myself even less when she’s close, because the longer we’re forced to work side by side, the harder it is to pretend.

If Morgan Carter is going to test everything I’ve built, she’s going to learn exactly how much pressure I can take before I stop holding back—and what happens when I finally do.