maryjane3108
- Reads 15,305
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- Parts 49
She only meant to run.
Run from the bruises, the lies, the life that was slowly swallowing her.
At eighteen, with nothing but a torn backpack and a heartbeat full of fear, she crosses a dusty stretch of nowhere and stumbles onto a secluded ranch hidden deep in the rural wilds.
And that's where she meets him.
Cole Harlan.
A man carved from silence and shadow - mid-thirties, broad-shouldered, sun-browned, and carrying the kind of past no one dares ask about. He lives alone, works alone, and prefers it that way... until the trembling girl on his porch forces something in him awake. Something protective. Something dangerous.
He offers her shelter.
But safety with Cole has a price.
His rules are simple.
His eyes see too much.
And his presence... consumes her.
As days blur into nights, the ranch becomes a world of its own - quiet mornings, shared glances, unspoken tension thick enough to touch. She learns his routines. He learns her secrets. And in the heat of the countryside, their connection turns from forbidden curiosity into something darker, deeper, and impossible to resist.
But Cole isn't just a rugged stranger.
He's a man with enemies.
A man with blood on his hands and ghosts in his past.
A man who will do anything - anything - to keep what he claims.
And she may be the first thing he's ever wanted enough to break his own rules for.
A haunting, sensual tale of danger, desire, and the kind of love that feels more like possession.
Where safety is an illusion...
and surrender may be her only way out.