Blood and Bravado

<p><strong>One town. Two rivals. Eight seconds that could take it all away.</strong><br><br><strong>Eli</strong></p><p>Returning to my small hometown in Texas wasn't part of the plan. After years of clawing my way up the corporate ladder in Dallas I was supposed to be celebrating a promotion not recovering from the public implosion of my career. But here I am-licking my wounds in my childhood bedroom trying to figure out what's next.</p><p>The last thing I expected was to run into Colt Dawson.</p><p>Colt is everything I left behind-rugged fearless and still chasing dreams that don't fit in a boardroom. He's a rodeo rider with a swagger that gets under my skin and a grin that makes my chest ache and my jeans tight. We were rivals in high school always circling each other like two bulls in an arena but now? Now I can't look at him without wanting more.</p><p>What starts as an uneasy truce turns into late-night conversations shared whiskey and heated moments in his bed I'll never forget. But Colt's world is dangerous-eight seconds on the back of a bull can change everything. The closer we get the more I see the risks he takes and it terrifies me.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Colt</strong><br>The rodeo is my life. It's in my blood-the bruises the adrenaline the applause. But when my old rival Eli turns up back in town all sharp suits and wounded pride I realize there's one thing I've never had the courage to face: the feelings I buried for him years ago.</p><p>Eli's everything I'm not-polished ambitious and hopelessly out of place on a ranch. He's also exactly what I want what I crave in the dead of the night. But when he looks at me it's like he sees through all the bravado straight to the part of me I've always tried to hide.</p><p>Eli thinks I'm reckless but he doesn't understand what it's like to live for something bigger than yourself. I've spent my life fighting to prove I'm good enough strong enough brave enough. Falling into his bed wasn't in the plan but now I'm facing the toughest ride of all: letting someone in.<br><br>When a devastating accident threatens my rodeo career and Eli is offered a second chance at his corporate dream we're forced to make an impossible choice. Can we find a way to bridge the gap between our worlds or will the pull of our separate lives tear us apart?</p><p> </p><p><em><strong>Blood and Bravado</strong></em> is a steamy heart-wrenching romance about second chances courage and the fight to hold on to love when the odds are stacked against you. With fiery passion emotional depth and the untamed beauty of the Texas rodeo Eli and Colt's story will leave you breathless and believing in the power of love to overcome it all.</p>