Clean then Brave
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When the dust settles, what's left is grit, heart, and a little bit of honey.
Layne Brooks was born in a saddle. A barrel-racing prodigy with a reputation built on speed and stubbornness, she's spent her whole life chasing the next run-until a fall at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds breaks more than her collarbone. It cracks open her world.
Tessa McCrae left Waco looking for a reset and found it behind the bar at Cooper Creek. She's steady, sharp, and quick with a comeback-everything Layne isn't when the crowds fade and the lights go out. What starts as shared banter over bourbon and honey becomes something deeper, steadier, and a little terrifying for them both.
As Layne fights to heal and Tessa tries to protect her heart, the two women learn that sometimes courage isn't about the clean run-it's about showing up again, bruised but brave.
Set against the dusty glow of small-town Texas, Clean Then Brave is a slow-burn romance about second chances, the rhythm of rodeo life, and finding love that holds as hard as it hurts.
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After being caught, tried and arrested for a crime she didn't do; Lexi Hunter has a choice. It's either Juvie or spend the summer on her dad's ranch working off her probation. Should be an easy pick, right? Only problem is, she hasn't seen or spoken to her dad in ten years. The last time she saw him was through a car window as her mom drove them and all their possessions away to go live a normal, busy, eccentric lifestyle in New York. So basically, being back at a place she used to call home with a man she can't muster the respect for to actually call 'dad', is a prison sentence in itself. Lexi is determined to hate and ridicule everything about her situation. Wanting nothing more than to get the summer over with so she can go back to real life. That all changes when she meets Dawson Priest; the ranch hand who she is forced to work side by side with. His optimistic, simple, almost eloquent outlook on life, the world, and the small town ranch life in general sparks her to see things from his perspective and may even challenge her enough to mend the strained relationship with her dad. This is a story of self discovery, personal growth, a steamy cowboy fling, and learning the importance of forgiveness. This simple, small town life may not seem as much of a jail sentence by the end of the summer. Who knows, maybe Lexi turns out to be a country girl at heart after all.
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