I started reading this book with the sinking feeling that I'd read it before and couldn't remember for some reason. Well, I remember NOW. The stupid ass pregnancy scare solidified it for me. Couldn't forget that if I tried (and clearly I did) 🙄🙄🙄 Anywho, keep in mind the rest of this is written after remembering I've read this twice now and barely recalled anything after the first read.

Mollie, the daughter of a bitterly-divorced Texas real estate mogul (mom) and a recently-deceased plus formerly-estranged oil-blessed rancher (dad) who is running a fashion boot brand (that's currently in the red financially) with her best friend, inherits hundreds of thousands of acres of profitable, working ranch land from said recently-deceased father. Of course, this inheritance doesn't come without stipulations. Mollie, having not been back to the rwnxh since she was six, has to reside at and manage the ranch for a full year before she can access her trust, despite having no interest in ranching or learning why her father wasn't around much in her childhood. Never fear! Her mommy's lawyers can figure out how to get around that requirement if she just toughs it out for a bit... but can they figure out how to get around Cash Rivers, the ranch's broody foreman and one of Mollie's dad's unexpected, unofficially adopted "sons"?

The fact that Cash and his brothers were taken in (unofficially adopted) by Mollie's father gives this romance a weird but palatable blend of "daddy issues" and "what are you doing stepbro?" sprinkled in with the subtle age difference (not age gap; Mollie and Cash are only like 5/6 years apart in age) tension of Cash being a MAN who knows what he wants and who is secretly ready to settle down and Mollie still being a bit of a naive young woman getting her bearings in adult life and business management. Thinking about the relationship between Cash and Mollie's dad too much won't do you any favors in this book, yet it's a core reason for the tension between Mollie and Cash at the start of the narrative.

The smut was good. The dirty talk toed the line in some moments for me, but that's always a matter of preference. From what I remember, I liked Wyatt's story a lot more. Probably because that one is friends to lovers whereas this one is "enemies" to lovers.

Edited to add: I am genuinely a little pissed off about Mollie's character chronic illness baiting (I don't think it's a thing really, but it is now because I say so) us. I WISH my digestive issues could be solved with fresh air and a sexy cowboy 🙄🙄