“Looks like you could use help.”
I let out a huff. Not quite a laugh. “You don’t know what you’re looking at.”
“Then show me.”
There’s no edge in it. No challenge.
Just… certainty.
That’s worse.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Dakota. Dakota Sage.”
Yeah. That fits.
Soft edges. Something wild underneath. Something that doesn’t belong here. Or near me.
I turn back to the stall before I can think about that too long.
“Head back to the house, Dakota Sage.”
“Why?”
I glance over my shoulder. Because I’ve seen it before.
The ones who walk in with open eyes and think they can handle anything. They don’t last.
“This place isn’t forgiving,” I say. “You either learn fast or life’ll make the choice for you.”
She holds my gaze like that doesn’t scare her. “If it does,” she says quietly, “I’ll deal with it.”
I study her a second longer than I should, noticing the faint hint of dimples in her cheeks as she forces a smile.
She smells exotic at this close range, a slight breeze blowing her perfume toward me like a gift I didn’t ask for.
Peonies and jasmine.
Not made for Rosewood County. Not made for me.
Shouldn’t notice. Shouldn’t care.
But I still do.
Then I turn away. “Not my concern.”
That’s what I tell myself. But the moment she walked into my barn, something shifted.I felt it.The kind of shift that doesn’t fade. The kind that costs you.
And I already know…
Dakota Sage isn’t passing through my life.
She’s the kind of mistake that stays.
That’swhat scares me.
Chapter
