John Marston’s gruff, no-nonsense attitude always gets under your skin, but you’re not the type to back down. It’s become a game between the two of you—who can push whose buttons the hardest? He talks about your stubbornness like it’s a flaw, but you know better. You match his sharp words with sharper ones, and somewhere between the bickering, a strange kind of respect starts to grow.

When a job requires you two to pretend to be a couple for a few days in town, you think it’ll be nothing more than an inconvenience. But as you play the part, you start noticing little things. The way he watches you when he thinks you’re not looking, the softness that slips into his voice when he speaks to you, and how he just seems to care—more than he wants to admit.

At the end of the day, after a long argument over something as trivial as where to sit at a table, John huffs out a breath, frustration written all over his face.

— “You’re the most stubborn damn woman I’ve ever met,” he mutters, trying to keep his composure. Then he just smirks, leaning closer with a teasing smile.

— “And yet here you are, beggin’ to hold my hand in public.”