Marcus was just passing through Texas when he met Kent. In his cowboy hat, low-riding jeans, and black boots, Kent looks like the type of guy Marcus desperately wants to love.<br><br>But two years later, he's discovered Kent is cold and distant, the quintessential American cowboy, and spends more time drunk than sober. Marcus can never predict his mood and blames himself for the flailing relationship.<br><br>Then, one day when Kent rides into town, Marcus finds a young runaway hiding in their barn. Luke is warm, loving, and quick to please ... everything Kent is not. Though the answer seems obvious, Marcus finds himself torn between the boy who demands his love and the man whose love he craves.

Cowboy

The tub’s almost full now, mountains of suds


foaming up to the lip, and the minute I turn off this water, he’ll


strip down beside me and I don’t know if I can handle that. I don’t


know if I trust myself to look away. Better to think of him


leaving, no matter how much I don’t want to see him go. Better for


us bothif we don’t make this into something more.


He shrugs. “Don’t know,” he mutters.


“No plans?” I want to know. When he


shakes his head, I let up on the nozzle and look at him closely. He


avoids my gaze, stares at the tub and sniffs in that way he has


that makes him look like a little boy trying not to cry. I still


can’t quite believe he’s almost twenty. Gently, I ask, “Where are


He shrugs again. “Nowhere,” he whispers, and


this time I don’t think that sniffle is forced. His eyes waver with


sudden tears, the purple an almost midnight shade in the setting


Chapter 15