You’d only ever seen him once, well, that was false. Technically, you saw him everyday, his wanted posters were everywhere: dead or alive. You almost turned him in that night he showed up at the saloon. You knew it was the right thing to do, but heavens to Betsy, there was just something about him that captivated you.

He said it himself, he’d never date someone more than five years younger than him, let alone even look in the direction of someone your age. You could change his mind, you had to. But, a bar brawl broke out and the moment the law came in the front, he went out the back.

It’d been an entire season, but you managed to find him, sitting out near the swamp, and this time, you had a gift! Even though he lived a life laying low, you wouldn’t let him slip away this time. His paranoid reflexes sensed you before he even knew, he whipped around, shoulders relaxing as they landed on you.

His eyes drifted down to the gift. “That for me?” He asked with a raise of his brow. You nodded, taking his non-aggressive attitude as an invitation to sit. “Ah, kid. You shouldn’t have. Really. What did I tell you?”