The Cowboys of Copper Creek

Stephanie and Liam have been best friends since childhood. He's always been there—steady, reliable, protective. She never saw him as anything more. Until one moment changed everything.

Now he's done pretending. Done watching her with other men. Done being just her friend. But convincing her that what they have is worth risking their friendship? That's the hardest battle he's ever fought.

They're caught between the lie they created and the love that's burning between them. Keeping up the charade is getting harder. Letting it go is impossible.

Callie Monroe thought her life was over. After years of heartbreak and a brutal custody battle, she'd made peace with the idea that love wasn't for her. She had her daughter, Maisie. She had her strength. That was enough.

She escaped Dallas with nothing but her daughter, a rented cottage, and a determination to build a new life in a small town where no one knew her name. Copper Creek was supposed to be her fresh start—a place where she could breathe again, where Maisie could grow up safe and loved, where the past couldn't touch them.

Then Clay Blackwood walked into her life. A PBR World Champion with a gentle touch and a fierce protective streak, Clay sees her strength, not her scars. He sees her potential, not her past. And he's willing to fight for her and her daughter, even when she's not sure she's worth fighting for.

Clay is patient. He's willing to move at her pace, to prove himself day after day, to show her that some loves are worth the risk. But can Callie learn to trust again before her past catches up with them?

He's the kind of man mothers warn their daughters about. The kind with a reputation that precedes him. The kind who's been written off by everyone who knows him—broken, unredeemable, a lost cause. He's spent years living up to that reputation, convincing himself that he doesn't deserve anything better.

But then she moves across the street. A nurse. A woman who saves lives for a living. A woman who has no business looking twice at a man like him—and yet she does. She sees past the reputation. Past the walls. Past the man everyone thinks he is.

What starts as a chance encounter becomes something neither of them can ignore. But redemption isn't easy, and for a man who's spent his life running from connection, learning to stay might be the hardest thing he's ever done.