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

Down the other end of the hall, Kent’s


bedroom door is ajar—he’s up, probably out in his market already,


watering the plants. Without alcohol to dull his senses, would he


see my guilt written plainly across my face? Would he take one look


at me and just know I didn’t sleep alone last night? Would he


I need a shower to wash all the doubts away.


But when I click on the light, the bathroom is too sterile, too


white, so damn bright that it hurts my head. In the shower stall,


the hot water sears my skin. What am I doing here? Playing with


fire, dangling Kent while I fuck around with Luke, all this


clandestine shit, I’m just begging to be burned. What if Kent


wasn’t so drunk last night? How could I have had sex with him


knowing Luke waited for me? Would I have gone from one to the other


I hate that voice, the one inside my head. In the stark bathroom,


Chapter 56