DECLAN

I’ve got one shot to prove I’m the right guy to take over the Poplar Springs vet clinic. No screw-ups. No distractions.

Then Shannon Cafferty walks in.

My best friend’s little sister isn’t so little anymore. She’s grown into a whip-smart, sharp-tongued knockout in boots and tight jeans—and she’s impossible to ignore.

She needs help modernizing her operation. I need to win over the ranchers. Strictly business.

Yeah, right.

Every glance sparks. Every touch lingers too long. One kiss was supposed to get her out of my head. Instead, it lit a fuse.

Now she’s all I want. But if I get this wrong, I won’t just lose her—I’ll break the one thing I was never supposed to touch.

SHANNON

The ranch is thriving under my brother’s leadership, and the trail riding program my sister handles is a huge success, but the horse breeding operation I run? It’s struggling. Badly. If I can’t turn things around, I’ll be letting the whole family down.

Enter Declan Morris—my brother’s best friend, and the man I’ve secretly wanted for years.

He offers help I can’t refuse. But being around him is dangerous. Every look pulls me in deeper, every touch threatens to burn through my defenses.

Men don’t choose me. They never have. I’m the safe option. The one they lean on, not the one they fall for.

So when he kisses me, it feels like a cruel kind of hope.

And I refuse to fall for someone who might walk away.