Page 159 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Really, I’m watching Annie collect proof that she belongs here.

Not in Ironwood’s dining room under Vivian’s judgment.

Here.

In dust, music, bad beer, and golden light. With people calling her name. With her camera passed carefully from hand to hand.

With her laugh cutting through the noise. With Duke’s hat on her head at some point, then Willy’s, then mine, which I don’t remember agreeing to and will be investigating later.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Annie

The drive back to Ironwood feels dangerous in the warmest possible way.

The kind of danger that lives in glances held too long, hands brushing accidentally on purpose, and the terrifying realization that somewhere between the rodeo, the dancing, and Cody holding my waist like he already knew exactly how I fit there, everything shifted.

Or maybe it finally stopped pretending not to exist.

The truck smells like dust, leather, and Duke’s ridiculous cinnamon gum. Country music hums softly through the speakers, low enough that it feels more like atmosphere than sound.

The rodeo lights disappeared in the rearview mirror twenty minutes ago, leaving only winding dark roads and the occasional wash of headlights from passing trucks.

Duke’s driving, Silas is in the passenger seat with one elbow braced against the window, posture loose, and I’m with Cody in the back seat.

Cody’s thigh has been pressed against mine for the last fourteen miles and neither of us have moved.

I can feel the heat of him through denim.

I can also feel Duke watching us periodically in the rearview mirror like he’s trying not to grin himself into a ditch.

Menace.

Absolute menace.

“You’re staring again,” I tell him.

Duke smiles lazily. “Counterpoint: you’re very stare-able.”

“Not a word.”

“I didn’t even say the worst one yet.”

“That sentence alone feels illegal.”

Silas exhales through his nose from the front seat. “Jeez.”

“What?” Duke says innocently. “I’m keeping morale up.”

“You’re thirty-two,” Cody says beside me. “How are you still like this?”

“Natural talent.”

I try to bite back a laugh and fail.

Cody glances at me.

It’s ridiculous how aware I am of all of them now. Silas’s rough silence, Duke’s warmth, Cody’s focus, piercing enough to feel physical.